Philippines entry requirements, by passport

Vaccinations

• Yellow fever: the certificate is required from travellers over 1 year of age arriving from a country with risk of transmission, or transiting more than 12 hours through the airport of one. Children under 1 year are not asked for it, though they may be placed in isolation or under surveillance where this is considered warranted.
• A traveller arriving from an infected area without a valid certificate may be isolated until the certificate becomes valid, or until six days have passed since the last possible exposure. With the certificate in order, the Bureau of Quarantine may keep the traveller under surveillance for five days counted from departure from the area.

Customs limits

Cash

Declare to the Bureau of Customs if carrying USD 10,000 or more (or the equivalent in another currency); in Philippine pesos, the limit is PHP 50,000 without prior authorisation from the central bank (BSP).

Alcohol

2 bottles of liquor of up to 1 litre each and total value under PHP 10,000, duty-free (Customs Administrative Order CAO 01-2017).

Tobacco

400 cigarettes, or 50 cigars, or 250g of pipe tobacco, duty-free.

Overstay penalties

According to the fee table on the Bureau of Immigration's visa waiver page, anyone who stays longer than authorised pays a fine of PHP 500 per month on top of the extension fees. If the overstay exceeds 6 months, or the maximum stay is passed (36 months for nationalities that do not need a visa, 24 for those that do), a motion for reconsideration must be filed (PHP 500 plus a PHP 10 Legal Research Fee) and an administrative fine of PHP 5,000 is charged for each year of overstay; 18 months count as two years. The page itself says these fees are updated as of 6 March 2014 and may change without prior notice.

Grounds for refusal

• Being deemed a person likely to become a public charge: it is the ground the authority itself says accounts for the bulk of refused passengers, and in practice it comes down to not showing sufficient funds.
• Having been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
• Not being properly documented as required by law: Section 6 empowers the immigration officer to exclude on this ground alone. Apparently minor failings fall in here, such as not holding an entry visa or not having a return ticket.
• Appearing on the blacklist, being a registered sex offender, or being a wanted fugitive.
• One ground the authority itself lists among its excluded passengers, and which is striking to see in writing: being rude and disrespectful towards Bureau of Immigration officers.

What to do if you are refused entry →