BI denies Sister Patricia Fox's bid for extended missionary visa

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has denied Sister Patricia Fox's request for her missionary visa to be extended.

This is based on a two-page order issued by the BI signed last Thursday which cited Fox's standing deportation order as an impediment to the extension of her missionary visa.

Fox’s request for an extension of her missionary visa was petitioned by the Superior of the Religieuse De Notre Dame De Sion, Inc.

“The BI already saw that Sister Fox violated the conditions of her stay and is considered undesirable, hence a deportation order was previously issued against her,” BI spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval said in a statement.

“Our legal team saw that approving the extension of her missionary visa will be inconsistent with the findings cited in her deportation order,” Sandoval added.

No less than President Rodrigo Duterte has criticized and threatened to slap Fox, a  71-year-old Catholic nun from Australia who has been an aid worker in the Philippines for 27 years working closely with peasants and indigenous peoples.

Fox has been photographed participating in a rally calling for the release of political prisoners. She was apprehended by immigration authorities on April 16 on the strength of a mission order issued by BI Commissioner Jaime Morente and subsequently detained for allegedly engaging in illegal political activities.

Fox, however, was released after one day in detention. She is still contesting her deportation order before the Department of Justice.

The BI is under the jurisdiction of the Justice department.

The BI then noted that the denial of Fox's request for an extension of her missionary visa would mean that she needs to apply for a temporary visitor’s visa, with a 59-day validity, starting from the date of the expiry of her missionary visa.

BI, however, can still grant Fox a temporary visitor’s visa without prejudice to the resolution of her appeal to the DOJ on her deportation. —Llanesca T. Panti/KG, GMA News