PH suspends entry of foreigners, 1500 daily arrival limit for returning Filipinos

The Philippine government has revised its pronouncement and is now allowing Filipinos to enter the Philippines, but is suspending the entry of most Foreign Nationals effective 22 March to 21 April. 

However, the maximum number of passenger arrivals from international flights will still be limited to 1,500 a day for all airlines combined into Manila for the period beginning 8:00 AM of 18 March up to 8:00 AM 19 April.

The restrictions are part of a series of pandemic control measures announced by the Philippine authorities.

The reason for the Philippine government’s decision to limit the entry of inbound passengers was to contain the sudden surge of COVID-19 infections and the emergence of more infectious variants of coronavirus in the country.

On 15 March, the Philippines recorded 5,404 new COVID positive cases, which is the highest report of positive cases in the last six months.

Allowed to enter the Philippines

Exempted from suspension and therefore allowed to enter the Philippines include:

• All Filipino citizens
• Holders of 9(e) visas 
• Passengers on medical repatriation and their escort/s duly endorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs – Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs or the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration
• Distressed Returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs) duly endorsed by the Department of Foreign Affairs – Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs
• Emergency, humanitarian and other cases approved by the National Task Force on Covid19

The Philippine Airlines travel advisory has advised that if passengers who belong to those barred from entering the Philippines within the said period, they will have to avail of any of the following options:

1. Rebook on the flight of your choice (on the same cabin class) with rebooking service fees waived; or
2. Refund your ticket cost; or
3. Convert your ticket into a travel voucher for future use.

To request for any of the options, visit https://mypal.vip/url/RequestHub.

According to the travel advisory issued by Philippine Airlines, it will be announcing a number of flight cancellations during the period once the details are confirmed to comply with the new restrictions.