Top Ten Countries for Filipino Emigrants

With the election of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., son of the late dictator there are rumors that more Filipinos plan on emigrating to other countries for a better opportunities and better standard of living. There are 10 million Filipinos live abroad and more than 1 million Filipino leave the country each year to work abroad.

Here are the top ten countries for the Filipino Emigrants. It is not surprise that more than 60% of the emigrants favor the US. 

The Philippines has a long history of migration dating back to the 14th century. Today, more than a hundred countries serve as a new home for Filipino emigrants.

Data obtained by the CFO since 1981 show that more than half of the total number of Filipino emigrants are bound to the United States of America at 60%. This may be due to the popular notion in the 20th century that international migration meant moving to the United States and its Pacific territories. The next most popular countries of destination among Filipino emigrants after USA are Canada at 20.12%, Japan at 6.21% and Australia at 5.9%, followed by Italy, New Zealand, UK, Germany, South Korea and Spain.

The above data is for legal immigration. However, in January 2011, the Department of Homeland Security estimate of "unauthorized immigrants" from the Philippines remained at 270,000. By 2017, the number of Filipinos who were in the United States illegally increased to 310,000. These illegal immigrants are called TNT.

TNT is “Tago ng tago”, which means “hiding and hiding”. To live “TNT” in the U.S. means to hide - hide your status, hide from authorities, hide from ill-wishers, so as to evade removal. Here's an article on some true cases of Filipino TNT's.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2021/03/tago-ng-tago-the-untold-story-of-filipino-undocumented-immigrants-in-perpetual-hiding.html

 Meanwhile enjoy this photo from my file;