Visa Question Best Posts in Thread: SRRV approval before entry to Phil

You seem to be a person who likes to be organized - and that is a good thing - but you need to lose that trait in The Philippines or you will become very frustrated.

 

AGREE that PRA does not care about your local police clearance. However, BI must approve the application (but you do not interface with BI). BI cares about your local police clearance but will not let lack if it delay issuance of SRRV as long as you provide notarized affidavit that you will supply notarized and I suppose authenticated police clearance within 60 days. Our consultant is in Manila and has excellent record of success. She requests Manila DFA red-ribboned documents after notarization by US Embassy in Manila. It is not surprising to see procedures in that place that differ slightly between Manila and Cebu.



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I thought like you do Graham .... then I realised after being here a short time that what makes sense in our heads does not always make sense here. We all just have to suck it.

My major concern is the very poor educational system and it would not take much to knock it into shape and create a more educated population .... but no one seems to care.

 

Based on my own experience I would say that you cannot do it in advance. If you fulfill all the financial and admin requirements there is no reason why you would be refused the SRRV, but I am pretty sure you would have to be in the Philippines to finalize it.
From the time the visa is granted you have 6 months to import your container.
What I did was have the packing / shipping company store my stuff for 2 months while I came out and finalized the visa. When I was ready I just told them to put the container on the next ship.
The people at PRA in Manila are very helpful so it would be best if you run your concerns past them by email. Keep in mind that everything takes longer than you expect in the Philippines, and although many departments have computers, in most cases they are not 'joined up'.
Good luck with your move.

 

Well, I think it is both good and bad for the average Filipino. Our presence here adds a lot of tax revenue to the treasury just from VAT. We cause some businesses to thrive, such as auto dealerships and realty companies. We overpay for health insurance which allows the poor to have cheaper health care. But on the flip side and perhaps with more immediate impact, our purchasing power raises prices significantly. We tend to buy in quantities the leave little left for the locals. All prices including gas, food, appliances, motorcycles and cars, restaurants, hotel rooms plane fares etc. etc. are all higher for the locals because of the higher demand we create by living here. We make the govt happy with increased revenues but the people on the street may wish to not encourage too much of a good thing so to speak.


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I am doing our SRRV from inside the Phils. We had to get certified copies of US documents like marriage certificate and police clearance sent here thanks to friends and my kids who got them for us. But this is no small matter when done from here. We had to make an appointment with the US Embassy in Manila to get those certified copies notarized. Then we have to take those plus other documents to the DFA in Manila to be “ red ribboned” (I love how they verb their nouns [emoji846]). We have appointments to apply for Philippine NBI clearances in Manila for which we have to hire a runner to pick them up since we will not be there when ready. For that, we have to give the runner a SPA (Special Power of Attorney) to allow him to pick it up for us. We will need to visit the PRA in Manila for an interview...PRA is a nice place unlike BI and we needn’t visit BI at all for SRRV permanent residence. But before PRA visit We must go to BDO in Makati to open our PRA account. We have already transferred the money from the USA to a special holding account at BDO. Thankfully no pension paperwork as we are doing the courtesy SRRV. Finally, after PRA we get our physicals somewhere in Manila AFTER paying VISA application fees to PRA (different from PRA bank account deposit). Btw, courtesy visa is a great way to go; for some people it is the best option. Then, your leave the passports with PRA so they can apply the very cool-looking VISA stamp with palm tree motif, and make your SRRV ID card (no plastic shortage here!). After 4-6 weeks, we come back to Manila to pick up the passports at PRA. I probably missed some other bureaucratic items...I know I did. But if you love the Phils like us it will be worth it, every bureaucratic inconvenient step of the way. But if we can find any time, we will have a nice vacation in Manila...twice. Perhaps it is easier to do most of this in the USA, I don’t know. Good luck!


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There is a saying about finding a home and the three main criteria: "Location, location, location"

Using a similar construct, I suggest to everyone moving to The Philippines and want a happy life: ACCEPT, ACCEPT, ACCEPT.