Sorry for the French expression in the title. The current game of the Bureau of Immigration in the Philippines is similar to the French roulette. Et puis merde!
The tourism industry is urging the government to rush the lifting of visa restrictions for other Asian and European nationals who can fill the gap created by a projected decrease in Chinese tourists.
The president of the Tourism Congress -TC (what’s that? a new black hole?) said: “The government needs to fast-track the relaxation of visa requirements for countries such as India and Russia, so we can adjust our promotions to them to fill the gap that will be created by the Chinese market”.
Echoing the same, the Department of Tourism (DoT) said: “We will just have to work triple time on other markets. Key markets that we want to unlock and tap are Taiwan and India.”
Funny people in those key positions at TC, DoT and BoI. Why do they not give all the potential tourists a free 30 days visa waver? Are there someones that are more equal than the others?
Facts are:
Koreans continued to be the top visitors at 265,031, accounting for 23.08 percent of total market share.
Followed by Americans with a count at 179,561 (15.64 percent)
and the Japanese at 104,558 (9.11 percent).
All these 3 money-bringing nations and many more still have to run to a BoI before their 21 days visa-waver expires.
And then it costs a bit of money for the next 38 days:
| Visa Waiver | 500.00 |
| Visa Waiver Application Fee | 1,000.00 |
| Certification Fee | 500.00 |
| Express fee (Certification) | 500.00 |
| Express fee (For processing) | 500.00 |
| Legal Research Fee (LRF) for each item | 10.00 |
Need to know more about visa – visa extension and other fees`
See here: http://www.silent-gardens.com/visa.php 
Thank you very much.
