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(NAR) VOL. 5 NO. 1/JANUARY - MARCH 1994
[ BI ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 01-93, December 15, 1993 ]
ISSUANCE AND REPLACEMENT OF ALIEN CERTIFICATES OF REGISTRATION AND ORGANIZATION OF IMMIGRATION DISTRICTS
By authority of Section 3 of the immigration Act of 1940 (CA 613), as amended, as well as Section 2 of the Alien Registration Act of 1950 (RA 562), as amended, and in order to update and straighten the records of all foreign nationals living in the country for computerized recording and statistical purposes as well as to restore the trustworthiness and integrity of Alien Certificates of Registration (AR Form No. 3) issued by the Bureau of Immigration, the following rules and regulations are hereby issued and promulgated:
SECTION 1. Effective 2 January 1994, only Alien Certificates of Registration (ACR), E Series, shall be issued to foreign nationals who apply for initial registration, fingerprinting, and issuance of an ACR as required under the Alien Registration Act of 1950, as amended, and its implementing rules and regulations, upon compliance with all the requirements and payment of the fees therefor, which application shall be made on the prescribed form (AR Form No. 1). E Series ACRs shall be replaced with new ACRs after ten (10) years from date of its issuance and every ten (10) years thereafter, for updating and submission of new photographs, upon compliance with all the requirements and payment of the fees for its re-issuance.
SECTION 2. All foreign nationals who are already holders of Alien Certificates of Registration issued prior to July 1992 shall, within a period of one (1) year from the date of last publication of this Order in a national newspaper of general circulation, surrender their ACR to the Alien Registration and Control Officer (ARCO) of the Immigration District under whose territorial jurisdiction their habitual place of residence is located and apply for its cancellation and replacement with the E Series and fingerprinting. For ACRs issued during the period from July 1992 to December 1993, the holders thereof shall, within a period of two (2) years from publication of this Order as heretofore stated, surrender their ACR for cancellation and replacement, in both cases upon application to be made in a special form to be prescribed for this purpose and compliance with all the requirements and payment of the fees for its re-issuance.
SECTION 3. To ensure the proper and effective implementation of this Order, certain provinces are hereby clustered into districts for administrative and operational purposes, hereinafter to be identified and referred to as Immigration Districts with respective territorial jurisdiction and location of their respective District Office and Field Offices shown in the attached Annex * to this Order.
SECTION 4. In the implementation of this Order, the following guidelines shall be strictly observed:
a. Applications, insofar as Section 1 hereof is concerned, shall be filed with the Immigration District Office or as provided for under Republic Act No. 562, otherwise known as the Alien Registration Act of 1950, as amended.
b. Applications, insofar as Section 2 hereof is concerned, shall be filed only with the Immigration District Office or authorized Field Office of the Immigration District under whose territorial jurisdiction the foreign national is habitually residing. If the foreign national concerned or his parents (in the case of dependents) is at the time of application already habitually residing in a place other than where he was first admitted into the Philippines or his place of birth, an application may be filed and accepted in another Immigration District Office, with due notice given to the Office or Immigration District which issued the previous ACR. In the cancellation and replacement of ACRs previously issued, Alien Registration and Control Officers (ARCO) shall be responsible for checking the validity of the immigration status of the applicant and the genuineness of the ACR surrendered as well as the verification of all data entered therein. If the ACR surrendered is found to be spurious or fake, or in case of doubt as to its genuineness, the ACR in question together with all relevant documents shall immediately be transmitted, through the head of the Immigration District concerned, to the Commissioner of Immigration for appropriate action.
c. The E Series ACR form is in triplicate. The original copy, the duplicate (District Office File Copy) and the triplicate (Central Records File Copy) have the same serial number. The form shall be issued consecutively in accordance with serial number and care should be taken in the use thereof. All data to be entered therein shall be typewritten (never in long hand) precisely and correctly and the physical description of the foreign national based on his actual appearance at the time of issuance, with height and weight entered in the metric system of measurement. The accomplished ACR form shall be signed personally by the foreign national concerned in English script and also in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic or other foreign characters, as the case may be.
d. The photographs (3 copies) to be furnished by a foreign national shall have been taken within thirty (30) days before the date they are furnished and shall be two by two inches in size, the distance from the top of the head to the point of the chin being approximately one and one-fourth inches, printed on thin quality paper, having a light background, and clearly showing a full front view of his features without a hat or glasses. The photographs shall be securely and permanently pasted/glued on the space provided in the ACR form and thereafter stamp-imprinted with the Bureau seal which should partly cover the upper left-hand corner of the photograph without touching on any part of the face.
e. The Central Records File Copy (triplicate) of E Series ACRs issued shall be transmitted to the Commissioner of Immigration after the 15th and end of each month, together with the original copy of the accomplished and signed application form, fingerprint chart, cancelled ACR and other relevant documents submitted with the application, to be covered by a letter transmittal with the names of the foreign nationals listed therein. All sets of E Series ACRs which may be spoiled or torn and cancelled shall be included in the transmittal for accounting purposes. A report shall nevertheless be made if no ACR was issued on or prior to the dates aforestated.
f. Heads of Immigration Districts shall make requisition of the E Series ACR forms from the Commissioner of Immigration, and shall be principally responsible for their safe storage and issuance. They shall submit beginning 31 March 1994 and every three (3) months thereafter an accounting report of all ACRs issued during the preceding quarter period on the form to be prescribed for this purpose. Any E Series ACR which may be lost or destroyed by fire or some fortuitous event shall be reported immediately to the Commissioner of Immigration with the corresponding serial number(s).
SECTION 5. Any foreign national who fails to comply with the provisions of Section 2 of this Order within the period of time specified therein shall be subject to an administrative fine of Five Hundred Pesos (P500.00) for every month or fraction thereof of delay, the total sum of which shall in no case exceed Two Thousand Pesos (P2,000.00). After 31 December 1995, any foreign national found in possession of an ACR other than the E Series shall be deemed not properly documented and may be proceeded against under pertinent provisions of the Immigration Act of 1940 or the Alien Registration Act of 1950, both as amended.
SECTION 6. All heads of Immigration Districts and Alien Registration and Control Officers shall give this Order the widest publicity possible in their respective territorial jurisdiction and for this purpose may seek the assistance of city and municipal treasurers concerned.
All Orders and other issuances whose provisions or any part thereof are in conflict or inconsistent with any provision of this Order shall be deemed superseded, amended, or modified accordingly insofar as the affected provision is concerned.
This Order shall take effect upon its approval by the Secretary of Justice.
Adopted: 15 Dec. 1993
(Sgd.) ZAFIRO L. RESPICIO
Commissioner
SECTION 1. Effective 2 January 1994, only Alien Certificates of Registration (ACR), E Series, shall be issued to foreign nationals who apply for initial registration, fingerprinting, and issuance of an ACR as required under the Alien Registration Act of 1950, as amended, and its implementing rules and regulations, upon compliance with all the requirements and payment of the fees therefor, which application shall be made on the prescribed form (AR Form No. 1). E Series ACRs shall be replaced with new ACRs after ten (10) years from date of its issuance and every ten (10) years thereafter, for updating and submission of new photographs, upon compliance with all the requirements and payment of the fees for its re-issuance.
SECTION 2. All foreign nationals who are already holders of Alien Certificates of Registration issued prior to July 1992 shall, within a period of one (1) year from the date of last publication of this Order in a national newspaper of general circulation, surrender their ACR to the Alien Registration and Control Officer (ARCO) of the Immigration District under whose territorial jurisdiction their habitual place of residence is located and apply for its cancellation and replacement with the E Series and fingerprinting. For ACRs issued during the period from July 1992 to December 1993, the holders thereof shall, within a period of two (2) years from publication of this Order as heretofore stated, surrender their ACR for cancellation and replacement, in both cases upon application to be made in a special form to be prescribed for this purpose and compliance with all the requirements and payment of the fees for its re-issuance.
SECTION 3. To ensure the proper and effective implementation of this Order, certain provinces are hereby clustered into districts for administrative and operational purposes, hereinafter to be identified and referred to as Immigration Districts with respective territorial jurisdiction and location of their respective District Office and Field Offices shown in the attached Annex * to this Order.
SECTION 4. In the implementation of this Order, the following guidelines shall be strictly observed:
a. Applications, insofar as Section 1 hereof is concerned, shall be filed with the Immigration District Office or as provided for under Republic Act No. 562, otherwise known as the Alien Registration Act of 1950, as amended.
b. Applications, insofar as Section 2 hereof is concerned, shall be filed only with the Immigration District Office or authorized Field Office of the Immigration District under whose territorial jurisdiction the foreign national is habitually residing. If the foreign national concerned or his parents (in the case of dependents) is at the time of application already habitually residing in a place other than where he was first admitted into the Philippines or his place of birth, an application may be filed and accepted in another Immigration District Office, with due notice given to the Office or Immigration District which issued the previous ACR. In the cancellation and replacement of ACRs previously issued, Alien Registration and Control Officers (ARCO) shall be responsible for checking the validity of the immigration status of the applicant and the genuineness of the ACR surrendered as well as the verification of all data entered therein. If the ACR surrendered is found to be spurious or fake, or in case of doubt as to its genuineness, the ACR in question together with all relevant documents shall immediately be transmitted, through the head of the Immigration District concerned, to the Commissioner of Immigration for appropriate action.
c. The E Series ACR form is in triplicate. The original copy, the duplicate (District Office File Copy) and the triplicate (Central Records File Copy) have the same serial number. The form shall be issued consecutively in accordance with serial number and care should be taken in the use thereof. All data to be entered therein shall be typewritten (never in long hand) precisely and correctly and the physical description of the foreign national based on his actual appearance at the time of issuance, with height and weight entered in the metric system of measurement. The accomplished ACR form shall be signed personally by the foreign national concerned in English script and also in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic or other foreign characters, as the case may be.
d. The photographs (3 copies) to be furnished by a foreign national shall have been taken within thirty (30) days before the date they are furnished and shall be two by two inches in size, the distance from the top of the head to the point of the chin being approximately one and one-fourth inches, printed on thin quality paper, having a light background, and clearly showing a full front view of his features without a hat or glasses. The photographs shall be securely and permanently pasted/glued on the space provided in the ACR form and thereafter stamp-imprinted with the Bureau seal which should partly cover the upper left-hand corner of the photograph without touching on any part of the face.
e. The Central Records File Copy (triplicate) of E Series ACRs issued shall be transmitted to the Commissioner of Immigration after the 15th and end of each month, together with the original copy of the accomplished and signed application form, fingerprint chart, cancelled ACR and other relevant documents submitted with the application, to be covered by a letter transmittal with the names of the foreign nationals listed therein. All sets of E Series ACRs which may be spoiled or torn and cancelled shall be included in the transmittal for accounting purposes. A report shall nevertheless be made if no ACR was issued on or prior to the dates aforestated.
f. Heads of Immigration Districts shall make requisition of the E Series ACR forms from the Commissioner of Immigration, and shall be principally responsible for their safe storage and issuance. They shall submit beginning 31 March 1994 and every three (3) months thereafter an accounting report of all ACRs issued during the preceding quarter period on the form to be prescribed for this purpose. Any E Series ACR which may be lost or destroyed by fire or some fortuitous event shall be reported immediately to the Commissioner of Immigration with the corresponding serial number(s).
SECTION 5. Any foreign national who fails to comply with the provisions of Section 2 of this Order within the period of time specified therein shall be subject to an administrative fine of Five Hundred Pesos (P500.00) for every month or fraction thereof of delay, the total sum of which shall in no case exceed Two Thousand Pesos (P2,000.00). After 31 December 1995, any foreign national found in possession of an ACR other than the E Series shall be deemed not properly documented and may be proceeded against under pertinent provisions of the Immigration Act of 1940 or the Alien Registration Act of 1950, both as amended.
SECTION 6. All heads of Immigration Districts and Alien Registration and Control Officers shall give this Order the widest publicity possible in their respective territorial jurisdiction and for this purpose may seek the assistance of city and municipal treasurers concerned.
All Orders and other issuances whose provisions or any part thereof are in conflict or inconsistent with any provision of this Order shall be deemed superseded, amended, or modified accordingly insofar as the affected provision is concerned.
This Order shall take effect upon its approval by the Secretary of Justice.
Adopted: 15 Dec. 1993
(Sgd.) ZAFIRO L. RESPICIO
Commissioner