Hire at least 10 Filipinos and enjoy indefinite stay in the Philippines. This, in sum, is how the Special Visa for Employment Generation (SVEG) works.Created through President Macapagal-Arroyo’s Executive Order No. 758, SVEG can generate at least 100,000 jobs for Filipinos, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said.
“It’s a doable target that can be doubled,†Libanan told reporters at the launch of SVEG here on Thursday.
The SVEG, said Libanan, is the Bureau of Immigration’s way of helping ease unemployment in the country as an outcome of the global economic recession.
SVEG is available to foreigners who are engaged in lawful and sustainable enterprises, trade or industry and employ Filipino workers on a full-time or regular basis, said Arnulfo Maminta, chief of the BI’s legal unit.
SVEG provides special non-immigrant status, multiple entry and conditional extended stay to foreigners, Maminta said during the briefing for Clark and local officials and foreign business leaders.
These privileges can be extended to the applicants’ spouses and dependents below 18 years old.
Those availing of SVEG can also be exempted from paying special return and exit clearance certificates, Maminta said.
The conditions that the BI set are that the foreigners are “actually, directly or exclusively†engaged in a business, they have intentions of staying in the country, they are not risks to national security, and they hire Filipinos according to labor laws.
BI’s one-stop shops for SVEG in Metro Manila and its regional offices are operated closely with the Department of Labor and Employment and National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, Libanan said.
It used to be that investors acquire visa by maintaining a deposit of $75,000 in a bank.
“The money sleeps in the bank. It’s an inactive investment. SVEG’s benefits will trickle down, with tremendous impact [on] the economy,†Libanan said.
Filing fee amounts to P3,520. The first recipient of SVEG is Ik Soon Lee, a Korean who runs the Noblesse International School just outside the Clark Freeport. - Tonette Orejas, PDI
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