13a visa completion question

Hello Wayne 07,

You can process the 13a Visa in the USA, but it is a Probationary Residency Visa.  When you arrive here in the Philippines, you will have to go to Immigration with your wife here and get an ARC Card with your Permanent Philippine Residency Address on it.  The other reason for going to Immigration is so you get your file sent to the correct office for later processing.  Before 2013 you had to go to Manila or one of the other two main satellite offices to process a 13a Visa, in 2013 they changed their procedures and now you can go to almost any of their offices to process the visa.   Their website will tell you which offices are approved to process the 13a Visa.  Keep all the paperwork you have for the vise you processed in the USA, with you, because two months before the end of your probationary expiration you will have to do the whole process over again to get your unlimited stay Permanent Residency Visa.  It is really not that difficult to process the second time, because they are just verifying if you have been a good expat with no problems with your family here or the law here.  They will also reissue a ARC card station you are a permanent resident and that you can use the card as an entry and exit pass.

The Embassy's leave out some of the details when you go to them, unless you directly ask them a specific question, they will not expand on the answer they give you.

Hope this helps, RAC

Thanks a million your answer helps. You are correct they do not tell you the whole process that follows. Its July 2014. I put on my application that I would be entering the Philippines June 2015. Eleven months from now. I am wondering now then have i appied to early. Will they give me a 12 month probation from July 2014 or starting June 2015. Again I am not leaving for Philippines until June next year.

Hi Wayne 07,

That is a good question.  You may want to direct it to the immigration people for an answer. 

I would think it would start when you enter the country and they stamp your passport.  Could be one of the reasons for them wanting you to go to immigration when you arrive.  When I was going to apply, I was told it would take almost two years to get the residency visa, and that was in 2010.  Since the USA has recently changed their visa policy with the Philippines, the Philippines has changed theirs for the better.  I came here for medical reasons and treatment, because it was much cheaper than the USA.  My plans here changed when I meet my wife when she took care of me while in the hospital here.  Immigrations here were very helpful with all my needs, no need for fixers.  When you come here, I recommend you bring certified copies of all your documents in case they are needed.  I didn't need mine at first, but eventually thru all the processes here they got used.

Hope this helps, RAC

It does. What I am thinking is as long as I come before the visa expire it should be OK. I thinking it will expire in July 2015. I will be there either may or June 2015.

I see that you offer comments on many questions on form. Great!! Do you ever see yourself moving back to your home country? Or do you plan to live permanent in the Philippines?

Hi Wayne 07,

I would check with Philippine Immigration on about your date of entry.

I do not plan om returning to the USA in the future.  My medical needs are affordable here and US medical does not pay anything here for medical services.  I have a great wife and daughter, with a great family also.   The weather here in Ormoc City is moderate, most rain is north or south of us.  The Ormoc basin also helps protect us from most storms.  The city is not too big, but not too small.  It is the second largest city in Leyte Island next to Tacloban.

TC, RAC

When I get there I will come to check out the place. We are going to travel for a couple of years in p.I. looking for another place beside bicol to live. Looking for place that is least impacted by typhoons.

LoL, Don't hold your breath on that.  The country has some 20 t0 24 tropical storms and typhoons a year.  I selected my area because it was the least effected by the storms.  Who knew after being here for four years that the most powerful storm of record would hit directly on out area.  There was very little notice in advance of the storm, but now the weather service here now starts notifying about storms even before they come into the PAR for storms.  My weather station disappeared after recording wind speed of 148.48 mph during the beginning of the storm.  You can follow the links from my website to check the storm impacts over the years.

TC, RAC

Last year when they had giant typhoon in tacloban was your city not adversely effected?

Hi Wayne 07,

Yes, Ormoc City was very affected by the typhoon.  The whole city was just about leveled.  Most of all the government buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged.  Our place was damaged by the 200mph winds that hit after the eye passed over Ormoc.  We could not see across the street during the storm after the eye passed.  The homes lost their roofs, concrete walls from the winds associated with the storm.  There have been many typhoons since I moved here and most went north or south of us or turned away from the country completely.  This whole island chain is in one of the most active weather and earthquake areas in the world, with the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITC) moving north to south in the island chain and the plates of the planet actively moving here in the islands.

TC, RAC

Is there any home insurance that one can buy? Insurance that cover loses in a typhoon.

Hello... I think there is home owners insurance, but I don't know how much of the value of the house they will cover. Probably very inexpensive too.Most importantly, what do you think are the chances of actually receiving a check from them for any damage that might occur from a storm??? LOL Might take years LOL.

If there isn't home insurance how is expat recovering if their home is severely damaged? I wonder what other expat home owners do for insurance. What about businesses do they have insurance against storms???

I am in the process of applying for the 13a visa....In the US the Philippine office has requested a copy of my wife (of 3 years) passport....I did not see that as a requirement anywhere on the application......As my wife returned to the Philippines in 2013 from working in AbaDubi, her passport expired, she had to travel to Cebu to make application for a renewal and to officially change her name. She did all that and waited for 6months "Nothing" she returned to Cebu again, where she was given the run around and told she needed to have a special oversea's workers certificate, after 3 more days, she was given the certificate, going back to the Passport Office she was told it would be mailed to her in 5-6 weeks, She has contacted the US Phil.Embassy they said to send this certificate plus her passport....The embassy in the US, has about an inch thick application plus, my Phil. postal ID, letters from the Baragay Capt. Marriage Certificates, birth certificates (both) anything they asked for, they have an original or copy of . I am at my wits end, "Waiting"

My apologies to Wayne 07 for addressing jaeflor's concern here. I am confused by the way jaeflor and his wife are doing things.

I was married to a US citizen. I changed and adopted his name by simply taking our marriage certificate to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) office in Cebu for my passport renewal. The marriage cert had to be printed on the National Statistics Office (NSO) security paper, not just what was issued by the local civil registrar where you were married. Once done, I waited two-three weeks for me to pick it up or have it mailed to my address. I opted to pick it up. Once passports are ready, overnight deliveries are done (for an extra cost of about USD5, paid before leaving the DFA office) by very established couriers like  LBC, Air21, DHL. Deliveries are best if the applicant live very far from a DFA office. Again, I got my new passport in two to three weeks.

My husband refused when I offered to petition him for a Philippine resident visa (we lived mostly in Cebu most of our married life). He can have a one-year Balikbayan stamp in his passport anyway when travelling with me, without cost (except for my airfare, hehe). He also fancied travelling at least once a year. So instead, he petitioned me for immigrant visa to the US.

For Filipinos intending to live with their foreign spouse in any foreign country, the government requires an attendance to a counselling, after which the Pinoy/Pinay receives a certificate from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. I was interviewed at the US Embassy and was granted the visa without this CFO cert, but it was necessary in order to be allowed by Philippine immigration officers to board the plane outbound.

Since you are the one coming to the Philippines, I dont understand why she is required to have this (unless she planned on going overseas again for work, just a theory). In any case, any document coming from abroad must be notarized by the foreign country's embassy or consular office before being useful in a Philippine agency.

Good luck.

jaeflor wrote:

I am in the process of applying for the 13a visa....In the US the Philippine office has requested a copy of my wife (of 3 years) passport....I did not see that as a requirement anywhere on the application......As my wife returned to the Philippines in 2013 from working in AbaDubi, her passport expired, she had to travel to Cebu to make application for a renewal and to officially change her name. She did all that and waited for 6months "Nothing" she returned to Cebu again, where she was given the run around and told she needed to have a special oversea's workers certificate, after 3 more days, she was given the certificate, going back to the Passport Office she was told it would be mailed to her in 5-6 weeks, She has contacted the US Phil.Embassy they said to send this certificate plus her passport....The embassy in the US, has about an inch thick application plus, my Phil. postal ID, letters from the Baragay Capt. Marriage Certificates, birth certificates (both) anything they asked for, they have an original or copy of . I am at my wits end, "Waiting"

double registration of my birthcertificate

hi everyone!

anybody of you who can help me..

I applied in the belgium embassy last april 2014.. unfortunately it was denied.. my partner decided that i will apply again,,now the time when I requested for a copy of my NSO birthcertificate I got a copy with a different family name when I tried to asked the NSO about it they told me that I had a double registration.. now my problem is I have to start from the begining again get another passport,when I was in the DFA they asked me to file a cancellation of my birthcertificate,,now when I already got a lawyer he told me that in law it should be the first registration that will prevail..what i have been using is the second registration including the name I registered in the embassy the first time I applied..my concern is I am planning to apply another application using family reunification ,, how will i explain my situation in the embassy? do I still have a chance to get my visa? it is so stressful for me and for my husband that it is like this.. please anyone can help me..

did you get the fbi background check, and get it certified by philippino. embassy, I sent mine in las tmonth and they still haven't even processed my visa for the report? or, did they let you skip it? did you offer proof of income?
I hear lots of different stories.  thanks

Hi am going thru the process of a 13A visa. Brought from the UK certified copies of Birth cert, Marriage cert, all notarised by an attorney, with the sticker on the back that they are true copies. Submitted my application. Because the Certificates were not notarised by a Filipino attorney, they were sent back. I had to pay to sent to have them certified at the DFA clearance centre.  just a way to get money out of us. get them notarised here. its cheaper and accepted