Philippine Immigration

MANILA, Philippines - More foreigners arrived in the Philippines during the month of September amid the financial crunch that continues to rock the world markets, the immigration chief said Thursday.

At the same time, Bureau of Immigration data showed that the number of foreigners arriving from January to end of September this year is higher by eight percent compared to figures during the same period in 2007.

Continue on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - Government agents intercepted at least 15 "tourist workers" caught with spurious passports at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 early Wednesday morning.

Radio dzBB's Denver Trinidad reported that the workers included several minors, and had passports that were allegedly tampered or "manufactured."

Read More On GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration is nearing its revenue target for 2008, and is poised to register a new record high income, according to BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan.

In a statement released on Saturday, Libanan said that from January to end of August the bureau had already collected P1.43 billion in immigration fees.

Read More on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration now has a satellite office in Taytay town in Rizal province as part of its decentralization program to make its offices accessible to foreigners outside of Metro Manila.

The office, which was inaugurated on Wednesday by Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan and Mayor George Ricardo Gacula, is at the old Taytay Town Hall at the corner of Rizal Avenue and Kadalagahan Street in Barangay Dolores.

"This office is an important milestone in our bureau's history as foreigners living in the province of Rizal need no longer to travel to Manila to have their documents processed," Libanan said.

Continue on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration is set to deport a convicted British pedophile who is wanted in his country.

Immigration Commissioner Mercelino Libanan identified the suspect as Kriss McCord, who has been convicted by a British magistrate for three counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault nine years ago.

The Immigration commissioner said the suspect will be expelled back to his country pursuant to a summary deportation order the Board of Commissioners issued against him last February.

Continue on GMA News

Fifteen foreigners had been deported last August as part of the government’s move to decongest the Immigration detention cell in Bicutan, Taguig City.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said among those deported were the nine Vietnamese fishermen who were arrested last year for poaching on Philippine waters.

Continue on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines – Three Indians have been detained pending summary deportation for molesting a 31-year-old woman in Quezon City last week and for carrying fake immigration papers, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Monday.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan named the three Indians as Kulvinder Singh, 30; Hardawinder Singh, 26; and Amarjir Singh 21.

Continue on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is set to open new field and extension offices in three places in its bid to make services more accessible to foreigners in the Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.

The BI said that the new extension offices would be put up in Pasay City and in the towns of Taytay, Rizal and Sta.Rosa, Laguna.

BI commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Rizal and Laguna were chosen after the bureau recorded an upsurge of foreigners in the two provinces.

Continue on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - An agreement aimed at expediting the processing of visas and other immigration documents of Koreans has been signed.

The memorandum of agreement (MOA), according to Bureau of Immigration commissioner Marcelino Libanan, was signed by him and the Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Inc. (KCCPI) president Jae Jang on Wednesday.

The MOA formalized the groups' partnership and cooperation in servicing the immigration requirements of Koreans now doing business or are working in the Philippines.

Continue on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - Senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and travelers carrying infants need not to wait on long queues for their immigration papers to be processed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the agency has already set up a mobile counters at the NAIA that would solely entertain senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and travelers carrying infants to facilitate the processing of their traveling documents when leaving the country.

Continue on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - There will be no need for applicants for visas and visa extensions to wait between 12 noon to 1 p.m. to receive accommodation from immigration employees.

This was after the Bureau of Immigration (BI), under the leadership of Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, implemented a “no lunch break” policy for all officials and employees of the bureau.

Libanan said the new policy aims to further reduce the processing time for granting of visas and visa extensions.

Continue on GMA News

Related News:

• No more lunch breaks at the immigration office - Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday reported that it has posted a record income as it breached its billion-peso target for the first six months of the year.

In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the agency’s revenue has totaled to P1.015 billion from January to June – the first time in history that the agency’s first semester income exceeded the billion-peso mark.

Libanan said the revenue in the first half of the year was P269.7-million or 36-percent more than the targetted P745.7 million for the period, and P204.8-million or 25-percent higher than the P810.4 million earned in the same period last year.

Continue on GMA News

Related News:

• Immigration revenue hit billion peso mark - Sun Star
• BI income tops P1 B mark in first semester - Tempo

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration has deported a Jordanian national allegedly involved in a plan to bomb the embassies of the US and three other countries in Manila.

In a statement released Thursday, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Moh'd Armo was flown to Bangkok on Monday night where he was transferred to a connecting flight of the Royal Jordanian Airlines bound for Amman.

Continue on GMA News

Related News:

• Terror suspect deported - Sun Star Manila
• Jordanian terrorist idineport ng BI - Philippine Star
• BI deports Jordanian terrorist - BI News
  

Foreigners entering and staying in the country remitted more than P800 million to the government coffers during the first five months of the year, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said.

Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan disclosed that immigration fees earned by BI from January to May totaled P812.5 million, up by 31-percent or P191.8-million over the 620.7 million the bureau collected in the same period last year.

The income was also P164-million or 25-percent higher than the bureau’s revenue target of P648.3 million for the five-month period.

Libanan noted that the BI is just P659.3-million short of attaining its P1.47 billion target for 2008, adding he is confident that this year will be another banner year for the BI in terms of revenue generation.

The BI posted its highest income ever in 2007 when it registered a take of more than P1.69 billion.

“Chances are very bright that we will not only hit but also exceed our target this year if the present trend in our collections continues,” the BI chief said.

Records showed that of the P812.5 million collected during the five-month period, P573.7 million was earned at the BI main office in Manila while P238.8 million was raised by the different BI field offices and immigration subports in the provinces.

Libanan partly attributed the dramatic rise in revenues to the unabated influx of foreigners into the country and the reforms that he instituted at the BI wherein processing of visa applications have been simplified and expedited.

He said alien arrivals have increased and so are fees that they pay to the government, adding that it is a good sign that more and more foreigners are now complying with the country’s immigration laws.

Libanan promised to vigorously pursue the reform program that he started in the bureau, particularly in re-engineering its systems and procedures and improving and modernizing its services to the transacting public.

He also lauded the rank and file of the bureau for their hard work which contributed to bureau’s impressive collection performance.

Statistics from the immigration office of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) revealed that a total of 1,108,366 foreigners arrived at the premiere port from January to May this year, which is seven-percent higher compared to the 1,032,106 who came in the same period last year.

Early this year, Libanan launched the visa-issuance-made-simple (VIMS) scheme, the BI chief’s flagship project that simplified the requirements and cut the processing time for visa applications at the BI by an average of 58 percent. (BI News)

Source: Bureau of Immigration News

Related News:

• Bureau's revenues surge on increased tourism - GMA News
• BI collects more than P800M for first five months - GMA News
• RP immigration bureau's revenues up by 31% - BusinessWorld via GMA News
• Gov't earns P800M from foreigners' stay in RP - Sun Star Manila

MANILA, Philippines - The government expects more investors and tourists — especially from China and India — visiting the Philippines as it implements a “liberalized" system of granting visas to foreigners.

In a statement released on Monday, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said the agency had put in place the PVUA or the pre-arranged visa upon arrival system wherein visas of foreigners traveling to the Philippines would be processed from their countries of origin.

Continue on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - THE Chinese ambassador to the Philippines on Thursday lauded the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for deporting a Chinese fugitive long wanted for drug smuggling in China.

Chinese Ambassador Song Tao in a letter to Executive Eduardo Ermita dated June 18, 2008, cited the Immigration bureau’s “high degree of professionalism” in the deportation of Cai Wenxian back to China.

Continue on GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has remained a haven for human smugglers because of an obsolete law that fails to curb the illegal entry of foreigners into the country, according to Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Marcelo Libanan.

In a recent interview with radio dzBB, Libanan said the Philippine Immigration Act is too old and inadequate to address the growing incidence of human smuggling in the country.

The law, also known as Commonwealth Act No. 613, was signed by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 3, 1940.

Continue On GMA News

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Immigration deported on Tuesday a Chinese fugitive wanted for big-time smuggling in China.

Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said Cai Wen Xian is wanted by the Anti-Smuggling Bureau of Shishi City in China for smuggling large quantities of cigarettes and wine into the China.

Continue on GMA News