Legal Awareness and Access to Legal Assistance among Overseas Filipino Workers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Basis for an OFW Legal Support Awareness Framework

This study examined legal awareness and access to legal assistance among Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as a basis for developing an OFW Legal Support Awareness Framework. It addressed the practical gap between the existence of migrant worker support mechanisms and OFWs’ ability to understand, locate, and use such assistance when legal or legally related concerns arise. Using a quantitative descriptive-correlational and predictive design, data were gathered through an anonymous online questionnaire from 60 eligible adult Filipino OFWs residing or working in Riyadh. Participants were recruited through online and referral-based sampling due to the absence of a complete public sampling frame; therefore, the findings are analytically useful but not fully generalizable to all OFWs in Riyadh. The questionnaire operationalized legal awareness, access to legal assistance, and barriers affecting access through five-point Likert-scale indicators and demonstrated excellent internal consistency for the major scales. Frequency, percentage, weighted mean, standard deviation, Spearman’s rank correlation, and multiple regression were used to describe patterns and test relationships among variables. Results showed that the most common legal issues were employment disputes, contract-related concerns, unpaid or delayed salary/wages, and benefits or end-of-service pay concerns. Respondents reported high legal awareness but only moderate access to legal assistance, based on the study’s benchmark scale. Barriers were also moderate, particularly lack of time due to work schedule, fear or hesitation in reporting concerns, and lack of required documents. Legal awareness had a significant positive relationship with access to legal assistance and significantly predicted access. The proposed framework emphasizes legal issue recognition, legal awareness strengthening, referral pathways, barrier reduction support, and community and digital dissemination.

legal awareness, access to legal assistance, Overseas Filipino Workers, Riyadh, migrant welfare

1. Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179-211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Andersen, R. M. (1995). Revisiting the behavioral model and access to medical care: Does it matter? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36(1), 1-10. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7738325/ [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2023). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (6th ed.). SAGE Publications. https://edge.sagepub.com/creswellrd6e [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor & United Nations Development Programme. (2008). Making the law work for everyone: Volume I, Report of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor. United Nations Development Programme. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/633970?ln=en [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Farbenblum, B., & Berg, L. (2021). Migrant workers' access to justice for wage theft: A global study of promising initiatives. Migrant Justice Institute. https://mwji.squarespace.com/s/Farbenblum-Berg-2021-MWA2J-with-hyperlinks.pdf [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175-191. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193146 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A.-G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149-1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2022). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage Learning. https://books.google.com/books/about/Multivariate_Data_Analysis.html?id=PONXEAAAQBAJ [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. International Labour Organization. (2022). Protection legislation and legal frameworks for migrant workers in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/wcmsp5/groups/public/%40arabstates/%40ro-beirut/documents/publication/wcms_886063.pdf [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. International Labour Organization. (2024). Justice across borders: Access to labour justice for migrant workers through cross-border litigation. https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/Standard%20publication_Justice%20Across%20Borders_EN_web__0.pdf [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. International Organization for Migration. (2024). Access to justice for migrant workers and victims of trafficking in persons. https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/pub2024-023-r-access-to-justice-for-migrant-workers-and-victims.pdf [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Migrant Workers Office-Riyadh. (n.d.). Contact us. Retrieved June 27, 2026, from https://www.mworiyadh-govph.com/contactus [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. OECD. (2021). OECD framework and good practice principles for people-centred justice. OECD Publishing. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-framework-and-good-practice-principles-for-people-centred-justice_cdc3bde7-en.html [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. OECD & Open Society Foundations. (2019). Legal needs surveys and access to justice. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/g2g9a36c-en [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Philippine Statistics Authority. (2025). Results of the 2024 Overseas Filipino Workers. https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/labor-and-employment/survey-overseas-filipinos [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Republic Act No. 8042. (1995). Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995. https://immigration.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/8_RA_8042.pdf [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Republic Act No. 10022. (2010). An Act amending Republic Act No. 8042, otherwise known as the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995. https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2010/ra_10022_2010.html [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Republic Act No. 11641. (2021). Department of Migrant Workers Act. https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/2/94035 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. World Justice Project. (2019). Global insights on access to justice 2019. https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/research-and-data/global-insights-access-justice-2019 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. World Justice Project. (2023). Dissecting the justice gap in 104 countries: WJP Justice Data Graphical Report Part I. https://worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/WJPJusticeDataGraphicalReport-Part1.pdf [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Conflict of Law in the Safeguarding of Malaysian Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Way Forward
• Alternative Dispute Resolution in India: A Brief Overview Justice Delayed is Justice Denied. - William E. Gladstone
• The Role of Museums in Safeguarding Cultural Heritage Rights: Balancing Access and Repatriation
• An Evaluation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' Significance and Application in Nigeria
• The Role of International Law in Shaping National Immigration Policies.