ACR iCard acr-1 card

I just found this on the BOI site

"If circumstances warrant and upon request of special arrangement, applications and data capturing may be made at the residence of the visa holder in view of his/her physical incapacity."

so Rudy you just need to be crippled for a few days so they will come to you.:D I wonder is intoxication would qualify a person.

I agree the yearly renewal is a bit much but Hey, its the PI they gotta find a way to get a few more peso from the long nose.

 

So, next time i fly into Manila for afew months stay, should i get the card there before going to Dumaguete?

chris

 

immigration mass confusion !!!

well lets see the last time i posted was when i read in the newspaper that effective march 1st all had to have an acr-i card. i went to duma immigration and they said to come back next week as the officer was on vacation. i wait a week,go back, and the lady said call this number in cebu as you have to go there to get your card.(i didnt even have to wait a week to see the officer!). i call cebu and they give me the address after talking to several air-heads its narrowed down to 3 different buildings. i make airline reservations + hotel reservations and now im in cebu. luckily my wife knows a driver here who knows just where to take us. i get there,go in and tell them duma said to come here and get my acr-i card. the lady looks at me blankly and says "you dont need a card if your just doing 59-day extensions"! well folks here i am in cebu for nothing and ready to go friggin nuts with all the mass confusion these people sent me through. i talked to the head boss here (nice lady) explained the whole thing and she said she will straightend out duma immigration right away. so dont COME to cebu if they tell you to go get your card. just thought rhoody would enjoy this mass confusion story.
(california jack)

 

Sorry to hear about your wasted trip! Someone was bound to do it based on the misinformation though. Thank you for saving ME the trip!

 

Sorry to hear that to, but honestly, I can't believe that the BoI in Dumaguete send you to Cebu. I am sure they said to talk to Peter Bueno when he is back from his seminar.

They gave me also a number of Cebu which i never called... I don't talk to secretaries and normal staff in general as the the only answer you get correct would be how many minutes to lunch break or days-end...

As a matter of fact I was there on Monday, did talk to Peter Bueno and read with him the memorandum (thanks at that point that he gave it to me to have a look). according to that paper tourists staying longer than 59 ARE required to get the card. In that memorandum was NO deadline. but again it is required... (it just came on his table on monday also). Very interesting that in the requirements was nothing written about pictures and thumb-prints (2 things on each ACR-I card)

Additional Peter Bueno told me that the application can be done in Dumaguete. (but there is no application form yet).

Again, between a Memorandum and really implementing it can be thousands of high and low-tides. One came out January last year to regulate all diving - fees in the Philippines valid from 27.January 2009 on (not 2010)... do you think anybody cares ?

Happy to add another chapter to the confusion...

Anyway, when Rechel reads this post I need to find a new excuse for a important trip to Cebu ... hehe.

 

If you plan on staying in the Philippines i would suggest that you apply for permanent residency and get the pain over with. Cost P45,000 for 1st year temp. residence and another 45,00 second year permanent res. fast track, took me 6 weeks each time. or about P12,000 and two trips to Manila and who knows how long?

Dave

 

I did some reading up. The plan is only 12 offices will issue the cards --will take 48 hours.

Dumaguete is out. Cebu is the nearest, no doubt the worst.

If you've never been to Davao..., heard the office is honest, like here.

It's brand new so don't rush it. Wait and see.

Very tourist unfriendly move. Can't be had at the airport on arrival. Need to go to one of the 12 offices after the 59 day visas and stay for afew days to get it.

This may be such a cluster-puck they'll rethink it.

Wait and see,

chris

 

From What I remember the Card is supposed to replace the paper visa. Yes you would still need to apply and go through all the renewals that are appropriate but they are going to store that electronically using the card.

That is how I read the thing anyway. It will be several more months till I am there to deal with it. I hope they get it figured out by then. Of course I will be able to enter on a balikbayan visa while I work on getting a permanent residency.


(in a hushed voice) Rudy if you marry her you can get a permanent residence too. :p

Ok move along... nothing more to see here

 

ACR-I card for 59-day visa holders SUCCESS

Today, I succeeded in obtaining my ACR-I card within 3 hours time. I went to the Bureau of Immigration office in Manila. It opens at 8:00am. The gal at the ACR-I window didn't know what to do with a guy who had just extended his 59-day visa and also wanted the ACR-I card. She sent me down to the VISA EXTENSION window. That guy told me to fill out the form for the 59-day visa extension. I gave the completed form to the guy and told him I wanted to apply for the ACR-I card. Apparently, because my latest visa extension had close to 30 days left on it, he wanted me to extent my visa another 59 days. (They don't want to issue the ACR-I card if your planning to leave the country within 30 days.) He asked me to make photo copies of several pages in my passport. He then scanned the photo in my passport to be used for the ACR-I photo. No other forms, documents, finger printing, licenses, or blood tests, or photo for ACR-I card was needed. The guy told me to pay the fees for the ACR-I card and the visa extension at the cashier. I returned to him with receipts in hand for the payment. He then took my form, copies, and passport and told me to return in 2 hours and the card and visa would be ready. 2 hours later, I had the card in hand! The costs were --- 2,317 for the ACR-I card + 4,160 for the visa extension = 6,477pesos. (Yes, they got me for express lane fee, 1,000, and express lane fee certicate, 500. And you know what I think about that!)

Now don't ask me about other types visas or how to go about getting the ACR-I card for them in Cebu or in Dumaguete. I just don't know. I was going to Manila anyway, so I got it done in Manila. However, I was told by Sir Peter in Dumaguete immigration office that applying in Cebu may require “months” before the card is in hand since they have no processing machine in Cebu and the paperwork is sent to Manila. Applying in Dumaguete may be possible in Dumaguete in the future, I was also told. Good luck! One more note – I was told in Manila that the ACR-I card was required for future visa extensions.

All of this is just what I was told and experienced. Don't go crawling all over me if you heard or experienced different. Things change in the PI like the weather.