@dan87 I would like to share my recent experience(March 2024). I was working and living in Singapore for 12 years and found a new opportunity in Hong Kong in 2023. While waiting for the approval of my Hong Kong employment visa, I decided to travel around Asia for one year while working remotely for the new company.
I received my Hong Kong employment visa October 2023 and flew directly from Cambodia to Hong Kong on January 2024. Once I arrived in Hong Kong, I went to DMW office to have my HK contract verified. They will give you a list of documents you need to prepare (signed employment contract, statement on how I got hired, company profile, HK employment visa). Once I received my verified contract, they also gave me an "exemption from direct hire ban" form. I just need to present this form to POEA when I visit the Philippines and they should issue me an OEC through this document.
I decided to become a digital nomad for a year and did not go home to the Phils (I know I will have challenge exiting the country again) to save me and my employer from the tedious process of having my Hong Kong HR go to POEA in HK for contract verification > mail hard copy of verified contract to Phils > process OEC etc.
![Clown face :clown: 🤡](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f921.png)
![Clown face :clown: 🤡](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f921.png)
![Clown face :clown: 🤡](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/7.0/png/unicode/64/1f921.png)
I hope this information helps!