How to extend your Philippine visa in Puerto Princesa?

A lot of people on the internet mentioned that the immigration office at Manila is one of the toughest places to extend your visa, but I still went ahead and visited them while I was exploring the Intra Muros area of Manila. I did not even get through their front door as I was wearing a pair of shorts. Who carries pants while traveling tropical Asia. I know some of you do, but for me, I had to find another immigration office and thankfully for me, I found one at Puerto Princesa that allowed me in shorts and helped me extend my visa in less than 15 minutes. The below account is how I extended my visa today.



The immigration office at Puerto Princesa is located near the airport and on Rizal Avenue. It is situated on the 2nd floor of a green building that is next to the EdGuardo’s restaurant. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 4:30 pm, excluding public holidays. It is a short 15 minute walk from most of the hotels in down town Puerto Princesa. All you need to extend your visa is your passport and photocopies of your passport front photo page and the Philippine entry stamp.

The cost for a normal 38 day extension is 3,030 PHP, but in my case, since I am on an Indian passport and can get extension of only 7 additional days, I ended up paying 2,330 pisos. The lady at the immigration counter gave me a form to fill and once I had filled the form, she went up printing the receipt, put a new immigration stamp on my passport with the extended date and boom everything was over in less than 15 minutes. This is the easiest visa extension I have ever had, but the cost is a bit on the higher side. But, upon evaluating my other travel costs and the cost of coming to Palawan and not staying long, I decided to pay and get the extension done. If you are looking for a place to do your extension, I would recommend that you look at Puerto Princesa as the immigration formalities is a breeze here.

p.s. while I was getting my visa extended, an Australian enquired about the penalty of leaving a day late. The immigration officer told that generally this depends on the officer on duty at your airport, but generally they charge the visa extension fees of 3,030 PHP and 1,000 PHP as penalty for not extending on time.

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How to get free entry into Philippines on an Indian Passport?

A lot of countries get free 21 days entry into the Philippines. But, these are European countries, ASEAN countries, Japan and/or United States of America/Canada. If you traveling on an Indian passport, you do not get these free 21 days entry into Philippines. Instead, you have to apply for a tourist visa from a Philippine embassy while following all the protocol, which would include documentation, travel bookings, 2-3 days of waiting and a visa fee.

However, even the Indian passport gets free entry into the Philippines. Though, this has a caveat. The catch is that you should have a valid USA, Canada, Singapore, UK and/or Japan visa stamped on your passport. This does not work if you have a visa stamp of any of these countries on your passport, but they were single entry and have expired. If you pass this condition and only if you fly into Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International airport, you will get free 14 days entry into the Philippines. This free entry can also be extended for a further 7 days, making it a 21 day stay in total. But, you need to pay for the visa extension. And like all free entries in the Philippines, you have to have a return ticket out of Philippines. In all probability, if you do not have a return ticket out of Philippines, they will let you board the aircraft. And the Philippines immigration officers are pretty strict about this one requirement.

I got such a free entry when I flew into Manila 5 days back. I have a valid United States and Singapore visa on my passport. Even though, I have both visas on my passport, they mentioned US Visa on the stamp they put on my passport. I had a ticket out of Philippines on day 19, but the immigration officer said that he can give me only 14 days free entry, but I could extend it in Manila or at any of the immigration offices in the country. Overall, this is a great bonus to have if you want to plan a last minute short holiday to the Philippines. The hassle of applying for a visa is nullified, which in itself is great. Paying no fee for entry is an added bonus.

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