PhilFAQS

Do I need a Visa?

Since I was just involved in a small way with someone running afoul of Philippine Immigration regulations I though I ought to post some more clarification on this … there never seems to be any lack of self-styled information on this subject, but there is always a lot of information that is partially or totally [...]

Why I Left The Philippines

Note:  this post has been corrected, significantly expanded and re-published.  Part of our on-going effort to make PhilFAQS.com your best source for answers to the frequently Asked Questions about Traveling to the Philippines, Retiring in the Philippines, or just plain living here in my second home, the Philippines.

Yes, that’s right, after living in continuously in [...]

Reacquire Philippines Citizenship in the US or in the Philippines?

(Was formerly Philippines Questions — Round 11)
This is an update or amplification of a post first made back in 2008.  I’m going through the blog and updating, correcting, and amplifying some of the posts to make them more useful to my readers.  I’m also redoing some non-descriptive titles so that Google Search will find you [...]

When is a Philippine Visa not a Philippine Visa?

In years or reading and participating in a lot of Philippine interest groups I think I’ve seen more misinformation about entry visas than I have seen regarding anything. This really doesn’t seem so complicated, but it certainly does seem to stump a lot of people.  I certainly won’t be able to dispel all the myths [...]

Philippine Retirement — Do They Really Want Us?

My lovely wife just pointed this out in today’s news:
Investments in retirement industry seen to grow this year

By Ma. Elisa P. Osorio (The Philippine Star) Updated August 26, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – Investments in the retirement industry are expected to increase this year in spite of the slowdown in the global economy, the Philippine [...]

Living in the Philippines — A Green Card is Not a Visitor’s Visa

Many of my readers either already have, or plan in the future to become quite well acquainted with the United States Permanent Resident Cara, commonly known as the “Green Card”.  Many folks I have chatted with in the past 10 or 11 years of being intimately interested in moving to the Philippines, living in the [...]

Earn a Living in the Philippines — Fulfill a Need

It’s a bit amazing to me how many people write we, week after week about what sort of visa they would need in order to live in the Philippines.  All the information one could ever want is on line, especially on the new and improved Philippines Bureau of Immigration site (Thanks BI, even all the [...]

Can My Philippine Friend Visit Me in the USA?

I have received a lot of queries over the years about visitor (B2) visas to the US for Filipinos.  How do they work, how much do they cost, can my girlfriend get one, etc.  It occurred to me today that I hadn’t written about these issues in some time, when I opened an email from [...]

For All My Expat Readers — From Any Country

Here’s another important pass along from my colleague JD up in the cool Philippine climes of Baguio.  Many people think they can’t get permanent residency in the Philippines if they aren’t married to a Philippine citizen.  This would be a wrong assumption.  Many former Filipinos think they can’t come back to the Philippines permanently unless [...]

Philippine Questions and Answers — 23 Apr 2009

Instead of a direct question this week, I am going to address a couple issues that have come up from readers and fellow bloggers in the past few weeks regarding one of our favorite subjects … getting through the immigration and travel tax hassles at the airport.

Travel Taxes, Fees and Keeping Right With Immigration

A [...]

Philippine Questions and Answers — 19 Mar 2009

It’s Thursday, time yet again for another installment of our regular Questions and Answers segment of PhilFAQS, the place to get the answers about living in the Philippines.  I really should have started this article out with a hearty  Konnichiwa to our Japanese readers and friends, because I notice a number of recent searches from [...]

Philippine Travel Tips — Part 1

I recently received an email query from a fellow planning his first trip to the Philippines.  He asked a number of specific questions about how he should prepare and since it is now a [rime time for visiting the Philippines I thought I would throw out answers to his specific questions plus [...]

Embarrassing BI Visit 16 Jan 2008

Even though I’ve been living full time in the Philippines for more than a year now. I’m still staying here on a Tourist Visa.
Yes, I am legal, by the way, under certain conditions you can do things like add Tourist privileges on the end of a one year Balik Bayan (BB) visa and stay [...]

How Much Does It Cost For Visas — Part 1 Of Many

One question everyone asks is the cost for a visa to stay in the Philippines for either a specific length of time or forever.  I could make ten blog posts out of that question but for today I’m going to outline the costs for living in the Philippines on a tourist visa.
You can arrive [...]