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...


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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.

 

Cannot most immigration problems not best be resolved by negotiation with the B.I. a little sweetener seems to go a long way

 

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