BI eases departure requirements for Pinoys with foreign partners

MANILA, Philippines — Beginning yesterday, Filipino fiancées, spouses and other partners of foreign nationals holding tourist or other limited period of stay visas are no longer required to undergo the Commission on Filipino Overseas’ guidance and counseling program.

In a statement, the Bureau of Immigration said that they started implementing the CFO’s new regulation after receiving a letter from commission chairman Romulo Arugay last Thursday.

The new regulation intends to lessen the requirements previously imposed on Filipinos with foreign partners departing to meet or marry abroad.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that the new rule has been disseminated to their immigration officers nationwide.

He added that the streamlined requirements were actually also part of the 2023 Revised Guidelines on Departure Formalities released by Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, but which implementation was suspended.

“The inter-agency is committed to continuously review departure requirements for departing Filipinos to adapt to current trends,” said Tansingco.

“The BI, as an implementing agency, is ready to implement changes in departure guidelines, as deemed fit by members of the inter-agency,” he added.

Meanwhile, the BI yesterday warned overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) not to be involved in the “third country recruitment” scheme because the government would have difficulty tracking their location.

In a statement, Commissioner Tansingco explained that third country recruitment happens when the visas of legitimate OFWs expire and they are recruited and transported to another country.

The recruitment would mean that the OFW would not return to the Philippines upon expiry of his contract, and would instead directly transfer to a third country.

But Tansingco said that once the OFW transfers to another country without their knowledge, the Philippine government would not have records of them being transferred to a different country. — Evelyn Macairan