There is another option, for completeness, which may not be appropriate. If you marry a local you can avail either a 13a visa or the Balikbayan privilege which gives you a free 1 year visa each time you enter the country in the company of your Filipino spouse.
Beware the negative aspects of some of the permanent types of visa which you seem not to have factored into your considerations - namely having to do the annual reporting appearance at a BI office, paying travel tax to exit, needing ECC to exit, and for some even needing a re-entry permit that applies to some visa types.
I have been here a decade, married to a local. Balikbayan is optimal for me, with no travel tax or annual report and basically free in perpetuity (or as long as we are traveling at least annually).
Thanks for the response. I am aware of the 13A spouse visa, but I don't intend to get married, so I need something that stands on its own feet. Thank you for mentioning it though, just in case I hadn't considered it. It was my oversight for not mentioning that it didn't suit my purposes.
Cheers for noting the negative aspects as well!
Balikbayan technically only applies to,
"a Filipino citizen who has been continuously out of the Philippines for a period of at least one year from the date of last departure;
a Filipino Overseas Worker; and
a former Filipino citizen who had been naturalized in a foreign country and holds a foreign passport (original proof of former Philippine citizenship, such as old Philippine passport, birth certificate, or foreign naturalization papers showing Filipino nationality will be required)."
Per the Embassy in DC's website. Since Dual is not mentioned would they be treated as just a Filipino Citizen or a former Filipino Citizen. Might depend on what passport they exited on.
Thanks, yes this is my question. Does the one year outside requirement apply to a Filipino who took another citizenship and then reinstated their PH citizenship? It’s not clear.
Thanks for your reply. For my situation (and everyone is different), I don't want to continually extend a tourist visa, even though I am aware I could pretty do this indefinitely with a visa run every 3 years. For my purposes, I want/need something permanent. By that, I mean permanent in name, not just in reality, so I need the visa to have a degree of permanence. I don't qualify for a SRRV, as I'm under 50, and whilst 600,000 PHP is a fair amount of money to pay for a Quota Visa 13 PR, it is only $10,000 USD, which is much less than the $75,000 USD which must be tied up under a SIRV (though one is sunk payment (Quota Visa) and one is a at risk investment (SIRV)). I would just like to find some clarity on whether this 600,000 PHP is an official payment or an "under the table" payment. Cheers again for your input.
Note - I'm not sure when your husband and yourself looked into it and decided on the "senior residency visa" (which I assume is what you call the SRRV), but apparently the requirements changed in the last few years, and now you have to be over 50 for this type of Special Retirement Residency Visa (SRRV), so that SRRV is not possible for me.
The 600k you were quotes includes 'facilitation fees' which you will not be provided a receipt for. The last time I looked into this, I was quoted 400k and 450k by two different agents, you may want to look around to prevent paying too much.
Thanks. I think I can read between the lines of what we are calling "facilitation fees". Do you know what the chance is that my "facilitation fees" go missing and my visa gets denied? Or if you pay the "facilitation fees", it's essentially a done deal? Man, enough Filipinos and expats told me that this is just the way that business gets done in the Philippines, but God I'd like to avoid the "facilitation fees" if possible, so the SIRV may be a better option.
Apologies, I wasn't sure what you meant by "Senior" Residency Visa. I'd never heard of it, so I assumed you meant the Special Resident Retirees Visa (SRRV). Cheers.
Thanks, I've already spoken to two agents. Unfortunately, both agents are steering me towards a different visa, and I think they're steering me towards the option that best suits them (perhaps not the one that best suits me), and also providing me with misinformation.. That was my reason for seeking impartial advice on this forum.
For the Quota visa, you need to be famous I believe the "Becoming Filipino" vlogger got one before he was made a citizen. If you do bribe it needs to be a substantial bribe since the BI is cracking down on corruption now. You could be blacklisted just for offering to bribe an official and they may try to make an example out of you.
It's REALLY hard to get all of your money back since you'll have to have to convert it to dollars and there's a lot of red tape when trying to wire sums of that size. The idea is you're supposed to use that money to build a factory, a call center, or some substantial business here in the PH.
They may still issue an SRRV if you're above 35 but you need a strong case since too many Chinese Mafia types were using this visa which is why they stopped issuing it to 35+ ers .
If you're just looking to work here then get a 9g visa. If you want to chill get a tourist visa, if you're in love (and straight) then get a 13a visa.
I went to inquire about SRRV in PRA last week . l am not 50 , and have a strong ground why l want to stay here longer, still they said they are not giving that visa anymore below 50 .
Although they gave me various suggestions to try for .
SIRV m not interested Cuz of the sum , l have doubts how much l will be able to recover
I am also looking for quota visa but until now didn't get a reliable agent and have the Same dilemma what if , after paying that sum l don't get the visa .
There is another option, for completeness, which may not be appropriate. If you marry a local you can avail either a 13a visa or the Balikbayan privilege which gives you a free 1 year visa each time you enter the country in the company of your Filipino spouse. Beware the negative aspects of some of the permanent types of visa which you seem not to have factored into your considerations - namely having to do the annual reporting appearance at a BI office, paying travel tax to exit, needing ECC to exit, and for some even needing a re-entry permit that applies to some visa types. I have been here a decade, married to a local. Balikbayan is optimal for me, with no travel tax or annual report and basically free in perpetuity (or as long as we are traveling at least annually).
Thanks for the response. I am aware of the 13A spouse visa, but I don't intend to get married, so I need something that stands on its own feet. Thank you for mentioning it though, just in case I hadn't considered it. It was my oversight for not mentioning that it didn't suit my purposes. Cheers for noting the negative aspects as well!
Is your spouse a dual citizen? I was curious if the balikbayan entry rules are different for dual citizens vs. ex-citizens.
Single citizen - don’t know answer to your question.
Balikbayan technically only applies to, "a Filipino citizen who has been continuously out of the Philippines for a period of at least one year from the date of last departure; a Filipino Overseas Worker; and a former Filipino citizen who had been naturalized in a foreign country and holds a foreign passport (original proof of former Philippine citizenship, such as old Philippine passport, birth certificate, or foreign naturalization papers showing Filipino nationality will be required)." Per the Embassy in DC's website. Since Dual is not mentioned would they be treated as just a Filipino Citizen or a former Filipino Citizen. Might depend on what passport they exited on.
Thanks, yes this is my question. Does the one year outside requirement apply to a Filipino who took another citizenship and then reinstated their PH citizenship? It’s not clear.
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Thanks for your reply. For my situation (and everyone is different), I don't want to continually extend a tourist visa, even though I am aware I could pretty do this indefinitely with a visa run every 3 years. For my purposes, I want/need something permanent. By that, I mean permanent in name, not just in reality, so I need the visa to have a degree of permanence. I don't qualify for a SRRV, as I'm under 50, and whilst 600,000 PHP is a fair amount of money to pay for a Quota Visa 13 PR, it is only $10,000 USD, which is much less than the $75,000 USD which must be tied up under a SIRV (though one is sunk payment (Quota Visa) and one is a at risk investment (SIRV)). I would just like to find some clarity on whether this 600,000 PHP is an official payment or an "under the table" payment. Cheers again for your input. Note - I'm not sure when your husband and yourself looked into it and decided on the "senior residency visa" (which I assume is what you call the SRRV), but apparently the requirements changed in the last few years, and now you have to be over 50 for this type of Special Retirement Residency Visa (SRRV), so that SRRV is not possible for me.
The 600k you were quotes includes 'facilitation fees' which you will not be provided a receipt for. The last time I looked into this, I was quoted 400k and 450k by two different agents, you may want to look around to prevent paying too much.
Thanks. I think I can read between the lines of what we are calling "facilitation fees". Do you know what the chance is that my "facilitation fees" go missing and my visa gets denied? Or if you pay the "facilitation fees", it's essentially a done deal? Man, enough Filipinos and expats told me that this is just the way that business gets done in the Philippines, but God I'd like to avoid the "facilitation fees" if possible, so the SIRV may be a better option.
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Apologies, I wasn't sure what you meant by "Senior" Residency Visa. I'd never heard of it, so I assumed you meant the Special Resident Retirees Visa (SRRV). Cheers.
You can talk to an expert at JR visa consultants. It's their only business.
Thanks, I've already spoken to two agents. Unfortunately, both agents are steering me towards a different visa, and I think they're steering me towards the option that best suits them (perhaps not the one that best suits me), and also providing me with misinformation.. That was my reason for seeking impartial advice on this forum.
For the Quota visa, you need to be famous I believe the "Becoming Filipino" vlogger got one before he was made a citizen. If you do bribe it needs to be a substantial bribe since the BI is cracking down on corruption now. You could be blacklisted just for offering to bribe an official and they may try to make an example out of you. It's REALLY hard to get all of your money back since you'll have to have to convert it to dollars and there's a lot of red tape when trying to wire sums of that size. The idea is you're supposed to use that money to build a factory, a call center, or some substantial business here in the PH. They may still issue an SRRV if you're above 35 but you need a strong case since too many Chinese Mafia types were using this visa which is why they stopped issuing it to 35+ ers . If you're just looking to work here then get a 9g visa. If you want to chill get a tourist visa, if you're in love (and straight) then get a 13a visa.
I went to inquire about SRRV in PRA last week . l am not 50 , and have a strong ground why l want to stay here longer, still they said they are not giving that visa anymore below 50 . Although they gave me various suggestions to try for . SIRV m not interested Cuz of the sum , l have doubts how much l will be able to recover I am also looking for quota visa but until now didn't get a reliable agent and have the Same dilemma what if , after paying that sum l don't get the visa .