Obtaining a 13A visa

Most of that list is straightforward, it just takes time to pull it all together. My GP advised me to get a number of the tests done privately including the chest x-ray so I arranged these through a local private hospital. My GP then reviewed all the test results, carried out a physical examination and completed and signed the front sheet of the medical report. I almost forgot that the other piece of information I had to provide was proof that my GP was duly registered to practice medicine in the UK. The General Medical Council now have a website with a complete register of all doctors so I simply located and printed off the details relating to my own GP together with other details I found on the Internet to prove that he worked in that particular practice.

For the certificate of good moral character I approached Father Jim at our local church and he was happy to provide me with a simple letter. A similar letter from your employer is also acceptable.

Financial capacity is clearly a matter of assembling bank statements, payslips, pension details or whatever. If you have a house or are arranging to start receiving a pension, include whatever offical documents seem most relevant to substantiate your future financial capacity.

I delivered the file of papers one morning to the Philippine Consulate in London. They operate a ticket number system for the waiting process so we pulled our ticket and went away to have lunch. On our return they received the papers and fixed an appointment later in the week with the Consul General. The interview itself, with my wife and son in attendance, was very relaxed. I was asked a few simple questions about our plans for settling in the Philippines and the Consul General then explained the process I needed to go through when we arrived in Manila. This involved visiting both the Bureau of Quarantine for my medical report to be approved and the Bureau of Immigration where I had to apply for my Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR) I-Card. In fact the arrival process itself is worthy of a separate guide blog. Then we sat in the waiting room for a short time until my passport with the 13A visa now entered and some other papers were brought down. Special import duty and tax dispensation is granted to 13A visa holders relating to the bringing into the Philippines of their household and personal effects but there are strict conditions attached with which 13A holders should familiarise themselves.