Philippine Immigration Service Welcomes First E-Visa Chinese Tourists

On Saturday, September 2, the Philippine Immigration Bureau (BI) welcomed the first batch of electronic visa (e-visa) Chinese tourists. The mother and daughter arrived in the Philippines from Shanghai, China on a China Eastern flight.

They were welcomed in person by Immigration Director Norman Tansingco and Assistant Secretary of the Office of Consular Affairs (OCA) of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Henry Bensurto Jr, and with deputy assistant secretary of the ministry of foreign affairs (Christian de Jesus), director leilani feliciano (Leilani Feliciano), assistant director antonio emmanuel miranda (Antonio Emmanuel Miranda) and other immigration officers.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced the electronic visa system in August. The e-visa is a new initiative aimed at attracting more foreign tourists by allowing them to apply online for temporary visitor visas.

The trial operation of the system was carried out in Shanghai, China, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a series of meetings to ensure the integration of e-visas into the e-travel system of the immigration department, the immigration department said. This is part of the Immigration Service's efforts to streamline its procedures and speed up the process through a paperless process.

With the successful arrival of the first batch of e-visa holders in the country, the Immigration Department said it is confident that the number of travellers will increase within a few months, especially after the reopening of the country's borders and the intensive promotional activities of the Ministry of Tourism.