THE BUREAU of Immigration (BI) on Sunday said the over 3,000 foreigners who became permanent Philippine residents under the 1995 amnesty law may now have their visas re-stamped, which would allow them to travel in and out of the country freely. Immigration Commissioner Ronaldo Geron said the restamping of the resident visas would enable their holders to comply with the annual reporting requirement and was upon the recommendation of the BI alien registration chief Danilo Almeda. The visa restamping had been deferred by his predecessor, Siegfred Mison, pending issuance by the Department of Justice of new rules in the enforcement of the Alien Social Integration Act, Geron said in a statement. Resident aliens may have visas stamped anew | Inquirer Global Nation
From the origional post it seem that way and there have been probs with them leaving the country. Looks like the new cheif is going to sort things ,look what's happened in the bi over the last few weeks with people being sacked etc. Let's hope things are moving in the right direction now.
Yes, mostly Indian and other Asians who immigrated here illegally and were granted immunity back in the 1980's if memory serves. But their status was in limbo until about 1.5 years ago a new law was passed that allowed them to pay a one time fee to get it all resolved (about 100,000 piso I think). An Indian national who was born here in PI to Indian parents and was raised here, went to school here and has a business here had to go through it. He is a friend of mine and I will ask him about it again when I travel up north at the end of the month and try to give a better explanation next month. There was also alot about it in the papers about 7 or 8 months ago as the deadline was approaching and it got a lot of press if someone is motivated enough to look it up. I also believe many expat forums were discussing it because they were unsure if it affected their status (it didn't unless they have been here illegally since 1970's or so)