GGRAsia – Philippines to tighten tourist visa rules for Chinese nationals

Philippines to tighten tourist visa rules for Chinese nationals

May 10, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

The Philippines is set to tighten this week its visa requirements for Chinese tourists, amid what the nation’s Department of Foreign Affairs said were a “high number of fraudulent applications” received by the country’s embassy and consulates in China. That is according to the department’s undersecretary for civilian security and consular affairs, Jesus Domingo, as cited in local media outlets.

Mr Domingo was quoted saying at a Thursday news briefing that the Philippines needed to tighten the visa issuance rules due to concerns over past cases of “fraudulently acquired” visas by Chinese applicants in mainland China, as well as criminal groups that targeted some Chinese arrivals to employ them in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

“We are urging our [diplomatic] posts to have a renewed tourism drive but we are looking at more quality tourists and not POGO [workers],” said Mr Domingo, as cited by local media outlets.

The stricter visa requirements are intended to “weed out” the “illegitimate and unsavoury” tourists from the legitimate ones, said the official. “We are putting things in motion starting this week,” he added.

The visa tightening terms include requiring visa applicants to present their social security documents issued by the Chinese government.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs would also continue to require visa applications from China to present their employment certificate and bank statements, and to scrutinise them in a “more vigilant” manner, stated Mr Domingo.

The Philippine authorities will also increase the minimum number of visa applicants for Chinese nationals to travel as part of a group to a minimum of 10, from the current three, according to the reports.

The Philippines government had, in August last year, launched a pilot programme for its electronic visa system, for Chinese visitors. This scheme was later suspended in November.

China is one of the top sources of foreign tourists in the Philippines. The country received just under 2.0 million foreign tourists in the first four months of 2024, up 16.8 percent from a year earlier, according to official data.

China made the top three, providing about 141,153 visitors in the first four months this year; representing about 6.5 percent of all arrivals. The figure was up 104.8 percent from the prior-year period.