Can't find renewal details, certain at least 3, remember 5. from https://pra.gov.ph/ and this from the PRA:
Good information. We have already been through all of this of course and are not up for renewal for a few years. When renewal come up again we will just renew by sending our cards and pics plus $35 fee by LBC to our PRA consultants business address in manila. Aside from that my wife will need to do a visa restamp after she receives her updated US passport. We haven’t been through the passport renewal bit yet; maybe a trip to Manila will be in order for that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That is news to me and is absolute bullshit if it is true. Here these guys are with their large sum of money tied up in an account they can't access and the country wants to deny them reentry? I don't blame the expats for pulling their funds
I emailed Jackie in PRA-Cebu on 21 august about overseas returning SRRV holders; "Maayong Buntag Jackie. I have heard rumors that SRRV holders are having a problem returning to the PH. Are there any restrictions like that ??" within two business days, received the following: "Hi Sir, Maayong Buntag ! As of this time travel ban is still up, there are still restrictions entering the Phils due to the pandemic. However, PRA is already requesting consideration for SRRV holders to be allowed to return but until now we haven't received approval yet. It's a tedious process because it goes to different signatories but we are hoping to get a positive response. We will keep you posted for any developments. thank you and stay safe.... jacqueline o. calumpang RAO II PRA Cebu Satellite Office" If something like this makes you fly off the handle and scream at Filipinos, please move back to crazy land and shoot each other over masks.. Chill out, don't go negative, and DEAL WID IT... <grin>
Sir, I can absolutely see someone “flying of the handle” over this if, for example, they planned a typical 6 week visit to the states in January 2020 with a return flight scheduled for March. If I had been that person (I almost was but missed it by a week), I would still be stranded in the states and unable to return to my Philippine home, now in September. Where would I be staying over there? A hotel, still renting a car; who would be watching my place over here? It has been 6 months since I wouldn’t be allowed to come back home. This is not just some made-up “what if” situation, it is very real and many people are stranded abroad due to this arbitrary ban on a visa that is marketed as offering permanent residency in much the same way as a 13a. Yes, the PRA yo trying hard to fix it; they have been trying since March 2020 but apparently not hard enough or BI us purposely trying to kill the program. They are doing a good job. PRA is a part of the Department of Tourism but BI makes the calls and BI apparently has no sympathy for PRA or its clients. One gets the impression that BI doesn’t really care much for the SRRV program and certainly does not work for its success. So the travel ban in SRRV exposes it for what it really is, an extended “tourist” visa and not a “resident” visa per se. Anytime there is a ban on tourism, such as a reinstatement of the pandemic ban, after it gets lifted in the future due to future outbreaks that PRA clients cannot predict, you could expect to find yourself stuck outside the country as THOUSANDS are right now. Go to the PRA Facebook page and see comment after comment after comment from people who cannot return home (if PRA has not pulled that down). I think I would be justified in “flying off the handle” in your words if I was arbitrarily banned from returning home for an unknown indefinite amount of time when my entire home was relocated to thus country, in my case by a whole house full of goods moved by container, at the encouragement office the program who exempted import taxes in my behalf! We are so lucky that we missed that by just a few days. For the future, there is a remedy. My wife will need to swear in as a dual and I get a 13a which is a true “permanent resident” more visa unlikely to be banned. And we will get our deposit back. I would not recommend SRRV to mist people, not if they are making a permanent relocation and moving everything here. You will be here as a tourist and cannot reliably plan to leave and return home again. PRA is obviously embarrassed by this and trying to put it in its best light but it is what it is. Those people who are currently stranded have no idea when they can return home again on their Special Retirement “Tourist” Visas. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Just came across some info about the SRRV travel ban. I found a press release from the BI https://www.immigration.gov.ph/images/News/2020_Yr/08_Aug/2020Aug14_Press.pdf which says that foreigners who have an SRRV and are married to a Filipino citizen will be allowed entry into the Philippines.
If that it what it says, the relaxation is quite meaningless. Given: The 13a marriage visa already allows leaving the PI and returning during the crisis. If you are actually married to a Filipino citizen, you don’t need to tie up the big money on an SRRV deposit. And it would be a BIG deposit because, if the spouse was Filipino, he would be in his own with no spousal sponsorship. He can just get a 13a. To explain, a filipino citizen obviously cannot get an SRRV (to sponsor a foreign spouse for a cheaper 1.5k SRRV) so the foreign spouse must go for the high ticket, more expensive “Classic SRRV”, applying into his own. He cannot be sponsored for a low cost courtesy SRRV. For sure, there are “veterans” who obtained the cheaper courtesy SRRV and perhaps married a citizen later but still, cheaper for him to get the 13a after marriage and get his 1.5k deposit back. But if he didn’t, I suppose the person could benefit. Rather an exceptional circumstance I would think. I doubt there are many people in a position where this ruling would benefit them! But PRA seems to be moving in the right direction. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hmm, I wasn't recommending people to get an SRRV over a 13a visa if they have that option. All I said was that for people who are married and have an SRRV, like yourself, the problem seems to have been fixed (better late than never).
“Hmm”...I can “Hmm” too I guess I know what you said and I realize you were just giving information and not making any recommendations. Frankly I am somewhat perplexed as to how you might have read into that as my motive for posting. I am focused on the problem, not recommending any kind of visa. :confusion: Actually your reference originally said the problem was solved for married SRRV holders whose spouses were FILIPINO CITIZENS. It Seemed correct. That’s what I told you in my comment. Now you say only “married and have an SRRV”, a much easier standard and yeah, that one does apply to me. THAT WOULD BE GREAT NEWS. And it solves my problem So easy. But then I read again your referenced press release and saw that, unfortunately for me, you are wrong. That press release says an SRRV holder can enter the country (ONLY) if married to a Filipino. It says that. Incredulous. When reading these kinds of things, details, my friend, are not supplementary info; they are key. As an aside, one could ask the BI officer that authored the notice “why would he even need an SRRV if he was married to a Filipina citizen”? Hmm But I would never pose that question lol, because; outside of my home country, mine is never to reason why...etc. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
