AMERICAN citizens in the Philippines with expired U.S. passports will be allowed to depart the country, according to the Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI).

A memorandum issued by Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente directed all BI personnel assigned at the different ports to allow the departure of passengers whose American passports expired on or after January 1, 2020 and are expiring up to December 31, 2021.

However, expired passports may only be used for departure to the U.S. until the end of the year, the memo said.

Morente also directed the bureau’s Tourist Visa Section and Alien Registration Division to “process all applications for updating of stay and emigration clearance certificates (ECC) of holders of expired US passports upon presentation of a confirmed ticket bound for the USA.”

The order was issued in response to a letter from the U.S. Embassy in Manila relaying the plight of American citizens who were stranded in the Philippines due to their expired passports.

In the letter, the embassy said that the U.S. State Department recently issued guidance that would allow Americans to return to the U.S. using an expired passport, in limited circumstances, through the end of the year.

“The Embassy said that the State Department worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security and different commercial airlines to implement the measure to assist Americans whose passports expired during the pandemic in countries where passport renewal options at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate are limited,” the bureau said.

A similar letter was sent by the embassy to the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

“Because of the request from the U.S. Embassy, in principle, passports that expired from January 1, 2020, up to the end of 2021 are considered valid and extended, hence they may be allowed to depart,” Morente said.

“But this rule applies only to departing passengers. Those who are planning to remain here or convert their visas still need to present a valid passport,” he added.