(Eagle News) — Travelers from countries and territories on the Philippines’ “green list” do not automatically qualify for entry into the country, the Bureau of Immigration clarified.
Bureau Port Operations Division Chief Carlos Capulong said general travel restrictions are still in effect for travelers from the following:
- American Samoa
- Anguilla
- Australia
- Benin
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Cayman Islands
- Chad
- China
- Comoros
- Republic of the Congo
- Djibouti
- Equatorial Guinea
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
- Gabon
- Grenada
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Mali
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Montserrat
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Niger
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Palau
- Poland
- Saba
- Saint Pierre
- Miquelon
- Sierra Leone
- Sint Eustatius
- Slovakia
- Taiwan
That means, he said, that “only Filipinos, balikbayans, and foreigners with valid and existing visas are allowed to enter the Philippines.”
“Those holding tourists visas remain restricted from entering,” he said.
According to the bureau, travelers from these countries on the Philippines’ “red list,” meanwhile, are not allowed to enter the country until Sept. 18:
- Azerbaijan
- Guadeloupe
- Guam
- Israel
- Kosovo
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- Saint Lucia
- Switzerland.
Travelers coming from countries on the red list within the last 14 days prior to their arrival to the Philippines, shall temporarily be barred entry.
They are likewise subject to the general travel restrictions, and will be have to undergo quarantine and testing protocols, as implemented by the Bureau of Quarantine, the immigration bureau said.
Travelers already in transit from these nine countries who will arrive before the implementation of the travel ban may be allowed to enter, subject to existing policies of BOQ.
Those who had a mere layover are not covered by the travel ban.
Filipinos arriving from those countries under the red list under government or non-government repatriation programs or bayanihan flights, may be allowed entry, the bureau said, but shall undergo a strict 14-day facility based quarantine, and be required a Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test that will be monitored by the BOQ.
The bureau said countries not in the red or green list are automatically included in the yellow list.