DMW License Expiry 2026: 65 Agencies Expire by December

The list had 3,793 agency records on 14 October 2026, in all statuses. Of these, 1,168 carry a valid license: 1,109 Valid License, 40 Valid License (Provisional), 18 Valid License (Full) and 1 VALID LICENSE (EXTENDED). The list writes Provisional and Full after a hyphen; we put them in brackets. Every one of the 1,168 shows an expiry date.

Here is how those dates fall by year.

And here are the next 15 months, one by one.

Of the 65 licenses that expire by 31 December 2026, 48 belong to private employment agencies for land-based workers, 8 to manning agencies for sea-based workers, 8 to service contractors and 1 to a Philippine registered vessel.

In the 90 days from 14 October 2026 to 12 January 2027, 74 valid licenses reach their expiry date. Of those 74, 63 belong to agencies that also have approved job orders on the DMW list. For the other 11 we found no approved job order in our copy. That can mean the agency has none right now, or that a record did not match. Our post on approved job orders by country explains what that list shows.

Each record on the DMW list has three fields that matter to you: the license status, the status date and the license expiry date. The expiry date is the last day of the license shown. It is not a warning, and it does not say the agency did anything wrong.

For the valid licenses on the list, the time between the status date and the expiry date is 4.9 years on average. This is only an average of what the list shows. We do not state the length of a license term set by the rules.

Our guide to checking an agency gives the simple test. Only an agency with a valid license may recruit you, and only for an approved job order. Look for a valid status and an expiry date that has not passed.

We compared our copy of 2 October 2026 with our copy of 14 October 2026. In those 12 days, 43 agency records changed in status, expiry date or another field. The status changes stand out:

• 7 agencies went from Expired back to Valid License.
• 9 went from a valid status to Expired: 6 from Valid License, 2 from Valid License (Provisional) and 1 from Valid License (Full).
• 3 went from Valid License to Suspended (Document Processing), and 3 went the other way.
• 1 went from Valid License to Suspended.
• 1 went from Valid License (Provisional) to Valid License (Full).
• 1 went from Valid License (Full) to Valid License.

So statuses move in both directions. A record that shows Expired today can show a valid license next week after a renewal. A valid record can change too. This is why one look at the list is not enough.

Our earlier post on how many DMW agencies lost their license in 2026 counted the statuses on 5 October 2026. The totals then were 3,791 agencies and 1,166 with a valid license.

Not always. Expired means only what the DMW list says: the license shown has passed its expiry date. The agency may renew it. The 7 records that went from Expired back to Valid License in two weeks show that this happens.

While the status is Expired, our guide is clear: the agency cannot recruit you now. The list does not tell you whether a renewal is being processed, so do not rely on a promise that the renewal is coming. Wait until the DMW list itself shows a valid status and a new expiry date, or ask DMW.

The list also has other non-valid statuses, such as Cancelled, Delisted or Denied Renewal. Those are not the same as Expired. Our guide explains each one.

1. Open the DMW list yourself. Go to the DMW list of licensed recruitment agencies. Do not use a link sent in chat.
2. Search the name. You can also look the agency up in our agency search or browse our copy from A to Z.
3. Read the status and the expiry date. Look for a valid status and a date that has not passed. If the date is only days or weeks away, check again on the day you pay or sign.
4. Check the job order. Find the agency, country and position on the DMW list of approved job orders.
5. Ask DMW if anything is unclear. Call the DMW-OWWA hotline 1348, or +632 1348 from abroad, or email mwpb@dmw.gov.ph.

Our agency pages show the DMW status in a fixed sentence. We do not rate, rank or review agencies.

How we counted. We used our copy of the public DMW list of licensed recruitment agencies, read on 14 October 2026. The list itself shows its data as of 14 October 2026. We counted one record per licensee, took each status exactly as published and placed each license by the expiry date shown. For the changes, we compared the status history with our copies of 25 September and 2 October 2026. We name no agency in this post.