Renewing 13A Permanent Resident ACR Card

[Gator]

7 hours ago, mountainside said:

But now I'm married, and should I die before my wife, it will very difficult for my wife to get the $1500 deposit, given Philippine mandatory distribution rules for estates, and the difficulty of probating an American will in Philippine courts. 

In the event of your sudden death I can see where that might be a concern. On the other hand, Buddha forbid, should you ever get diagnosed with a terminal illness you always terminate (pun intended) your SRRV and get your 1,500$. I don’t know anything about Philippine estate law and I don’t know if it would make things easier in the long run, but I wonder if it would help if you had a local lawyer draw up a new will that only deals with your wishes for the distribution of your assets you hold in the Philippines (SRRV deposit included). Might be worth consulting an attorney here and looking into? 

[BrettGC]

34 minutes ago, Gator said:

but I wonder if it would help if you had a local lawyer draw up a new will that only deals with your wishes for the distribution of your assets you hold in the Philippines (SRRV deposit included). Might be worth consulting an attorney here and looking into? 

My thought exactly.  I have a copy of my Australian last will and testament here but I'm going to duplicate that in a PI version as well just so there's no confusion.  I'll post about the cost etc when it's done.  

[mountainside]

2 hours ago, Gator said:

On the other hand, Buddha forbid, should you ever get diagnosed with a terminal illness you always terminate (pun intended) your SRRV and get your 1,500$

Thanks.  You're right.  Got my previous deposit back with no issues.

 

2 hours ago, Gator said:

but I wonder if it would help if you had a local lawyer draw up a new will that only deals with your wishes for the distribution of your assets you hold in the Philippines (SRRV deposit included). Might be worth consulting an attorney here and looking into? 

 

2 hours ago, BrettGC said:

My thought exactly.  I have a copy of my Australian last will and testament here but I'm going to duplicate that in a PI version as well just so there's no confusion.  I'll post about the cost etc when it's done

Thanks to you both.  I've read PRA's circular on payment of the deposit upon death to a beneficiary, and there's apparently no way to get it done without a Philippine court order.  My understanding, so far, is that Philippine courts will generally accept a foreign will in probate.  But, as you've advised, I'll be hiring a Philippine estate planning atty to help get things sorted out.  

A bit off-topic, but there's also the issue of Philippine inheritance tax should my hopefully-soon-to-be US citizen wife opt for dual citizenship.  It appears that even "simple" international estate planning makes green card and naturalization and Social Security benefits planning look very simple by comparison.  Not crying, of course.  These are the sorts of "problems" that only fortunate people have.  Thanks again for your help.

[OnMyWay]

On 2/25/2023 at 10:00 AM, OnMyWay said:

You need to go to BI Olongapo."  So I initially thought, maybe this is good news and Olongapo is doing them now.  I told him, "Olongapo said they don't do them, a year or two ago".  Shrugs his shoulders and goes back inside.

So I headed to Olongapo BI.  "Sorry sir, we don't do those here.".  I told him I have all the paperwork done and Marquee Mall BI sent me here.  Silence.

Ok, here is a strange twist to the story!  And a "timing is everything" slant!

We are selling many things.  We have a tea table and chairs for sale for several months, with no interest.  Yesterday, my wife gets a hit on it, and they want if for their travel agency office in Olongapo.  Sight unseen, they give the asking price of p5000 if we will deliver it.

So we head down there today.  It is a couple, and they have had the travel agency office in Barreto for 20+ years but just moved to this new location near SM Downtown.  The husband is the retired manager of Olongapo BI!  I remember speaking to him a few times years ago.  Very nice guy then and now.

So he tells me that technically the Olongapo BI is not allowed to do the 13a ACR renewal per the main office.  However, if you are persistent and take the "is there anything you can do to help me get this done" attitude, they can get it done.  I did not pursue what that means and told him Ela's travel was doing it.

So it appears to be the "anything is possible" in the Philippines scenario, but I don't like to do that.

[jimeve]

My wife wants to renew my 13a permanent card as I can't travel on those damned buses and it's a 7 hour drive from Dumaguete to Cebu City. Will she be allowed to do this?

The only alternative is to fly to Cebu! I got quoted 15k from an agent to renew my card.

[Jack Peterson]

1 minute ago, jimeve said:

I got quoted 15k from an agent to renew my card.

 Jim under all the circumstances I think this a fair price and one way I would go 

[OnMyWay]

14 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Jim under all the circumstances I think this a fair price and one way I would go 

I agree that the time and money involved is worth paying an agent, but get a few quotes.  I got 15k, 12k and the one I used 10.5k.  Remember, it is not one trip, it is two.

Not sure about your wife.  I was wondering if my BIL or SIL could do mine but decided to go with the agent.

[BLM]

I made more than a few trips to Manila to get my 13A done. They needed our marriage certificate amortized which took 3 months to get from Hawaii. Then they wanted my expired student visa card from 4 years ago. Luckily my wife had it.

I thought at first all the young people wearing BI vests were employees. They are all working for agencies doing the footwork for visas. Certified fixers. I was offered that service also for a large sum of money. It's a thriving business.

I have my probationary 13A now, and will apply for the permanent this year. It reads like they need another amortized copy of my marriage certificate and everything even though it is there on file in their office. I understand the NBI clearance but to redo all the paperwork seems redundant. Is this correct? They need another certified copy of everything?

[OnMyWay]

2 hours ago, BLM said:

I made more than a few trips to Manila to get my 13A done. They needed our marriage certificate amortized which took 3 months to get from Hawaii. Then they wanted my expired student visa card from 4 years ago. Luckily my wife had it.

I thought at first all the young people wearing BI vests were employees. They are all working for agencies doing the footwork for visas. Certified fixers. I was offered that service also for a large sum of money. It's a thriving business.

I have my probationary 13A now, and will apply for the permanent this year. It reads like they need another amortized copy of my marriage certificate and everything even though it is there on file in their office. I understand the NBI clearance but to redo all the paperwork seems redundant. Is this correct? They need another certified copy of everything?

I don't know about the certified copy, but if you are in Subic, try to finish your 13a in Balanga BI.  That is what I did.  Got the temporary in Manila and the Permanent in Balanga.  Quiet office and in 2018 the attorney running the office used to work in Olongapo BI.  Not sure if he is still there.  Call to find out about it first and then pay a visit to make sure everything that will be needed.  It is a pleasant drive over there from Subic Freeport, about an hour.  Most of the time you will be the only customer in the office.  Most of their work involves the ports in Bataan.

[hk blues]

16 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I agree that the time and money involved is worth paying an agent, but get a few quotes.  I got 15k, 12k and the one I used 10.5k.  Remember, it is not one trip, it is two.

Not sure about your wife.  I was wondering if my BIL or SIL could do mine but decided to go with the agent.

Just out of interest, I wonder how getting somebody else to do the renewal would work with regards to photo taking etc.  When I had mine renewed it was all done digitally with the photo and finger prints etc transmitted via their online system.  Perhaps they have a hard copy back-up in such cases?  Or simply use the old photo!