OFWs oppose proposed immigration fee

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are unhappy with the proposed P480 immigration fee that the Bureau of Immigration (BI) may charge as early as the latter part of 2026.

This is the sentiment I gathered by just scrolling through the comments and posts in OFW groups on social media.

It’s not surprising. OFWs and frequent travelers, after all, will be the most affected if the BI pushes through with its new border security system.

I am referring to the BI’s Civil Aviation and Immigration Security Services (CAISS) Project, a tighter security infrastructure which the BI, together with private partner Securiport, plans to put in place in the country’s airports.

The new system promises enhanced border security but would charge travelers a user fee of $4 or P240 per passenger for a one-way international trip. This translates to $8 or P480 per passenger for a round-trip journey.

For travelers departing from the Philippines, this would mean additional expenses, as it would be on top of the travel tax.

But this is especially burdensome for OFWs as they are the ones who frequently travel to and from the Philippines.

Here are some of the comments I gathered from OFW community pages on Facebook:

“OFWs are the favorite milking cow of this government.”

“It’s so boring to go home to this. That’s the only thing we have and now they will take more from us,” said another.

“Kami na naman (OFWs) ang kukurakutan.”

“That feeling that you are excited to go back to your own country but because of the many things to pay for and the high cost of everything, it seems you prefer to live overseas.”

“It seems they don’t want OFWs to go home because the bills are never-ending.”

“I just hope the money will be used in the right way.”

‘Fee fee fee’

There were also the usual memes:

“Is it PPP or fee, fee, fee?”

“It’s more fee in the Philippines!”

“Pilipinas kong (napaka) mahal.”

There are many more. And the concerns are real.

I have been discussing the planned BI system in my recent columns because I personally find the user fee expensive.

As I discussed in my piece last Sunday, the $8 fee would already translate to roughly P14 billion in its first year of operations alone (based on 29 million international passengers in 2025).

This is already more than enough to cover the projected total project cost of P10.7 billion.

“Investment recovery is through a user fee of $4 per international traveler, built into airline ticket costs. The concession period is 20 years from commercial operations, after which the assets are transferred to the government,” the BI said in its document on the project.

Clearly, the $4 user fee is too high.

The BI has justified the project by stressing the need for modernization.

“The CAISS is a significant upgrade to the Bureau’s border management capabilities in many years. It combines advanced biometric systems and physical security infrastructure under a single integrated platform, all operated by Bureau personnel within government-controlled networks and maintained throughout the contract life by the private partner.”

The project is based on an unsolicited proposal that Securiport submitted through the PPP Center of the Philippines in May 2023. The Department of Justice, the designated approving body under Republic Act 11966 or the PPP Code, approved the project on Dec. 2, 2025.

I don’t know exactly when this will be implemented, but based on another document, the BI hopes to issue the notice of award in November this year (after subjecting the proposal to a challenge).

Who is Securiport?

I am not familiar with Securiport, so I searched the internet.

Its LinkedIn profile states that the US-based company is a global leader in intelligent immigration controls and civil aviation security solutions. It was also awarded recognition in 2023 by Security Today Magazine for the company’s advanced passenger information system product, which won under the Behavior Analytics and Security & Risk Intelligence categories.

On the other hand, it has also faced regional controversies and contract disputes.

I noticed that in several African countries, there was backlash as Securiport implemented mandatory user fees.

For instance, here is a post by Malagen, an investigative journalism magazine in The Gambia, West Africa, in 2022.

The magazine exposed details of the contract the government signed with Securiport, leading to the introduction of a $20 security levy at the airport.

“For every $20 airport levy collected, Securiport pockets $10. The government and the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority get $5 each. However, the company had single-handedly opened a bank account where levies collected are deposited, contrary to the terms of the contract, which requires a joint cash-collection bank account,” Malagen said.

The story also revealed that a $20 (now $25) security levy at the airport caused the state a potential financial loss of at least D274 million due to procurement breaches, the exemption of diplomatic passport holders and other factors.

The same magazine reported in 2023 that The Gambia’s National Audit Office found that key government officers, including diplomatic passport holders, were exempt from paying an airport security fee in contravention of the law.

Clearly, many questions surround this BI proposal. Filipino travelers including OFWs hope to get answers.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.