Philippines’ VISA information(for Japanese)

We will introduce the short-term visa in the Philippine

【Visa exemption】
The Japanese can stay in the Philippines for up to 30 days with no visa, that is, passport only when meeting the following requirements.

(1)Not staying for more than 30 days
(2)Have outbound air ticket of departure country or third country
(3)Passport expiration date must be over the staying period + 6 months or more when entering the Philippines

If you are staying in the Philippines for more than 30 days, you can apply for stay extension at the Philippine Immigration Bureau.

【Tourist visa】
It is a visa for people planning to stay for more than 30 days. Generally referred to as “non-immigrant visa”, “tourist visa”, “9A visa” etc.

Acquisition of tourist visas can be roughly divided into two ways.
(1)The way to apply at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo before traveling
(2)The way to apply after entering the Philippines without a visa

In case of (1), the procedure is as follows.

• Please apply at the latest 2 weeks before traveling.
  
• Download the visa application form.
  
• The applicant must fill in all the parts in English and sign(or seal) the
  necessary part.
  
• Required documents are

• After receiving the application form and completing the necessary items, submit the passport and application form to releasing counter.
• After waiting for a while, if your name is called, receive Certification
  　　and Official Receipt.
• Pay the fee at Casher counter and wait for a while.
• If your name is called again, you will receive the passport at
  Receiving counter. Receiving your passport, a seal of extension visa is affixed, so you can stay until the new expiration date.
• Application fee(As of June 1, 2018) 1st extension(within 59 days from entry)　3,030PHP(About 6,300JPY)

Summary of tourist visa application
If you apply in Japan, you can apply for a maximum of 59 days of tourist visa free of charge, but there are many required documents to prepare, and it takes time.

While, if you apply on-site, application fee is needed, but the necessary documents are only passport and application form, and it will be quickly issued(10 mins to several hours). A photograph was needed before, but now you do not need to prepare, so easy to apply for. Moreover, if you apply on-site, there are offices in various places, so we recommend to apply for a visa on-site.

You can stay for up to 59 days from entering the country for the first stay extension application, but let’s see what to do if you extend your stay further.

【Tourist visa extension: 2nd time】
The procedure is almost the same as the first one, but you will need an application form for Alien Certificate of Registration Identity Card.
　・Required documents are
　　(Ⅰ)Passport(Original)
　　(II)Tourist visa extension application form
　　(Ⅲ)ACR I-Card application form

The difference from the first extension application is the following two points.
　・Extension period can be chosen from “1 month” and “2 months”
　・Procedures for ACR I-Card are required for the second application

ACR I-Card is a certificate issued by the Immigration Bureau of the Philippines and is an ID document obligatory for foreigners who stay over 60 days.

Same as the first application, you will receive application forms and complete the payment at the counter. ACR I-card will be issued at a later date, so pick it up after issued.

Application fee (as of June 1, 2018)
　・One month extension (within 89 days from entry), 4,400PHP(About 9,100JPY)
　・2 months extension(within 119 days from entry)、 4,900PHP(About 10,100JPY)

Apart from this, it costs 500USD(NOT 500PHP) for the alien registration card(About 5,500JPY).

【Special Study Permit(SSP)】

There is a permit that you must apply regardless of the length of stay. It isSSP(Special Study Permit)

So why do you have to get SSP from the Philippine government?

As explained in the section on tourist visas, easily speaking applying visa in Japan is troublesome. So, many Japanese will visit the Philippines without applying for a visa in advance.In the case of Japanese, they can stay for 30 days from the date of entry without visa, but when you arrive at the airport in the Philippines and receive immigration review, the passport will be stamped and the date of stay will be filled in. In short, it will be in the same condition as 30 day tourist visa was issued for free at the time.

Tourist visa is literally a visa to enter for sightseeing purpose. While, people who are staying for study purposes are generally required to have a study visa. So if a person who does not have a study visa but study, it will be said “Why are you studying with a tourist visa?”. Whereat, a special study permit (SSP) allows you to study specially although you are staying in a tourist visa. Therefore, in case you travel to study abroad without getting a study visa in Japan in advance, you need to acquire SSP even for a short stay of one week.

Please note that tourist visa and study visa are originally different, so visitors entered by tourist visa can not travel for study purposes!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Let’s see how to acquire SSP.

In many cases, the school you are studying will apply for SSP instead of you.　Application fee varies depending on the school, but it seems that it is generally 5,500 to 6,500PHP (About 11,500 to 13,500JPY). It will be better to contact the school in advance to confirm the cost etc.

Of course you can apply for yourself, but in that case you will apply at the Immigration Bureau Student Desk after arrival in the Philippines. The rough procedure flow is same as when applying for extension of tourist visa.

Summarize other notes.

• SSP expires six months. If the period of study abroad exceeds six months, it is necessary to apply again.
  
• Re-acquisition is necessary even when you transfer to another school while studying abroad.
  
• If the period of study abroad exceeds 59 days, you need to acquire an ACR I-card. For details, see the tourist visa page.
  
• Foreigners staying in the Philippines for more than 6 months must acquire an Emigration Clearance Certificate(ECC) when leaving the Philippines. Please refer to ECC also.

【Emigration Clearance Certificate(ECC)】
Foreigners staying in the Philippines for more than 6 months must acquire an Emigration Clearance Certificate(ECC) when leaving the Philippines. Therefore, it is necessary to apply for ECC at the Immigration Bureau before leaving the Philippines.

Required documents are

• ECC application form
  
• Five photos of 2 “x 2” size (background white)
  
• Copy of passport (page with photo, page with stamp of visa extension/entry date of the Philippines)
  
• Copy of receipt for visa renewal
  
• Copy of ACR I-CARD (back and front)

Checklist of documents and application form can be downloaded from here. (English)
Checklist
Application form

There are two kinds of ECC.
・ECC-A
・ECC-B

ECC-A is okay if you consider that foreigners who have stayed for more than 6 months at tourist visa or who have valid long-term stay visa such as student visas, and those who do not return to the Philippines anymore.
While, ECC-B is okay if you consider that it is a permit issued when a person with a valid ACR I-CARD and a long stay visa leaves the Philippines temporarily. Visa is forcibly expired when foreigners leave the Philippines even if they have long-term stay visa. For example, in case a person with a work visa goes back to Japan temporarily due to vacation, business trips and so on and comes back to the Philippines again, procedure for acquiring ECC-B is required. It corresponds to “Special re-entry permit” in Japan.

If you travel to the Philippines to attend a meeting etc., you can enter without visa within 30 days. For details, please see the items of tourist visa.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.