Philippines to tighten visa requirements for Chinese tourists

The Philippines will tighten its visa requirements for Chinese tourists this week due to a “high number of fraudulent applications” received by the country’s embassy and consulates in China, according to Jesus Domingo, the undersecretary for civilian security and consular affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs, as reported by local media.

At a Thursday news briefing, Mr. Domingo explained that the Philippines must tighten visa issuance rules due to past cases of “fraudulently acquired” visas by Chinese applicants in mainland China and criminal groups exploiting some Chinese arrivals for employment in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

We are urging our [diplomatic] posts to have a renewed tourism drive but we are looking at more quality tourists and not POGO [workers] Jesus Domingo, DFA Undersecretary

The stricter visa requirements aim to “weed out” the “illegitimate and unsavoury” tourists from the legitimate ones, Mr. Domingo added. “We are putting things in motion starting this week.”

The new visa terms will require applicants to present their social security documents issued by the Chinese government. Additionally, the Department of Foreign Affairs will continue to require visa applicants from China to provide their employment certificates and bank statements, scrutinizing them more vigilantly, stated Mr. Domingo.

Philippine authorities will also increase the minimum number of Chinese nationals required to travel as part of a group from three to ten. In August last year, the Philippines government launched a pilot programme for an electronic visa system for Chinese visitors, which was later suspended in November.

China remains one of the top sources of foreign tourists in the Philippines. The country received just under 2.0 million foreign tourists in the first four months of 2024, up 16.8 percent from a year earlier, according to official data. China ranked in the top three, providing about 141,153 visitors in the first four months of this year, representing about 6.5 percent of all arrival

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