The Philippines regulates the export of its workers, and its offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are where a UAE employer meets that system. Here is the accreditation file, the sequence, and our licence.
MWO Dubai publishes the list. For agency hire — which is how every employer beyond a handful of name-hires recruits — the company submits, through its own authorised personnel, in two sets: a recruitment agreement with the licensed Philippine agency, a job order or manpower request stating positions, numbers and salaries, a master employment contract meeting the minimum provisions for land-based workers, an undertaking of the principal, a contingency and evacuation plan, and the company's trade licence. Once verified, the original set goes to the Philippine agency for registration with the DMW; only then can individual contracts be processed.
We prepare the file with you, walk it through the MWO with your authorised signatory, and register it in Manila. It is done once per employer and reused for every subsequent job order.
Article 18 of the Philippine Labor Code and Republic Act 10022 prohibit foreign employers from hiring Filipino workers directly. The DMW grants exemptions for name-hires in narrow cases, each requiring DMW approval and, for skilled workers, an escrow bond; the MWO checks that a name-hiring company has not partnered with a Philippine agency. For any programme of hiring, the licensed-agency route is not a convenience; it is the lawful route.
A worker who arrived through the DMW system has a contract both governments have seen, came through a licensed and inspected channel, and has an office in Dubai or Abu Dhabi to turn to. That is what the accreditation file buys. For the regulator itself — what the DMW is and why it exists — see our explainer at /dmw/. Everything here is subject to applicable UAE MoHRE or free-zone, licensing, attestation and visa requirements and Philippine law.
Workers already in the UAE who change employer have their new contract verified at the MWO for their Overseas Employment Certificate; recruiting from the Philippines is a separate, agency-based process.
Only authorised personnel of the hiring company with proof of employment (visa, company ID), or a representative with an authorisation letter and Emirates ID — MWO Dubai Advisory 2-A/2023.
Yes — DMW-027-LB-11182024 is searchable in the DMW's public licensed-agency database, and MWO Dubai keeps a list of licensed Philippine agencies.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.