Applying for a visa extension at the Bureau of Immigration will only take 10 to 15 minutes from the previous one-day processing, according to an immigration official.
“The Philippine Visa extension application process normally takes one day to one week from the date of submission of documents in person, but with the new system, a foreigner wishing to extend his stay in the country will only take 2 minutes, but because one has to queue for payment, it will take a total of 15 minutes,” BI Visa extension chief Raymond Remigio said.
He said that Chinese nationals topped the list of foreign visitors that usually apply for a visa extension followed by Koreans. The rest came from European countries.
Meanwhile, the BI is set to launch an online visa waiver project and tourists who are in the country for a short period can extend their stay through online application filing.
“Online application for visa extensions, the target is to be launched in the coming weeks. Tourists who come here visa-free and wish to extend their 30-day visa may do so online,” said BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval.
To improve passenger service, the bureau will modernize and automate all immigration-related transactions, including tourist visa extensions, online visa waiver applications and e-payments.
The introduction of electronic transactions and payments for immigration applications and the eTravel system, is a joint project of various border management agencies.
