Philippine Immigration

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Marcelino Libanan ordered yesterday that there will be no more lunch breaks for officials and employees at the bureau’s main office in Intramuros to further reduce the processing time for the granting of visas and visa extensions.

Libanan said immigration employees will instead take turns between manning the receiving windows and other frontline services and having their lunch to ensure that the bureau’s offices remain open during their noon break from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. The new no-lunch break policy will further speed up the processing time for the processing of visas and visa extensions as well as for other documents issued by the bureau.

Libanan’s reforms at the bureau such as the Visa Issuance Made Simple (VIMS) and the Pre-Arranged Visa Upon Arrival (VUA) programs have expedited the processing of BI documents and cut red tape.

The schemes resulted in shorter and more efficient processing of visas and visa extensions as shown by the feedbacks sent through email by the transacting public and curbed corruption.

The online feedback system through email has recently received commendations from the transacting public who cited the professionalism and efficiency of the bureau’s staff and the reforms that streamlined the processing of documents.

With the new policies in place, the bureau has trimmed down documentary requirements by 43 percent, and reduced the processing time by 82 percent..

It used to be that applications for visa extensions can take 15 to 50 days to finish. Now applications filed in the morning can be approved and released in the afternoon.

The new policy of no lunch breaks is expected to further cut the already shorter processing time at the bureau from less than a day to a mere several hours. (BI News)