40 yr old looking to apply for SRRV visa - recommend a marketer/agent?

valakos wrote:

Hi all,
I'm a citizen of Australia, aged 40 looking to apply for the SRRV visa but got a few questions for someone who knows the ins and outs of this visa. Any help greatly appreciated - I've fished around the pra website and was hoping someone here might have some insight on:
1. There's a LOT of marketers listed on the website, not sure who to choose - can anyone recommend someone reliable who will make the process as painless as possible
2. Does the SRRV once approved, allow me to open a bank account in Philippines (I am assuming yes hopefully)?
3. I have over 100,000K USD and want to go for the quickest option for approval, which SRRV would be right for me?
4. Do I need to reside in Philippines while my application is being assessed?
Don't want to get caught in a bureaucratic nightmare and hoping someone here can help. Much appreciated. Wonderful forum here - I'm just starting my research on this visa
cheers

Hi valakos, welcome to the forum. I see the PRA website is back up and running now as it was down/being rebuilt for months, careful though, I clicked on a few of the links and got spam windows opening.
I will go down the SRRV route in about 10 months, I have studied and read many forums over the years with regards to the retirement visa and still believe their website lack enough information to make me feel comfortable especially with regards to shipping. 1/ For me I will go this path as I want to ship all my house hold goods and avail the duty and tax free offer, 2/ As I hold a lease over a property in PH. I can "hopefully" get my bond deposit returned after 6 months, 3/ not having to go to immi every 2 or 6 months for visa extensions and some other benefits like no taxes flying in and out as I do.

I ear marked this lady 12 months ago and will make contact in about 6 months to start the ball rolling unless others can recommend a better agent or have had bad dealings with this lady.

http://www.maryjanegomezvisaconsultancy.com

Once you find an agent you are happy with, make contact and ask them the process and time line, I believe you have to be there for a couple of days to make the application and pay deposit then about 4 weeks is the processing time, so you could leave PH for a few weeks then come back for the final bits.
I am sure there are plenty of members out there with first hand knowledge that will chime in with better info though.
Good luck.

Cheers, Steve.

thank you so much steve - very much appreciated

i NEVER use any agents to aply for what ever .it is not nesesery and just a waiste of money .am 4 yrs here now first on tourist visa ,now am maried on 13A permanent resident visa ,al the visa ,the maridge and the 13A we got whit no one agency involved
making  your finances public opens you up for all kind of scams no mather were on this planet you go .so use common sense and ceep discreet.

greets Dirk

dirk.c. wrote:

i NEVER use any agents to aply for what ever .it is not nesesery and just a waiste of money .am 4 yrs here now first on tourist visa ,now am maried on 13A permanent resident visa ,al the visa ,the maridge and the 13A we got whit no one agency involved
making  your finances public opens you up for all kind of scams no mather were on this planet you go .so use common sense and ceep discreet.

greets Dirk

The Agents for an SRRV are paid for by the PRA, the visa fee is fixed whether you do it yourself or use one of their marketeers. I am sure they know what they are doing and will help make life easier.

Cheers, Steve.

I sent you a PM with some details answering some of these points. Can I just reiterate the point made in one of the replies here. The Marketer (agent) is free of charge and will speed the process enormously.
When you have your visa and srrv id card you can walk into any bank and open an account. Actually you open a special account on the day you apply (for the deposit) An account requires 2 forms of ID (Passport, home driving licence will do) and proof of address. A lease agreement will do for that.
You do have to stay in country during the application process (about a month) for the simple reason that they will have your passport. You enter on a 59 day tourist visa, to allow the month for the process plus the odd day either way. If you do your homework before coming to the country and arrive with all documents and photocopies, all the formalities can be completed in a few hours (for me it took one morning taxying with the agent between PRA and the bank. After that you are free to go anywhere in country (you will need something like your drivers licence as ID for flights in country.
All the bureaucratic nightmares were dealt with by the marketer and after that half day in Makati, I had nothing to do except wait for the Visa notification, then go in and collect.
The visa allows you to open accounts and get a PI driving licence without test etc provided you take your home one to a LTO office within 9 months of first arrival.

bigpearl wrote:

valakos wrote:

Hi all,

cheers

Once you find an agent you are happy with, make contact and ask them the process and time line, I believe you have to be there for a couple of days to make the application and pay deposit then about 4 weeks is the processing time, so you could leave PH for a few weeks then come back for the final bits.
I am sure there are plenty of members out there with first hand knowledge that will chime in with better info though.
Good luck.

Cheers, Steve.

Steve,
I made sure that I had everything sorted before leaving UK, I liaised with my marketer over requirements etc and made an appointment to meet her the morning after I arrived in Manila. I had sent the 10k USD to a holding account in the bank I had chosen to hold it, a couple of weeks before leaving UK.
On the day we spent half a day doing all the bank/PRA etc business and then it was done, I was free to go until my notice that the visa was all done one month later. BUT you cant leave the country in that time. They hold onto your passport for that time in order to do the visa and stick it in your passport. (so you need something like your driving licence from home, photocopies of passport etc, for ID purposes in the meantime.

Buzzardman wrote:

bigpearl wrote:

valakos wrote:

Hi all,

cheers

Once you find an agent you are happy with, make contact and ask them the process and time line, I believe you have to be there for a couple of days to make the application and pay deposit then about 4 weeks is the processing time, so you could leave PH for a few weeks then come back for the final bits.
I am sure there are plenty of members out there with first hand knowledge that will chime in with better info though.
Good luck.

Cheers, Steve.

Steve,
I made sure that I had everything sorted before leaving UK, I liaised with my marketer over requirements etc and made an appointment to meet her the morning after I arrived in Manila. I had sent the 10k USD to a holding account in the bank I had chosen to hold it, a couple of weeks before leaving UK.
On the day we spent half a day doing all the bank/PRA etc business and then it was done, I was free to go until my notice that the visa was all done one month later. BUT you cant leave the country in that time. They hold onto your passport for that time in order to do the visa and stick it in your passport. (so you need something like your driving licence from home, photocopies of passport etc, for ID purposes in the meantime.

Thanks Buzz, yes that makes sense indeed.
Yesterday I sent an email to a lady and I assume she is one of their marketeers asking many questions.
I look forward to her response.
Were you happy with the lady you used and if so could you perhaps PM her info to me?

Cheers, Steve.

Steve,

I did try to PM her details to you, but the PM would not go. It said you had disabled PMs

Buzzardman wrote:

Steve,

I did try to PM her details to you, but the PM would not go. It said you had disabled PMs

My bad Buzz, PM is on now, please try again.

Cheers, Steve.

Steve,

Done.
I was very happy with her help. Have sent you her contact details

Keith

Cheers Buzz, received.
It would appear that going the SRRV route for me will tie up US 20K indefinitely for the following reasons.

I will not need to draw a pension from my superannuation fund for some years after I retire so deposit 20K instead of 10K.

My partner and I purchased a house and lot some 15 months ago, land in his name, buildings and improvements in my name, a 25 plus 25 year lease in my name from him, fully paid for the 50 years with the purchase price of the land. The title is encumbered acknowledging the lease etc. I assumed incorrectly it appears that this would qualify for the deposit refund.
After contact with PRA it appears the lease and title have to specifically state the following to enable a return of the deposit.

https://tinyurl.com/ycocbqty

I will try to clarify this with the lady you mentioned but it does not look good and on reflection is something I should have looked into before all the documents were drawn up and processed for this property.

My options as I see is to ship our belongings, pay the duties and taxes and do the 6 month tourist visa scenario or gift all our belongings to my better half (he will be the owner on paper). He is a permanent resident in Australia and will probably get his dual citizen ship before we move in March/April next year. I understand from what I have read that he will have a tax and duty free portion on the shipment. (not necessarily all of it though)

We are open to Ideas or better information than I have furnished.

Cheers, Steve.

I have an SRRV since last September.

It took 4 weeks start to finish. I landed on a weekend and had my first visit at the PRA on the Monday. Total time was about 3 hours but this included paying the fees, driving for my medical and then to the bank where the deposit was set up. The office was closed on the Tuesday due to a storm but on Wednesday  I was there for another hour when the final submission was made.

Three weeks on the Friday I got an email saying that everything was done and I could get all the documents on the following Wednesday, exactly 4 weeks to the day from final submission of my application. My time was about 6 hours total but that included a nice visit with a couple other SRRV holders who got their documents the same day as well as traveling across Manila to get medical and take care of the bank account deposit.

Get a marketer, they are not "fixers" but people employed and trained by the PRA to smooth your application. I did not have to do anything except show up, she handled it all.

I used Maria Rose Villa Baranda  and was very happy with her service even if it was her assistant that I dealt with the complete time, I only met her for a minute at the end of the process.

You turn in your passport with the final submission. They will give you a copy of that with your receipt and it is stamped as being held by the PRA for processing. I used that while still on a tourist visa to open my account. I opened it at the Makati branch of HSBC. I have been a long time customer of there in Canada so that may gave helped. It was 8 days to open the account and pick up my USD and PNP Visa debit cards.  If a bank makes you wait then you will need to wait until you get your SRRV card to open an account. Remember that if you don't like the rules at one bank walk next door to a different one and the rules may be completely different.  That is part of what makes it more fun in the Philippines.

Since they hold your passport you cannot leave the country unless you withdraw your application. There is a fee for that and then you pay full fee on re-submission so I'd make sure that you can stay for the full period.

Your quickest approval route will be the classic SRRV with the $50k US deposit. It has to come from out of the country. I simply wired my finds to the BPO account that is mentioned in the SRRV web page ans was recommended to me by my marketer. (I checked that the account info was legitimate by other means before sending. I had a trusted Philippine friend pay her a visit.) The marketer contacted the bank and paved the way for the funds transfer, it involved them setting up a temporary account in my name for the funds to be parked until I got there. I wired the funds the day before I left Canada.

You also need to get your home country police clearance before entering. In Canada that was RCMP and I had to get it authenticated through the Philippine Embassy. (aka red ribbon) I used an online service for all this, including submitting my fingerprints since I was not in Canada at the time. Your procedures will vary but you still need to get this and get it all together before coming. There is a 6 month expiry on it. I was delayed after getting my first one so had to apply for a second one even though it would have been valid for a couple days after my  submission. I simply did not want to take the chance that some administrator would bounce the whole think because of a stale date.

After getting my SRRV card I was able to get a local driver license. As long as your foreign one is not expired it is a straight issue a new one and you keep your old one as well.  I was in and out of the LTO in 30 minutes with plastic license in my pocket.

Only issue so far was for my internet connection at my apartment. (one year lease) Globe has a space on the form for ACR for foreigners and since SRRV is ACR exempt I had to get a manager involved because the clerk was not going to process it unless I showed her an ACR even though the SRRV card states ACR exempt.

Good info Manitobah and welcome to the forum.

Cheers, Steve.

Nice explanation Manitobah. Thank you!

Hi ! I have read about the some article of some foreigners living in the country for retirement and their age and about the payment and deposit for single and for those with a dependent declaration thing ..only wanted to share a few thoughts..
The SRRV is the Special Resident Retiree's Visa that is issued by the Philippines Bureau of Immigration under the retirement program of the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA). It gives the holder the privilege to multiple entries to the Philippines and the right to permanently reside in the country.

As an agency of the Philippines Department of Tourism, the main goal of the PRA is to attract foreign nationals and former Filipino citizens to invest, live, and retire in the country as a means of advancing the socio-economic development of the Philippines and increasing the country's foreign currency reserve.

They mean to do all this by offering “retirees” the best quality of life in an attractive retirement/investment package. And, if you think you're not old enough to retire in the Philippines, think again. The Philippines retiree's visa is one of the easiest to get, with one of the lowest age requirements in the world — just 35!

The PRA offers four different types of SRRVs suited to different ages, nationalities, and types of investors and retirees.



SRRV SMILE

The Smile visa is the simplest visas to obtain as long as you are healthy, active, and able to deposit $20,000 in an approved Filipino retirement account and keep it there unless and until you choose to cancel your SRRV. Anyone 35 to 49 years old can apply.

Unlike other SRRV programs, the Smile program does not allow you to deploy your capital into an investment. It is, however, relatively straightforward. Your $20,000 deposit allows you to live in the Philippines on an annually renewable basis and you can pay extra for dependents.

And the list of requirements to apply is pretty short: a medical clearance and police clearance in the Philippines are as bad as it gets.



SRRV CLASSIC

The Classic visa gives you more flexibility which is probably why it is the most popular visa for retirees. Applicants between the ages of 35 to 49 can obtain the Classic visa with a $50,000 deposit while anyone 50 or over can qualify with a deposit of just $10,000 for those who can prove a guaranteed monthly income of $800 for individuals or $1,000 for couples. Those 50 or over who cannot prove monthly income can still obtain the visa by depositing $20,000.

Guaranteed monthly income can include your Social Security pension. The annual letter from the Social Security Administration stating your benefit amount is sufficient proof of income. Because of the high volume of retirees in the Philippines, the staff at the US embassy there is trained to help you with Social Security services. You can have your check sent to the Embassywhere you can pick it up, or you can set up direct deposit to a bank in the US, but you cannot currently have your check deposited in a local Filipino bank.

I think you must prepare everything all by yourself and not to use an agent ...Because if will takes time and lots of pending works they will do to claim do much money on you.

I used Mary Jane to get my SRRV as well.  It did cost, but to me it was worth what I paid.  She and her partner were able to cut through most of the red tape and waiting times to get me in and out of the places where I had to actually show up to get something done.  Worth the money in my opinion.

can you send me contact details of a tried and tested marketer please.

Hi Valakos

I live in Cebu City and got my SRRV visa by using a PRA Marketer as I wanted to ensure it was done correctly the first time and done fairly quickly (I'm not a super patient person with regards to paperwork).

The Marketer was fantastic!!  While they are 'supposedly' compensated by the PRA that compensation may not get paid to them for months-if at all, from what I have heard.  So I did give my Marketer some money just in case they were not paid by the PRA.

I had to deposit $10000 US (untouchable unless you buy a condo or invest for a certain amount) and it had to be wired so I had to go to Cebu to open an account, etc before wiring the money.

Happy to help if you have other questions.  However, I am only familiar with PRA processes here in Cebu.

Chau
Bruce

brucemj wrote:

Hi Valakos

I live in Cebu City and got my SRRV visa by using a PRA Marketer as I wanted to ensure it was done correctly the first time and done fairly quickly (I'm not a super patient person with regards to paperwork).

The Marketer was fantastic!!  While they are 'supposedly' compensated by the PRA that compensation may not get paid to them for months-if at all, from what I have heard.  So I did give my Marketer some money just in case they were not paid by the PRA.

I had to deposit $10000 US (untouchable unless you buy a condo or invest for a certain amount) and it had to be wired so I had to go to Cebu to open an account, etc before wiring the money.

Happy to help if you have other questions.  However, I am only familiar with PRA processes here in Cebu.

Chau
Bruce

Hi Bruce! Nice detail you wrote. I.m going to apply SRRV in Cebu under SRRV Smile 20,000USD without pension in Feb end or March first week. Can you suggest me any good Marketer/agent in Cebu ?

brucemj wrote:

Hi Valakos

I live in Cebu City and got my SRRV visa by using a PRA Marketer as I wanted to ensure it was done correctly the first time and done fairly quickly (I'm not a super patient person with regards to paperwork).

The Marketer was fantastic!!  While they are 'supposedly' compensated by the PRA that compensation may not get paid to them for months-if at all, from what I have heard.  So I did give my Marketer some money just in case they were not paid by the PRA.

I had to deposit $10000 US (untouchable unless you buy a condo or invest for a certain amount) and it had to be wired so I had to go to Cebu to open an account, etc before wiring the money.

Happy to help if you have other questions.  However, I am only familiar with PRA processes here in Cebu.

Chau
Bruce

Hi Bruce! I plan to apply in April start in Cebu.. Can you give you contact detail.. I will do 20,000$ without pension. I need Work permit too how can you help me . Please guide me.

Hello, can help PM her contact to me, thanks

I am starting the process of applying for SRRV Visa.
I have been issued a tourist visa by Philippines consulate in india. The tourist visa has stay period of 30 days, however it has condition mentioned “no conversion”.
I plan to visit Philippines with this tourist visa in order to apply for SRRV.
I have been told by a agent that if my tourist visa is non convertible, I can't apply for SRRV Visa.
Pl suggest a course of action in order for me to successfully apply for SRRV.

***

Hi all,
I have applied for my SRRV and have to visit for collection of my passport now.
I wanted to know what all documents will be given to me other than the SRRV Card and Stamped Passport?
Do I get a copy of affirmation of membership?
Do I get a copy of the BI order?
Is there a process to take a photo with the PRA staff?
Do they send email communications on regular basis for any events of retiree's?
I wanted to know all above so I don't miss anything.
I have to visit tomorrow so I will be thankful if someone can enlighten me on priority.

Joan16 wrote:

The PRA offers four different types of SRRVs suited to different ages, nationalities, and types of investors and retirees.



SRRV SMILE

The Smile visa is the simplest visas to obtain as long as you are healthy, active, and able to deposit $20,000 in an approved Filipino retirement account and keep it there unless and until you choose to cancel your SRRV. Anyone 35 to 49 years old can apply.

Unlike other SRRV programs, the Smile program does not allow you to deploy your capital into an investment. It is, however, relatively straightforward. Your $20,000 deposit allows you to live in the Philippines on an annually renewable basis and you can pay extra for dependents.

And the list of requirements to apply is pretty short: a medical clearance and police clearance in the Philippines are as bad as it gets.



SRRV CLASSIC

The Classic visa gives you more flexibility which is probably why it is the most popular visa for retirees. Applicants between the ages of 35 to 49 can obtain the Classic visa with a $50,000 deposit while anyone 50 or over can qualify with a deposit of just $10,000 for those who can prove a guaranteed monthly income of $800 for individuals or $1,000 for couples. Those 50 or over who cannot prove monthly income can still obtain the visa by depositing $20,000.

Guaranteed monthly income can include your Social Security pension. The annual letter from the Social Security Administration stating your benefit amount is sufficient proof of income. Because of the high volume of retirees in the Philippines, the staff at the US embassy there is trained to help you with Social Security services. You can have your check sent to the Embassywhere you can pick it up, or you can set up direct deposit to a bank in the US, but you cannot currently have your check deposited in a local Filipino bank.

I think you must prepare everything all by yourself and not to use an agent ...Because if will takes time and lots of pending works they will do to claim do much money on you.

My authorized PRA rep asked for NO extra money and made it clear to me that her pay came from the PRA.   She and her assistant were extremely helpful. Yes I could have done it on my own, though having their help at no extra cost to me was invaluable.

Social Security pension income can be deposited to your Philippine bank account and most of the Banks in the RP offer the option. Their websites will confirm the option and offer details.   The one drawback is that the account can only be in the expats name and withdrawals must be done in person. No ATM card will be issued and no one other than the account owner may access it.  The link below has some more details.

https://myphilippinelife.com/social-sec … ilippines/

You are basically responsible for making your way to the main PRA office in Makati, and learning more. The staff there tend to be very helpful, and will take your arm and help you with the process. Getting a SRRV at 40 might be a concern, but you do need to ask. Might be better to consider a quota or investment visa instead.

bigpearl wrote:

Cheers Buzz, received.
It would appear that going the SRRV route for me will tie up US 20K indefinitely for the following reasons.

I will not need to draw a pension from my superannuation fund for some years after I retire so deposit 20K instead of 10K.

My partner and I purchased a house and lot some 15 months ago, land in his name, buildings and improvements in my name, a 25 plus 25 year lease in my name from him, fully paid for the 50 years with the purchase price of the land. The title is encumbered acknowledging the lease etc. I assumed incorrectly it appears that this would qualify for the deposit refund.
After contact with PRA it appears the lease and title have to specifically state the following to enable a return of the deposit.

https://tinyurl.com/ycocbqty

I will try to clarify this with the lady you mentioned but it does not look good and on reflection is something I should have looked into before all the documents were drawn up and processed for this property.

My options as I see is to ship our belongings, pay the duties and taxes and do the 6 month tourist visa scenario or gift all our belongings to my better half (he will be the owner on paper). He is a permanent resident in Australia and will probably get his dual citizen ship before we move in March/April next year. I understand from what I have read that he will have a tax and duty free portion on the shipment. (not necessarily all of it though)

We are open to Ideas or better information than I have furnished.

Cheers, Steve.

FYI and to you also Buzz, we did ship our belongings in my better halves name as a returning Filipino after living/working in Oz for over 5 years, we never bothered with the Australian Citizenship (too hard as we won't be in the country for some time). Well all went seamlessly and there were no taxes and duties only shipping costs and the cost for an agent to do the BIR exemption. Further research reveals that I need to invest US 50K to enact the return of the investment, US 20K doesn't cut it and aside we would have to go though all the legal hype again to change the lease and title to the PRA's exact wording. In the interim I will simply renew my visa every 59 days until such time that I decide to draw a pension from my super fund and then maybe go down the US 10k path.

I cannot get a 6 month visa in San Fernando City at this stage, have to go to Intramuros some 6 hours drive and Immi there, the wait is 2 to 3 hours from many visits there whilst we lived in Manila.  SFC 3 times I have been now and there is not another soul in the building,,,,,,, 10 to 15 minutes done and only a 30 minute drive, the joys of living in one of the provinces.
A good post by the OP that many gained info from.

Cheers, Steve.

Don't need agents for most things in the country, and don't want one either, as many tend to be scam artists who are 'fixers' who will steal as much as they can from you and still not help you that much. In fact, many expats have taken heavy losses from them.
Do it yourself....

The best visa is the former military you don't have to be retired from the Military just served I don't know which countries qualify but it is $1500 US dollar deposit $1400 application fee and $10 a year I know of a few Americans with this visa

Okieboy wrote:

The best visa is the former military you don't have to be retired from the Military just served I don't know which countries qualify but it is $1500 US dollar deposit $1400 application fee and $10 a year I know of a few Americans with this visa

The question of qualifying countries was asked of my PRA rep and her response was, U.S., Australia and Great Britain all have former military members who qualify.

daenr wrote:

Don't need agents for most things in the country, and don't want one either, as many tend to be scam artists who are 'fixers' who will steal as much as they can from you and still not help you that much. In fact, many expats have taken heavy losses from them.
Do it yourself....

Yep you don't need agents nor fixers but what you definitely need is a sense of humour, broad shoulders, (thick skin) tolerance and the ability to turn a situation to your advantage and if that fails as most times does (the occasional win) will simply go back to humour, shrug your shoulders and get on with it.
Learning daily and coping.

Cheers, Steve.

Hallo Dirk,

In general I would agree with you about "agents" in The Philippines, but the agents who assist people to obtain an SRRV are not supposed to charge their clients (for standard services) and many indeed do not, because they are accredited by the Philippine Retirement Authority, who pays them for their work.

A good example is MaryRose Baranda, who was mentioned earlier in this thread.

Thus using an agent for SRRV is not a waste of money, but for many quite a good help to get all the paperwork organised in time and meeting the requirements.

However, I would recommend to always check with the PRA if the accreditation of the agent (marketer) is still valid.


Transparency: I have not given any links here because I am related to MS. MaryRose

deleted

emvaningen wrote:

deleted

Related or deleted?

I posted the same twice and don't know how to delete a post.

Newbie here.

No agents!! You will go broke...lol!
I recommend talking to a Canadian expat in the Philippines named
Jarrod Whyte. He is very helpful in these cases! You will find him on Expat.com. If not private message me and i will provide a link to him and let him know you have it!

Hi you can drop me a mail on *** and I can guide to someone who got my SRRV done last year in November. They are good and don't charge any amount as fee for processing.

Just an heads up to you not sure currently the application are being accepted as there was an hold put on new application due to some Chinese nationals activities not sure has it revived yet. I was lucky to get mine in Nov as it had gone through processing timely with help of the agent I worked with and filed my application in last week of September.

Regards,
Madhavan Reddy