Bogus foreign investors denied visas

Some 135 foreigners were denied special investor’s residence visas (SIRV) after being found to be phony investors, Immigration Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez said yesterday.

Rodriguez said the applications of the foreigners were not given due course after a check of their records and addresses showed that they do not have any existing investments in the country.

Rodriguez disclosed that based on the findings of a task force which conducted the investigation, many of the SIRV applicants, who are mostly Chinese nationals, could not be located in their purported business addresses.

Others, Rodriguez said, gave addresses which actually turned out to be residential units and not their principal places of business as they had indicated in their applications.

"This only proves that many bogus foreign investors have been taking advantage of the government SIRV program to acquire permanent residence in the country through fraud and misrepresentation," Rodriguez declared.

Rodriguez also said the results of the probe prompted the Bureau of Immigration to suspend the processing of SIRV applications which would pave the way for the issuance of new guidelines governing such visas.

The immigration chief bared that under the new rules, an SIRV will not be issued by the bureau until it is able to confirm through actual inspection and records verification that the visa applicant is a legitimate investor with real investments in the country.

The SIRV Law allows a foreigner and his spouse and dependents to acquire permanent residence status provided he is willing and able to invest at least $75,000 in the Philippines.

An alien is qualified to apply for SIRV provided that he or she has not been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude, is not afflicted with a loathsome, dangerous and contagious disease, and has not been in any mental institution.