Live in the Philippines

Live in the Philippines helps expats with visas, moving and other services regarding the Philippines.

Philippine Foreign Post? Help! EAM

Immigration, Podcasts / by

When dealing with governments, it is not unusual that we have to offer proof or evidence that documents or other items are authentic.  These days, buy bactrim online pharmacy, there are a lot of counterfeit items making the rounds, so you should not be shocked if you are ever asked that your items or documentation must be authenticated.

Expat Answerman PodcastA couple of years back, the Philippine government, particularly the Bureau of Immigration started requiring document authentication in many cases.  It is not always required, but in some instances it is.  This is particularly the case when it comes to foreign documents.  So, for example, if you are doing something at the Bureau of Immigration that requires that you file documents issued by the US Government, or by a State Government in the USA, in many cases the BI will require that those foreign issued documents be authenticated by the Philippine Embassy or Consulate in the USA.

In other words, the Philippine Authorities in the USA will simply look your documents over and make sure that they are legitimate.  Nothing unusual or worrisome about that.

Listen in to today’s podcast to understand how to get your foreign documents authenticated.  It’s not hard to do.

[powerpress]

Do You Have a Question?

If you want to send a question for inclusion in a future Podcast, just use the app below, click on the button below, where it says “Start Recording”.

Questions submitted by eMail will no longer be answered, you must submit through the voice message above.

Thanks again for listening, everybody!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. This is all great and good, but sometimes the distance between the person and the Embassy is too great to make it feasible. Expense for going to San Fran from Portland or any other city in their jurisdiction is prohibitive and emailed documents are not accepted. Had to go in person to get a German Visa when I was not a US Cit. and it was cheaper to become a Cit.

    • Hello Heinz – All true.. but also it is the same with the USA. Like, if we need something from the US Government, we have to travel from Davao to Manila to go to the US Embassy. It is very impractical.

  2. G’day Bob,

    You are definitely correct in saying getting your documents authenticated in your own country is the way to go but in certain instances you can have them done here in the Philippines. I was travelling to the RP in January last to apply for a retirement visa (SSRV- Courtesy), but unfortunately I could not get my documents authenticated in my home country as the Philippines embassy and consulates in my country were closed over the Christmas period. Initially I was going apply for my visa at the Philippines Retirement Authority’s office in Davao but had to change plans and travel to Manila and apply at the PRA office there. I was able to get my documents authenticated at the Australian Embassy in Manila without any problem. Once authenticated the documents had to go to the Department of Foreign Affairs to be “Red Ribboned”. So, yea it can be done but the downside for me was having to fly to Manila and spend a week there chasing up everything. I encountered no major problems in the process and my visa was sent the Davao office for collection after 15 working days. The PRA have expanded their Courtesy Visa to include folks who have served in the military, one time application fee of $1400 and only $1500 is required to be held in a PRA account. The $1500 can be accessed after 3 months to buy a condo or use as rent payment. You are also exempt from having to obtain a ACR card … Cheers

  3. One of the requirements for a Special Resident Retiree Visa (SSRV) from the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) is “Police Clearance from your country of origin”. This was waived when I originally applied for the SRRV, but when it came to renew the ID Card last year the PRA asked for “Police Clearance duly authenticated by the Philippine Embassy/Consular Office”.

    The British Embassy in Manila won’t authenticate UK police clearance, but that’s not a problem because the PRA accepts the “Police Certificate” provided by the ACPO Criminal Records Office. This can be applied for online or by post and costs GBP 45.00 for the standard 10-day service or GBP 80.00 for the premium 2-day service.

    If you’re not in a hurry, and PRA were quite happy to wait eight months until I next visited the UK, you can march in to your local police station and request for a copy of the records they hold about you which must be disclosed under the Subject Access Provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. This costs GBP 10.00 and takes 3-4 weeks. The letter, hopefully declaring that there is “no information held about you on the Police National Computer”, is accepted by the PRA. Once again without the unobtainable authentication from the British Embassy.

    • Malcolm! Thank you very much your comment for using real names as Special Resident Retiree Visa and Philippine Retirement Authority instead only SRRV or PRA ! I really appreciate this a lot as my mother language is not English and cannot easily figure out the shorcuts but only some OMG! It is very helpful as using the whole name at least one time in a text! This is also a kind request for the other writers here in LiP Live in the Philippines! Salamat kaayo! Thanks a lot! Maraming salamat! Kiitoksia paljon! Danke shön!

      • Hi Leo,

        It is not up to the respondents to make your life easy with an explanation of every acronym used, your written response shows an excellent knowledge of English grammar so I would expect it would not be to hard for you to copy/paste/google and find out what they mean (just add Philippines to you search). Any problems just ask a batanon, as a baby boomer that’s how I learnt … cheers

        • Greg!
          Thanks for your kind comment for my English teacher R.Antikainen during the years 1968-1972! Anyway, I did tried and found also this advise of yours to be very helpful!!! Still I cannot find them all, even in Google already works in Southern Finland with hundreds of workers! I did tried to find for example “EVVK” which “every” person here know. Google gives me the first answer as “sperms cells on the warpath”!! on the side 911.Tabs.Com and the group/band “Klamydia” Have to be very carefull what shortcut letters use..haha. Ok! For me and millions other people here, EVVK means something like “cannot LESS get my interest” 🙂 Cheers for you too! Light or Pale pilsen? 😉

    • This is incorrect you can not march on any local police station in the Uk to get your police clearance it has to be done online with Scotland Disclosure and has to be notarized by a local solicitor before the Philippine Embassy can authenticate it, did this last November 2014 for the 13A of my husband. We just applied for 13A in Bureau of Immigration in Iloilo City and they were amazing no problem at all and so painless.

      • Well I’m sorry gezel but I marched in to my local police station in the UK in October 2014 and was given an application form which I duly completed and sent to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in Fareham, Hampshire. Please see https://www.gov.uk/copy-of-police-records

        There was no need for me to get the resultant letter from the ACPO authenticated by anyone as I submitted the original to the PRA. I actually asked the British Embassy in Manila if they could authenticate the “Police Clearance” letter but they declined saying that they were not in a position to authenticate a letter from the ACPO.

  12. Bob,
    We got our marriage certificate authenticated at the Philippine Consulate Chicago before going to the Philippines. Very easy and pleasant experience.