The Chinese Embassy in Manila said on Monday that its government will now allow the processing of visa applications for Filipinos who have been inoculated with China-made COVID-19 vaccines.
China shut off its cross-border travel to most foreigners since March of last year, triggering lockdowns and bringing international travel to a grinding halt.
“To make visa facilitation arrangements for foreigners fully vaccinated with Chinese COVID-19 vaccines is a helpful effort, based on full consideration of safety and efficacy, to facilitate the cross-border personnel exchanges after massive vaccination,” the embassy stated in a Facebook post.
The embassy added that it will make “cross-border travel much easier and contribute to the healthy, safe, and orderly people-to-people exchanges”.
Visa applicants traveling to China for business purposes can submit requirements issued before the pandemic, the embassy said.
The scope of visa applicants for emergency humanitarian needs was also expanded to cover “foreign family members of Chinese nationals or foreign nationals with Chinese permanent residence permit, including spouse, parents, children, and other dependent close relatives (siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren), traveling to China for a family reunion, family support, family visit, funeral of relatives, or visiting relatives in critical medical condition”.
The Chinese embassy said it will pay close attention to the vaccination progress and the issuance of COVID-19 vaccination certificates in the Philippines.
It is announced that China is ready to discuss with other countries, including the Philippines, on creating mechanisms for health certificates to facilitate the issuance of visas.
However, it is not clear if the announcement only applies to Filipinos or includes foreigners in the Philippines.
The Philippines received 600,000 vaccine doses from China two weeks ago, kickstarting its inoculation drive and healthcare workers and soldiers were first in line to receive Sinovac.
