BI’s new visa provides jobs to 20,000 RP workers

Convenience in government processes as a come-on to investors to bring in foreign capital takes center stage in the new visa offered by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to which the business sector responded by giving employment to almost 20,000 Filipinos.

Barely a month after it was officially launched, BI reported that the special visa for employment generation (SVEG) already created almost 20,000 jobs for Filipinos.

SVEG provides indefinite stay to a foreign employer who provides full-time jobs to at least 10 Filipino workers in legitimate and sustainable business in the Philippines. The new job-generating visa aims to create at least 100,000 jobs in its first year alone.

“We are encouraged by the response of the business community to this new visa. We are even more encouraged by the number of jobs created by SVEG,” Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said.

“SVEG is timely in the face of the global economic crisis as it would put the Philippines ahead of other countries in Asia in inviting more foreign capital amid the expected economic slowdown,” said Libanan even as industry leaders hailed systems re-engineering at the BI, resulting in dramatic improvements in the delivery of services to foreigners.

Across the country, foreign investors have already applied for the SVEG. Libanan has already visited major cities of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in a bid to encourage foreigners to invest in the country and create more jobs in the countryside.

SVEG has earned the attention of leaders of different industries that even the overseas placement industry has petitioned for inclusion of their foreign principals in the new visa program.

“We want to hire in more foreign investors by giving them more convenient ways in doing their business here. SVEG gives further convenience to foreign investors who want to do their business here,” Libanan said.

“With SVEG, they don’t have to fly all the way to Manila every two years to renew their working permits. They don’t have to pay the exit clearance fee either every time they leave the country,” Libanan added.

To date, a total of 47 companies are already enjoying the convenience of SVEG. Of these 47 companies, 19,579 Filipinos are employed.

These companies include some of the major foreign investors in the country: Sykes Asia Inc. with a total of 11,000 Filipino employees; National Grid Corp. of the Philippines with 5,000 Filipino employees; Fontana Development Corp. with 439 Filipinos; Fort Ilocandia Development Co. with 363 Filipinos; Tree Pacific Corp. with 334 Filipinos, and Metro Banking Management with 73 Filipino workers.

“We want to promote SVEG to foreign investors to generate more jobs for Filipinos,” Libanan said. “Hopefully, in the future, Filipinos will no longer have the urge to find job opportunities abroad because they can find them here.”  –Conrado Ching, Daily Tribune