Does anyone have the contact info for that foreigner lawyer that helps forrigners with immigration problems? I won't make this public yet, untill necessary
On such an important matter, you need someone you can enter a professional relationship with. Foreigners can't be lawyers in the Philippines. Foreigners don't have experience practicing law in the Philippines. And certainly foreigners don't have experience with giving legal consultation on immigration cases in the Philippines. One of the first flags for dealing with professionals is how much they are willing to give out for free. Opinions are cheap and easy. You'll find no shortage of friends and family who are willing to give out advice. Professional services are real work and carry real risk. As such, there is no casual professional, client relationship. A professional doing a service pro-Bono needs to treat the relationship as if it were a paid service. Offering a service for free doesn't reduce legal repercussions for making mistakes (for either side in the relationship) and it doesn't reduce the potential impact on reputation. Free services offered by an active professional also results in real opportunity cost (you are offering a free service when you could be billing out your time.) I would be seriously hesitant in talking to someone claiming to be a lawyer and offering help here. Even if legit (not another form of scam,) the advice could do more harm than good. If you have to deal with the Philippines legal system, then you have little choice but to put your trust into it and hire someone who will work for your best interests. There are many lawyers here who regularly work with foreigners and you can ask for recommendations.
Brian, The Dude is absolutely correct. I am an Ozzie (with a law degree {but not a lawyer and certainly no knowledge of the law here}) and needed some local legal advice so I spent the money and used a well respected Australian firm that has an office in the Philippines, Baker McKenzie; see their web site at:- https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en. Good luck, P
Cannot most immigration problems not best be resolved by negotiation with the B.I. a little sweetener seems to go a long way
If they are willing to negotiate. Sending someone in for you before hand at least let's you know if they are willing to play ball. If they aren't in the mood they could lock you up on the spot and start deportation procedures.
I am not a lawyer but I have never read that negotiation is part of their process. I have read that if a person overstays their visa for up to one year, they can be and sometimes are deported. They may also be confined in detention until they can leave. I also read that for “short” overstays such as a couple of weeks, you can pay a fine and perhaps not be deported. But what is “short”? I suppose that is the negotiable part, not written in law. I read that for overstays exceeding 1 year, you will be put into detention, perhaps some jail time, deported and blacklisted. But The SC may have changed that time period. Obviously a good lawyer is needed but if one has not had the money to keep up with the visas, P100,000 for a good lawyer would seem out of reach. I suspect a good lawyer could get a person out of BIR detention or reduce jail time but the only way to override a local finding is through the BIR head commissioner in Manila or the President. Any lawyer with access to that will be expensive. This cannot be done in local court. The laws seem rather basic without much room to interpret and basically, foreigners who overstay, or who “offends” a powerful person or their relative, or by simple corruption or both, can get you declared to be an undesirable alien, no matter how current you are in your visa. In theory it is due process but... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My advice is to get a lawyer in Manila who is able to negotiate a fine (which will be all missed payments plus extra processing fees), expect the lawyer to want a considerable amount (100k sounds about right). If done legally BI may issue a short term tourist visa which cannot be extended and then a trip out of the country to return will be needed to start the tourist visa process again. I know this to have been the sequence of events for at least one very long overstay (>5 years). Note: It's my feeling that only those who fell behind who are more than capable of proving (financially) this will not happen again, are likely to find this method effective. For someone who's couldn't (and still can't) afford to keep up with BI payments, it could end in a very different outcome.
In this case the key would be the lawyer and his ability to help you settle with BI and keep it from going to court, If BI were to make it a court case, that is where the big problems start, including detention at the BI “resort” before the court case, no bond, and then any prison sentence, deportation and blacklist after the court hearing. So, the lawyer would be well worth the expense IF he could settle with BI. And if you don’t have money, you have just changed your retirement location to Taguig City. I have read that overstays less than 6 months are considered minor and can generally be settled with BI with monetary settlement, retention of visa and no criminal charges. After 6 months seems to be where the big problems begin. However, if you are dealing with people who don’t like foreigners, are corrupt or you treat them with disrespect, they of course have the power to refuse any negotiation. Foreigners in reality do not have guaranteed due process. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk