Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has officially approved a new digital nomad visa program, allowing foreigners to temporary live in the country while maintaining their remote work. The initiative, formalized under Executive Order (EO) No. 86 signed on April 24, 2025, aims to enhance tourism and boost economic growth by attracting foreign independent professionals with stable overseas incomes.
EO No. 86 seeks to establish a legal framework to facilitate the entry of eligible digital nomads into the Philippines, and authorizes the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), through the Philippine embassies and consulates, to issue visas to these foreign nationals.
Eligibility and reciprocity Digital Nomad Visa Philippines
EO No. 86 also sets out a number of eligibility criteria. To be eligible, applications must be at least 18 years old, must not pose a threat to the internal and external security of the Philippines, and must produce a clean criminal record.
Applicants must also not be employed in the Philippines, and must have health insurance valid for the whole duration of their visa. They must provide proof of remote work using digital technology, and proof of sufficient income generated outside of the Philippines.
But perhaps most notably, applicants must be nationals of countries that offer digital nomad visa schemes there are available to Filipinos, introducing a key criterion of reciprocity.
Currently, several European countries offer digital nomad visa programs or relevant schemes open to citizens from outside of the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA), such as the Philippines. These countries include Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Iceland, Finland, and Montenegro.
The Czech Republic also offers a digital nomad program, but it’s only available to citizen of Australia, Japan, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, the USA or the UK.
Outside of Europe, countries such as United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mauritius, South Korea, and Indonesia also offer digital nomad visas that are accessible to Filipinos.
This means nomads from Germany, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia, USA, Canada, UK, France to name a few will all not be able to apply for the digital nomad visa in the Philippines.
If approved, holders of the Philippine digital nomad visa will be allowed to enter and stay in the country for a maximum period of one year. They may renew their visas for an additional year, and may be granted multiple entry privileges during the validity of their visas.
Implementation of the Philippine digital nomad visa program
To ensure smooth and effective implementation of the digital nomad visa program, EO No. 86 mandates the DFA, in coordination with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Bureau of Immigration (BI), and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), to develop and issue the necessary guidelines within 30 days of the order’s effectivity. These guidelines should include the procedures for issuing, renewing, and revoking digital nomad visas.
These agencies have also been tasked to study and adopt the necessary measures to conduct a pilot rollout of the program 60 days from the effectivity of the order. Finally, EO No. 86 mandates the DFA to create a database of all digital nomad visa holders for monitoring purposes.
Boosting economic growth and tourism
The Philippines’ new digital nomad visa scheme is consistent with the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, which aims for deep economic and social transformation to reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction by steering the economy back on a high-growth path. Key targets include maintaining annual economic growth between 6.5% and 8%, reducing the unemployment rate to 4-5%, and lowering the poverty rate to 9% by 2028.
The initiative also aligns with the administration’s commitment to promote tourism, and complements measures such as Republic Act 12079. The law, enacted in December 2024, establishes a value-added tax (VAT) refund system for non-resident tourists, encouraging them to spend more locally, stimulating the domestic economy.
“It is high time that the Philippines catches up with countries around the world that have long implemented a standard VAT refund system,” Philippine Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said on December 09, 2024. “With increased tourism spending, we will have higher revenues to collect and we can create more jobs, raise incomes, and accelerate economic growth.”
A booming tourism sector
The Philippines’ tourism sector saw remarkable growth in 2024, generating a record-breaking revenue of PHP 760.5 billion (US$13.6 billion) from inbound tourism. The figure, which surpasses both 2023 and pre-pandemic levels, was credited to pro-tourism policies, enhanced infrastructure, and international partnerships, which led to a 9.15% year-over-year (YoY) rise in foreign arrivals, with South Korea, the US, and Japan emerging as the top source markets.
At the same time, the Philippines is also gaining traction as a global hub for digital nomads. In 2023, the World Economic Forum ranked the country as the seventh fastest-growing remote work hub in the world.
Featured image by bignai on Freepik
