Filipino Migration to Europe: Country Profiles

This set of profiles is based on a combination of official government data, data from non-governmental organizations and international agencies working with Filipino migrants, and extrapolations from estimates compiled by Filipino migrant organizations.

We call on the visitors to this page to help us to improve the profiles of Filipino migrants in the various countries of Europe. We appeal to those who have more updated data on the Filipino communities in various countries of Europe to please send these to us by e-mail .

Italy

In Italy, Filipinos rank fourth in the population register of migrant communities, coming after the Moroccans, North Americans and Tunisians. Official records registered 42,072 legally residing Filipinos in April 1991, while other non-governmental organizations and research institutions offer a more realistic figure of between 175,000 - 200,000, including the unauthorized workers, making Italy the country with the biggest concentration of Filipino migrants in the whole of Europe.

An important feature in the population is the overwhelming presence of women, approximately 160,000 or 80% of the total number. Over 90% are employed in the service sector, mainly as private domestic helpers. They are concentrated in the cities and outlying areas of Rome, Bologna, Florence, Milan and Naples.

Britain

Filipino migrant workers came to Britain in large numbers during the 1970s, in a response to a short-lived labor shortage during this boom period. According to the UK Department of Employment, 20,226 work permits were issued to Filipinos between 1968 and 1980. Some 47% of the work permits were issued for those who came to work in hospitals and welfare homes as hospital auxiliaries, catering workers and to nurse-trainees. The second biggest category of work permits were for chambermaids, followed by catering and waitering staff.

Not all Filipinos came with working permits, many came in as students and visitors, and who were able to change their residence permits to be able to work. Some Filipinas came in through marriage bureau, while others as domestic servants accompanying their employers (diplomats or Middle Eastern royalty, etc.). All categories of migrants generally then applied to be joined by their families.

The Immigration Act of 1971 and subsequent legislation imposed restrictions that made (legal) primary immigration virtually impossible for the community. Work permits for unskilled labor were withdrawn, and many of those who entered with work permits were forced to leave. Domestic servants, however, were still allowed to enter (outside the Immigration rules) as a concession to their employers. This arrangement led to widespread abuses of these domestics, since they were not allowed to stay if they left their employers.

There are varying estimates of the number of Filipinos residing in the UK. Estimates by CFMW-London are: between 40,000-50,000 Filipinos in London and about 65,000 to 90,000 in the UK as a whole. The majority of Filipinos in the UK are women - 65% is the current estimate. While Filipino migrant workers are scattered all over Britain the greatest concentration is in London. The majority live in the London Boroughs of Camden, Newham, Islington, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, and Hammersmith & Fulham.

The majority of the first wave of migrants were college educated (in 1979, 90% of female Filipino migrants had at least 2 years of college education). Many were trained as nurses, teachers, engineers and accountants. However, because of restrictions on work permits, they came in as unskilled labor. Second generation Filipinos and those that came in as family members or students have faired better. As a community, there is a growing trend towards professional qualifications and employment in the second generation.

Spain

Combined figures of the Filipino Chaplaincy, migrant organizations in Barcelona and official Spanish government data estimates the population of Filipinos at 50,000. Post-regularization data officially registered 25,000 Filipinos in 1992. Before these regularization campaigns, about 75% of the community did not have any legal status. 85% of the population are women.

As in Italy, an estimated 90% of the population are also employed mainly as private domestic helpers. Because of the type of work they are engaged in, most Filipinos are found in the cities, e.g. Barcelona, Madrid, and around the tourist areas, e.g. Malaga, Las Palmas and the Balearic Islands, where they find work in holiday villas, hotels and restaurants. A small section of the community have become self-employed, establishing businesses in catering, shipping and freight, and modest import-export ventures.

A report on the educational attainment of Filipino migrants in Spain revealed the following data: 41% have completed university studies, including degrees in Commerce, AB Economics, Dentistry, Secretarial, BS Education, BS Elementary Education, Medical Technology, Midwifery and Nursing. Many held professional jobs before leaving the Philippines.

Greece

The Filipino population in Greece has now reached 40,000, 90% of whom are women. This is according to estimates of Kasapi-Hellas, an organization of the Filipino migrant community there. Some 60%-70% of this population is undocumented. This number is set to increase with the implementation of a new law which limits to five years the maximum length of stay of migrant workers in Greece.

Majority (95%) of the Filipino migrant workers are employed as domestic workers, working in homes of rich Greek families. A growing number are also being employed by middle-income families, to enable both husband and wife to engage in paid employment. Many are employed as domestic staff of diplomatic missions to Greece. Still within the service sector, some work in restaurants and hotels. The limited number of nurses who worked before in hospitals have had to earn their living later on as domestic helpers, since the government stopped the issuance of work and residence permits for them. A small number of Filipinas are married to Greek men.

Of the migrants in Greece, 35% are college graduates with work experience, and 25% finished high school.

Germany

In the case of Germany, there were two waves of migration, according to a member of the Philippinenburo, a resource center on the Philippines. The first wave of migration, which began in the early 1970s, consisted of nurses and midwives who worked in Germany's hospitals and retirement homes. The second wave was in the 1980s, and composed mainly of Filipinas married to German men.

In 1990, the number of officially registered Filipinos in Germany from the Statistics Office in Wiesbaden totaled 21,484, with about 80% of them women. Not included in these figures are those who have acquired German citizenship, and the undocumented migrant workers throughout the country. Based on estimates of various Filipino migrant organizations and non-government agencies in Germany, the total number of undocumented Filipino migrant workers could easily reach 20,000.

There is also a significant number married to German nationals. In the past years, an annual average of 1000 women applied at the Philippine Embassy for a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. An estimated 1500 Filipinos are added each year to the current migrant population through marriage.

France

The majority of the estimated 18,000 Filipinos in France work as domestic helpers. Half of these are in the 26-35 years age bracket, followed by the 36-45 years group with 29%, 16% are in the 16-25 years age range, while the 46-60 years range has only 6%.

Those who have stayed 1-7 years comprise 80% of the Filipino migrant population, while 15% have lived in France for 8-15 years.

Almost all (95%) of Filipino migrant workers in France are women, and only 5% are professionals. 60% of the Filipinas are either married, separated or widowed, while the remaining 40% are single (including single mothers). Of those who are married, 10% are married to French nationals. 5% are practicing their professions as artists, writers, managerial workers, and there are also many students in the various universities in France.

Of the women workers, an alarming high 90% are unauthorized, having no legal documents. The large number of Filipinos who came in the 1980s had availed of tourist visas which were then easily obtainable for entering France.

Austria

Some 20,000 Filipino nurses, majority of them women, work in the different hospitals of Austria. A large concentration of these nurses can be found in the big cities such as Vienna. Most of the nurses are recent graduates from the Philippines with only two to three years of work experience. Their average age is between 24 to 34 years old. There are also a few hundreds working as domestics and chambermaids.

The Netherlands

Filipinos have come to the Netherlands as nurses and seamstresses (1960s), seafarers (beginning in the 1970s), spouses in intercultural marriages, performing artists, students and political refugees (1980s), and au pairs and oil rig workers (1990).

According the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics, there were a total of 5462 Filipinos in the Netherlands in January 1996. The Filipino community estimates that there are between 7000 to 10,000 Filipino residents in the Netherlands, not counting the children of Filipino couples and mixed marriages. In addition, at least 300 Filipino seamen pass Dutch ports daily, and around 500 Filipinos work in the oil rigs in the North Sea. About 1500 Filipinas are in the country as au pairs (about a third of the total in the Netherlands).

Belgium

About 60% of the migrant community in Belgium are undocumented. Majority (85%) of the migrants are women, most of whom are employed in private domestic work. Particularly in Brussels, many of the women are employed as domestic staff in diplomatic missions. There is a preference for Filipinos by the diplomatic corps, especially because they are known to be well-educated, hard working, not trouble-makers, and speak very good English. As in France, Spain and Italy, Filipino domestic helpers have become a status symbol for their employers.

Other important sections of the migrant population include the seafarers who either transit on board international vessels in Antwerp, or "stand-by" while waiting to be hired, or "jump ship" and take up employment on land. Some of them also marry into the resident Filipino community or find Belgian or other European partners. Especially in bars and nightclubs around the port area, Filipina entertainers, "cultural artists" and dancers are recruited by an international network of traffickers to engage in prostitution.

Ireland

The number of officially registered Filipinos in Ireland was 257 in 1991, 90% of whom were women. Most of the earliest arrivals were married to Irish nationals; later Filipinos came in as domestic workers in diplomatic missions.

Other Countries

Recent data on the Filipino communities in other countries of Europe, e.g. Switzerland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland are still missing

Summary: Population

If we consider the presence of Filipinos in the other 8 European countries, the total number of Filipinos in Europe would be about 500,000.

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