Starting in August, nationals from 151 countries may now enter the country without a visa and stay here for 30 days, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced.
BI OIC Commissioner Siegfred Mison (former Commissioner David has resigned) disclosed that the visa-free entry privilege of the said nationals was extended from 21 days to 30 days as part of government efforts to spur foreign tourist arrivals in the country.
He added that pursuant to existing bilateral agreements, nationals from Israel and Brazil shall continue to be admitted for an initial stay of 59 days. Interesting as to why these two countries' citizens can visit for 59 days. Has it to do with the "existing bilateral agreements" per the BI announcement or these lovely super models from the respective countries?
(Brazilian super model, Adriana Lima. A good reason to give a 59 day pass to Brazilians. Photo Source: coltsrevolver.wordpress.com)
The BI chief, however, stressed that foreigners can only avail of the visa-free privilege if their passports are valid for at least six months beyond their contemplated period of stay.
“They should also present return tickets to their country of origin or onward tickets to their next country of destination,” he said.
(Israeli actress and model Gal Gadot from "Fast and Furious 6" makes a good case for allowing Israelis to stay longer. Photo Source: Barnorma.com)
The Bureau of Immigration has finished updating its computerized travel control systems in the different ports of entry to implement the new visa policy.
Earlier, the government announced that it was extending the visa-free entry privileges of foreign visitors to spur tourist arrivals in the country.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) said it aims to attract at least 10 million foreign tourists by 2016.
DOT officials also foresee the tourism sector to generate up to seven million jobs for Filipinos if the said target is achieved.
A welcome change by BI which should prove beneficial to those foreigners planning to visit the Philippines. I commend the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Tourism for this excellent revision. 
(Photo Source: www.incrediblethings.com)
Dave, if the two models were contestants in the Babes & Beer expedition, my vote would have to be for Adriana. Just my 2 cents.
The Philippines is having a hard time getting folks to visit here. They really need to work on the Asia market. A winter golf tour in the Philippines would bring in the folks from Japan. They love golf and pay big bucks to play it. Japan has snow, we don’t!
😛
Dave,
It’s a good deal about the visas. We are sitting here in Narita, Japan waiting to go on our final leg to the Philippines. Didn’t get any sleep in the 12 1/2 hr flight from Chicago. Take care. See you soon
Super Dave,
Excluding the one year Balikbayan Visa which some of us avail of, a 59 or 60 day VISA for everyone would be a good start to bring in tourist, at the end of which, apply for and receive an automatic extension up to 180 days..and so on.
How about letting expats buy and own residential land but limit it to maybe lets say 1000 sqm to 2000 sqm tops. Or letting a business or corporation come in and open up and not have to be 60% owned by a philippine partner.
Maybe hire employees for more than 6 months or a year and give them benefits. Just a thought :-).
John D
Super Dave,
I fully agree on automatic visa extentions for super models, but instead of 59 to 60 days, lets just make it 365 days :-). It’s mind boggleing that the current president is opposed to such changes as his family lived in the U.S. for years and benefited greatly with being able to own a house and such here, and they were not “citizens”.
People seem to forget where they came from and how they benefited once in power, seems to be the case every where. And yes a few families there more or less own the majority of and run the country to their benefit. Thats one of the reasons FEDEX pulled out from subic, they were not going to be lets just say muscled into paying ever increasing make believe taxes or fee’s to operate there. As well as being opposed by those certain families wanting their cuts and then being taken to the circus court over not being partially owned by a filipino. So it was more economical for FEDEX to pull out which they did. Those certain families or so called corporations that were owned by those certain families didn’t get squat, but hundreds of filipinos lost good paying jobs and no one in the government there cared. Imagine that!
Oh heck lets just make it an automatic visa for 365 days for all super models :-).
John D.