Quick Read
- DOLE Department Order No. 248-C removes four agency permits and licenses from foreign worker permit filing and evaluation, but compliance with those agencies’ laws stays mandatory.
- The order ends the accreditation of filing agents, so employers file through their own staff or counsel and answer directly for the documents they submit.
- Processing time falls from 15 to 10 working days, but an advisory on the order says it does not state when the clock starts.
- Labor Market Test notices move from paid broadsheet publication to DOLE’s portal, which ends an applicant-paid newspaper notice.
- The order takes effect 15 days after newspaper publication, which one advisory estimates at around November 12 or 13, and current rules apply until then.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has made the foreign worker permit, formally the Alien Employment Permit (AEP), quicker to file and moved the accountability for it onto employers. Department Order No. 248-C, Series of 2026, announced on October 28, takes four agency permits and licenses off the filing checklist and ends the accreditation of filing agents. DOLE says the other agencies’ laws still apply. The permit can now arrive without the documents that used to stand in front of it, and the employer answers for what it filed.
Four Agency Documents Leave the Foreign Worker Permit Filing
DOLE said applicants no longer have to submit the Philippine Construction Accreditation Board (PCAB) license, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) special temporary permit, the Department of Justice (DOJ) authority to employ alien, or the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) authority to hire foreign national. An advisory that sets out the order section by section says Section 1 removes them from both filing and evaluation. Compliance with those agencies’ laws stays mandatory.
| Item | Before | Under 248-C |
|---|---|---|
| Agency documents | Attached to the application, or proof of application, depending on industry and duties | Not required for filing and evaluation |
| Processing time | 15 working days | 10 working days, one-time 10-day extension, 20-day maximum |
| Labor Market Test notice | Broadsheet publication at the applicant’s expense | DOLE’s official portal or public repository, or filing with the Office of the National Administrative Register at the UP Law Center |
| Filing agents | DOLE-accredited agents could file | Accreditation ended, employers file through their own staff or counsel |
Employers Answer Directly for What They File
Section 4 ends the accreditation and appointment of filing agents, according to the same advisory. Employers file through their own HR officers, personnel, or owners, with the option of legal counsel, and the order makes them directly accountable for the documents they submit. DOLE’s announcement, as reported, likewise says employers may process applications through their own HR personnel.
The cost lands on two groups. Employers that handed foreign worker permit filing to an agent now carry the work and the accountability. Accredited agents lose the filing role the order removes. The 2025 rules already treat misrepresentation in an application as grounds for permit revocation, so a wrong document now traces back to the employer’s own staff.
Regulated Employers Hold the Gap Between Permit and Authority
Where a role needs a PCAB license, a PRC permit, or DOJ or DENR authority, DOLE no longer checks for them before it issues the permit. An employer can hold the foreign worker permit while the approval is still pending. The advisory says a construction or engineering firm can file without waiting for the PCAB license or DOJ authority, and that this does not mean the employee may work without them. It adds that the Bureau of Immigration’s 9(g) work visa still requires the permit, so the faster permit shortens one step in a longer sequence.
Take a construction firm hiring a foreign engineer. Its contractor license sits with PCAB and the engineer’s permit sits with PRC. Filing no longer requires proof of either. Whichever clears last sets the real start date, and nothing at DOLE’s filing stage confirms it.
The 10-Day Clock Leaves the Slow Stages Untouched
DOLE moved all permit processing to its Central Office effective June 9, 2026. Delays continued afterward. An immigration advisory dated September 7 reported lengthy processing for new and renewal applications. One visa processor’s own cases as of September 15 showed 31 applications still awaiting the order of payment slip, with a median wait of 29 working days from filing. That is a sample from one caseload, not a DOLE statistic.
The new clock for a foreign worker permit is 10 working days, extendible once to 20. The advisory on the order says it does not state when the clock starts or how the payment slip and the legal review after payment will run. Those are the two stages where the advisory places the delays. The order’s preamble, as the advisory describes it, cites a review by the Bureau of Local Employment recommending further streamlining. Dropping documents shortens preparation before filing. It does not touch the queue after it.
Labor Market Test Notices Leave the Newspapers
Applicants for a foreign worker permit no longer pay for broadsheet publication of the Labor Market Test notice. The test itself stays, and only the place of publication changes. Employers save the advertising cost, and newspapers lose a paid notice the old process required of every applicant.
The advisory says the portal’s location and the publication procedure await implementing guidelines from the Bureau of Local Employment. A portal listing and a newspaper notice reach different readers, and nothing reported on the order measures how many Filipino jobseekers see either.
Effectivity Falls Around Mid-November
The order takes effect 15 days after publication in a newspaper of general circulation. One advisory reports publication on October 28, which would put the start around November 12 or 13. That is the advisory’s count, and no DOLE confirmation of the date had been reported at the time of writing. Current rules, including newspaper publication, apply until then, and the order does not say how pending applications are treated.
DOLE has shortened its own paperwork and passed the checking to employers. The four clearances stay with PCAB, PRC, DOJ, and DENR, and the filing that accredited agents used to carry moves onto employer staff. The foreign worker permit arrives faster. The risk in it arrives with the employer.
Track more regulatory shifts that affect your business in Policy & Regulation section of Hemos PH.
