Filipino workers across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia now have additional ways to get their employment contracts verified, following the expansion of a service run by the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) together with VFS Global and DBP Data Center Inc.
At the heart of the rollout is contract verification — a mandatory step that confirms an OFW’s employment agreement meets Philippine government standards and is a prerequisite for securing an Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC). Without a verified contract, the OEC cannot be released, leaving workers unable to clear Philippine immigration when departing for overseas jobs.
Three verification channels are available to workers in the Kingdom. The first is in person at the newly designated VFS Global centers, where appointments can be booked through the dedicated OFW portal at services.vfsglobal.com/sau/en/ofw. The second is entirely online via the Online Employment Contract Verification System (OECVS), accessed at dmw.dataflowgroup.com. The third remains the traditional route — visiting a Migrant Workers Office (MWO) directly.
The OECVS itself is not new. It was first piloted in Dubai in July 2025 through MWO-Dubai before the DMW and the DataFlow Group signed a memorandum of agreement in Dubai on January 9, 2026, to take the platform global. DataFlow has reported that the pilot processed more than 30,000 contracts and saved workers close to AED 2 million and roughly 137,500 hours that would otherwise have gone to travel and queuing. Saudi Arabia was named among the first wave of expansion sites, alongside Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, with Hong Kong going live on April 30, 2026.
For those using the VFS centers, the process is built around online booking and payment ahead of an in-person document submission. Workers can settle fees securely online and follow their application in real time. Once the MWO completes verification, applicants are notified by email and can then access their verified contract and OEC electronically rather than returning to collect paper copies.
The centers are also designed to cut the time workers spend waiting, with extended operating hours among the stated improvements over the older walk-in-only setup.
VFS Global has handled Philippine-related services in the Kingdom for several years, with a footprint that already includes Jeddah, Riyadh, and Al Khobar. The company says its verification work now supports 16 client governments worldwide through a mix of digital channels and its network of application centers.
