Horray for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) planning to return to the Philippines especially this Christmas season because the government removed the mandatory quarantine inside facilities.
However, this is only applicable for inbound travelers who have accomplished complete vaccination against COVID-19, and their country of origin is classified as ‘green country’. These countries have low-risk infections;
- Solomon Islands
- Sudan
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Tokelau
- Tonga
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu and
- Yemen
- American Samoa
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Cayman Islands
- Chad
- China
- Comoros
- Republic of the Congo
- Djibouti
- Equatorial Guinea Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
- Bhutan
- Cook Islands
- Eritrea
- Kiribati
- Marshall Islands
- Nauru
- Nicaragua
- Niue
- North Korea
- Saint Helena
- Samoa
- Gabon
- Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China)
- Hungary
- Madagascar
- Mali
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Montserrat
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Sierra Leone
- Sint Eustatius
- Taiwan
- Algeria
- Niger
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Palau
- Poland
- Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of Netherlands)
According to Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, travelers from these countries only need to prepare a negative RT-PCR which must be taken 72 hours before their departure. Instead of a quarantine inside facilities, they will only have to undergo home quarantine for 14 days.
For unvaccinated or those minors who have partially vaccinated children that are traveling together with their fully vaccinated parents/guardian, they will still be required to follow the quarantine protocols according to their vaccination status.
Other inbound travelers who cannot meet the requirements mentioned above will still have to follow the regular facility-based quarantine. They will have to present a negative RT-PCR on the 5th day of their quarantine. For foreigners, they will need to have hotel reservations for six days or more.
“The validation of COVID-19 vaccination status of overseas Filipino workers and their spouse, parents, and/or children traveling in the Philippines or abroad, non-OFWs vaccinated in the country and abroad, and foreigners vaccinated in the Philippines will be conducted with the inbound travelers presenting either their VaxCertPH digital certificate, Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) / World Health Organization (WHO)–issued International Certificate of Vaccination (ICV) or Prophylaxis, or the national digital certificate of the foreign government where they were vaccinated,” according to GMA News.
Source GMA News
