THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) said that foreign tourists are not yet allowed to enter the Philippines even if they are traveling from green list countries.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said that only Filipinos, balikbayan, and those with valid and existing long-term visas from green and yellow list countries are allowed to enter.

He said this clarification came as the bureau received numerous queries from foreign tourists who wanted to fly to the Philippines.

Morente added that Filipinos coming from red list countries may return via repatriation flights and bayanihan flights organized by government or non-government agencies.

On Friday, October 15, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) released an updated list of Red, Green and Yellow List countries.

The lists are effective starting October 16, 2021 up to October 31, 2021.

Romania has been classified under the red list, while 49 countries have been placed under the green list.

Included in the green list are Algeria, American Samoa, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Chad, China (Mainland), Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Eritrea, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Gibraltar, Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), Kiribati, Madagascar, Mali, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Montserrat, Nauru, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Niue, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Poland, Saba (Special Municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), Saint Helena, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Sint Eustatius, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu and Yemen.

The IATF-MEID said that all other countries not mentioned are classified under the Yellow List.

The testing and quarantine protocols of those arriving under these lists, according to the IATF-MEID, shall be implemented and monitored by the Bureau of Quarantine.

"Despite these travel restrictions, we remain hopeful that international travel will be safely revived soon," said Morente.