Saturday, March 29, 2008
Immigration Requirements
Today’s guest blog is from Bruce Linder. Bruce has been living in Davao a few months now, and has his own blog, American in Davao. Bruce notified me of some changes in residency requirements that he came across when he recently visited the Bureau of Immigration. Here is what Bruce had to say:
Today when I was at the Bureau of Immigration I recieved information to change status to get residency here in the Philippines
They have reduced the requirements and made it easier.
Here is the information from the document
MCL-08
NOTICE TO ALL APPLICANTS/PETITIONERS
To avoid the summary denial/delay of your application/petition, please be advised of the following:
- All sworn statements or affidavits must be duly notarized.
- Documents executed outside of the Philippines must be authenticated by the Philippine Embassy/Consulate official of the Philippine Foreign Service at the place of issuance or nearest to it, with English translation, if written in other foreign language. Any document executed within the Philippines must be duly certified by the offices having official custody of the originals.
- All documents required for submission must be arranged in the order as listed hereunder; otherwise your application or petition cannot be processed immediately.
CHECKLIST OF DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICANTS FOR CONVERSION TO NON-QUOTA IMMIGRANT BY MARRIAGE
- Duly notarized letter of application by the Filipino spouse.
- General Application Form duly accomplished and notarized (BI Form
- No. MCL-07-01)
- NSO authenticated copy of Birth certificate of Filipino spouse and
- certified copy of the ID as Filipino citizen issued by BID.
- NSO authenticated copy of the Marriage Contract of alien and
- Filipino spouse or authenticated by the Philippine embassy/consulate
- nearest to or in the place where marriage was solemnized.
- Bureau of Immigration (BI) Clearance Certificate
- Plain photocopy of the passport of the foreign national’s spouse
- showing applicant’s bio-page, admission stamp and authorized stay
- of at least twenty (20) calendar days from date of filing.
# 1 Melojane said:
Hi, I would like to know what are the advantages and disadvantages of being a non-quota immigrant by marriage? How long can a married foreigner stay in the country? Do they need entrance or exit fee? Thank you very much.
# 2 Bob said:
Hi Melojane - Getting a “non-quota” visa just means that if your husband applies, as long as he meets the requirements he gets the visa. If a person who is not qualified for a non-quota visa applies, there are only a certain number of quota visas available, and if the number has already been issued, the applicant must fall in line and get it the next year, or after that if the slots are already full. When somebody is eligible for a non-quota visa, that means that they can get the visa no matter how many visas have been issued, they don’t have to wait in line.
If a foreigner gets a resident visa (quota or non-quota) they can stay in the country permanently, they never have to leave. Of course, just like Pinoys, they are required to pay exit fees when the leave the country.
# 3 Ric said:
Mabuhay,
It is great to see that the requirements have been relaxed! I am newlywed to my wife here in Marikina City and we will be going to the good old BI in the next couple of weeks for the 13a visa! Maraming salamat for your great information Bruce, you are a Godsend!
Regards,
Ric of Marikina City
# 4 lea said:
how much is the exit fees? and Do I need to make my own duly notarized letter for my foreign husband and bring it to notary public?
pls give me some answer for help.
# 5 Barry said:
I am a american looking to living in the philipines of course with my filipino wife of 23 years with in the next few years, can this visa be considered like having dual citizen or is it just a permanate visa?
# 6 Bob said:
Hi Barry - No, this is not related to citizenship, it just allows you a permanent stay in the country.
# 7 Noemi said:
Hi, Bob - we went through this process October last year and it went pretty well - no glitches at all. The only time I was a bit iffy was during the interview/hearing with the lawyer who was a bit unprofessional (long story). Anyway, we are going to convert the temporary resident visa (the probationary thing for one year) to the 13a (permanent) this month. The papers that my husband got from the Immi only has about 4 items on the checklist and I was wondering if we are missing something as your checklist above is longer (it looks like the checklist we had for the temporary visa). Have you converted to the permanent residence visa yet? What exactly did you have to submit?
Thanks!
Noemi
# 8 Bob said:
I have a 13(g) visa, for a permanent resident. I never had to convert though, I got my resident visa before coming here. That was nearly a decade ago, so things have changed. I would recommend that you should just do what the Bureau of Immigration tells you to do.