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Philippine Tourist VISA

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding and confusion surrounding tourist visas in the Philippines. I have heard a lot of expats telling different stories about their experiences and the information they’ve been given regarding their visas. It’s actually quite a simple process, and not too expensive if you go to the right places.

For most foreigners entry into the Philippines is simple. You will receive a 21 day tourist visa upon arrival. There are some countries which do require visas before entering though. Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and many African nations are just a few. For those nationalities who receive the 21 day visa upon entry you must also have a ticket to a destination outside of the Philippines when you arrive. This is not always checked at immigration, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

For a lot of people who just want to visit Boracay and maybe jump over to Bohol to see the Chocolate Hills or head down to Palawan, 21 days is enough. However, for those who really want to travel this amazingly beautiful and culturally diverse country, a longer stay is needed. An American friend of mine travelled to the Philippines last year and thought that since this is such as small country, in comparison to the States, he would be able to see most of it in 2 weeks. He went up into the Cordillera and spent a little bit of time in Manila and that was all. He didn’t even make it to the beach or leave Luzon Island.

On a tourist visa you can extend for up to 1 year before you have to leave the country. After the initial 21 day stay you renew for a further 38 days. From then on you renew your visa every 2 months for a period of 1 year. After the year you have to leave the country for a few days and then come back and start the whole process again. If you are leaving the country at the end of 1 year the cheapest destination is Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia. Air Asia flies to KK from Clark Airport. Alternatively you can make the more expensive trip to Hong Kong.

If you have been in the Philippines for less than 6 months you can just leave when you’re ready. Yet if you have stayed for more than 6 months you will have to get exit clearance to leave the country. This is just to check you haven’t been doing bad things during your stay here.

Renewing your visa can be easy or stressful depending on how you go about it. A lot of people make the trip out to Magallanes Drive in Intramuros and wait in line for hours on end at the Bureau of Immigration. This can be quite stressful, especially if you are organising an ACR-I Card as this is in another building 5 minutes walk away. This is how I got my first Philippine tourist visa extension. In the pouring rain, on a humid day, the whole process took 3-4 hours. To receive the ACR-I Card you are meant to come back and pick it up a week later. A trick is to get some food or something nice for those lovely ladies at the Bureau of Immigration and suddenly you have your ACR-I Card and don’t have to wait a week to get it. However, after this experience, I don’t want to go back to the Bureau of Immigration and I don’t have to. Travel agencies usually organise tourist visa extensions. So all you have to do is drop off your passport and pay the fee plus their service charge and then come back and pick up your passport when it’s ready. The fees charged by travel agencies and the time it takes for you to get your passport back will differ from place to place. I went to a couple of places in the north of Makati, around Burgos Street. One Korean travel agency charged over 4,000 pesos per extension and took 2 weeks to get my passport back to me. A Japanese run Travel agency was slightly cheaper and took about a week to get my passport back to me. Since then I have found a really good place in the south of Makati.

B. Quinn Immigration Consultancy are a one stop shop for all of your Philippine visa needs. They have friendly staff, they don’t overcharge (unlike the above mentioned travel agencies), and they get your passport back to you in a few working days. For Tourist visas, Work visas, Student visas, Temporary and Permanent visas this is the place to go.

You can contact them on +632 908-3897523, +632 501-3246 or email them at b.quinnimmigrationconsultancy@yahoo.com.

Below is a list of the visa charges with their service fee.

FOR 9-A TOURIST VISA (AMOUNT) (SERVICE FEE)

Visa ext. per month up to 6 months P2,330.00 P600.00
Visa Ext. after 6 months P3,740.00 P600.00
Visa Ext. after 7 months P2,330.00 P600.00
Penalty of Tourist Visa per month P1,010.00

FOR VISA WAIVER

NON- RESTRICTED
Visa Waiver first arrival P3,030.00 P600.00
2 months ext. after 59 days/ w/ ACR-I P3,550.00 P600.00
without ACR-I Card P3,700.00 P600.00
First Ext. from latest arrival w/ ECC P4,300.00 P600.00
Second Ext. (2months) P2,330.00 P600.00
Third Ext. (2 months) P2,340.00 P600.00
Visa Waiver 2 months ext. after 59 days
With re ACR Icard P3,500.00 P600.00

RESTRICTED
First Ext. after the 59 days authorized
Stay (1 month) P4,300.00 P600.00
Second Ext. (1 month) P2,330.00 P600.00

Waiver Exclusion Ground P7,000.00
Re-Stamping of Visa P1,010.00 P2,000.00
Visa Ext. after down grading P5,050.00
Grace period for all visa P1,470.00 P2,000.00

SPECIAL STUDY PERMIT (SSP)

SSP P5,000.00 P1,000.00
SSP Penalty per month P200.00

Hopefully this clears up some of the confusion when it comes to staying as a tourist in the Philippines. Once you get the immigration requirements out of the way you can get on with seeing the sights and meeting the people in this great country.

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