Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco has called for a quick inter-agency action regarding the runaway growth in the population of Chinese “students” in the Philippines.

Tansingco said he has already requested the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), which chairs the inter-agency committee on foreign students (IACFS), to convene a high-level conference of members to define each agency’s responsibility in allowing foreigners to study in the country.

The request stemmed from recent concerns over the number of Chinese nationals studying in Tuguegarao, which prompted both the House of Representatives and the Senate to launch investigations.

After reviewing its records, the BI discovered that 1,516 Chinese nationals had been issued student visas in Cagayan, all of which were approved by a major Philippine university.

However, based on reports, as of April, there were only 485 enrolled students, with only 96 of them enrolled on campus and holding legitimate student visas.

“The Philippine government has been promoting the country as a regional and global education hub. In fact, there are national campaigns that have greatly helped boost the number of foreign students in the country,” Tansingco said.

All over globe

In 2023, the BI issued a total of 24,189 student visas to various nationalities. A total of 16,190 were given to Chinese nationals throughout the Philippines, with the majority located in the National Capital Region.

However, Chinese nationals have continued to predominate foreign students in the majority of countries.

In the United States, 289,526 Chinese nationals were granted student visas in 2022, while in Malaysia, approximately 130,000 were awarded.

In Thailand, about 20,000 Chinese students enrolled during the same year.

The Bureau stated that Executive Order 285 governs overseas students. CHEd chairs the IACFS, which was established in 2000. The interagency also includes Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Bureau of Investigation.

Any school that accepts foreign nationals as students must provide regular reports to all IACFS organizations.

The data is used by the BI to monitor visa compliance, by CHEd to check compliance with education-related policies, and by the NBI and NICA to investigate suspicious activity.