ROHQ visa in the Philippines: the EO 226 channel for headquarters executives
A multinational running a regional or area headquarters, or a regional operating headquarters, in the Philippines does not put its executives through the ordinary employment route. The law gives them a channel of their own: a multiple-entry special visa, for the executive and the family, on the headquarters' certification. Asia Relocation Philippines files it, extends it, and closes it at the end of the assignment.
The Philippines encourages multinationals to base regional headquarters in the country, and part of the encouragement is immigration. The Omnibus Investments Code, as amended, gives the foreign personnel of a licensed regional or area headquarters, or regional operating headquarters, a multiple-entry special visa on the strength of a certification from the company that they are executives working exclusively for it and paid by it.
The visa is valid for three years and the stay extendible for three more, it covers the spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one, and it exempts the household from the registration card, the immigration fees and the exit clearances other foreign residents owe. A lighter regime by design, and a file from an entity that is not in fact a licensed headquarters is refused outright.
Asia Relocation Philippines has run these postings for corporate mobility teams in Makati and Bonifacio Global City since 2011, where most headquarters sit. The consultant who confirms the channel files the executive and the family together, dates the extension, and plans the notification the law requires at the end.
What the headquarters channel carries, and the channels it is confused with
Three corporate routes exist and they do not overlap.
Carried by the service
- The channel check: the entity's licence as a regional or area headquarters or regional operating headquarters, read before anything is filed.
- The company's certification, duly authenticated, that the person is an executive who will work exclusively for the headquarters and be paid by it at the salary the law sets, with the registration papers, information sheet and tax return behind it.
- The executive's and the family's documents: passports, taxpayer number, the medical certificate where applicable, marriage and birth certificates apostilled for the dependants.
- Filing and implementation at the Bureau of Immigration, the visa stamped for the executive, the spouse and the children on one file.
- The extension and the exit: the sworn certification on the licence and the withholding filed before the first period ends, and the employer's notice and tax clearance planned before final departure.
One posting, one file, with the dates the law sets written into the mobility team's calendar.
A different page
- An enterprise in an economic zone. Companies registered with the zone authority have their own special non-immigrant visa issued through it: the economic-zone visa.
- An ordinary Philippine employer. A local company that is not a licensed headquarters goes through the labour department's Alien Employment Permit and the employment visa built on it.
- A short assignment at the headquarters. A consultant here for months, not posted, needs the special work permit.
- The tax regime. The withholding on compensation and the travel-tax exemption are the headquarters' tax adviser's matter, not an immigration file. We say which is which.
The mobility team sends the entity and the posting; we place each employee on the channel the entity qualifies for.
Four moments in a headquarters posting
The same visa, from the first stamp to the last notification.
A new executive posted to Manila
The certification drafted with the headquarters, the family's documents apostilled before the flight, the visa filed for everyone on one application.
Dependants following later
A spouse or child who joins after the executive's admission is covered by the same law and added to the same file, with their own apostilled proof of relationship.
The extension
Filed before the first three years end, on the headquarters' sworn certification that its licence stands and that tax on compensation has been withheld and paid. The finance team is in this file as much as HR.
The end of the assignment
The employer's written notice to the Bureau of Immigration before final departure, and the executive's tax clearance from the revenue bureau. Planned into the exit, not discovered at the airport.
Licence confirmed, certification drafted, family filed together, dates set
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The entity and the channel
The headquarters' licence read against the law. If the entity is a licensed regional headquarters, the channel applies; if it is an economic-zone enterprise or an ordinary employer, we name the right page instead.
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The certification and the company's file
The authenticated statement that the person is an executive working exclusively for the headquarters and paid by it, with the registration papers, information sheet and tax return the office expects.
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The household's documents
Passports, taxpayer number, the medical certificate where applicable, and the spouse's and children's proof of relationship, apostilled in the issuing country before the flight to Manila.
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Filing and implementation
Lodged at the Bureau of Immigration and followed until the visa is implemented in each passport. No registration card follows: the household is exempt by law.
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The calendar
The end of the first three-year period, the extension window, and the notification owed at final departure go into the mobility team's calendar the day the visa is stamped.
The companies and executives the channel was written for
Multinationals with a licensed headquarters in the Philippines
Most of them in Makati and Bonifacio Global City. One certification per executive, one file per posting, and a channel lighter than the employment route.
Global mobility teams
Several postings a year, each with an extension date and an exit notification. We keep the calendar and report at the interval you set.
Executives arriving with a family
Spouse and children under twenty-one on the same visa, with the same exemptions. The household is mapped before the file opens, so nobody is left on a visitor stay.
Companies unsure which corporate channel they are on
Headquarters, economic zone or ordinary employer: three channels, three files. The first question we answer.
Filed in Manila, where the headquarters are
The visa is a Bureau of Immigration filing, at the main office in Manila or another office authorised for it; the headquarters we serve are in Makati, Bonifacio Global City and Ortigas.
Regional headquarters cluster in the capital's business districts, and so does the work: the certification is drafted with the headquarters' officers in Makati or BGC, and the file is lodged and followed at the Bureau of Immigration in Manila. Executives posted to Cebu or Clark are filed the same way.
The headquarters' licence itself sits with the investment board, which is where we look first when a mobility team is not sure the entity qualifies.
What mobility teams ask before posting an executive to a Philippine headquarters
Who is eligible for the EO 226 visa?
How long is it valid?
Is a registration card required?
Does it depend on the labour department's permit?
What does the company have to provide?
What is different at the end of the assignment?
Is there a tax dimension?
What if the company is in an economic zone rather than a headquarters?
The economic-zone channel next door, and the silo above
Your entity is in an economic zone, not a headquarters
The special non-immigrant visa issued through the zone authority for registered enterprises and their foreign staff.
Economic-zone visa →Every route into the Philippines, on one page
Employment, marriage, retirement, investment, citizenship, and what comes after the first visa.
Visa and immigration services in the Philippines →Send us the entity and the posting, and we confirm the channel before anyone is authenticated
One file for the executive and the family, one calendar for the extension and the exit.
File a headquarters visa →