Do I need a visa for Manila, or will I get a free 30-day stamp?

If you are flying to Manila as a tourist for up to 30 days, you do not need a visa — a stamp will be placed in your passport free of charge upon arrival. This rule applies to citizens of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and EU countries. There is no need to arrange anything in advance, pay fees, or go to the embassy: Manila, like all other airports and international seaports in the country, admits such tourists under the visa-free regime. You simply arrive, fill out an electronic form, show your passport — and that's it.

Many people are still confused about the time limits: some websites mention 21 days of visa-free stay. This is outdated information; now the stamp is placed for 30 days at once.

However, if you have a passport from Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, or Moldova, you need a visa, and you will have to arrange it in advance — at the consular department in your country, in neighboring countries, or in Southeast Asian countries. The visa will cost approximately $50, the exact amount depends on the method and place of obtaining.

To pass passport control smoothly at Manila airport, prepare three things:

• Passport valid for at least 6 months after the date of departure on your return ticket;
• Return tickets or a ticket to any third country with a departure date within the 30 visa-free days. They are checked selectively, but they may ask at check-in — and then you simply won't be allowed on the plane;
• eTravel QR code, which is filled out 5 days before entry. We explained how to do everything correctly so that the code is green in a separate eTravel filling instructions.

Insurance and hotel booking are not officially required for entry. We ourselves have entered the Philippines without any booking many times — both before the pandemic and after the restrictions were lifted — and the question never came up at the border. Most likely, the story about mandatory booking remained in tourists' memory from pandemic times. But it is still more convenient and sometimes cheaper to book a hotel in advance; we described in detail how to do this with payment by a Russian card here. And insurance is worth getting at least because of medical care: treatment in the Philippines is expensive, and a policy costs pennies compared to possible expenses.

If 30 days is not enough for you, your stay can be extended by another 29 days, so in total you get 59. The extension is paid — from 4060 pesos, done at any migration office, as well as directly at Manila and Cebu airports. The latter is especially convenient: you can arrange the extension immediately upon arrival and leave the country with 59 days of stay. Important point: you must apply for the extension no later than 14 days before the end of the visa-free stamp (and no later than 7 days before the end of the visa), otherwise you will have to pay an additional fine. For the second and subsequent extensions, they charge from 4800 pesos, plus if you extend longer than 59 days, you will need an ID-card for 500 pesos. For the peso exchange rate and where to exchange money, see the article about Philippine currency.

A separate point for those traveling with children: if a child under 15 years old travels without parents — with a grandmother, grandfather, or guardian — they will need a special Waiver of Exclusion Ground (WEG) permit.

We recommend reading our honest guide, where we have collected all personal experience on entry: Philippines visa — is it needed, how to apply, how much it costs, and all entry requirements. It details passport requirements, return tickets, extension, and embassy addresses, so you definitely won't get stuck at Manila airport.

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