The Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, in coordination with the Immigration Department of the Kuwait Interior Ministry, has repatriated 95 undocumented and distressed Filipinos from Kuwait, through the sixth and seventh batch of the Embassy Assisted Repatriation Program (EARP) for 2019. With the seventh batch, the total number of OFWs sent home this year has reached 359, and the embassy is working to send home at least two more batches of (OFWs) in time for Christmas or before the year ends.
Embassy Chargé d’Affaires (CDA) and Consul General Mohd. Noordin Pendosina N. Lomondot personally sent off the seventh batch of OFWs, accompanying them from the embassy up until they checked-in at Kuwait International Airport. Most of the OFWs had cases registered against them for expired visas or for absconding from their sponsors.
At the Embassy, Lomondot explained to the OFW-repatriates that the EARP is a project of President Rodrigo Duterte with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), and in cooperation with the Illegal Residency Monitoring and Immigration Departments of the Kuwait Ministry of Interior.
Lomondot also led the distribution of US$100 financial assistance to each of the EARP beneficiaries, given by the DFA under its PhP1 billion Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Fund to help them start a new life in the Philippines.
Apart from the one-way ticket from Kuwait to Manila and the financial assistance, 24 out of the 63 OFW-repatriates were also given domestic tickets from Ninoy Aquino International Airport to their respective provinces.
Those who wish to apply for the EARP may send a Viber or WhatsApp message to the Embassy via +965 9800 5115.
