MORE than 40 Hong Kong businessmen have been ordered out of the Philippines as part of a crackdown on foreigners breaching conditions of stay.
All 214 foreigners arrived as tourists last year and then applied for investor visas, which require a deposit of US$50,000 (about HK$387,000) from abroad to be sent to a Philippine bank.
The orders to remove the over-stayers came after the Board of Investments compiled a list of those who had not invested the US$50,000 within the required 180 days.
Immigration Commissioner Leandro Verceles said the foreigners included 41 from Hong Kong, 80 from Taiwan and 52 from China. The others were from several other countries.
A spokesman for the Philippines Consulate-general in Hong Kong said yesterday their office had issued 37 principal investor visas to individuals last year and 42 to principal investors and their dependents.
'The investor visa is issued after the money has been confirmed as having been remitted to an account in the Philippines, but after that, the principal applicant is free to take the money out for other uses,' the spokesman said.
