13a visa (permanent) approved but not yet implemented - overstay?!

[gery0x]

Dear fellow expats,

 

this year in April I applied for my 13a permanent visa (amendment) which - according to the BI visa application status website - was approved on May 27.

After submitting the application my local BI office told me to wait for their text message to do the implementation in the passport - same procedure as last year with the 13a probationary (conversion), so nothing unusual.

However, my 13a probationary will expire quite soon and I didn't receive that SMS yet, so my question is this:

 

if the visa is not implemented in my passport yet and the "old" 13a expires, am I committing overstay?!

 

Technically I'd say no, since last year the 13a prob. started at the day of approval and not at the day of implementation.

Calls to the BI office remain unanswered and the bot of the Facebook-BI-helpline is merely useless...

 

So, any opinions/experiences from your side on this issue before I head to the office in person for inquiry?

 

Many thanks for your input!

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, gery0x said:

Calls to the BI office remain unanswered

And that surprises you?  As always, go ask them in person.

[gery0x]

25 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

And that surprises you?  As always, go ask them in person.

No that doesn't surprise me at all!

 

But before going the far way to BI I'd like to hear the opinions/experiences of other expats first - maybe somebody found themselves in the same situation before...

[gery0x]

I think this post here --> https://www.philippines-expats.com/topic/33370-motion-of-consideration-overstaying-36-months-tourist/#comment-308842

...might match my situation.

 

@graham59 would you care to share further details?

[hk blues]

8 hours ago, gery0x said:

I think this post here --> https://www.philippines-expats.com/topic/33370-motion-of-consideration-overstaying-36-months-tourist/#comment-308842

...might match my situation.

 

@graham59 would you care to share further details?

I doubt you'll get a response from the above poster, gery.  

[Huggybearman]

I was in the same situation earlier this year. My probationary 13a expired on the 26th March. I applied for the the permanent one in early January. Due to a couple of postponements on the part of the BI lawyer regarding our interview, my 13a was due to expire about a week after the BI interview. I asked him if I needed to get an interim tourist extension after 26th March and he said it was not required. After the interview I again asked the question to the BI officer who was handling my case and she confirmed that it was not necessary. The 13a ‘waiver’ will continue until it is finally issued, despite technically having expired on the 26th March. My permanent 13a was finally issued on the 5th May. No issue at all.

[gery0x]

Thanks a lot for the insight @Huggybearman, that kinda confirms my assumption.

 

If I understand correctly, your application hasn't even started processing before the interview was done, so your 13a-perm. was definitely not yet approved when the 13a-prob. expired, which - for the lack of a better word - would result in some kind of "ghost-13a-visa-status", at least for a couple of weeks.

But well, if the immigration says that's fine then it's fine...

 

As I said, my 13a-perm. is already approved, all I'm missing now is the call to get the stamp in my passport and the ACR-card of course, which both are more or less not my responsibility.

I think I'm on the safe side here...

Edited June 11, 2022 by gery0x
typo

[Possum]

21 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

23 hours ago, gery0x said:

Calls to the BI office remain unanswered

And that surprises you?  As always, go ask them in person.

In person is best. As far as the phone not being answered? I can understand that a little after a talk with a BI person in the local office. This person was honest and explained the language problem. Although they have to be able to speak English that doesn't mean they understand spoken English well, also some people that call speak other languages. They can get into trouble for not answering questions over the phone so it's best to not answer. With all the accents and forms of English spoken I can certainly understand that. I've spoken English all my life but have problems understanding it over the phone from various parts of the US, England, Australia and forget about excited Scotsmen, they might as well be speaking Japanese

[Shol]

For both the 13a and my original tourist were / expired but my 13a application was in process.  Despite being "terrified of the unknown nonsense" here I was told over and over again that as long as it's in process not to worry.   

There wasn't an issue in Intramuros just don't lose anything.

[Huggybearman]

On 6/11/2022 at 9:46 PM, gery0x said:

Thanks a lot for the insight @Huggybearman, that kinda confirms my assumption.

 

If I understand correctly, your application hasn't even started processing before the interview was done, so your 13a-perm. was definitely not yet approved when the 13a-prob. expired, which - for the lack of a better word - would result in some kind of "ghost-13a-visa-status", at least for a couple of weeks.

But well, if the immigration says that's fine then it's fine...

 

As I said, my 13a-perm. is already approved, all I'm missing now is the call to get the stamp in my passport and the ACR-card of course, which both are more or less not my responsibility.

I think I'm on the safe side here...

Exactly! My 13a (permanent) application wasn’t submitted to Manila until after the lawyers interview of course. He suggested it would take at least a month for the permanent 13a to be issued. In the end it took more than six weeks from the interview date. 
 

You certainly don’t have anything to worry about. Especially as yours has been approved, whereas mine hadn’t even been submitted to Manila when my probationary expired. 
 

I think the key is to not lose your receipt for the 13a application. That would be your ‘get of of jail free’ card should the need arise, which I very much doubt! The reference number on it would bring up the relevant paper trail regarding your application and current status.

Edited June 12, 2022 by Huggybearman