AROUND 2 million foreign nationals were forced to leave the country this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente said he expects this “exodus” to continue until the end of 2020.
The figure, according to Morente, covers the period between January and September.
During the same period, the BI chief noted that there were 1.5 million foreign nationals who arrived in the country, majority of whom managed to get it before the full implementation of travel restrictions.
“Similar to our overseas Filipino workers who wished to come home to their families during the pandemic, a lot of foreign nationals left as well,” Morente noted.
“A lot of businesses closed, which also affected the foreign community in the Philippines,” he added.
Based on the records of the BI, Koreans topped the list of foreign nationals who left the country with more than 400,000 departures.
Next are Americans and Chinese with around 300,000 departures, and Japanese with more than 166,000 exits.
Morente noted that a significant number of Chinese nationals have exited the country due to the pandemic.
As of mid-September, only less than 500,000 Chinese nationals have remained in the country.
Records show that from 2013 to 2019, a total of 6.4 million Chinese nationals arrived in the country, while more than 6.1 million departed during the same period.
“In 2020, due to the pandemic, for the first time, we’ve seen more departures of foreign nationals than arrivals,” Morente noted.
Based on the records, 188,517 Chinese nationals arrived in the country from January to September 2020. On the other hand, a total of 292,669 Chinese nationals departed during the same period.
“If we look at the difference of the figures from 2013 to 2020, only 475,129 Chinese nationals from this period are left in the country,” Morente said but clarified that the figures do not reflect those who came in before 2013.
Morente lamented the possible impact on the tourism sector of the country of the massive departure of foreign nationals.
“The government had made significant strides in improving tourism. However, this pandemic proved to counter all previous efforts,” the BI chief noted.
The BI is still not allowing foreign tourists to enter the country due to as part of its measures to stop the spread of the virus.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes
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