Philippines: visa and entry rules

Do you need a visa for the Philippines, and what is asked at the border

No visa for a short trip. US, UK, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and most EU passport holders enter visa-free for 30 days.

eTravel registration is mandatory and free. Fill it in only on the government site etravel.gov.ph, no earlier than 72 hours before arrival. The QR code is checked at passport control.

Paid eTravel sites are a scam. Search results and ads bring up middlemen such as handlevisa (onlinetravel-processing.com): they copy the form, charge around 79 USD and collect your passport details on the way. The Philippine Bureau of Immigration warns about such sites directly. If you are asked to pay for eTravel, you are not on etravel.gov.ph.

An onward ticket is asked for almost every time. The Philippines is stricter about this than most neighbours: without a ticket out you can be refused boarding at the departure airport.

Your passport must be valid for at least six months.

The Philippines' borders: every crossing point

The Philippines has no land borders — it is an archipelago, and every entry point is by sea or by air.

The main gateways are the airports: Manila, Cebu, Clark and Davao.

Sea links with the neighbours are limited. There is a ferry route from Davao to North Sulawesi in Indonesia and connections with Malaysia in the south, but they do not serve as a regular passenger route for a tourist.

The southern sea areas are unsafe — a separate matter, unrelated to the visa regime, but it determines which sea routes do not exist in practice.

Bringing a car into the Philippines

You cannot drive here under your own steam — there are no land borders.

Importing a car by sea goes through the general customs procedure and makes no sense for a tourist trip.

A licence in English is valid for the first 90 days, after which a Philippine one is needed. In any other language an International Driving Permit or a certified translation is required from the start.

Traffic drives on the right, and road quality outside the major islands is uneven.

Travelling to the Philippines with a pet

An import permit from the Bureau of Animal Industry is arranged in advance — this is a mandatory condition, not a formality.

A microchip and a rabies vaccination are compulsory.

The veterinary certificate is issued before departure.

Quarantine applies depending on the country of departure and on how complete the paperwork is.

Overstaying your visa in the Philippines

A fine at a daily rate plus charges — several items are counted at once, and the total comes out higher than expected.

A long overstay ends in a blacklisting and deportation at your own expense.

An extension is easier here than anywhere else in the region, and it costs incomparably less than sorting out the mess — most overstays in the Philippines have no justification at all.