Sorry, PH Still Closed To Foreigners

20 October 2021

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has clarified that Foreign tourists are not yet allowed to enter the Philippines despite coming from “green list” countries, as only Filipinos, Balikbayans, Diplomats, and those with valid and existing long-term visas from green and yellow-list countries are allowed to enter the country, according to its top official.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said that travel to the Philippines is severely restricted to Filipinos by the National Task Force Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (NTF-IATF), which capped the ceiling of allowed persons to enter the country at 3,500 passengers per day. NO restrictions however is imposed for those going out of the country. The Civil Aeronautics Board has maintain the cap on arrivals until November 15.

"If you are not anyone of these passengers, you are not allowed to enter the Philippines," says Morente.

The Philippines however allow transit of passengers to other countries, but limit the transfer at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Philippine Airlines for example carry transit passengers to Vietnam and Indonesia from the US.

"Technically, the Philippine border is still closed to Foreign guests, at the moment", adds Morente.

Earlier, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) released an updated list of Red, Green and Yellow List countries.

The lists are effective starting October 16, 2021 up to October 31, 2021.

Romania has been classified under Red List, while 49 countries have been placed under the green list.

Included in the Green List are Algeria, American Samoa, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Chad, China (Mainland), Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Eritrea, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Gibraltar, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), Kiribati, Madagascar, Mali, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Poland, Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), Saint Helena, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Sint Eustatius, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu and Yemen.

All other countries not mentioned are classified under the Yellow List.

Quarantine protocols of arriving passengers from the updated lists shall be implemented and monitored by the Bureau of Quarantine.

“Despite these travel restrictions, we remain hopeful that international travel will be safely revived soon,” said Morente.