ONE hundred fifty Vietnamese nationals were barred from entering the country last March amid an increase in the number of Vietnamese found working in illegal online gaming hubs, the Bureau of Immigration said yesterday.
“The increase in entry denials stemmed from the increase in Vietnamese found to be working in illegal online gaming hubs,” Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said, although he did not provide the numbers working in illegal online gaming.
Tansingco said also barred from entering the country last month were 30 Chinese and 14 Indonesians.
A total of 220 foreigners of various nationalities were also denied entry last month after being found to be likely to become a public charge in violation of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940.
In immigration parlance, a public charge pertains to a foreigner whose presence in the country “poses a menace to society or a burden to the government” from whom he or she could depend for subsistence or support while in the country.
Tansingco stressed the BI’s actions are not directed at specific nationalities but are based on meticulous scrutiny of travel patterns and the activities of individuals.
“We leverage available data on past arrests and interceptions to identify individuals exhibiting similar travel behaviors,” the BI chief explained.
Aside from their exclusion, Tansingco said the names of the foreigners are included in the BI’s blacklist, effectively barring any future attempts at entering the country.
Last year, 3,359 foreigners were barred entry to the country.
Data provided by the agency showed the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 accounted for the bulk of the excluded foreigners in 2023, which totaled 1,603, followed by NAIA 1, NAIA 2, Mactan-Cebu, and Clark in Pampanga with 1,157, 211, 187, and 143 exclusions, respectively.
