PH Consulate General Meets with Shanghai Entry-Exit Administration, Raises Issues of Import to Filipinos

SHANGHAI, 27 April 2023 – With China having reopened its borders to normal and regular travel and immigration, Consul General Josel F. Ignacio called on Deputy Director General Cao Qianhua of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau-Bureau of Entry-Exit Administration (BEEA) on 10 April 2023. 

The PCG and BEEA surveyed issues of mutual concern. The PCG used the occasion to discuss the resumption and uptick in regular passenger travel and people-to-people exchanges between the Philippines and China, for leisure, work or business. 

The PCG notified the BEEA of the revival by the Philippines of its Tour Group Visa scheme for Chinese outbound tour groups, with the first group departing for Boracay on 18 April, and sought the Bureau’s cooperation.

The PCG also had a candid clarificatory exchange with the BEEA on immigration rules and the latter’s handling of cases. The PCG emphasized its mandate to advance and safeguard the welfare of Filipino nationals in the Municipality, within the context of respecting host country laws, together with the value of communication between the PCG and the BEEA.

It was the second meeting between the Consul General and DDG Cao. The two first met and held brief talks in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on 14 May 2021, at the conclusion of a major repatriation operation for stranded Filipinos from across China. The Bureau strictly limited operations and face-to-face engagements in 2022 as Shanghai faced serious COVID-19 outbreaks.

Consul John Francis S. Herrera and Assistance-to-Nationals Officer Joany G. Margallo-Lucas, who assumed after the Shanghai lockdown, were formally introduced. END

CG Ignacio presents a token to DDG Cao. With him were Consul Herrera and Attaché Margallo-Lucas.

For more information, visit http://shanghaipcg.dfa.gov.ph/.