Ng Hin v. Commissioner of Immigration
REITERATIONFacts
The Antecedents: Appellee Ng Hin, a Chinese national, was a permanent resident in the Philippines prior to 1940. He left for China in 1940 and secured a returning visa in November 1941, which he did not use. In March 1948, he applied for and was issued a returning resident visa but again did not use it, instead applying for a temporary visitor visa. He arrived in Manila on November 26, 1948, with this temporary visitor's visa and was allowed to land as such. He was granted several extensions for his temporary stay, the last expiring on March 25, 1950. Upon his failure to leave the country by that date, a warrant of arrest was issued, and deportation proceedings were instituted. The Board of Commissioners ordered his deportation on June 14, 1950, and a warrant of deportation was issued on March 26, 1951. Procedural History: Three years after the warrant of deportation was issued, on June 29, 1954, Ng Hin filed a petition with the Commissioner of Immigration to correct his status from temporary visitor to returning resident. On July 19, 1954, the First Deputy Commissioner of Immigration issued an order allowing this correction. However, on August 6, 1955, the Commissioner of Immigration set aside the First Deputy Commissioner's order, reinstated the warrant of deportation, and required Ng Hin to post new bonds. On August 11, 1955, Ng Hin filed a petition for certiorari with preliminary injunction in the Court of First Instance of Manila. The Petition: The Court of First Instance of Manila declared the Commissioner's order null and void and restrained the deportation. The Commissioner of Immigration appealed this decision.
Issue(s)
Whether an alien admitted as a temporary visitor can change their status to permanent resident without first departing the Philippines. Whether the circumstances of the appellee's case warrant an exception to the general rule regarding change of status for temporary visitors.
Ruling
The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of First Instance, declared the order annulling the Commissioner's action null and void, and set aside the injunction restraining the deportation of the petitioner. Costs were against the petitioner-appellee.
Ratio Decidendi
On the issue of changing status from temporary visitor to permanent resident: The Court held that an alien admitted as a temporary visitor cannot remain in the Philippines permanently. To obtain permanent admission, a non-immigrant alien must depart voluntarily to some foreign country and procure the proper visa from the appropriate Philippine consul, thereafter undergoing examination by immigration officers for admissibility. This is expressly provided for in Section 9, last paragraph, of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, as amended by Republic Act No. 503. The Court cited previous rulings in Chiong Tiao Bing, et al. vs. Commissioner of Immigration, Ong Se Lun, et al. vs. Board of Immigration Commissioners, and Sy Hong, et al. vs. Commissioner of Immigration which applied this rule. On whether the appellee's case warrants an exception: The Court found that the appellee's situation did not fall under the exception recognized in Chiong Tiao Bing, et al. vs. Commissioner of Immigration. In that case, the exception was justified by the petitioners' efforts to have their rights recognized since the end of the Pacific War, their acceptance of a temporary visitor's visa to escape communist forces, and the fact that the Philippine government was not misled as to their claims of being returning residents. The Court noted that in the present case, Ng Hin was admitted in 1948 but did not seek a correction of his status until June 29, 1954, long after his deportation had been ordered (June 14, 1950) and a warrant issued (March 26, 1951). Unlike the Chiong Tiao Bing case, no special cause or reason was proven or expressed in the stipulation of facts that would justify Ng Hin's delay in seeking the correction of his status. Therefore, there was no reason to make an exception to the general rule clearly stated in the law.
Main Doctrine
An alien admitted as a temporary visitor cannot change their status to that of a permanent resident without first departing from the Philippines and procuring the proper visa from the appropriate Philippine consul, as expressly provided by Section 9 of the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, as amended by Republic Act No. 503, unless exceptional circumstances, as demonstrated in Chiong Tiao Bing, et al. vs. Commissioner of Immigration, justify a deviation from the general rule.