MANILA - Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss on Thursday said the initial batch of the first Filipino workers in the tourism sector in Israel is set to leave next week after being legally allowed to work in the industry.

At least 500 Filipinos, who will mostly work in hotels in Israel, form part of the first batch of OFWs allowed by Israel to work in the industry, Fluss said.

Fluss said Israel and the Philippines have signed a government-to-government agreement on the processing of the application of workers in the hotel industry following negotiations.

A quota has been set at 2,000, but it would depend on the demand, the envoy said.

Applicants do not need to pay a processing fee and will just have to apply at Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

Only Filipinos and Jordanians are now allowed to work as foreign workers in Israel's hotel industry.

"We have specific sectors that are open for specific nationalities. Agriculture is Thai workers, healthcare used to be only Filipinos, now it's from Moldova, Sri Lanka, new sector Nepal. Construction is open for Chinese, a little bit from Turkey, a little bit from Eastern Europe." said Fluss.

Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss says first ever batch of OFWs in hotel sector to fly to Israel next week.

Before, Filipinos are only allowed to work as caregivers there. pic.twitter.com/O8pET3F7Bl

— Jekki Pascual (@jekkipascual) May 26, 2022

So far, there are about 30,000 OFWs in Israel, most of which are caregivers since it is legally available to Filipinos.

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