Do you have a 13A Visa? Maybe a 13G Visa?
Do you ever worry about losing it? It can happen!
However, it probably can’t happen as easily as you may imagine. I recently received a question from Martyn through my Expat Answer Man voicemail line (if you have a question you can leave me a message below) asking what would happen if his wife dies?
Well, our wife (or spouse I should say) has to sponsor us to receive a 13A or G Visa, so what if she dies? Do we lose our visa in that event? Well, the answer may surprise you, so be sure to listen to the Podcast today.
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Thanks again for listening, everybody!
Hi Bob,
That’s good news. Along these same lines, if your visa was revoked by your wife/husband (I’d better be careful!) could you go ahead and apply for another type visa in order to stay?
Also, when my husband and I used to travel back and forth from here to the US a Balik Bayan visa seemed just right for us.
I wondered though that if your spouse died, you would no longer have that traveling companion that could let you avail yourself of that privilege? What if you got too old in the future to travel back and forth abroad. What would happen then with your BB visa?
Sorry about the extra questions, but they’re all visa related, and something I’ve thought about.
Hi Queenie – Good questions!
If your spouse who sponsored you for your resident visa were to withdraw their endorsement, yes, you could then apply for a different type of visa without leaving. The most common thing would be to simply convert to a tourist visa, and then you might move on to something else after you have had the time necessary to make arrangements.
Firstly, you are correct, in your case (let’s use you as our example)… if you were here with a Balikbayan Visa, issued to you because you entered with your spouse…. if your husband were to pass away, or for whatever reason, was unable to travel with you, you would no longer be eligible to get a balikbayan visa on your next entry. You would have to remarry to a Philippine citizen (or former Philippine citizen) and then you would again be eligible for the Balikbayan privilege.
In the other case that you mentioned, if you became too old to travel abroad, even if your spouse were still alive, once your balikbayan visa expires (after 1 year), it would then go away. You could not receive another balikbayan visa unless you travel outside the country and re-enter. Thus, if you were to old to travel, you would need to get some other type of visa. Perhaps an SRRV would be the right way to go.
I recently noticed that the description of SRRV Visas on the Philippine Retirement Authority website now includes:
US$360.00 Annual PRA Fee (APF) for Principal, Spouse, and (1) Child upon enrollment and every year thereafter.
I’m sure this APF wasn’t there a few years ago and was wondering if anyone was actually paying this.
I missed the podcast. How can I watch it? I missed the answer to the topic question: if my wife dies, do I lose my 13a?
Hi Chris – You didn’t miss the podcast, it is here for eternity! Just click on the play button and listen.
Hi Bob, looks like we have four pages of forms to fill in for the annual report, photo and finger prints.
HI John – Hmm.. two years in a row!
bob, What is 13(b) visa ? Secondly for a married couple of many years, can some vengeful filipino get your visa revoked? Are authorities heartless here to separate families? is 13(a) the most powerful residency visa ever as it is based on family bonds, since families are important in Philippines? Can the Husband leave Philippines for 2-3 years and return still with a 13(a) intact?
A 13b visa is a visa that is for a child born to a Filipino mother during a temporary visit abroad.
If you do something that breaks a Philippine law, yes, a person (Filipino or any other nationality) can petition for your resident visa to be revoked. The filing of such a petition is not automatic revocation of your visa, but would start an investigation which could lead to such result.
If you leave for 2 to 3 years, your 13a visa would become void after that period of time, and you would need to re-apply for a new one when you are ready to return to the Philippines.
Any other nationality ? So even foreigners can get other foreigners visa revoked? 13(b) is for the child, I thought child can inherit Filipino citizenship of the mother right? So an yearly visit would be sufficient to maintain the 13(a) visa in the Philippines even if some time is spent abroad? Thank you Bob.
Yes, if you have committed a crime or violation of your Visa in any way, anybody can report it – Filipino or Foreigner, if they wish to do it.
A child CAN get Philippine Citizenship based o the citizenship of the mother, but just because that CAN happen, it does not always mean that the mother took the steps to make it happen.
If you just made a short visit to the Philippines, I don’t think that would be enough to keep your 13a active, but you should check with the BI for a ruling on that. I am not certain if they would accept that or not.
Wonderful answers. Thank you Bob. However, someone I know goes to business trips and spends 8 months outside the Philippines and returns to spend 4 months in the Philippines and still kept his 13(a). Well if a crime is to be reported, it needs to go to the police, the police and the courts are the ones to request the BI to revoke the visa right? otherwise it becomes a vigilante world bob……like the wild wild wild west…..the song you play each time a question is asked…audio 😀
Yes, spending 4 months in the country, I believe would be legit and perfectly fine. I thought you mean like very short periods in your previous comment.
13a is PERMANENT Bob!
Not necessarily. If you apply in the Philippines it is provisionary for the first year. After that it becomes permanent.
Provisional Permanent Residency is only a year. You do not renew it every 5 years.