It is for the convenience and expedited processing by the office staff (have you seen their computer?). One of the guys ahead of us did not have his receipt from last year, and they were able to look it up on the computer and print a copy for him but it took forever -- if they had to look up everything for everybody they could never handle all the people they need to process.
Sedona i think you are correct. Having all the copies is for their convenience. Whenever I get a new passport I always have it re stamped. I don't know what problems a person would encounter trying to re-enter the country without one. I'm not adventurous and don't want to find out. One guy had his ACRI Card receipt but didn't have his card yet because it had gone astray. He got fairly gruff with the girl and she told him she needed to see the card or he would be fined. She told him she didn't know where his card was and didn't care. Go to Manila and sort it out yourself. My ACRI card went astray, my wife asked the Dumaguete office to please help her find it. In a matter of minutes they told her the courier company, waybill number and who signed for it. Moral of the story, if you get grumpy with the BI they can give you a reason to be grumpy. edited some of the spelling mistakes
I have the standard 13A visa Only visa stamp was from 18 years ago and when that passport was renewed it was never required to have a new visa stamp in new and subsequent passports
You are correct Michael. The visa doesn’t have to be renewed, only the iCard every 5 years and annual BI update
Yes, this is good to know. My passport is several years away from needing renewal so I had never thought about the visa stamp that is in my passport. But, in terms of what you need to bring with you when you go in for reporting ... I will say that IF your passport does have a visa stamp page in it then they are going to ask you for a photocopy of that page (I know because this is what they did for me). So, you should check your passport, and if there is a visa stamp page in it, then be sure to bring a copy of that page with you and it will save you time when you are there. What amazed me was that there are signs all over the place in the DI office (a sign on the window, a sign on the door, one behind the desk) that give a list of all of the copies that you need to present. I saw so many people who would sit there in the waiting area for half and hour and then go up to the desk when their number was called and say "I'm here for my annual report" and the girl would ask for the copies and they looked confused and surprised -- then she would point to the signs with the list of copies they needed, and then they would get up and go to start making their copies so they could come back and start over again.
Back to the education system here again! Now, if I had my own country and education system (you may recognise that statement) how would I do things different to here (these few items are based on very recent experience): 1. Would tell teachers to at least check the students' workbooks and perhaps even comment on their work; 2. Would not have half the class sit the gradings exam in the morning, allow all the students to mingle at lunchtime, and then get the other half to sit the same exam in the afternoon. There is a flaw in that; 3) Would not give multiple-choice exams to 16/17 year olds - if they have not progressed beyond ticking boxes by that age then how can they work, for example, in BI offices without appearing confused and surprised? Oh! I get your point.