Question & AnswerQ&A (Commonwealth Act No. 613)
The official title is "The Philippine Immigration Act of 1940."
The Commissioner of Immigration is appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly. The Commissioner must be a natural-born citizen of the Philippines and at least thirty years old.
Nonimmigrants include temporary visitors for business, pleasure, or health; persons in transit; seamen entering temporarily to pursue their calling; persons entering to carry on trade if reciprocal privileges are granted; returning residents on temporary visits abroad; and students over 15 years old entering temporarily for study at accredited institutions.
They must present unexpired passports or equivalent documents showing origin and identity, and valid passport visas issued by consular officers, except for specific exceptions such as certain children, seamen, and returning residents with a Reentry Permit.
A maximum of five hundred quota immigrants of any one nationality or without nationality may be admitted in any one calendar year.
Nonquota immigrants include aliens coming to prearranged employment, immediate family members of Philippine citizens, children of alien parents born abroad under certain conditions, women who lost Philippine citizenship through marriage, and family of aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence before the Act's effect. They may be admitted without numerical limitations subject to conditions outlined in the Act.
Excluded classes include idiots or insane persons, persons with loathsome or contagious diseases, convicted criminals involving moral turpitude, prostitutes, persons likely to become public charges, paupers, polygamists, anarchists, illiterates over fifteen years old, family members of excluded aliens, unaccompanied children under fifteen, stowaways, persons entering to perform unskilled labor without special visa, those recently excluded or deported, indigent aliens removed at government expense without consent for readmission, and improperly documented aliens.
Penalties include fines not exceeding one thousand pesos, imprisonment for up to two years, or both. Offenses cover impersonation, using false immigration documents, unauthorized entry, fraudulent representation as Philippine citizens, false sworn statements, and harboring or bringing in aliens not duly admitted or entitled to reside.
The Commissioner can require bonds or cash deposits to regulate admission and departure, ensure aliens do not become public charges, and assure appearance in deportation proceedings. The bond or deposit is returned or canceled once conditions are met or the alien naturalizes or dies.
An alien may be deported for unlawful entry, inadmissibility, convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude or drug violations, engaging in prostitution, becoming a public charge, violating nonimmigrant conditions, or advocating overthrow of government. Deportation requires a warrant, notification of grounds, hearing under prescribed rules, and the Board of Commissioners' determination. The alien may be released on bond pending proceedings.