Two more 13a questions

[Jack Peterson]

45 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Thanks Jack!  Seems to be the same.  I thought the first ACR card might be good for 5 years, but I guess not.

I think I can avoid Manila now except for the hearing.  I will find an authorized agent for the other trips.  I hate driving in Manila so I hired a car and driver for both of these 13a trips.  P4500 per trip but the first trip was shared with our U.S. embassy visit.  2nd trip was the interview yesterday.  An agent can do the third trip to pickup the visa.  In any case, p4500 is worth it as it is all in gas, tolls, driver and innova van.

 Your conversion will be a Whole new issue so you can do it at Cebu. No need for Manila. If you have a problem pm me as we have a Very Very good lawyer for this. Hearings for permanent are held in Cebu also, They have their own Commissioner, Both Kev ( Sonjack) & I are Cebu Users. J mall is very efficient 

[OnMyWay]

5 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Your conversion will be a Whole new issue so you can do it at Cebu. No need for Manila. If you have a problem pm me as we have a Very Very good lawyer for this. Hearings for permanent are held in Cebu also, They have their own Commissioner, Both Kev ( Sonjack) & I are Cebu Users. J mall is very efficient 

Cebu is a bit far for me.  I think Baguio can do it too.

[Jack Peterson]

Just now, OnMyWay said:

Cebu is a bit far for me.  I think Baguio can do it too.

Ooooooops sorry  I forgot who I was conversing with, It has to be a District office, They can be found on the Website

[Jack Peterson]

A list of BI offices and their Status ;

http://www.immigration.gov.ph/contact-us/other-immigration-offices

 Hope all goes well with the OP and others that need information. 

[OnMyWay]

Follow-up question on my 13A approval....

I applied on Jan 31, my OR date.

I've been checking here:

http://www.immigration.gov.ph/information/application-status/agenda-verification

and my name has not come up yet.  I noticed other 13A conversions before, on and after Jan. 31 have been listed.  Usually, there is an effective date listed that is before the current date.

I'm waiting for this week's posting.  The past few weeks have been on Wednesday (last week was posted on the 22nd then updated on the 23rd).

My tourist visa expires Sunday, the 5th.  If I am going to renew it, I have to go down, tomorrow, Friday the 3rd.

Here are my questions:

1.  If my name is on the list tomorrow (hopefully) and the visa has an effective date of, for instance, March 1, am I legal?  No need to renew the tourist visa?  I would pick up the 13a visa next week.

2.  If I am not on the list tomorrow, do I have to renew my tourist visa?  Any chance a 13A in process lets me squeak through without renewing the tourist visa?

One other note.  On my OR is had an estimated ready date on it of March 13th.  The lists indicate most do not take that long and I thought the usual time was about 3 weeks.  I'm approaching 5 weeks now.

It seems that I recall someone saying that the lists were not very accurate and that they called, finding out they were approved.   ????

[expatuk2014]

12 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Follow-up question on my 13A approval....

I applied on Jan 31, my OR date.

I've been checking here:

http://www.immigration.gov.ph/information/application-status/agenda-verification

and my name has not come up yet.  I noticed other 13A conversions before, on and after Jan. 31 have been listed.  Usually, there is an effective date listed that is before the current date.

I'm waiting for this week's posting.  The past few weeks have been on Wednesday (last week was posted on the 22nd then updated on the 23rd).

My tourist visa expires Sunday, the 5th.  If I am going to renew it, I have to go down, tomorrow, Friday the 3rd.

Here are my questions:

1.  If my name is on the list tomorrow (hopefully) and the visa has an effective date of, for instance, March 1, am I legal?  No need to renew the tourist visa?  I would pick up the 13a visa next week.

2.  If I am not on the list tomorrow, do I have to renew my tourist visa?  Any chance a 13A in process lets me squeak through without renewing the tourist visa?

One other note.  On my OR is had an estimated ready date on it of March 13th.  The lists indicate most do not take that long and I thought the usual time was about 3 weeks.  I'm approaching 5 weeks now.

It seems that I recall someone saying that the lists were not very accurate and that they called, finding out they were approved.   ????

If i were you I would phone the immigration office that you  applied to ask if your  visa is ready

As not all applications are listed .

[Ram1957]

4 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

 

If I am not on the list tomorrow, do I have to renew my tourist visa?  Any chance a 13A in process lets me squeak through without renewing the tourist visa?

One other note.  On my OR is had an estimated ready date on it of March 13th.  The lists indicate most do not take that long and I thought the usual time was about 3 weeks.  I'm approaching 5 weeks now.

 

Well you might find someone in the BI to overlook that, but do you really want to chance that? I can't see giving the BI extra money when I can avoid it. They do have the power to charge you with a overstay which would result in you having to apply for the 13A again. I  was told when I got my 13A to keep my visa current or face doing it all over. 

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Ram1957 said:

Well you might find someone in the BI to overlook that, but do you really want to chance that? I can't see giving the BI extra money when I can avoid it. They do have the power to charge you with a overstay which would result in you having to apply for the 13A again. I  was told when I got my 13A to keep my visa current or face doing it all over. 

Yes, I won't be taking any chances.  No matter if I am listed or not today, I will be going done to my local BI and ask them about the tourist visa.  They have one guy there who is very knowledgeable and a straight shooter, so I am sure he will tell the right thing. 

I  was told when I got my 13A to keep my visa current or face doing it all over. 

I was surprised that this was never mentioned when I applied.  I remember several people mentioned that they were told to go extend during the 13A application process.  I applied on the Jan 31, my visa expires March 5 and on my OR it says "tentative date of implementation 15 Mar 2017".  I would think that if someone thought I didn't have enough time on my visa they would have mentioned it, but of course that is easy to overlook too.

[OnMyWay]

11 hours ago, expatuk2014 said:

If i were you I would phone the immigration office that you  applied to ask if your  visa is ready

As not all applications are listed .

Not much luck here.  I called BI main about 0900 and talked to the appropriate department, but after a few minutes on hold he gave me the extension of the attorney.  I have been trying to call that extension all morning and the recording says it is busy, so I have been charged about 10 times on my landline.

No posting of a new file yet, so I guess I will be going down to BI soon.

[OnMyWay]

This is an expensive way to get my 13A!  My two tourist extensions after my Balikbayan expired have now cost almost p 10k.

I went down to renew my tourist visa for 30 days and it cost p3650!  I used to get a 2 month extension for less.  They hit me with a bunch of fees.  See highlighted item in middle column here.  They also gave me my new ACR card that will be replaced by my 13a ACR card.  

Moral of the story is, get your 13a well before your Balikbayan expires!