Before, I thought only the ASEAN countries, Hong Kong, Macau, and maybe a few others provide visa free travel for Pinoys. My curiosity of these few other countries was ignited from what seems to be an increasing number of Brazilian models working in the Philippines that I came to the conclusion that there must be some from of reciprocal visa free travel between the two countries. Then TV news reports of Pinoy drug couriers going to Brazil to pick up the packages came.
Last month, on my trip to Hong Kong, I had a conversation with the Immigration officer in Cebu about this and he mentioned to me a website to get more of this information. I did not write it and tried to memorize it but when I came back from my trip, I could not recall what the website was. A couple of days ago, I decided to try to search for it and came upon a Wikipedia.org page about it.
I was surprised that there were a lot more countries that provide visa free travel for Pinoys, including European country Kosovo, Israel + Palestine, and several Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean islands (Maldives and Seychelles). These island countries look like good places to visit in addition of course to Brazil with its famous Rio Carnival, considered the World’s biggest. And as most Pinoys are Christians, Israel + Palestine would be an attractive place to visit being the birthplace of Christianity.
I also found out that there are certain countries that offer Pinoys visa free travel if one has a US visa, including Taiwan and Mexico. As China Airlines (CAL) allows free stopover (no additional costs except for airport fees) and its fares to the USA generally lower than Philippine Airlines (PAL) from Manila, taking CAL and having a stopover at Taipei is a good side trip for sightseeing and shopping. Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second largest city, is also only 96 or so minutes from Taipei through Taiwan’s high speed rail system.
Mexico is also interesting because one can walk to the Mexican border city of Tijuana from San Diego, California. San Diego has a good public transportation system including a light rail trolley system that as I remember has a station at or near the border crossing. I have always wanted to do this but have not been able to. A cousin who lives in Orange county (next to San Diego county) told me when I stayed with them one time that Tijuana is similar to Cebu in terms of stage of development. I am sure one can stay a night or two at a Tijuana hotel as it should costs lower and explore the sights and sounds of the two cities.
Anyway, I summarized below what I obtained from Wikipedia.com classifying it from the easiest where one can go to without paying for a visa to one where a fee have to be paid to another that requires prior notice to those that offers visa free visits if one has a US or another country’s visa to those available to overseas Pinoys residing in certain countries.
I hope you’ll find one interesting to go to.
Visa free or available on | No. of | |
arrival and no fees | days | R e m a r k s |
Asia-Pacific | ||
Brunei | 14 days | |
Cambodia | 21 days | |
Cook Islands | 31 days | |
Indonesia | 30 days | |
Hong Kong | 14 days | |
Laos | 30 days | |
Macau | 30 days | |
Maldives | 30 days | |
Malaysia | 1 month | |
Marshall Islands | 30 days | |
Micronesia | 31 days | |
Mongolia | 21 days | |
Niue | 30 days | |
Palau | 30 days | |
Samoa | 60 days | |
Singapore | 30 days | |
South Korea (Jeju Island only) | 30 days | |
Sri Lanka | 30 days | |
Tajikistan | 45 days | |
Thailand | 30 days | |
Tuvalu | 30 days | |
Vanuatu | 30 days | |
Vietnam | 21 days | |
Europe and the Americas | ||
Bolivia | 90 days | |
Brazil | 90 days | |
Colombia | 90 days | |
Costa Rica | 30 days | |
Dominica | 21 days | |
Ecuador | 90 days | |
Haiti | 3 months | |
Kosovo | 90 days | |
Monserrat | 3 months | |
Peru | 183 days | |
Samoa | 60 days | |
St Kitts and Nevis | 14 days | |
St Vincent and the Greanadines | 1 month | |
Suriname | 90 days | |
Turks and Caicos Island | 30 days | |
Middle East and Africa | ||
Egypt (South Sinai only) | 15 days | |
Eritrea | 1 month | one passport photo required |
Israel | 3 months | |
Morocco | 3 months | |
Palestine | no data | |
St Helena | no data | |
Seychelles | 1 month | visitor's permit will be issued |
Visa free or available upon | No. of | ||
arrival with a fee | days | Fee | R e m a r k s |
Asia-Pacific | |||
Armenia | 120 days | AMD15,000 | |
Bhutan | 15 days | USD20 | with conditions |
India | 30 days | USD60 | |
Nepal | 15 days | USD25 | |
30 days | USD 40 | ||
90 days | USD 100 | ||
Papua New Guinea | 60 days | PGK100 | |
Timor | 30 days | USD30 | |
Europe and the Americas | |||
Georgia | 90 days | USD10-200 | |
Sta Lucia | 6 weeks | USD50 | |
Middle East and Africa | |||
Burundi | 1 month | USD90 | |
Cape Verde | no data | EUR25 | |
Central African Republic | 7 days | XAF30,000 | |
Comoros | no data | no data | |
Djibouti | 1 month | DJF10,000 | |
Gambia | 1 month | no data | at port of entry, 24-72 hrs transit visa is issued |
and need to be converted to 1 month visa at | |||
Immigration Dept at Bangul | |||
Kenya | 3 months | USD50 | |
Madagascar | 90 days | MGA140,000 | |
Mozambique | 30 days | USD82 | |
Tanzania | no data | USD50 | |
Togo | 7 days | no data | |
Uganda | no data | USD50 | |
Zambia | 90 days | USD50 |
Prior notice for visa on arrival | No. of days | Fee | R e m a r k s |
Middle East and Africa | |||
Iran | 15 days | no data | e-visa pre-approval code from www.mfa.gov.ir |
Liberia | no data | no data | telex message is needed for station mgr in |
Morovia with the ff details: carrier, name, | |||
nationality, no. of travel document, flight no, | |||
arrival date, name and address in Liberia, and | |||
other relevant details | |||
Sao Tome and Principe | 1 month | USD100 | prior notice from transporting carrier requesting |
visa upon arrival needed |
Visa free for those with visa from | No. of | |||
certain countries | Visa from | days | Fee | R e m a r k s |
Asia-Pacific | ||||
Northern Marianas | US | no data | none | |
Taiwan | AU, CA, EU, JP, | no data | none | |
NZ, UK, US | ||||
Europe and the Americas | ||||
Anguilla | UK | no data | none | |
Dominican Republic | CA, EU, US | 30 days | USD10 | |
El Salvador | CA, EU, US | no data | none | |
Gibraltar | UK | no data | none | |
Guatemala | CA, EU, US | 90 days | none | |
Mexico | US | 180 days | none | |
Montenegro | EU, US | 7 days | none | |
Nicaragua | CA, EU, US | no data | none | |
Panama | AU, CA, CH, EU, | no data | no data | |
IS, UK, US | ||||
Puerto Rico | US | no data | none | if arriving from USA and its territories |
US Virgin Islands | US | no data | none | if arriving from USA and its territories |
Middle East and Africa | ||||
Ethiopia | AU, CA,EU, JP, | 30 days | USD20 | |
UK, US | 90 days | USD30 | ||
180 days | USD40 |
Visa free for overseas Pinoys | Residents of | No. of days | Fee |
Europe and the Americas | |||
Aruba | CA, EU, UK, US | 30 days | none |
Bahamas | CA, US | 30 days | none |
Jamaica | CA, US | 180 days | none |
Mexico | CA, EU, JP, UK | 180 days | none |
_____________
AU Australia
CA Canada
CH Switzerland
EU Schengen countries
JP Japan
IS Iceland
UK United Kingdom
US United States
