Written by Harold S. Ocampo, 27 December 2007
Foreigners in the Philippines must probably be enjoying how Filipinos celebrate Christmas. The season did not end yesterday, since the holiday revelry will continue until the coming New Year. People are planning their media noche for the upcoming New Year’s eve and are expected to continue distributing aguinaldos (Yuletide gifts) to their inaanak (godchildren).
In the midst of this gift giving and merry celebrations, foreigners required to register under the Alien Registration Act of 1950 (the "Act"), as amended, are reminded to comply with the Bureau of Immigration’s mandatory Annual Reporting requirement this coming New Year.
Under the Act, the following foreigners are required to register and undergo the formality of picture taking and/or fingerprinting:
- those who stay in the Philippines as temporary visitors or transients for more than six months;
- any foreigner child below 14 years of age at the time of entry to the Philippines and who will remain in the country for 30 days or longer to be represented by his/her parent or legal guardian immediately upon entry;
- any foreigner child born in the Philippines after June 17, 1950 and who will remain in the Philippines for 30 days or longer to be represented by his/her parent or legal guardian within 30 days after the child’s birth;
- any foreigner who attains his 14th birthday in the Philippines within 15 days after such birthday;
- any foreigner seaman who has been discharged with the consent of the immigration officer in charge of the port where the discharge occurred and who will stay and remain in the Philippines for 30 days or longer immediately after his discharge or admission; and
- every foreigner under orders of deportation.
Similarly, resident foreigners and those with working visa and their dependents are also required to register with the Bureau of Immigration.
The above-mentioned foreigners are required to report in person to the Bureau of Immigration within the first 60 days of every calendar year and pay the annual report fee (currently at P310).
Failure to pay the annual report fee will result in the imposition of an administrative fine of P200 per month or criminal prosecution for violation of the Act which, upon conviction, can mete out a fine of not exceeding P200 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.
Briefly, the annual report process requires foreigners to show their ACR I-Card and/or passport to the concerned personnel of the office of the Bureau of Immigration and pay the annual report fee. Generally, the entire process takes around 10 to 15 minutes only to complete. However, the processing time becomes longer as the deadline approaches due to the increased number of foreigner reportees and longer cue time. We should be mindful as well that our Immigration personnel could only efficiently process so much annual reports in one day despite the energy reserves that they may have stored from those wonderful noche buena and media noche.
It has been a reported experience every year that foreigners would trek to the offices of the Bureau of Immigration and pay the annual report fee only during the last few remaining days before the deadline. Perhaps the Filipino manana habit of complying/doing things at the last day must have rubbed off among some of our foreigner friends.
In the annual report process, the saying “saving the best for last” does not hold true. As noted earlier, conviction for failure to pay the annual report fee carries with it not only the penalty of fine of P200 but also of imprisonment of not more than six months, or both.
Thus, as a gentle reminder to foreigners, before you put away the Christmas tree and open the last gift, it may be wise to report in person to the Bureau of Immigration and pay the corresponding annual report fee as soon as possible come New Year.
Reporting early could mean faster annual report processing time, shorter lines and receiving assistance from those extra friendly Immigration personnel.
