Philippines to ease visa rules for nationals of UAE

The Philippines Consulate-General in Dubai is suggesting ways to the Philippines government to hasten the visa application processes for the UAE nationals, according to a top diplomat on 5 November. Paul Raymund Cortes, Consul-General, said the processing time at present to visa application ranges from five to 10 days. This Southeast nation is working has decided to reduce it to attract more nationals from the UAE. Cortes, speaking during the sidelines of the unveiling of Dream Philippines, a campaign of the consulate to promote visitor arrivals to their country, was quoted by Gulf News as saying that many expats residing in the GCC, especially South Asian nationals, require a visa to enter the Philippines, and, therefore, the country is working on a more seamless visa processing period for these people. He added that the number of visa applications their consulate was receiving had increased since 2013. Between 2013 and 31 October 2017, the consulate is said to have processed 23,247 visa applications, which include multiple-entry visas. Total visitor arrivals in the Philippines reached a figure of 2,882,737 during January-May 2017, an increase of 14.43 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2016. But only 1.25 percent of these arrived from the Gulf countries. Cortes said the consulate has entered into a partnership with Tabeer Tourism to offer select holiday packages to showcase the Philippines to UAE nationals. He said that they wished to kindle the interest of the nationals of GCC and the expats of the UAE to view the Philippines as an attractive tourist destination. The consulate wants to diversify its tourism efforts this time because a single approach was not proving good enough, Cortes added. If you are looking to travel to the Philippines, get in touch with Y-Axis, a leading consultancy for immigration services, to apply for a tourist visa.