Opening a bank account

Although a slightly different case, they do have computerized cross references in place. My Filipino born-and-raised partner became a US citizen 20+ years ago. Recently he reclaimed his Phiippine citizenship, but never got a Phlippine passport. Last time he traveled from the US to Manila, he presented his US passport as he had done for two decades and the immigration agent demanded to see his Philippine citizenship papers since the computer flagged his US passport. They had no problem with his presenting US passport and they let him enter with no delay other than checking the Philippine paperwork, too.

 

Oh, yeah. My typo/misspell was of "interest", not "internet."

 

Not unless its a recent requirement. I have had half a dozen Philippine bank accounts without ever getting a T.I.N. and so have various filipina gfs

 

I can only speak to my experience. I have the accounts, but not the TIN.

That doesn't mean particular banks don't have their own policies on the subject, or even that particular bank employees make up "rules" as they go along.

If the banks, as you indicate, have the ability to "get one [TIN] for me," then maybe the bank did that in my case, too. But I have never been informed of having a TIN in my name, if indeed I do, nor did anyone ask my permission to apply for one.

 

I don't recall if the bank asked for my US taxpayer id number (SSN). They might have and I would have given to them because I know the non-US banks (unfairly) have numerous hoops to jump through to comply with US laws. The US IRS would really have little use for a Philippine TIN, but would certainly want to know how much interest a US citizen is collecting.

 

I opened a Joint Account with my Wife at the BPi - My Wife opened a Personal Account in her name - We opened an Account in our Daughter's name, and I recently opened a MasterCard Account, and we never needed to supply a TIN for any of those Accounts. Maybe it is Bank dependent more so than a compulsory regulation?

 

Immigration is a slightly different deal in my mind. They have to know your status to determine if you can stay for more than 30 days (I think it was 21 days a few years ago) without a visa. My wife had the same issue because she was staying longer than the visa time, so she told the agent that she was a dual citizen traveling on her US passport. I wonder if your partner wasn't asked how long he was staying and that clued them in to check his status. My wife was then asked to show her proof of Philippine citizenship, which she used an expired passport to do. The agent accepted that but told her next time an unexpired passport or citizenship papers. In her case, the issue came up because she told the agent the length of her stay, not because the agent could see something in his computer. This was a 2 years ago.