Hello, My name is Patrick and I joined today this site. I am French and I live in New Caledonia ( French oversea territory near Australia and New Zealand). I teach English and French grammar in a high school. I will retire in March 2014 and I intend to settle down in Philippines normally in the island of Leyte ( in Tacloban, Naval ( actually in Biliran ) or Ormoc or Calubian . I will live with my girlfriend who is a Pilipina I am 56 years old and I decided to join this site ( even I am not English ) as you propose much more information than French spoken sites . I hope I will develop here some nice relations and nice exchange of knowledge or information. Patrick
Welcome Patrick! I don't know when you last visited the Philippines but there have been some significant changes made to Visitors' Visas and the Visa Waiver Scheme and as I'm reasonably confident that you'll come here as a Visitor, certainly initially, I'll give you the detail. As you're probably aware, as a French citizen you were entitled to arrive in the Philippines under the Visa Waiver Scheme and were granted an initial stay of 21 days. If you wanted to stay longer, you had to apply to the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for one or more Extensions. The first Extension you would receive was for 38 days and subsequent ones lasted either one or two months. This changed earlier this year and now you'll be entitled to an initial stay of 30 days, your first Extension will be for a period of 29 days and thereafter you can apply for one, two or - and this is new - six month Extensions. The pre-existing 14 month rule remains in force - maximum stay restricted to 14 months unless extended by special permission of the BI Commissioner. The cost of the new 6 month Extension is exactly the same as three 2 months ones - so that's Php3,000 in "Express Lane" charges, unfortunately. As before, you'll have to apply for a Tourist ACR Card once you have been in the country for 59 days. For reasons best known to BI, this is priced in US Dollars and payable at the BI rate of exchange; it costs $50. There are, I think, BI offices in both Tacloban and Ormoc but I don't know about the other two places you mention. You can of course obtain your first 29 day Extension on arrival. Incidentally, should you decide to marry your girlfriend and apply for a permanent residents' visa, one of the documents you will be required to produce is a Police Clearance Certificate from your home country and this needs to be issued within the six month period prior to application. I mention this as you may need to look into this before you leave New Caledonia. Hope this helps!
@markham as of now i believe the new 6 month extension -if yet available -can only be got at main office in manila and perhaps only after one has been there for an initial 59 days ,so it wouldnt be much use as Patrick would be living in leyte and it actually costs a little more than 3x 2 month ext, something like this So, if you are extending from 59 days to 8 months, that would be P4830 2 to 4 months P2830 4 to 6 months P4240 6 to 8 months Plus usd $50 for ACR-I card Plus P500 ACR-I card express lane fee Plus P310 report fee if the extension covers the months of January and February Plus P100 sticker fee
