Filipinos planning to travel abroad from the Philippines for non-essential purposes face stricter measures on the Bureau of Immigration (BI) with at least five requirements that they need to fulfil before they are allowed to leave the country.
BI National Operations Center (BINOC) acting chief and BI’s acting spokesperson Melvin Mabulac warned that Filipinos attempting to find overseas employment under the guise of posing as tourists will not be allowed to leave the Philippines.
“If travellers say that their purpose of travel is for leisure but we were able to find out that they will be working to the country of destination. They will not be allowed to leave,” said Mabulac during a Laging Handa briefing.
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Resolution No. 52, Series of 2020 of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) outlines the following requirements for Filipinos headed abroad for non-essential travel purposes:
– Submission of confirmed round-trip tickets for those travelling on tourist visas;
– Adequate travel and health insurance to cover rebooking and accommodation expenses if stranded, and hospitalization in case of infection, in such amounts as may be determined by the Department of Tourism;
– Proof of allowed entry by the destination country in accordance with their travel, health, and quarantine restrictions. In the UAE, this is the visitor’s entry visa (visit/tourist visa) and the approval from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA).
– Execution of a declaration acknowledging the risks involved in travelling, including the risk of delay in their return trips, to be provided for in the check-in counters by the airlines;
– Upon return, the tourist should follow the guidelines of returning overseas Filipinos of the National Task Force against Covid-19.
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“Non-essential travel is already allowed but we remind Filipinos to comply with the five conditions, and they are set to travel abroad,” said Mabulac.
Reports from the Philippine News Agency add that only Filipinos or foreigners married to Filipinos are allowed to enter the country at this time.
“Filipino or foreigners married to a Filipino must show a marriage certificate, valid latest passport and any identification that will prove that the wife or husband is still a Filipino citizen,” he said.
Meanwhile, Filipinos who have become naturalized citizens of other nations are also temporarily banned from entering the country.
“If they are already naturalized (in) another country, they need to reacquire citizenship. They need to apply the reacquisition and retention of Filipino citizenship under Republic Act 9225. They are already considered as foreigners and foreign nationals are not yet allowed to enter the country,” the BI official added.
He said those exempted are foreigners who are members of diplomatic corps and foreign crew of airlines.
