Philippines Offers New 6-Month Tourist Visa

Philippines Offers New 6-Month Tourist Visa

Foreign visitors who want to take longer vacations in the Philippines may now do so without the former hassles. 

The Philippine Bureau of Immigration has announced a new 6-month tourist visa. The program has already been formally launched, and will consist of a new visa sticker to replace the traditional wet stamp. The so-called Long Stay Visitor Visa Extension (LSVVE) project was launched to draw more international travelers into the country.

Now they have the privilege to easily prolong their stay in the country, without the need to go back and forth to a local immigration office. Previous, the bureau allowed foreign tourists a maximum stay of just 59 days in the country. If they wanted to extend, they had to keep applying for visa extensions.

Due to the new implementation, the bureau is expecting less crowds crowding in the immigration offices, and they say the new visa sticker will help them prevent the proliferation of fake visa extension stamps, which have victimized many foreigners in the past. The sticker apparently has a unique tracking and security feature.

For more details, visit www.immigration.gov.ph or consult your local immigration/consulate office.