Residency In The Philippines

[CanuckGuy]

Hello all,

I just felt like sharing my story about getting residency in the Philippines.

Getting my Filipino driver’s licence was such a nightmare. The officials really messed with me since I was white and refused every fixer that approached me. (Don’t go to the LTO in Las Pinas)

After this Nightmare, I decided that I would not go through the same process and used a fixer, recommended by a friend, for my residency.

I applied for a 13a quota VISA. This is the same VISA you can get if you get married, but your Country of origin must have a reciprocal agreement with the Philippines.

What you need for this VISA:

- Completed BI form

- NBI clearance

- Police clearance from your home country authenticated by the Philippines embassy in your country

- Medical exam and stamp from the bureau of Quarantine in the Philippine c/w drug screening

- Pictures

- Full CV Notarized in the Philippines

- Bank certificate from a Philippines bank proving inward remittance of 50Kusd Notarized in the Philippines. (Funds must come from outside the Philippines)

- I think its about it but I could be missing a few small things…

Everything in my application was 100% legal and I basically used the fixer as a courier and a way to get my VISA processed fast. Boy was I wrong.

Since I work offshore, I did not want to be out of the country when they issued the VISA since I would have had to apply for a motion for reconsideration and start the clock again…

So I paid the fixer 80Kphp + all the BI fees thinking he had contacts at the BI to prevent my application from just sitting there.

The application process went fast. The fixer walked me from one line to the next, where I waited like anyone else. It was good to have someone used to the process to point in the right directions. NBI, Quarantine office, ACR card, application at the BI all went well.

I eventually got a call from him for the mandatory interview. I showed up to the Atty’s office and again waited for my turn. The interview itself lasted about 2 minutes. The Atty was very happy with my application as it was bullet proof… He did pic at my CV saying he wanted a more complete one explaining my hobbies and goals and where I went to high-school. I guess he just needed to show he was paying attention…

Before I started this process, the fixer had promised that it would take 1 month. So I waited, and waited … and waited…

The whole time not working in fear that I would leave and the VISA would be granted.

I kept asking the fixer what was going on and was served idiotic excuses.

Nearly 4 month later, I receive a text from the fixer saying he needed a waiver to give “The bearer of the document” the rights to my banking information… This was needed because he said the BI was not able to verify the validity of my bank certificate.

At that point, I blew a gasket. The lawyer during my interview told me everything was in order.. Why the hell did it take them over 3 month to tell me this. I then told the fixer this was not acceptable and told him I no longer needed his services.

Fortunately for me, my girlfriend is a government worker. She proceeded to call people asking if anyone knew anyone at the BI. After a few hours, she got a contact.

She explained the situation to this new contact basically just asking about the status of my application.

He came back to us saying that it was approved and not to give any documents or money to the fixer. He also wanted the fixer’s name so he could root him out.

We told him we were concerned about our safety and preferred not to divulge this information. As much as I would have liked to get back at this scammer, if you live long enough in the Philippines, you will know of a few expats getting shot in the head over things of this nature.

We asked what was the normal delay for a 13a Visa application…

We were told, if you pay the express fee of 25Kphp at the BI, its processed in 1 month…

Moral of the story. If you use a fixer, people will mess with you because they know you can pay. Just go through the normal process and pay the express fee. You will save yourself a headache and a few $$$.

Good patience,

Canuck Guy

[Jollygoodfellow]

I split this post into its own topic, also removed the background color. Anyway this forum does not promote illegal ways of doing things but will allow the topic to stand so those who think its best to do things the wrong way can see what can go wrong. I believe using a fixer is becoming a thing of the past anyway.

[MikeB]

I applied for a 13a quota VISA. This is the same VISA you can get if you get married, but your Country of origin must have a reciprocal agreement with the Philippines.

A 13a Visa is a non-quota immigrant visa. A Section 13 Quota Immigrant Visa is a completely different visa - different requirements, procedures, costs, etc.