The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will soft-launch the Philippine e-visa system in Philippine foreign service posts in China on August 24.
With the e-visa, foreigners coming to the country for work or pleasure will be able to apply for temporary visitors’ visas from their home computers or mobile devices.
Since December 2022, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has been working with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to build the e-visa system.
This is one of the things that the DFA and DICT agreed to do when they signed a memorandum of understanding on April 17 to work together on a synchronized ICT system for consular services.
This project is also affirmed by President Marcos’ policy directive on Jan. 26 to reinvigorate the tourism industry.
On July 11, the DFA tested the prototype e-visa system with consuls general, visa officers, and visa assistants from the Philippine foreign service posts in China and officials from the DICT.
Based on the results of the pilot tests, changes and improvements are being made to the e-visa system.
