THE Ministry of Labour is calling on people to be wary of recruitment agents offering them jobs overseas.
This was after this newspaper received reports of agents recruiting workers under suspicious circumstances.
Upon hearing of these reports, National Employment Centre director Viliame Cagilaba said only three recruitment agents were endorsed by the permanent secretary to conduct recruiting duties in the country.
"All the rest are illegal," he said.
He said those being recruited for jobs overseas needed to ask the respective agencies if they were registered with the Ministry of Labour and to also sight their certificates of authentication.
Mr Cagilaba said one way to gauge whether an agency was legitimate was through the fee structure being charged.
"Do not be lured by these agencies, there are certain fees that should not be charged so if an agency is charging you, then it is breaching the employment regulations.
"There are only certain fees regulated, other than that, it is illegal to demand money from your clients."
Mr Cagilaba also called on all people engaged in dealings with agencies to visit the ministry in order to clarify their doubts.
"We are not stopping people from going overseas to work but they need to be given the right opportunities and also from the Ministry of Labour side, we do not want to send people to countries that are below our standards in terms of laws governing workers," he said.
"Please do not hesitate to come into any of our offices in Suva, Lautoka, Nadi, Ba and Labasa just to seek our advice before they are recruited.
"We just want these agencies to follow the law, especially because they are dealing with human resources," he added.