Tourists exempted from new IACAT rules — BI, DOJ

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration said the processes for departing tourists remain unchanged following the release of new guidelines for departing Filipinos.

Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Thursday that the added documentary requirements would not cover tourists who will depart the Philippines.

“There is no new policy for departing tourists being implemented by the BI. The guidelines have been here since 2012—which is more than a decade ago, and have been refined by IACAT to address concerns raised by the public. Departing tourists need not worry,” he said in a press briefing.

On Tuesday, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) approved and published the 2023 Revised IACAT Guidelines on Departure Formalities for Internationally-Bound Filipino Passengers, which aims to combat human trafficking.

Under the new rules, Filipino travelers departing the country will now have to submit more documents and may have to answer more questions from immigration officers before boarding their vessels.

The additional requirements will take effect on September 3.

Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla also said that these new requirements would streamline and would not pose a burden to departing tourists.

“The guidelines streamline the requirements and do not add more to departing tourists, [m]ore than 95% of departing Filipinos would not need to present more documents apart from the basic ones,” he said.

However, some Filipinos have complained about the additional requirements, saying that these will be a problem to the already-complicated boarding process in the airports.

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