At that time, I had filed for Elena’s Fiancée Visa and we were waiting for its approval. Well one day, the developer I was working for laid off 97% of their employees and then declared bankruptcy. I was unable to find a decent paying job so Elena told me to come to the Philippines. We thought with my savings, annuity, and help from her family we would be able to survive decently here.

Therefore, to the disappointment of my family I packed up and moved here to Davao. Since I was not receiving any pension or Social Security, it was not as easy for us as for other expats. I worked for a short time here but for Filipino wages which just covered food expenses for 2 weeks.

As I have written about life here, there are many things I did not like here, but I had to accept them. That is what you need to do and keep your sanity. I thought there was no way ever to be able to return to the U.S. and bring Elena to be with me. With the unemployment at such high levels and limited work in the architecture field for me to go back to my profession, here is where I would live and die.

Recently a friend of mine decided to move back and then file for his wife’s spousal visa. He is much younger than I am and has a father who will allow them to live in their house until he has enough money to get their own place. He currently has seasonal employment for income and will get his wife a job there too. He hopes both of them will be able to locate full time jobs in the future.

This made me start to think, so I contacted my brother and my mother about the possibility of me moving back and then bringing Elena. One turned it into an argument about how it was not feasible and would not help with basic needs if I came. The other was political and said there was a plan to change from a two-bedroom apartment to a one-bedroom unit. This was the nice way to say there would be no room for us.

Well, they made me give up the thought until a few weeks ago. One of the readers emailed me and commented that it sounded like Elena and I could use a vacation and offered us a room in their house in Las Vegas, Nevada. I replied that is was very difficult to get Elena a Tourist Visa but thanked her for the kind offer. She emailed me again and mentioned her husband gave up his business because of the economy problems and they bought a house in Las Vegas. Her husband is a little older than I am and is working driving a taxi. With all the tourism in Vegas, a taxi driver can make enough to live comfortable. This reader offered us a room; rent-free in their home as long as we need to get on our feet and her husband will assist me in getting a job driving a taxi too.

Elena and I discussed this and we decided this is an offer of a lifetime. This lady and her husband are so kind with this offer and it will give us both a chance to work. In addition, after Elena has immigrant status and living in the States for six months, she will be able to receive survivor benefits when I pass away. Once Elena works for ten years, she will earn enough Social Security credits to collect her own benefits.

We have discussed, once we retire, in all probability will not be able to afford to live in the States, we will probably move back to the Philippines. Because of this, our nephew who married recently will live in our house and take care of it for us.  He will take care of his sisters who live here. His brother’s support will continue to assist them with the expense of this house.

So, with all said, I will be flying out of Davao on May 4 and from Manila on the fifth. The flight will be interesting; the first leg from Manila is on Korean Airlines, which I never have flown before. I will also land in Inchon Intl, Seoul, Korea. At first, I thought I had only a three ½-hour layover in Korea, which is not bad. Then I noticed I land 5:20am and do not leave until 8:50pm. I guess I will know the airport well in that time and have to make sure I have enough books to read while there. So what I thought would be 18 hours total travel time, it is now close to 30 hours.

As soon as I am settled in Las Vegas, I will file for Elena’s spousal visa to join me there. At first, I will need to live as cheaply as possible since I do not want to overstay my welcome and these kind peoples home. I will need to save for a vehicle, furniture, and deposits once we are able to move out on our own.

I hope to be able to keep this site alive with articles of how my life will change and interesting stories of Elena’s live living in America. I hope to find Expats and Filipinos to assist me with this site by writing articles of news and cultural items about Davao and the Philippines.

For those of my readers who have relied on me and this site for information about an Expats life in the Philippines, I hope with others help this site will continue. For those who stop visiting, I understand and thank you for your two plus years of my readership.

If my friends in Las Vegas read this, again Elena and I thank you and feel you both are gifts from God.

I will keep all informed of the process and any other newsworthy items and I always do until I leave.

Then they made the Express Line fee mandatory. Recently they added a new fee, Express Line for Processing and a Express Fee for Certification. Both are 500 pesos.

Once you received your residency, you also had to apply for an ACR I-Card (Alien Certificate of Registration). This is similar to the U.S. Green-Card. As always, there was forms, and many photocopies of all papers plus 1×1 and 2×2 photos. Recently the ACR card program was added to any alien at their first 59-day Visa extension. Now, if you come to the the Philippines for a visit and you plan to stay longer than 21 days, besides getting a Visa extension, you have to apply for your ACR I-card.

A friend here is planning to return to the U.S. permanently or at least for some years until he reaches retirement. He is younger than I am and feels he needs to go back and earn a living there since it is almost impossible to make an income here without huge money to start a business. He is leaving in less than a month but needed to receive a one-month Visa extension. He had to pay the extra expense for a card he will no longer need.

I have had my residency for over a year now and the only time I needed to show my ACR I-card was at the Bureau of Immigration when I filed for the Yearly Audit.  So now everyone needs this card to fill their wallet but there will be more room there after you pay the fees.

Below is the Current Fees for Visa Extensions from the Bureau of Immigration Web Site, but do not count on these amounts to stay stable, they always find ways to increase them.

The information I will give will be as accurate as I can find, but realize the laws here change and some of my research might be out dated. So I suggest you verify this information yourself before making the big plunge.

Citizens of the US, most European and Asian Countries can enter the Philippines as a tourist with just a passport for 21 days as long as their passport is valid for 6 months from their date of arrival. Also they must have valid tickets for their return travel.

What I did was to visit a Philippine Consulate and purchased a Tourist Visa good for one year, even though I needed to extend my visa every 59 days at the Bureau of Immigration (BI) here. They have now increased stay here for 16 months and can also be extended to 2 full years as long as you file with the BI before you reach the 16 months here. This is because they have to send the request to Manila for approval. After you reach the end of your extensions, you must leave the country and return showing your exit stamp and the stamps of the visiting country when you return.

The 2 options when you first travel here would be as Tourist or Balikbayan. There are others such as a work visa, student visa, and missionary visa and investment visas. I will not get into this since most readers are looking to just move here. I do believe you can file for the Retirement visa prior to moving here, but I will explain as if you’re already here in the Philippines.

A Balikbayan is if you’re married already to a Philippine Citizen with a valid Philippine passport. You must arrive together and have with you a valid Marriage Certificate. This will give you (1) year of stay and can be extended to 16 months.

Once you’re here and you would like to remain and not have to travel outside the country every year and a half to 2 years and you get tired of going to BI every other month to file an extension and pay the fees there is 2 options I know of. One is marrying a Filipina and filing for a 13(a) Permanent Residency Visa or file for a Retirement Visa.

For the 13(a) Permanent Residency Visa you first have to be married to a Filipina or Filipino of you’re a female visitor. After you are married, and your marriage is registered at the NSO (National Statistic Office) you go to BI and file. Once approved you will get a 1 year Probationary Residency. About 2 months before the year is over you have to re-file. After you are approved, you have permanent residency. Then you only have to go to BI once a year during the months of January and February for their “Annual Audit” where you pay a small fee.

The other option is the Special Resident Retiree Visa (SRRV). With this you do not have to be married. There are different requirements for different age groups and if you are receiving a pension. There is also a requirement to invest an amount of money into an approved Bank Time Deposit.

The requirements are as follows:
1.       With Pension – 50 years. Old and above – the required time deposit is US$10, 000.00 plus a monthly pension of US$800.00 for a single applicant and     US$1,000.00 for couple
2.       Without Pension
o        35 to 49 years old – US$50, 000.00 time deposit
o        50 years old and above – US$20, 000.00 time deposit
o        Former Filipino Citizens (at least 35 years old, regardless of the number of dependents – US$1,500.00)
o        Ambassadors of foreign countries who served and retired in the Philippines, current and former staff members of international organizations including     ADB (at least 50 years old) – US$1,500.00
3.       A resident retiree can bring with him, without additional deposit, his spouse and a child who is unmarried and below 21 years old or if the spouse is not joining, two (2) children (provided they are unmarried and under 21 years of age.) Additional children with the same qualifications may also be allowed to join the principal retiree provided there is an additional deposit of US$15,000.00 per child. The said time deposit however, is subject the same and conditions with that of the principal deposit. This does not apply to former Filipino Citizens.

After (30) days of receiving your SRRV you can convert your time deposit into another form of investment

A retiree can choose to invest their required deposit through the following means:
a.    Purchase, acquisition and ownership of a condominium unit
b. Long-term lease of house and lot, condominium or townhouse for a period not shorter than twenty (20) years.
c. Purchase, acquisition and ownership of golf or country club shares.

I hope this information is useful for those planning to move here in the future. Also feel free to ask me for any assistance regarding this or any other matter moving here.
For information about the SRRV Visa you can visit here: http://www.pra.gov.ph/

Most forms from the Philippine Government are avaliable online in PDF format to be printed. If you would them converted to a file that can be filled out on your computer, saved and emailed I will be willing to convert them for you.