Some 20,000 residents of Metro Manila were granted a new job after foreign businessmen availed the special visa for employment generation (SVEG) issued by the Bureau of Immigration (BI), it was learned Sunday.

In a report to BI Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, SVEG one-stop-shop chief Cris Villalobos said Metro Manilans account from the bulk of Filipino works employed by 126 foreign businessmen and 86 dependents that availed of the job visa.

Villalobos also disclosed that the government earned more than P5 million from the 485 foreigners and their dependents that availed of the said visa.

The BI started implementing the SVEG in April last year, or four months after President Arroyo signed the executive order that grants indefinite stay to foreigners and their dependents with investments in business enterprises employing 10 or more regular and full-time Filipino workers.

Aside from Metro Manila, 45 foreigners and their dependents availed of the SVEG from Region IV, comprising of the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Cavite and Quezon. Companies of these SVEG holders employed at least 6, 977 Filipino employees.

Other foreigners who applied for the visa are based in Regions 7, 3, 1, 2, 6, 11, 12, and 10 where a combined total of 6,327 Filipino workers benefitted from the 151 SVEG holders.

Last year, Villalobos said that a total of 415 SVEG were issued by the BI on foreigners that employs at least 10 Filipino workers.

The workers are employed by 196 companies throughout the country where the visa recipients have infused their capital or were hired as expatriates.

The visa entitles the foreign holder to stay indefinitely in the country for as long as his or her investment subsists.

A breakdown of the list of visa recipients showed that 128 Koreans topped the list, followed by 42 Chinese, 24 Americans, 18 Taiwanese, 13 Indians, 12 Britons, 11 Japanese, 9 Australians, six Singaporeans and four German nationals.

Under the rules, a foreigner applying for the visa shall certify that he or she maintains a lawful immigration status in the Philippines; engaged in a viable and sustainable business; exercises managerial acts with authority to employ, promote and dismiss employees; and evinces a genuine  intention to indefinitely remain in the country.

The SVEG was launched by the government to attract foreign investors to the country and at the same time generate job opportunities for Filipinos.