What you need to enter Philippines with an Israeli passport

Authorization system

Visa waiver under Executive Order 408 (30 days, extendable)

Under EO 408 and DFA Foreign Service Circular (FSC) 95-2014, most nationalities (including the Americas and Western Europe) enter visa-free for up to 30 days. Department of Justice Circular No. 032 (2015) requires a passport valid for at least 6 months from arrival and a return or onward ticket — with a closed list of 41 nationalities exempted from the 6-month rule (US, UK, Australia, most of the EU, Japan, Korea, Israel, Singapore, Turkey and others) provided their embassy in Manila can renew the passport. Since 2026 online eTravel registration (etravel.gov.ph, the only official site) is mandatory for all travelers up to 72 hours before arrival, replacing the old paper arrival card.

Fee

Free

Visa-free entry itself is free. The first extension (to reach 59 days) costs around PHP 3,030 (waiver fee 500 + application 1,000 + processing/certification 530), per the Bureau of Immigration itself; these figures are adjusted periodically and local offices may add small extra charges.

Processing time

Visa-free entry is immediate at passport control. Stay extensions are usually processed the same day at Bureau of Immigration offices.

Required documents

• Passport valid for at least 6 months from arrival (exception for 41 nationalities listed in Operations Order SBM-2015-026, provided their embassy in Manila can renew the passport).
• Return ticket or ticket onward to another destination.
• Mandatory eTravel registration (etravel.gov.ph) up to 72 hours before arrival.

Vaccinations

• Yellow fever certificate if arriving from, or transiting more than 12 hours through, a country with transmission risk (from 9 months of age).

Health insurance

Not mandatory for this destination.

Transit rules

30 days of visa-free stay, extendable in successive stages up to a cumulative maximum of 36 months without leaving the country (24 months if entry was on an embassy visa instead of the waiver).

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 authorization 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

Uniform administrative fine of PHP 500 for each month or fraction of a month of overstay, plus any accrued extension fees owed. Beyond 6 months of overstay the process becomes more complex: the Bureau of Immigration may require a formal "Voluntary Departure" and warn of blacklisting for repeat offenses. Figure confirmed via Philippine legal-commentary sources (the official fee schedule PDF wasn't located), consistent across several immigration law firms.

Common reasons for denial

• 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.