THE BUREAU of Immigration (BI) has started drafting guidelines for the issuance of Pre-arranged Employment Visa, also called a 9g visa, to foreigners coming to the Philippines for work.

“We’re studying how to give an option to foreign nationals to apply for a working visa before they come here to the Philippines. Currently, the procedure is that they enter here using the tourist visa and if they decide to work here, they will apply for the conversion of their tourist visa to a working visa,” BI Spokesperson Dana Krizia M. Sandoval said in an interview with BusinessWorld.

“In the future, we would like them to have options for them to apply for a working visa before working here so everything has been arranged before they come to the Philippines,” she added.

The move comes amid the government’s inter-agency efforts to better regulate and tax working expatriates, including the growing number of foreigners employed by Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

BI is working with the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) on the guidelines, which will also be supplementary to the Joint Guidelines No. 01 issued by the BI, DoLE, Department of Justice (DoJ), and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) last May 1.

Joint Guidelines No. 01 governs work permits released to foreign nationals, which are the Special Working Permits (SWP), Provisional Working Permits (PWP), and Alien Employment Permits (AEP).

DoLE has the authority to issue an AEP, valid for at least one year, while SWPs and PWPs, with a six-month maximum validity, are given by the BI.

A foreigner must have an AEP in order to apply for a 9g visa, which is issued by the BI. A 9g visa is valid within the duration of the foreign workers’ AEP.

Ms. Sandoval said the 9g visa rules will be released within the year.

“It’s actually in the last phase already. We’re fast-tracking it because it’s one of the main concerns of the government, which is to ensure the tightening of the regulations of foreign nationals to make sure they are compliant with all our laws,” she said. — Gillian M. Cortez

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