Bureau of Immigration offers investors 'indefinite stay' visa

MANILA, Philippines – House Speaker Prospero Nograles has cited the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for creating more jobs by offering foreign investors an “indefinite stay” visa to foreign employers who provide full-time jobs to at least 10 Filipinos in legitimate and sustainable businesses in the Philippines.

“The reforms introduced by (Commissioner Marcelino) Libanan at the BI are very timely, and have helped the country better cope with the current global economic crisis,” Nograles said during the launch of the agency’s Special Visa for Employment Generation (SVEG) program in Laoag City.

The new job-generating visa aims to create at least 100,000 jobs in its first year alone.

The launch was part of BI’s decentralization program, which aims to bring the agency’s services closer to foreigners and Filipinos living in different parts of the country while boosting the country’s economy through fresh foreign investments, tourism and employment generation.

Nograles said the improvements in the country’s immigration policies would urge Congress to pass the proposed immigration law that would transform the BI into a commission-level government agency and institutionalize the new immigration policies. – With Artemio Dumlao