Review SRRV Extended Courtesy VISA -Great Alternative

The SRRV extended courtesy is available to military vets from any country which has a relationship with the Philippine military ( most western countries) or, in my case, to ex-Filipinas/os and their spouses which is my situation, which requires a very low $1500 deposit in an approved bank account (not the usual 10/20/50k SRRV’s). Using this option, my wife does not have to become a dual citizen for me to get a 13a and for her to swear allegiance to another country, even if the USA currently does not currently know or care that a person did that. Anyway, I just wanted to mention that we just processed our first card renewal. We sent the 3 year renewal fee to our PRA marketer this morning and the renewal was immediate. The marketer sent the new cards back and I will receive the two cards by courier mail tomorrow. Very fast! The cost is 500php per year for 3 years each or about $60.00 for the 2of us. We never had to visit a BI office to obtain this permanent residence VISA, just the very nice PRA office in the Citibank building in Makati one time. We found that when going out and returning back to PI, we could go through immigration no hassle through the very short diplomatic line at immigration. No exit or re-entry clearance was required and no travel tax going out on our trip. This VISA is very reasonable and convenient no matter how you look at it if you are eligible! It is issued by the Department of Tourism, not BI, but of course, PRA does have to clear it for you with BI as part of the process. We highly recommend it. SIRV may be convenient in a similar way but not too familiar with it.


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Just google Philippines PRA SRRV and check to information on the links or just go to

https://pra.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/SRRV-Info-Guide-04.14.15.pdf

and go to p. 16 for the procedure. The procedure involves getting certified marriage certificates, police reports, birth certificates and the like that may need to be certified at your Embassy as well as some foreign documents that will need to be red-ribboned at the DFA in Manila or Cebu, and, it is much easier if you have someone to accompany and guide you through. They will get you to the front of the line at these government agencies (given that your SRRV candidacy makes you a minor national celebrity lol). I have heard that it is very possible just to not use a marketet and follow instructions from the PRA each step of the way and people can get it themselves. You will hear that but, after my experience, I really recommend you get help from a PRA marketer.

NOTE: Whatever if you decide, if you instead take the other path and begin with the online form and go direct to the PRA yourself, it is IMPORTANT to understand that once you push “send”, your option to use a PRA marketer is GONE. I don’t know why, that’s just the way it is.

I was very happy using a PRA marketer to assist; it is a great “deal”. These marketers work for you and the good news is that it is free, under their contract with the PRA. They get their money as a commission or finder’s fee from the PRA who if course brings in their profits be your application fee and the benefit to the country you bring with your deposit and your bringing in a foreign dollars. They will accompany you to various places like NBI, DFA, medical clinic and the NBI to make sure you successfully make it through as an SRRV applicant and that your documentation will ultimately pass BI inspection. They will accompany you to the medical center where you will get your physical. You will pass. When you work with the marketer, just take a trip to Makati and take all of the required documents, and the cash ie application fees plus bank deposit for SRRV (I used BDO, PRA approved, in Makati near the hotel). A good place to stay is the City Garden Hotel (regular 3 star, or Grand, 4 star) both next to Trump Tower In Makati, or an equivalent place. These are about 3-4K per nite and conveniently located. You could stay a 5 star such as the airport Marriott but that would be far from the best area to stay. I did see that old famous 5 star Manila hotel but I just took the recommendation for hotel stay from the marketers.

Plan to stay in Majati to stay 4-5 days because you will find that with the traffic, you can only “do” two agencies a day such as “US Embassy +DFA”, then “NBI plus medical center/physical” and “Bank deposit and finally PRA office visit”. Of course, Makati is a nice place to stay and with Grab, you can go anywhere cheaply, and despite what done may say, Manila Metro is a great place to visit with unbelievable sights, huge malls, world class casinos so don’t waste your visit. It seems like a lot to do but it is no more than the 13a and the marketer works with you to get it done in just a few days where, people doing it by themselves, may take a few weeks. The PRA marketer will guide you in making appointments to your Embassy, how much lead time you need to make notary appointments and tell you to make appointments with the NBI and how much lead time you need, and they also know how to handle any irregularities you might have in your documentation such as old speeding tickets (your supposed to have a clean record and BI bureaucrats can’t tell a felony DUI from a misdemeanor speeding ticket or DUI) etc. The marketer will follow up with PRA to make sure you get your passport back with SRRV I’d card in about 5 weeks. If you want me to recommend an authorized PRA Marketer, I will give you the contact info for the one we used. There are many official marketers for PRA. PM me if you want that info. BTW, my Extended Courtesy SRRV is based on being married to an ex-filipina. I know that is not related to any military service for my country but they lump the two categories into Extended Courtesy for some reason. Hope this helps. It can be a pleasant trip to Manila, or Cebu. Whose office I did not use; ghost office is a satellite to the main PRA in the 21st floor of Citibank in Makati. Cebu office seems to just take your paperwork and give it to the Makati PRA office and is said to take slightly longer but MAY have less bureaucracy with govt. agencies in Cebu. I really know little about applying through Cebu. The airfare to Manila is not that much more than ocean jet to Cebu, and probably faster, and getting around Manila is so convenient with Grab, and hotel prices in Makati are fine...I know this may seem surprising to some forum members but traveling to Manila does not suck and I think I would prefer it over Cebu. Good luck to anyone taking this route. We actually enjoyed going through the process and never had to deal with BI ourselves.


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