Immigration bureau: Foreigners traveling to PHL for emergency, humanitarian reasons can seek travel ban exemption from NTF

Written by Kaye Fe on

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(Eagle News) — Foreigners traveling to the Philippines for emergency and humanitarian reasons can seek travel ban exemptions from the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19.

Bureau of Immigration Chief Jaime Morente said on Friday, April 9, this was based on a resolution passed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases in March that authorizes only the NTF to approve requests for entry of foreigners who are not exempted from the travel ban.

He said entry exemptions issued by other agencies before the travel ban was imposed on March 22 cannot be used to enter the country for the duration of the ban, which ends on April 21.

“The IATF-MEID resolution clearly states that only the NTF chair or his authorized representative may approve requests to allow the entry of foreigners on emergency, humanitarian and analogous cases,” Morente said.

Even then, Morente said foreigners allowed by the NTF to come to the Philippines  should possess valid visas at the time of their entry.

He gave the assurance that the travel restrictions were just temporary, noting they were a result of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.

“We hope that after this spike, the number of cases continue to downtrend, so we may be able to revive the international travel and tourism sector,” Morente said.

Aside from NTF-approved alien travelers, the IATF also exempted from the travel ban foreigners who are diplomats and members of international organizations and their dependents with valid 9(e) or 47(a)2 visas; those involved in medical repatriation with a valid visa as endorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA); seafarers holding 9(c) visas entering the country for crew change; and parents, spouses and children of Filipinos who are traveling with them.