In order to ensure that foreign businessmen or expatriates who were recipients of the Special Visa for Employment Generation (SVEG) are complying with the law, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) recently formed a committee that will monitor their compliance with the conditions and requirements for acquiring such visa.

BI Commissioner Nonoy Libanan also warned foreigners who had been issued indefinite visas by the bureau for employing at least 10 Filipino workers may lose such privilege if they violate the conditions of their stay in the country.

Also called job visa, the SVEG entitles the holder to stay in the Philippines indefinitely if he invest or works in a business enterprise that employs at least 10 regular and full-time Filipino workers.

“We must institute the mechanisms needed to ensure that this job visa program is not abused or taken advantage of by foreign applicants who might have ulterior motives in applying for the visa,” Libanan said.

He said no foreigner should be allowed to manipulate or take advantage of the SVEG program which was launched to encourage foreigners to do business in the country and provide employment opportunities to Filipinos.

Atty. Eliodora Caluya, BI executive assistant, was named head of the four-man oversight committee which was created last July 29 pursuant to a memorandum issued by BI Associate Commissioner Roy Almoro and approved by Libanan.

Among others, Caluya’s committee was tasked to verify the existence of the corporation or entity where the SVEG applicant has an investment or is employed; conduct inspection of the establishment to check if the business indeed employs 10 or more Filipinos; and make a report on the working conditions of the workers.

All SVEG holders and their respective business enterprises nationwide are subject to oversight by the committee.

The BI started implementing the SVEG program last April pursuant to an executive order that President Arroyo signed in November 2008.

Under the rules, the SVEG is issued to a foreigner with an interest in a company or entity that employs at least 10 full-time and regular Filipino workers either for managerial, executive, professional, technical, skilled, or unskilled positions.

A foreigner applying for the visa shall certify that he or she maintains a lawful immigration status in the Philippines; is engaged in a viable and sustainable business; exercises managerial acts with authority to employ, promote and dismiss employees; and evinces a genuine intention to indefinitely remain in the country.