New Immigration Rules coming?

I did this at the NBI quickly and efficiently.

I was fingerprinted for the NBI clearance and I also had them put my fingerprints on the US-FBI form (200 php). I then used LBC to send the US-FBI form to the US. Easy Peasy

First, I made the mistake of going to the PNP office. This was a mistake that cost me much time. I will save you the long story.

In California they do this digitally at live scan locations.

I am happy with the service and efficiency of the NBI. PNP not so much.

 

That's all good news that I can pass on to several expat friends who are thinking of going to the SRRV. The SRRV consultant is a free service from the PRA? That's wonderful. Even worth it for a nominal fee.

We had the PRA here in Dumaguete a few months (2018?) back giving a presentation on many aspects of the SRRV program. One presenter mentioned that they were working on getting SRRV holders to use the VIP line at Immigration when arriving in the country. Since you used it already, I am glad to hear that we now have that option: short diplomatic line, or 90 minute long immigration line. Hmmm.....which one will I choose next time?

 

Isn't the payment to the SRRV $1400?

 

Chinese take-out maybe. Fast, reliable internet speed perhaps not. Having lived in China and The Philippines I find the internet here faster than in China.

Interestingly The Philippines is ranked 97th in the world for internet speed, China is 152nd. Taiwan currently tops the world rankings. But is is that part of China? Er.........let's not go there

 

Yes, something like that. That is the non-refudable application fee that everybody pays. Maybe that is how they pay the "free" consultant, but that service want offered to me since I showed up with almost everything done online from the US and all the required paperwork already certified at the Philippine Consulate in New York.

A week later, BI overrode my tourist visa giving me approval for the SRRV, then another week and my SRRV was ready for pickup. Very fast, since they told me three to four week wait.

 

Yes, best if you can do the work from outside the Phils. As far as the consultant is concerned, the way it works is, applicant makes first contact with consultant. The consultant is a private business. As far as I know, PRA will not give you a list of consultants or refer you to one. PRA pays these private people a commission for every applicant they bring in. This of course is due to the money that the SRRV applicant brings in, purely a business relationship. If you submit your original application to PRA, for example, online, then PRA has first contact with you and PRA will no longer pay any consultant for your “business”, PRA “found” you on their own. SRRV is completely different than 13a but documentary requirements are similar. Note in addition to diplomatic line, that SRRV also does not ever require an exit clearance to leave the country. There is some relief on duty for household goods. Actually $1400 application fee is nothing for a lifelong residency visa but deposit can be high. It is a pretty low deposit for vets of any nation or ex- Filipinos and their spouses, around $1.5k. If you check requirements for other nearby countries, permanent residence of foreigners has much higher costs and may not even be available. SRRV costs can be as low as $3k and as high as $50k depending on circumstances. Even $50k is quite low relatively speaking. Comment: I think 36 month renewable tourist visa of balikbayan visas renewed every year will continue to be very popular until/unless sa goberniero finally cracks down on their usage as effectively permanent residence visas which is the topic of this thread.


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Right but Thailand recently cracked down. They now require much larger monetary deposits in order to renew visas each year for seemingly no other reason than to get rid of more expats. And they check to see if the deposits are there long term, not temporary so they aren’t playing games. I only mention this because that country must be doing this even knowing there will be a large net loss of income to the country. Expat money does not generally translate to the politicians’ votes.


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Thought it might be prudent to put this up here.
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Unfortunately the Bureau of Immigration (BI) found that more and more foreigners come to work here without the correct employment visa (9G). This is why holders of a tourist visa are intensely screened when arriving in ports and airports. Also when applying for an extension they often must face a huge series of questions and additional inquiries.

At the Mactan-Cebu airport an acquaintance of mine, 48 years old, was first refused to enter the Philippines because of his many extension stamps since 2011. The BI supervisor then gave him gratefully the usual visa waiver stamp. But the officer asked him to acquire another visa for permanent residence.

Another person in my circles was refused to enter and had to leave. He then went back to Singapore. There at the local branch of his Bank in Europe (UBS), he could get the needed account statements that proof that he does not need to work abroad. The bank letters had to be approved by the Philippine embassy in Singapore. The embassy also gave him a 59 days tourist visa.********
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