BI reminds schools: Admit only foreign students with study visa

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) reminded schools and educational institutions in the country to admit only foreign students with the required study visa or permit.

BI officer in charge Commissioner Siegfred Mison also emphasized that only schools accredited by the bureau could accept foreign students. Mison issued the reminders a month away from this school year’s start of the second semester.

In his advisory, Mison said foreigners aged 18 years old and above who came to the Philippines as tourists but would like to study in college must apply for conversion of their status and secure the appropriate student visa from the agency.

Meanwhile, foreigners below 18 years old intending to study in the primary, secondary or tertiary levels or those planning to take up special courses for less than a year in the country must secure a special study permit from the bureau, he said.

Mison warned schools against accepting alien students without the proper documents. He noted that under Executive Order No. 285, erring schools would be fined P50,000 and would lose their accreditation to accommodate foreign students. /INQUIRER