Philippines EO 86 is from April. eVisa still says 9(a)
Condé Nast Traveler recirculated a 'Philippines is launching a digital nomad visa' piece. Executive Order No. 86 of 24 April 2025 already authorises the Department of Foreign Affairs to issue one. The order prints no income figure. The public eVisa policy page still describes 9(a) temporary visitor subtypes and does not name a Digital Nomad Visa product.
What the order actually says
On 24 April 2025 President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. signed Executive Order No. 86, titled
Authorizing the Issuance of Digital Nomad Visa. The verbatim text is on LawPhil’s statute
mirror:
Executive Order No. 86
(lawphil.net). The Official Gazette URL for the same order timed out from here; this page sticks
to the LawPhil text.
Section 1 authorises the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to issue Digital Nomad Visas (DNVs) to non-immigrant foreigners who want a temporary stay in the Philippines while working remotely with digital technologies, and whose clients or employers are outside the Philippines. Section 3 caps stay at a maximum of one year, with renewal for the same period. Section 4 names local employment, fraud and immigration breaches among revocation grounds.
This is an authorising order from April 2025, not a fresh launch notice dated October 2026.
Who the order says may apply
Section 2 lists the conditions. Among them:
- at least 18 years old;
- proof of remote work using digital technology;
- proof of sufficient income generated outside the Philippines — no figure, no formula, no multiple of a wage;
- proof of no criminal record;
- health insurance valid for the DNV period;
- nationality of a country that offers DNVs to Filipinos and where the Philippines has a Foreign Service Post (with a nearest-post route where there is no FSP in that country);
- no threat to Philippine security; and
- must not be employed in the Philippines.
Section 7 told DFA, in coordination with DOJ, DOT, BI and BIR, to issue implementing guidelines — including procedures for issuing, renewing and revoking DNVs — within 30 days of effectivity. Section 5 also directed a pilot of a DNV programme within 60 days. Those are deadlines in the order. They are not, by themselves, proof that a labelled public application channel exists today.
What the eVisa policy page shows today
The DFA’s public policy page on eVisaPH opens. It lists 9(a) Temporary Visitors Visa subtypes (business, tourism/leisure, medical, yachtsmen, filmmaking, journalism, athletic and performing arts, and “other purposes”). It does not name a Digital Nomad Visa, a DNV, or EO 86.
So: the authorisation is in the executive order. A clear, labelled DNV product on the public eVisa policy page we can read is not.
Secondary outlets invent dollar floors and “how to apply this week” checklists. EO 86 does not print an income number, and we are not treating consultancy benchmarks as the bar until a ministry guideline or gazette instrument does.
Why this is worth a page anyway
Because “launching” and “you can file a DNV tonight” get printed the same way. The order is real. The money test is deliberately unnumbered in that text. The public eVisa policy surface still speaks in 9(a).
The Philippines page carries EO 86, the sufficient-means reading, and the grades we already applied. It will carry a figure on the day an official instrument prints one — not before.
What a remote worker can actually do today
For many nationalities the practical short stay is still visa-free entry under the lists on that same eVisa policy page (commonly an initial 30 days where EO 408 eligibility applies), or a 9(a) temporary visitor file where a visa is required. Those are visitor routes. They are not the DNV Section 1 describes.
If you want a Southeast Asian digital nomad permit this site already marks with a checkable apply path and a graded income rule, start from the countries hub rather than from a launch headline.
We will update this post when DFA (or a coordinating agency) publishes implementing guidelines that name the procedure, any income test, and a labelled apply channel. If you spot that before we do, tell us.
The row behind this
Every figure this post relies on lives on a country page with its source and its confidence grade beside it. That is where it gets corrected, and where it stays current after the post stops being news.
- Philippines — Digital Nomad Visa (EO 86, 2025)
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