PhilippinesTo start, here is a brief summary of the topic that answers most questions about entering the Philippines:
- Citizens of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and EU countries do not need a visa for a trip to the Philippines of up to 30 days; on arrival a stamp is placed in the passport for free.
- For entry you need a return ticket or a ticket to any other country within the validity of the visa-free stay or visa. The ticket may be asked for already at the departure airport, and if you do not have it, you may not be allowed to board the flight.
- 5 days before entry you need to fill out an electronic form on the website https://etravel.gov.ph/ and get a QR code, which is checked on entry. Instructions for filling out eTravel.
- Insurance and a hotel booking are not required; this is at your discretion. Although some travelers say that a hotel booking is mandatory, we have not come across such a requirement in official information.
- If you need to stay longer than the 30 visa-free days, you can extend for another 29 days while already in the country. Or you can leave the country to a neighboring country for about a day, come back, and get a new free 30-day stamp.
And now more details about the entry procedure, document requirements, extension, and everything else:
About the visa regime and entry to the Philippines in brief
Do you need a visa for the Philippines?
Citizens of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and EU countries do not need a visa for a trip to the Philippines of up to 30 days. For a longer stay, you can apply for a visa in advance, extend the visa-free stay on the spot, or at the airport up to 59 days.
Citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova must apply for a visa in advance at consular sections in their own country, in neighboring countries, or in Southeast Asian countries. The visa fee is about 50 dollars, depending on the method and place of obtaining.
On entry, EVERYONE WITH OR WITHOUT A VISA must fill out an electronic form on the website https://etravel.gov.ph/ and get a QR code, which is checked on entry. It replaces the old paper migration and customs form.
When going through entry passport control, you must provide your passport, boarding pass, and the completed migration form (QR code). Here, fingerprints of the index fingers are also scanned. After passing passport control, you can collect your baggage from the belt and proceed through the green or red customs corridor.
Visa-free entry and passport validity requirements
Citizens of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan can enter the Philippines without a visa through any border post at an airport or international seaport. On arrival, a 30-day stamp is simply placed in the passport; nothing needs to be paid or filled out. Some websites on the internet mention a 21-day stay, but that is outdated information.
The following requirements apply for visa-free entry:
- Passport validity of at least 6 months after the date of departure*;
- Having return tickets or tickets to a third country (checked selectively, and if there are no tickets, entry may be refused).
- A QR code obtained after filling out the online form eTravel
* – On the internet you can find a lot of disagreement about passport validity. Some sources state that the 6-month validity is counted from the date of arrival, while others say from the return tickets (i.e., the departure date). And somewhere you can even find information about a 60-day stay. Most likely, these contradictions are due to the fact that these rules have been changed several times over the past few years, are stated differently in different official sources, and are also interpreted by airlines independently and in their own way. For example, TIMATIC states 6 months after the date of entry, while the official consulate website states 6 months after the planned stay, i.e., in fact after the departure date.
At the moment (2025) according to forum reviews, in practice there are no problems with entry using a passport valid for at least 6 months after the date of entry, and not as of the date of departure. Airlines also follow this rule, and it is stated in the rules for airlines in TIMATIC. But it is better not to risk it in this matter, and to plan the renewal of your passport and the purchase of tickets to the Philippines in advance based on the fact that its validity ends no earlier than 6 months from the date of the return tickets.
At the same time, there is another rule that if less than 60 days of passport validity remain as of the departure date on the return tickets, entry will be allowed at the discretion of the border service officer.
Are return tickets needed when entering the Philippines?
Officially, the requirement to have return tickets or tickets to any other country when entering the Philippines exists, and it is checked. The check is not universal but selective, and if you do not have a ticket, entry will most likely be refused. Moreover, the presence of a return ticket is checked already at check-in for the flight to the Philippines, and if it is not there, boarding may be denied.
The exact return departure date is not specified in the rules, but in practice it must fall within the visa-free stay or visa validity. That is, for example, if you arrive in the Philippines without a visa, you must present a ticket for departure from the country with a date no more than 30 days from the date of entry.
If you plan to stay in the country longer by extending your stay, then in that case you can do one of the following:
- Book any ticket with departure within these dates that can later be returned without penalties or with minimal penalties, or the cheapest non-refundable ticket to any neighboring country, which you simply throw away later.
- Present a return ticket outside this period to the border officer and explain that you intend to extend your stay. Then whether to let you through or not will be decided by the specific border officer.
- Try your luck and "break through" without a return ticket, and if it does not work, buy a ticket right at the airport via the internet before the passport control zone, and go to passport control again with this ticket.
- Make an electronic version of a "fake" ticket in a graphics editor and present it at passport control. Judging by reviews, border officers do not "bother" checking the validity of the booking, so this option is considered workable, although risky.
Do they check the hotel booking when entering the Philippines?
We have never come across a requirement for a mandatory booking for entry to the Philippines in official information. And in our own experience, we have entered the Philippines more than once without any booking, both before the pandemic and after all restrictions were lifted, and not once did the question of its presence even come up at passport control. However, in some guidebooks you can indeed find the opinion that a hotel booking is mandatory, and without it you will not be allowed through. Let us repeat once again that we cannot confirm the existence of this requirement; perhaps this information is left over from the time of the pandemic, when there were indeed complex requirements for entry to the Philippines and hotels had to be booked. Nevertheless, it still makes sense to book a hotel in the Philippines in advance, since it is more convenient, and sometimes even cheaper, than looking for accommodation on the spot. We explained in detail how and where to book hotels abroad with payment from Russia here.
Is insurance needed when entering the Philippines?
Mandatory insurance for entry to the Philippines was introduced temporarily during the peak of the pandemic; now insurance is not required for entry to the Philippines. Some websites mention that insurance is mandatory, but that is outdated information.
Nevertheless, it is better to get insurance, especially since it is inexpensive:
Extending your stay
If you need to stay longer than the 30 visa-free days, you can extend for another 29 days, i.e., in the end you get 59 days. You can do this while already in the country. The extension is paid, from 4,060 pesos (52.09 USD, see Philippines currency and its exchange rate). You can extend at any immigration office, which exist in large cities and resorts, as well as at the airports of Manila and Cebu. The latter is especially convenient, since you can do the extension right on arrival, and then you will have 59 days of stay.
But important! You must apply for the extension no later than 7 days before the expiration of the current visa or no later than 14 days before the expiration of the visa-free stamp, otherwise you will additionally have to pay a fine.
According to various information, you can extend your stay continuously for up to 1 year or up to 2 years. However, for the second and subsequent extensions you will have to pay from 4,800 (75.76 USD). If you extend your stay for more than 59 days, you will also need to get an ID card for 500 pesos (7.89 USD).
You can also extend your stay for six months at once; this is called LSVVE (LONG-STAY VISITOR VISA EXTENSION). But such an extension will cost from 10,500 pesos (166 USD). You can only do this at the main office in Manila at Magallanes Dr, Intramuros, Manila, 1002 Metro Manila.
You should also know that if you stay in the country for more than 1 year, you must pay a special exit tax at the airport on departure, just like local residents. It is 1,620 pesos for economy class departure, and 2,700 for first class passengers.
More details about the extension, the required documents and addresses of immigration offices, and the forms for submitting applications are exhaustively written on the immigration bureau website – http://immigration.gov.ph/.
An important requirement when entering with children
For entry of children under 15 years of age unaccompanied by parents (with a grandmother, grandfather, guardians, etc.), a special permit is required – Waiver of Exclusion Ground (WEG). For how to obtain this permit, see here.
Embassy addresses and websites
Philippines Embassy in Moscow
- Address: Karmanitsky Lane, 6/8, 121099. Metro "Smolenskaya";
- Phones: +7499241-0563; +7499 241-0564; +7499 241-0565;
- Website: https://moscowpe.dfa.gov.ph/.
Consular section in St. Petersburg
- Address: Vasilyevsky Island, 103, 199106;
- Phones: +753812 3261355; +753812 3212845.
Consular section in Vladivostok
- Address: 20 Admirala Fokina Street, 5th floor, 690091;
- Phone: +74232 221351.
Russian Embassy in the Philippines
- Address: 105 Rada St., Macati City, Metro Manila;
- Emergency phone: +63-917-860-94-90;
- Website: https://philippines.mid.ru/kontakty.