How to get a 13 (a) Visa

How to get a 13 (a) Visa or How to get a 13A visa, same thing.

Permanent Resident Visa 13 (a)

I am an alien whose country has an immigration reciprocity agreement with the Philippines. I am also married to a Filipina. Am I qualified to apply for a permanent residence visa?

Yes, under the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, Section 13 (a) you are eligible for permanent residency in the Philippines. This visa is issued to an alien on the basis of his valid marriage to a Philippine citizen.

To qualify for this visa, the applicant must prove that:

* He contracted a valid marriage with a Philippine citizen.

* The marriage is recognized as valid under existing Philippine laws.

* There is no record of any derogatory information against him in any local or foreign law enforcement agency.

* He is not afflicted with any dangerous, contagious or loathsome disease.

* He has sufficient financial capacity to support a family and will not become a public burden.

* He was allowed entry into the Philippines and was authorized by Immigration authorities to stay.

NOTE: This visa is only available to citizens of a country which grants permanent residence and immigration privileges to Philippine citizens.

How can I apply for 13 (a) visa?

Ask for an application form (Form number RBR 98-01) from the Public Assistance Unit of the Office of the Commissioner Window One (1) or from the Makati Extension Office and accomplish the form properly. If you will be accompanied by your unmarried minor children they must fill up a separate form.

All documents to support your application must be properly certified as true copy. Sworn statements or affidavits should be notarized.


Foreign documents must be duly authenticated by the Philippine Embassy or Consulate at the place where they are issued.

You may submit the duly accomplished application form with the supporting documents to window (1) located at the ground floor of the main building of the Bureau of Immigration or to the Makati Extension Office.

NOTE: Filing fee should first be paid before an application is filed.

Filing Papers for Permanent Resident Visa, 13A , Procedures, Ease, Time Involved

The paperwork involved in applying for the 13(a) visa here is not particularly onerous. There is, however, quite a lot of time involved and visits to various departments to get NBI clearance, Barangay Clearance and statement that you are really living as man and wife, Health clearance/ X-ray, as well as various notarized affidavits regarding your financial capacity to support, etc.The various notaries camped outside the Bureau of Immigration will have all the required affidavits down pat and will type them up for you and notarize them. The costs involved in notarizing are around P50 per sheet of paper, so a few hundred pesos will cover that lot.

After you submit all the paperwork you have to wait for several weeks until you receive the call to attend an interview with your wife. She will be questioned mainly to determine whether she really wants you to be a resident.

After that there will be a further wait of several weeks until the visa is granted after your application is sighted and approved by the Board of Commissioners.

This first application process will grant you a probationary 13(a) visa for one year. You will then have to submit another, simplified, application in one year. The fees are not really excessive, but the process can be a little tiresome and you will need patience.

A Balikbayan visa is only given if you arrive here in the Philippines together with your Philippine spouse. You will have to ask for it so you should approach the immigration counter together. It will allow you to stay for one year without requiring extensions. After that period you must leave the Philippines. You can return the same day and start the process again.

NOTE: That there is no such thing as a yearly visa that you can apply for abroad, similar to Balikbayan. You can apply for a one year validity multiple entry tourist visa. This will enable you to come and go for one year without applying for further visas. You WILL need to extend your stay after 59 days on each visit however, same as for every tourist visa. The three months, or one year, refers to the validity of the visa not the length of stay you will be granted. There are other visas which are outside the scope of this thread and which entail large financial outlays.

In my case I was here on a tourist visa, and renewing every two months. The initial probationary 13(a) visa process took about 3 months and I applied for the permanent 13(a) visa about one month before the expiry of the probationary visa. The processing of the final visa was slightly quicker. There is no need to worry about extending visas once the Bureau of Immigration has your application in hand. Unless of course they reject it for some reason. I have not seen any posts on the various forums about their 13(a) application having been rejected.
Once you have all the paperwork together it is checked anyway before you can submit it and any shortcomings will be pointed out to you so that it is unlikely that you will submit an incomplete application.

submitted Jan 25, 2006 by George

Visa Options

There are a number of visa options for retirees. One program that should be changed, in my opinion, is offered by the Philippine Retirement Authority. Very few foreigners choose Philippine Retirement use it because it requires an investment of $50,000 to $75,000 (U.S.) for a year. There are better ways to retire here without any investment, just small fees. Most retirees consider $50,000 too much to invest in a foreign country with an unstable economy. I would not do it on a bet. The program does have special benefits, but none you can't do without. This plan is under study because the idea of paying a country to spend your hard-earned retirement money in it is not drawing retirees like flies to honey. People don't want to deposit that much to Retire in the Philippines and it is not necessary.
Manila Sunset
Sunset view at the Pier

Retirement Visa, Best in My Opinion

Some retire on a tourist visa. That sounds strange, but is easily done. It costs $20 per month to stay on a tourist visa. The other requirement is that you must leave the country for at least one day, once a year. Though you are officially a tourist, you retire in the Philippines.

Most who are doing this make an annual two-day trip to Hong Kong or Thailand and buy a bunch of cheap electronic goods. A package deal including hotel and transfers costs about $280.

That is probably the best way to retire here, at least at first. Visas to retire in the Philippines, however, if you are married to a Philippine citizen are not necessary. You can become a permanent resident, retired, and not have to check in at the immigration office every two months, but only once a year. You will not be required to pay $40 every two months. And you will not be required to leave the country once a year as on a tourist visa. You are treated as though you have a retirement visa.


Initial Extensions of Visa in Manila

Since I now have been in the PI long enough for the visa I had gotten before I arrived, to nearly expire, I thought any new visitors in my situation Single - not married to a Pilipino) might be interested, and maybe save them some headaches.

You have to get an extension from the Bureau Of Immigration which is in Intramuros. Their hours are listed as 0800 to 1700; except they are closed on holidays.

I arrived there at 0750 and discovered they were already open.

There is a main door to the building, but if you go to the right of it will you find the entrance which you need to go in to get a visitors visa extension.

Tell the guy at the door why you are there and he will give you a form to fill out and you take it to the window with Counter A above it. I did not fill out the form very accurately (which no one seem to care about). At the top of the form it says Indicate 'N/A" if not applicable, to not leave any space blank, an to print all information. It also contains four more instructions which I actually ignored.

FYI: I have seen several posts that said to use the 'Express' window. There was no 'Express' window. Anyone processing, like I did, will find at the end of the first part of the process that they have paid for express processing.

The first half of the form is easy to fill out. - The only line in this part of the form that I didn't fill out precisely was 'Period of Extension Requested: ____ months/ _____days'. I just put down 2 months.

The following questions I put down 'N/A'. They were 'Printed name and Address of Guarantor'; since I said that my 'Status Of Admission Upon Entry' as Visitor. Two-thirds of the way down the form it says for you to (Do Not fill blanks below this lint).

Stapled to the form you are given are two other forms. The smallest tells you which windows to go to, in what order. After you go to Counter A window (and every window after that) I would highly suggest that before you leave any window you ask them where you should go next, because in my case the rest of the instructions were erroneous.