(Eagle News) — Over 100,000 foreigners filed their mandatory annual report with the Bureau of Immigration this year, the bureau said on Thursday, March 24.
According to the bureau, the 133,557 who filed their report from January to March 1 were only slightly higher than the 130,148 aliens who filed their report in 2021.
Jose Carlitos Licas, bureau alien registration chief, said the low number was expected as this year’s annual report coincided with the tremendous upsurge of Covid-19 cases caused by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Licas added that due to the Covid-19 surge, the bureau required those concerned to first register and secure slots from the bureau’s online appointment system before making their report.
According to the bureau, of the 133,557 who made their annual report, 63,659 were Chinese nationals, followed by 17,728 Indians and 7,780 Americans.
Some 6,653 Taiwanese, 4,991 South Koreans, 4,464 Vietnamese, 3,725 Japanese, 2,929 Indonesians, 2,705 Britons, and 2,103 Malaysians also filed their reports.
“The implementation of the online appointment system allowed us to process the annual report and still ensure strict social distancing in our offices,” bureau chief Jaime Morente said.