Retire to the Philippines and Succeed
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Help With Getting Her Visa — Rapid Visa
OK, time to talk turkey here (after all, it’s now close to Thanksgiving, isn’t it?).
Query after query come to me here, and via email, about help in getting their Filipino friends, especially Pinay girlfriends, US B-2 Visitor Visas to enter the United States.
Normally this is a situation where I just can’t offer much hope. It’s difficult, indeed, for a single, marriage-eligible female Philippine citizen to get a US Tourist visa.
People often ask about How Hard Is It To Get a Tourist Visa to the USA From the Philippines?Get My Filipino Girlfriend To The USA.
This is a very frequent question here at PhilFAQS. There are several different answers, and sadly for couples stuck between the USA and the Philippines, the answers aren’t always easy.
One way that you can get a Filipina friend to the USA is with a US Fiancee’ Visa, commonly known by its form number, K-1.
Another way s marry the girl and then bring her to the US with a US Spousal Visa (Either a CR-1 or IR-1).
The simplest, although often the most difficult way is to get your friend a US B2/B2 Tourist visa.
I’ve written an explanation of these basic visas here:
Tourist or Fiancee’ Or Spouse Visa. Which is Better?
Go ahead and read it now if you haven; already, I’ll wait here for you.
[Read more…] about How To Get My Filipino Girlfriend To The USA
Ways To Stay Long-Term in the Philippines.
How long an American citizen (or most other foreigners) can stay in the Philippines is always a popular subject. A while back I wrote an introductory article on this subject where I explained that you can pretty much stay as long as you want to in the Philippines without asking special permission from anyone.
If you haven’t read that you should read it now, because it lays the groundwork for several other more formal ways that a US citizen can live here in the Philippines.
Go ahead and click on the link now, I’ll wait right here for you *smile*.
Now if you read that article you’ll understand how easy it is for a foreigner to live here but as some readers have commented, renewing a Tourist Visa every two or six months, or going out of the country once a year for a new (free) Balikbayan Privilege Stamp is not really “Permanent Residency”.
I mean, after all, it’s only worked for me for 14 years, so we couldn’t really call it “permanent”, now could we?
[Read more…] about Ways To Stay Long-Term in the Philippines — Part 2
Why Can’t My Filipina Wife Get a Tourist Visa To The USA?
Updated and corrected to bring it up to date
This question comes up frequently. Often there is a lot of anger attached as a US citizen husband finds out that his lawfully married foreigner spouse can’t get a US B2 Visitor (Tourist) Visa, despite having all paperwork and immigration status documents in order.
But it doesn’t matter if you are angry, or even if I am angry in support of your position.
In many cases. the Tourist visa just ain’t going to happen. Why?
And it’s not likely to change any time soon.
Everything about the US Immigration system is geared to handle two things:
or
There’s Little Room in the Mind f the State Department For Any Other Category
[Read more…] about Why Can’t My Filipina Wife Get a Tourist Visa To The USA?
How To Visit the USA From the Philippines.
Recently I published sw]everal articles about the difficulty of Diliinos getting approval for a US Visitors (Tourist) Visa, also known as a B1/B2 Visa.
Here are just a few:
These will give you the idea of the problem, in case you weren’t already familiar.
What’s the common thread that runs through all tourist visa discussions?
[Read more…] about How To Visit the USA From the Philippines
How Hard Is It To Get a Tourist Visa to the USA From the Philippines?
Here’s a typical comment that gets posted here at PhilFAQS, where you can learn how to move to and profit in the Philippines. Over the past 15 years, I have heard and seen so many stories like this that it makes me sad.
There’s nothing I can do except to try to clarify the way the US laws are written and how they seem to be applied to Filipinos applying for visitor visas (tourist visas) to the USA.
Disclaimer: Remember that I am not a lawyer and I have no connection with the US Embassy or any other agency or company involved in granting or denying US tourist visas. These are my own personal opinions and are not legal advice. If you need legal advice, please consult an attorney.
[Read more…] about How Hard Is It To Get a Tourist Visa to the USA From the Philippines?
Why Choose the Philippines — Is Malaysia a Better Choice?
I originally wrote this about 8 years ago. It was in response to a lot of mail I was receiving on the subject of what country was “best” to live in for US expats.
At the time, Malaysia was advertising The Malaysia My Second Home program and many expats wondered how that program compared with what was available to retirees in the Philippines.
Significantly updated and corrected. Only a few things have changed in 8 years, mostly making it even easier to stay in the Philippines.
That’s a very good question. Why choose the Philippines instead of the nation of Malaysia for retirement, or just an escape from the western world rat race? [Read more…] about Why Choose the Philippines — Is Malaysia a Better Choice?
Yes, A Filipina Needs a Visa to Enter the USA.
The title above should be authored by our old friend “Captain Obvious”. Everybody knows that Filipinos ALL need some form of US visa to enter the USA. Or at least everybody “should” know that.
But lately, I’ve been getting more and more irritated by at least one website which “does” know that fact, but persists in spreading false information just to try to get cheap traffic (page views) from Google.
We all tend to trust Google a lot. In general, this trust is well placed, but sadly in many areas where there are technical issues inviolved and especially where a simple reading of the publically posted laws and the rules and regulations surrounding the laws is involved, Google falls down badly on the job.
Google is great at telling us which Kardashian has the largest ass. (See: Butts Of The Century: Kardashian-Jenner Sisters!).
But when it comes to important, factual issues, such as ones that are important to 1000,000,000 Filipinos and probably an equal number of Americans and citizens of other countries interested in the subject, Google false flat on its own ass.
Go to Google search page or the search feature on your phone or tablet and type in the operative question … does a Filipina need a visa to visit the USA?
The result you get back will look something like this:
The number one beside the SERP (Search Engine Results) indicates Google thinks this will be the best answer on the whole Internet to your question.
And I have no argument with that choice. It leads you to a reputable website with correct information and answers the question correctly … Yes, she does.
And just take a look at what Google consistently chooses for position 2 or position 3.
The first time I ever saw this I was flabbergasted. I figured it was an error which would get sorted out.
Well, it has been almost 5 full years now and Google insists on giving the second most prominent space in its search results t this totally false and misleading article. 5 years is enough to time to get the facts straight, Google.
At least in my opinion, anyway.
Here’s how Google ranks my own site, where I have been writing, faithfully and accurately on this subject for more than 15 years now:
Now Number 9 isn’t so bad … after all, it’s on the first page.
Which is, by the way, a totally false statement, apparently written to confuse people and get them to talk about and “share” the article so high in the search rankings just mystifies me.
There is no such thing as a US Non-visa policy for Filipinos, and there is no credible evidence of any such policy happening any time soon.
Google, Here’s Your Chance To Make Things Better.
You Can’t Say You Haven’t Been Told About It
Yes, A Filipina Needs a Visa to Enter the USA.
Does My Filipino Friend Need A Visa To Visit The USA?
Well, as some of you already know, the answer to this question is yes, she or he does.
Looking around at many of the articles I have written and others have as well, it seems many articles are starting at too advanced a level.
I should start at the beginning since a majority of my readers are from the USA and my fellow Americans are among the least traveled and most uneducated in the mechanics of international travel on earth.
Now don’t get your knickers in a knot over that last paragraph. If you are already an expert on passports, visas and international travel, great, more power to you. Feel free to move on to the next article then.
But there are plenty of people reading here who only have a vague concept of passports, visas (not the credit card) and international procedures. [Read more…] about Does My Filipino Friend Need A Visa To Visit The USA?