Foreign parents of Filipinos with valid visas can enter Philippines —BI

Foreign parents of Filipinos who have valid visas and are traveling with them may now enter the Philippines, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Monday. 

Morente said the exemption was given by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) last week. 

“If they are traveling alone, they will not be allowed entry even if they hold valid visas as the rules provide that they must be traveling with their Philippine spouse or children,” Morente said.

Previously, only foreign spouses and children of Filipinos who are traveling with them and who hold valid visas were exempted from the travel ban which the government had imposed on all foreign nationals from March 22 to April 21 to curb the spread of COVID-19. 

Foreign seafarers arriving via the seaports are also not prohibited from entering the country so long as they, too, possess the required seaman’s visa or crew list visa, according to the IATF. 

“We welcome the exemption of foreign seafarers from the travel ban as the Philippines is one of the countries in Asia that has opened a ‘green lane’ for these sailors,” Morente said. 

BI bay service section chief Alnazib Decampong said the green lane project was launched by the government to promote the Philippines as a hub for crew change of international maritime vessels and facilitate the free movement of sailors in the region during the pandemic.

These crew change hubs are located in the ports of Manila, Bataan, Batangas, Subic, Cebu, and Davao. —KG, GMA News