10K foreign Pogo workers sign up for visa downgrading

INQUIRER file photo / ALEXIS CORPUZ

More than 10,000 foreign Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) workers have already applied for visa downgrading, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Monday.

The figure is over 25 percent of the 38,773 foreign Pogo workers reported by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to the labor department as of Oct. 1.

“We are expediting the downgrading process to comply with the President’s directive. We encourage Pogo workers to file as early as possible to avoid complications,” Viado said.

Visa downgrading changes a foreign national’s work visa to a temporary visitor visa, allowing them to legally remain in the country for 59 days as they settle their affairs before departure.

The immigration chief noted that the 59-day period after Oct. 15 aligns with the President’s Pogo ban, as announced in his State of the Nation Address in July, and directive for foreign Pogo workers to leave the country by the end of the year.

As part of the government’s coordinated efforts to address the closure of Pogo operations, an interagency task force has been established.

This task force includes the BI, Department of Justice, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Pagcor, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.

The BI emphasized that the procedures for visa downgrading had been simplified, leaving no room for foreign Pogo workers to delay compliance.

Those who do not leave the country by Dec. 31 would face deportation proceedings and be blacklisted from re-entering the Philippines, it added.

Mr. Marcos ordered the Pogo ban following the involvement of many in “illicit areas furthest from gaming such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder.” INQ