BARBERS URGES BBM TO SCRAP ERAP EO 285 RE CONVERSION OF TOURISTS VISAS TO STUDENTS VISAS

Surigao del Norte Representative Robert Ace Barbers urges President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos, Jr. to scrap President Erap’s EO 285 which allows the Bureau of Immigration or BI to convert tourist visas to student visas. 

Barbers said, in today’s setting, this particular power by the BI can be abused. This arbitratry power to convert visas is the worst legalized scheme that can be used by unscrupulous personnel for monetary gain.

He said 16,200 student visas that the BI granted to Chinese nationals in 2023 is simply unacceptable. Nevermind if other countries grant more, we should never use that as our yardstick given our tense relationship with China.

He added that the DFA should be the sole agency in charge of granting visas to foreigners. It alone possesses the expertise to determine whether the applicants are eligible or not”, Barbers added.

Under EO 285, an inter agency committee on foreign students was created chaired by CHED, with the DFA, NBI, NICA and DepEd as members.

This is Terence Mordeno Grana, reporting for AFP Community News, One AFP for Stronger Philippines.