Phl grants visa-free privilege to 7 more countries

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has granted visa-free privilege to seven more countries, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced yesterday.

Effective April 15, the citizens of seven more countries now enjoy visa-free privilege to enter the Philippines for a stay of 30 days.

These countries are Belize, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The privilege aims to promote tourism and investments from these countries, all of which have been emerging as key players in the international economic community and have growing bilateral ties with the Philippines.

The Philippines has granted visa-free privilege to citizens of 157 countries.

“The DFA fully supports national efforts to attract more tourists and potential investors to the Philippines.

In particular, the DFA, through its various embassies and consulates abroad, has been playing an active role in helping the Department of Tourism reach its target of 10 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2015,” DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said.

The DFA said the decision is a product of inter-agency coordination with the Bureau of Immigration, Department of Tourism, Department of Justice, Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and the National Security Council.

Meanwhile, Somalia has been removed from the list of countries whose nationals enjoy visa-free privilege. Somalis could apply for visas at Philippine embassies or consulates in their countries of origin or residence.

Citizens of countries who may enter visa-free can avail of the privilege by presenting a national passport valid for at least six months beyond the contemplated period of stay and a return ticket to the country of origin or onward ticket to the next country destination.