Malacañang on Sunday disclosed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is seeking to extend the electronic visas granted to visitors who want to remain in the nation following his meeting with Indian ambassador to the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran.

During their meeting, Kumaran asked the Marcos to let Indians stay in the Philippines longer with e-visas.

"We will find a way to do it. But we are (extending the e-visa)," Marcos told Kumaran. "It won't be just India, we are doing it with…several other countries as well to keep it. Again, we will just apply the same principles that we did with others — to India. But that is something that's easy for us. That's going to be a good beginning of a good exchange between our two countries."

E-visas in the Philippines were made possible by the Department of Foreign Affairs in August of last year which make it easier for people from other countries to get visas.

The DFA said that the new system would have a "soft launch" at the Philippine Consulate in Shanghai, China with the help of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

According to the DFA, the e-visa system will let people from other countries apply for tourist cards from their computers, laptops, or phones.

DFA Consular Affairs Assistant Secretary Henry Bensurto said that one reason they chose Shanghai for beta testing the program was because there are so many people there who want to get visas.

He also said that the e-visa system will only work for tourists at first, but that all types of visas will be able to use it once the system is stable.

"This is just the beginning of the government's continuous efforts to bring excellent public service," the DFA official explained.