Sixth in a Series on Moving Overseas: The Philippine Retirement Authority's Special Resident Retiree's Visa

I'm coming up on the second anniversary of my retirement and the second year of living exclusively on the island of Bali. I'm getting that island fever feeling once again. In times like this, I find that I often end up perusing blogs written by expats who live in other countries in Southeast Asia. Some time back, I started a series of post on moving overseas. They are basically a follow up to the first chapter of my book on moving to Bali, which deals with where is the best place in the region to go.

My first article discussed a website about moving to the Philippines. I didn't go into any real detail on living in the Philippines in that post. The second article was about Venezuela, and it also primarily focused on an expat blog about life in Venezuela. My third article and fourth article's were on Bangkok and Thailand. The fifth article covered Malaysia and its MM2H program for foreigners who want to move to Malaysia. Today, I'm back to the Philippines and their program for foreigners that want to move to the country.

The Philippines has, like Malaysia, a website completely devoted to visas for foreigners who want to move to the country. This website is created and maintained by the Philippine Retirement Authority. The PRA is a government owned corporation with the mission to attract foreigners and former Filipinos to move to the Philippines in order to help with the development of the country by bringing in foreign currency. The PRA offers a variety of forms of assistance for foreigners who are applying for one of the SRRV products. The PRA vision is to “make the Philippines a globally competitive and preferred retirement destination in Asia.” Doesn't that just sound great when compared to some of the hoops that some of the other ASEAN countries place in the way of foreigners who want to retire in SE Asia?

There are four classes of visas called Special Resident Retiree's Visa: SRRV Smile, SRRV Classic, SRRV Human Touch and SRRV Courtesy. Details of each product (as they are called on the website) are clearly listed.

The Smile product is for those foreigners 35 years or older. The applicant needs to deposit $20,000 in an approved bank; this money is not convertible, that is the foreigner cannot access it until they cancel their visa. A one-time application fee of $1,400 is required for the main visa holder, along with $300 for each dependent (each category or product of the SRRV has the same application fee). An annual fee of $360 is required. This covers the main visa holder, the spouse and one dependent. Documents required are a SRRV application form, a passport, a medical clearance examination, police clearance, ID photos and some additional proof for a spouse and dependent.

The Classic product is for foreigners from the ages of 35-49 and from 50 on up. The 35-49 visa requires a $50,000 visa deposit but this can converted into investments that must total at least $50,000. The 50 on up visa is clearly the best bet financially. The visa deposit for this group is $20,000 without a pension or $10,000 with a pension (the pension must be at least $800 per month for singles and $1,000 for married couples). As with the the younger group, the visa deposit is convertible into investments such as a condo or a long-term lease on a house). The annual fees are the same as for the Smile product. Required documents are the same as for the Smile product with the addition of proof of pension.

The Human Touch product is for foreigners who are at least 35 years old and who have a pre-existing physical condition (other than a contagious disease or an illness requiring medical care). The visa deposit is $10,000 and has the same conditions as for the Smile product. Annual fees are the same as for the first two products. Documents are the same as the Classic product with the addition of a health insurance policy.

The Courtesy product is for former Filipino citizens who are at least 35 years old, and for retired diplomats. The visa deposit is $1,500 and this may be converted into investments. The application fees are the same as for the first three categories, but the annual fee is only $10.00. Required documents are an application form, a passport, a medical examination, police clearance, ID photos and additional documents for a spouse and dependents.

It seems that the Classic product is one of the most inexpensive visas for expats who move to Southeast Asia although Indonesia is making a serious attempt to make life easier for those of us who have moved here or want to move here. Next post, I'll take a look at the Indonesia options for retirees and others who want to move to Indonesia.