Police Clearance For Visa Renewals / Philstar Article

[FlyAway]

The Philippine Constitution does have references to people immigrating into the country. Things like conviction of crimes involving moral turpitude, those likely to become a burden to the government and a few other categories. I can see the Philippines wanting to start looking like they are doing something about all those terrible foreigners coming in to commit crimes.

 

Interesting how so many Philippine citizens are so anxious to leave versus how many actually want to immigrate and live in Philippines. What Philippine Immigration is asking for is a whole lot less than what it takes to immigrate to USA. There were lots of hoops to jump through getting my wife here.

[Genius]

I m confused, does this mean that if I want to extend my 21 day tourist visa for 39 days that I can no longer do it without a police clearance from my home police force? As I understand it the UK police do not issue these anyway. Might have to fly in, collect gf and the fly out to Malaysia and stay there for the 3 to months, then fly back for the last 20 days. Not that I m spending like Bill Gates but that's a whole lot less tourist money over the years then from people like me..

[Dave Hounddriver]

The only real change thus far is for those who get married and want to become permanent residents through marriage.  Those are the ones being asked (in some if not all cases) to provide a police clearance from their country of origin.

 

No one else seems to be affected thus far.  Tourists are not affected.  This 'police clearance' thing may clear up if God . . . er I mean  Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David, Jr. . . . comes down to earth just a little bit.

[Genius]

Ah ok, I misunderstood. Well, sounds more reasonable now.

[Mike S]

The Philippine Constitution does have references to people immigrating into the country. Things like conviction of crimes involving moral turpitude, those likely to become a burden to the government and a few other categories. I can see the Philippines wanting to start looking like they are doing something about all those terrible foreigners coming in to commit crimes.

 

Interesting how so many Philippine citizens are so anxious to leave versus how many actually want to immigrate and live in Philippines. What Philippine Immigration is asking for is a whole lot less than what it takes to immigrate to USA. There were lots of hoops to jump through getting my wife here.

 

Flyaway ...... you went about it the wrong way .... you should have flown to Mexico and brought her in from there ..... if the big O has his way he will grant ALL illegal aliens (yes I know I am not supposed to use that label .... they should now be called displaced future Americans and VOTERS ..... the VOTERS is the main thing ..... :mocking: ) ..... sad part is that everyone going about it the right way will still be penalized as they will still have to go through the normal procedure ..... see it is really more fun living in the USA ...... :hystery: :hystery:

:cheersty:

[Mike S]

The only real change thus far is for those who get married and want to become permanent residents through marriage.  Those are the ones being asked (in some if not all cases) to provide a police clearance from their country of origin.

 

No one else seems to be affected thus far.  Tourists are not affected.  This 'police clearance' thing may clear up if God . . . er I mean  Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David, Jr. . . . comes down to earth just a little bit.

 

Very true Dave .... every other Tom .. Dick or Harry can just come in here as felons or not yet convected felons on a tourist visa and then disappear into the woodwork and if never to be caught unless karma catches up with them .... I know some that have done that  ..... one even had to make a fast get-a-way from here ..... :hystery: :hystery:

:cheersty:

[Genius]

As far as I see only point of having these rules would be to keep out persons with serious criminal records. So the only people who would apply for the clearances would be people without serious records. Ergo, they should either have exactly the same procedure for all arrivals, whether tourist or short term or long term, because if you have a weak link in the screening then obviously the criminal will target that. Now seeing that enforcement or tracking of individuals is likely to be patchy compared to other 1st world locations, who allow free entry for 30 days usually, I think they should relax the tourist visa on arrival to 3 months as Malaysia does and so at least generate more tourist cash. The increase in GDP from longer tourist stays they can use to set up a database terminal in every police station to allow access of all criminal records from participating countries.

I am of th belief that they are entitled to have such restrictions if they like but they should be aware flowing down a bureaucratic rabbit hole in the process, which just causes a lot of hassle for everyone and does not solve the actual need meant to be targeted,

[MikeB]

I thought the catalyst for this was the J. Pope shooting in Jan, wasn't it?

[Markham]

I think they should relax the tourist visa on arrival to 3 months as Malaysia does and so at least generate more tourist cash.

So does the present system. Look at it from the government's point of view: why should it grant a 90 day visa-less stay free of charge when it can charge after the first 21 days? It won't change the minds of tourists to stay longer because if you're planning an extended stay here, you'll be staying regardless of extension fees. You're already getting a much better deal than a Filipino who can't travel to the UK, US or EU without a visa.

[Bruce]

What I do not like and wonder why this has not been addressed is that the US government is in a position to 'request' a better deal for US citizens who travel to and perhaps stay for an extended time in the Philippines.

 

Or......... Noynoy can enjoy the company of his Chinese neighbors, and deal with the Chinese wanting to take over the fishing areas that the Philippines claim, as well as dealing with the various terrorist groups currently residing in the Philippines.

 

Perhaps adopt a mirrored system in that the US will charge any Philippine citizens the same amount and same time tables for their stay in the US as the Philippines charges US citizens.... I am sure Noynoy can survive the severe backlash by OFWs and their families and the drop in money sent back home.... well, reasonably sure he can....

 

The Philippines keep knocking on the US door asking for help like we are their big brother, but at the same time they are bleeding the individual traveling citizens dry.

 

But then we have 'our' ambassador to the Philippines saying that 40 % or more of us are perverts or sex travelers......... So maybe that is why we, the individual travelers are supporting the entire IB agency of the Philippines! The US condones the excessive, one sided fees that the Philippines charges travelers to enjoy the country.... but then they also want more tourists to come. Strange that they will charge fees and more fees, but then fail recognize the lost country wide income from travelers who go to other less fee charging countries or stay the 21 days only who might extend their travel plans IF the Philippines was more liberal in their travel policies.

 

One of the interesting things I have seen is that the central government refuses to set policy. Instead, they allow different agencies to set conflicting policies.

 

If the tourism Board was in charge of tourism and extended stays / visas, and the Immigration people were simply there to enforce the laws and NOT allowed to set policy or fees, I believe that tourism would greatly increase as well as the cash flow into the Philippines from the spending of tourists.