New long-time tourist visa available

Foreigners intending to stay longer in the country may now avail of a six-month, long-stay tourist visa that will be launched next week by the  Bureau of Immigration (BI).

14 June 2013

BI Commissioner Ricardo A. David, Jr. also announced the introduction of a new visa sticker that will replace the wet stamp used by the Bureau in implementing extensions of stay in the passports of foreign tourists.

David said the Long Stay Visitor Visa Extension (LSVVE) project was launched to spur tourist arrivals in the country by giving foreigners the privilege to prolong their stay here without the need to frequent the BI office.

Presently, the BI grants foreign tourists a maximum stay of two months each time they apply for visa extensions.

“Through this long stay visa, we expect lesser crowding in our offices due to the decreased volume of visa extension applicants,” David said.

As for the new visa sticker, the BI chief said it will prevent the proliferation of fake visa extension stamps that has victimized many foreigners.

He disclosed that the sticker has security and tracking features that cannot be copied.

“It will also speed up transaction in our visa section, allow more efficient tracking of records and faster detection of forged and tampered stamps,” The BI chief added.

According to David, the projects were initiated after meetings were meetings between the BI and Department of Tourism and Department of Foreign Affairs were held on what policy reforms can be initiated to further attract more foreign visitors to the country.

The tourist department had said it is aiming to increase volume of tourist arrival to 10 million by 2016.

[Editor’s comment:] We learned that the visa fee will be the same as for a current 3 times 2 month visa extension plus an additional tax of PHP 100.

This might be interesting for tourists and foreigners living in a provincial village. For them the travel costs to get their visa extension in the next town with a BI office will be cut by 2. Applause

Related posts

  • Visa and Money – be preparedDecember 16, 2014 Visa and Money – be prepared Visa and Money should be cared of before the year's end. During almost 10 days nothing official will work in the Philippines - and […]
  • Bureau of Immigration is very busyMarch 14, 2014 Bureau of Immigration is very busy The Bureau of Immigration (BI) had been very busy during the last weeks. There are two new regulations, one belonging to foreign […]
  • Philippines Tourists InformationSeptember 11, 2013 Philippines Tourists Information The Bureau of Immigration has released a flyer with information about Visa, Exit Clearance Certificate and Procedures: That's nothing […]
  • Fake visa extension stampsApril 30, 2013 Fake visa extension stamps Be careful with your visa extension. A Japanese national got caught with fake visa extension in his passport. Mr. H.Y. went to the […]
  • Fast changing visa regulations for overstayingMay 8, 2008 Fast changing visa regulations for overstaying On March 11 the Bureau of Immigration closed its counter at Manila NAIA. "The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has advised departing foreign […]
Share if you like

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Enter Captcha Here : *

Reload Image

error: Content is protected !!