BI: Foreigners may seek travel ban exemptions from NTF for emergency, humanitarian reasons

This undated photo shows the facade of the Bureau of Immigration’s main office in the city of Manila.

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) clarified on Friday that foreigners wanting to enter the country for emergency or humanitarian reasons may seek travel ban exemptions from the National Task Force Against COVID-19 (NTF).

In a statement, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente pointed out that a resolution passed by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) in March authorizes only the NTF to approve requests for the entry of foreigners who are not exempted from the travel ban.

“The IATF 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.

Morente further said that entry exemptions issued by other agencies before the travel ban was imposed cannot be used to enter the country during the heightened travel ban.

He also said that aliens permitted to come here by the NTF should have valid visas at the time of their entry.

However, Morente assured that the travel restriction is only temporary.

“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,” he concluded.

On March 22, the Philippines reimposed a travel ban on the entry of foreigners amid the rising COVID-19 cases in the country. The ban will last until April 21.

EDV