Philippines Visa Requirements for Tourists: Visa-Free Entry and Extensions

Under Executive Order 408 the Philippines admits nationals of 157 countries for 30 days without a visa for tourism or business. The list covers the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, every EU and Schengen state, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, South Africa, Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman among them. The full list is on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Bureau of Immigration sites; check yours before booking.

Brazil and Israel get 59 days under separate agreements. Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR passports get 14 days, extendable once at the BI. Taiwan passport holders get 14 days visa-free under an arrangement renewed to 30 June 2027, not extendable. Indian nationals have had 14 days visa-free since June 2025, non-extendable and non-convertible, with proof of a hotel booking, funds and a return ticket; Indians holding a valid US, Japanese, Australian, Canadian, Schengen, Singapore or UK visa or residence permit get 30 days instead, also non-extendable. Chinese nationals became visa-free for 14 days on 16 January 2026 for a one-year trial, entering only through Manila and Cebu airports, non-extendable; Chinese passport holders with a valid US, Australian, Canadian, Japanese or Schengen visa have an older 7-day option. British National (Overseas) and Macau-Portuguese passports get 7 days. These short schemes have changed almost yearly, so check before you go.

Everyone else, roughly 40 nationalities including most of Africa, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria and Yemen, needs a 9(a) temporary visitor visa before travel.

Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond the day you plan to leave, and airlines check this at check-in; a few nationalities are admitted with less, but do not count on it. You must hold a return or onward ticket out of the Philippines dated within your permitted stay; immigration officers and, more often, the airline at your departure airport ask for it, and a cheap Cebu Pacific or AirAsia ticket to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore satisfies the rule if you plan to extend and change later. Officers can ask for proof of funds and accommodation; a hotel booking for the first nights and a bank card are normally enough, and the rule is enforced mainly on the 14-day schemes. Keep the arrival stamp legible: it shows your admission date and the 30-day deadline, which is the date you must have left or extended by. There is no arrival card to fill in on the plane any more; eTravel replaces it.

Every arriving passenger, foreign or Filipino, must complete the free eTravel declaration at etravel.gov.ph (or the eGovPH app) within 72 hours before arrival; the system does not accept registrations earlier than that. It takes about five minutes per person: passport details, flight number, first address in the Philippines, a health declaration and the customs form, and it produces a QR code that you show at the eTravel counter and immigration on landing at NAIA, Clark, Mactan-Cebu, Davao or any other port of entry. Each traveller, including infants, needs their own registration tied to their own passport, and you can register your family in one account. The system is entirely free; any site asking for payment is a scam, and several look convincing. Foreign tourists do not currently need to register again when departing (that requirement applies to departing Filipinos), but the departure rule has changed before, so check the site a few days before you fly home. Screenshot the QR code: airport Wi-Fi is unreliable and the queue to re-register at the kiosks is slow.

Visa-free visitors can extend in steps up to a total stay of 36 months (24 months for visa-required nationals), and it is routine: the Bureau of Immigration processes thousands of tourist extensions a week. Apply before your current stay expires at the BI main office in Manila’s Intramuros, at the satellite offices in Makati and other Metro Manila malls, or at field offices in Cebu City, Davao, Puerto Princesa, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Baguio, Boracay, Tagbilaran and most provincial capitals. Bring your passport, a completed application form (CGAF, downloadable from the BI site) and cash; dress respectably, because the Intramuros office turns away shorts and flip-flops.

The first extension takes you from 30 to 59 days: a 29-day visa waiver costing PHP 3,030 ($53) including the compulsory express lane fee, usually issued the same day or next morning. After 59 days you extend by one or two months at a time: about PHP 4,400 for one month or PHP 4,900 for two on the first application after day 59 (which includes a one-off head tax), then PHP 2,430 or PHP 2,930 for each later one- or two-month extension. Anyone staying beyond 59 days must also apply for the ACR I-Card (Alien Certificate of Registration), a plastic ID costing US$50 plus a PHP 500 express fee, payable once and renewed annually; the card takes a few weeks to produce and you collect it or have it couriered. A Long-Stay Visitor Visa Extension (LSVVE) at the main office lets you buy six months in one go for about PHP 11,500 (visa-free nationals) or PHP 13,900. Fees were last formally updated in 2014 and the express lane is compulsory, so treat these figures as the floor and check before you go. Many travellers use an agent in El Nido, Siargao or Boracay for PHP 500 to 1,500 on top to avoid the trip to a field office; it is legal and common.

If you have stayed six months or more, you must get an Emigration Clearance Certificate (ECC-A) before you leave, which confirms you have no pending cases or unpaid fees. Apply at any BI office (Intramuros, Makati, Cebu City, Davao, Puerto Princesa and the other field offices) in the last 72 hours before departure, or a few working days ahead at the small tourist-town offices, with your passport, ACR I-Card and PHP 710 plus the PHP 500 express fee, about PHP 1,210 in total. You then receive a stamp or certificate that the immigration officer at the airport will ask for; without it you miss your flight. Travellers who have extended beyond six months and who leave and return pay the ECC each time they depart. Anyone who overstayed and settled the fines also needs the ECC regardless of length of stay.

Overstaying is penalised per month, not per day, and the maths adds up fast. For each month or part of a month beyond your permitted stay you pay a PHP 500 fine plus the extension fees you should have paid for that period, plus a PHP 510 motion for reconsideration; overstays of more than six months also attract an administrative fine of PHP 5,000 per year (18 months counts as two years) and, from the seventh month, a Certificate of Residence fee of PHP 1,400 in each extension. Overstays beyond the 36-month ceiling, or any overstay that the BI judges deliberate, can bring blacklisting and a ban on re-entry, and long overstayers are regularly detained at the airport until the fees are paid. If you discover you have overstayed, go to a BI office before you go to the airport: officers at departure cannot settle fines, and you will be turned away from your flight.

Former Filipino citizens who now hold a foreign passport, and the foreign spouse and children of a Filipino citizen travelling together with that citizen, can be admitted as Balikbayan for one year visa-free under Republic Act 6768. Ask for it at the immigration counter and show the evidence: an old Philippine passport, birth certificate or certificate of naturalisation for former citizens, a marriage certificate (PSA or foreign) for spouses, a birth certificate for children. The privilege is granted at the officer’s discretion, it is not available if the Filipino spouse is not on the same flight, and it cannot be claimed after entry. Balikbayans can extend further at the BI and are exempt from several overstay penalties, but still need the ECC if they stay over six months.

There is no tourist-friendly long-stay visa for most people, but the tourist-extension route to 36 months is itself one of the most permissive in Asia and is how most long-term visitors, retirees under 50 and the remote workers in Cebu, Dumaguete and Siargao stay. Retirees aged 50 and over can apply for the Special Resident Retiree’s Visa (SRRV) through the Philippine Retirement Authority with a bank deposit of US$10,000 to 50,000 depending on age and pension. A Digital Nomad Visa was created by executive order in 2025 for remote workers earning foreign income, with a one-year renewable stay; implementing rules were slow to arrive, so check the BI and DFA sites for its current status before relying on it. Visa runs are legal: leave for Hong Kong, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur and you receive a fresh 30 days on return, though the ACR I-Card requirement and ECC still apply if your previous stay exceeded 59 days or six months. Entering by sea from Sandakan to Tawi-Tawi or Zamboanga is possible but the region is under do-not-travel advisories.

Children need their own passport, their own eTravel registration and, if over 15 or travelling with a parent, nothing further. A child under 15 arriving without a parent (with grandparents, a school group or a family friend) needs a Waiver of Exclusion Ground (WEG), obtained on arrival for about PHP 3,120 with a notarised consent letter from the parents, or in advance from an embassy. Filipino-born children travelling on a foreign passport with a Filipino parent qualify for the Balikbayan year. Children under 14 pay reduced extension fees (about PHP 3,150 for the first month after day 59) and also need an ACR I-Card past 59 days.

Philippines travel guide · Best Time · Costs · Culture · Food · Getting Around · Islands · Itineraries · Nightlife · Safety · Shopping