Immigration chief vows new office will speed up data issuance

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has created a new office designed to expedite the processing of clearance applications, certification and verification of foreigners as well as Filipinos who may have derogatory or criminal records.

A memorandum order issued last March 27 by Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. and approved by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima gave birth to the Verification and Compliance Division (VCD), a report from Radyo Inquirer 990 AM said Monday.

Aside from immediate processing of requests for verification of immigration status of foreigners, David said the VCD will also provide records of arrival and departure of travellers.

The BI chief said that it would now be easy to find out if applicants for certification are in the hold departure list, watch list or have been blacklisted by the bureau.