Over 3,400 expats given working visas

Over 3,400 foreign nationals have been issued pre-arranged working visas by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in the last six months, Commissioner Marcelino Libanan bared yesterday.

Libanan also said there has been an upsurge in the number of foreigners applying for working visas during the same period. The number of visa applicants from June to November this year was 83 percent higher compared to the same period last year.

According to BI Associate Commissioner Roy Almoro, who heads the BI one-stop-shop center for working visas, more than 2,200 of the 3,400 who were issued work visas are newly arrived expatriates, while the rest applied for extension of their existing visas.

Almoro said unlike last year when the number of approved working visas averaged only 400 every month, the BI board of commissioners now approves an average of 700 working visa applications a month.

Libanan stressed this sharp increase in the number of aliens applying for working visas could be attributed to the bureau’s intensified crackdown on aliens illegally working in the country.

“This only proves that our crackdown against illegally working aliens is achieving its objective, which is to compel all expatriates to secure the proper work permits and visas before they engage in gainful activity in the country,” the BI chief said.

Libanan said that a foreigner who works without a permit is committing blatant violations of the country’s immigration and labor laws, which both forbid aliens from being employed here without the government’s permission.

He said such prohibition is intended to protect the interests of Filipino workers who might be deprived of their livelihood opportunities by foreigners who are hired for jobs that could otherwise be performed by Filipinos.

Libanan also reiterated his appeal to the public to report to his office illegally working foreigners so they can be arrested and deported.

It will be recalled that former BI commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr. ordered the creation of the one-stop shop center in October last year as an additional incentive for foreign businessmen to invest and work in the Philippines.

The center was tasked to process the visa applications of all foreign workers, including those employed by the top 1,000 corporations and Philippine-based multinational companies.