Special Investor's Resident Visa · Philippines

SIRV in the Philippines: residence built on an investment, from the board to immigration

The investor's route runs through two administrations in a fixed order: the Board of Investments, which endorses the remittance, the bank and the investment, then the Bureau of Immigration, which implements the visa. Asia Relocation Philippines carries the sequence from the letter of intent to the indefinite visa, and keeps the reports the board expects afterwards.

Start the investor file → What the service covers
In the Philippines since 2011 Endorsed by the Board of Investments, Makati Implemented by the Bureau of Immigration
2administrations in order: the board, then immigration
2011filing investors in the Philippines since
6months of probationary visa to make the investment
1annual report to the board to keep the status

The Philippines offers residence to a foreign national who brings capital into the country and invests it in activities the state wants to see grow. The programme is run by the Board of Investments under the investments code, and the Bureau of Immigration only implements what the board has endorsed. An application that starts at immigration starts in the wrong building.

The money arrives as an inward remittance of at least seventy-five thousand US dollars, sits in a time deposit at an accredited bank, and is converted within a probationary period into an eligible investment: shares in listed companies, in priority activities, in manufacturing or services, or government securities. Condominiums, wholesale trading and retail businesses are not eligible, and the board says so in writing.

Asia Relocation Philippines has carried investor files since 2011, between the board's offices in Makati and the Bureau of Immigration in Manila. The consultant who checks the investment's eligibility writes the letter of intent, follows the deposit, dates the probationary deadline, and files the conversion to an indefinite visa.

The perimeter

What the investor file carries, and what the other capital routes carry

Two neighbouring routes reward money or jobs differently.

Carried by the service

  • The eligibility check: your age, stay and record against the board's conditions, and the intended investment against the list of eligible and excluded activities, before any remittance.
  • The letter of intent and the bank: the letter to the board's incentives service, its endorsement to an accredited depository bank, the time deposit opened and the bank's certification of the remittance obtained.
  • The application: notarised forms, the personal history statement from the intelligence agency, police clearance authenticated abroad or the investigation bureau's certification, the medical certificate validated by the quarantine bureau, birth and marriage certificates authenticated, the deed of undertaking.
  • Implementation and the card: the probationary visa implemented by the Bureau of Immigration, the board's briefing attended, and the board's identification card obtained once the investment is actual.
  • The conversion and the reports: proof of investment shown before the probationary deadline, the indefinite visa filed, then the annual report and the card's renewal kept every year.

The probationary deadline and the proof window are written into the plan the day the visa is implemented.

A different page

  • Residence built on jobs, not capital. An enterprise that employs at least ten Filipinos qualifies for the employment-generation visa instead.
  • The capped immigrant route. Fifty grants per nationality a year under reciprocity, resting on the applicant alone: the quota visa.
  • Working in the Philippines on it. Taking a job normally means the labour department's Alien Employment Permit; we confirm it before you sign.
  • Investment advice. Which listed company or which priority activity to choose is a matter for your financial adviser; we check eligibility, not returns.

One coordinator, whichever of the three capital routes your situation fits.

Investments

Where the remittance may go, and where it may not

The board publishes the list; this is it, without a recommendation.

Publicly listed companies

Shares bought through a stockbroker from the time deposit, with the stock certificates annotated as the board requires.

Eligible

Priority activities and the manufacturing and services sectors

Shares in existing, new or proposed corporations engaged in the activities the board lists as priorities, or in manufacturing and in the service sectors it defines, from business services to tourism and transport.

Eligible

Government securities

Held for a minimum of a year, bought through an accredited dealer, with the confirmation of sale kept for the annual report.

Eligible

Condominiums, wholesale trading, restaurants

Condominium units and wholesale trading are excluded, and a restaurant is retail trade, which the programme does not accept. The most common misunderstanding, and the first thing we check.

Not eligible
How it works

Letter to the board, deposit at the bank, visa, investment, then indefinite

  1. Eligibility, yours and the investment's

    Your age, stay and record against the board's conditions; the activity you intend to invest in against the eligible list. If it is a condominium or a shop, we say so before the remittance.

  2. The letter of intent and the time deposit

    The letter to the board's incentives service in Makati, the endorsement to an accredited bank, the remittance sent with the right purpose, the deposit opened and the bank's certification obtained.

  3. The application and the probationary visa

    The documents assembled in the sets the board requires, filed with the incentives service, then implemented by the Bureau of Immigration in Manila. Do not leave the country before the visa is stamped.

  4. The investment, within the six months

    The deposit converted into the eligible investment by a cheque payable to the corporation or the broker, proof shown at least thirty days before the probationary period ends, and the conversion to an indefinite visa filed on it.

  5. The card and the years after

    The board's identification card obtained, its renewal and the annual report kept, and the investment maintained; disposing of it without approval is a ground for revocation.

Who it's for

The investors the programme was written for

Investors bringing capital to a Philippine company

Shares in a business in Manila, Cebu or Clark that falls in a priority activity or the manufacturing and services sectors. The cleanest file.

Investors who prefer listed shares or government securities

A portfolio rather than a company, held through a broker or a dealer, with the annotations and confirmations the board asks for at renewal.

Investors who have already invested

Capital remitted within the last year into eligible activities, evaluated on that basis, possibly for the indefinite visa directly.

Families arriving with the investor

Spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one, each with an application, a history statement where the age requires it, and a card.

Coverage

The board in Makati, immigration in Manila, the investment anywhere in the country

The file runs between the Board of Investments in Makati and the Bureau of Immigration in Manila; the investments we see are in Metro Manila, Cebu and Clark.

The board's incentives service, where the letter of intent goes and the application is filed, sits in Makati, and the accredited banks are in the capital's business districts. The visa is implemented at the Bureau of Immigration in Manila. An investor whose company is in Cebu or Clark files in the capital; the investment itself may be anywhere.

Companies registered with an investment promotion agency or an economic zone, in Clark for instance, give the board's card a longer validity, a question we raise when the investment is chosen.

FAQ

What investors ask before remitting to the Philippines

What does the SIRV require?
An inward remittance of at least seventy-five thousand US dollars, invested in activities eligible under the investments code, by an applicant aged at least twenty-one who holds a tourist stay with a month left, has no conviction for a crime of moral turpitude and meets the health conditions. The board endorses; immigration implements.
Where does the money go first?
To a time deposit at one of the board's accredited depository banks, after you have written to the board and received its endorsement to the bank. The money waits there, earning the bank's rate, until it is converted into the investment within the probationary period.
What counts as an eligible investment?
Shares in publicly listed companies, in companies engaged in the activities the board lists as priorities, or in the manufacturing and services sectors, and government securities held for at least a year. Wholesale trading, condominium units and retail businesses such as restaurants are not eligible.
What is the probationary period?
The first visa is probationary and valid for six months. Within that period the deposit must be converted into the eligible investment, with proof shown at least thirty days before the period ends; investing late carries a penalty. The visa is then converted to an indefinite one.
I have already invested here. Do I have to start over?
Not necessarily. An investor who can show that at least the threshold was remitted within the previous twelve months and invested in eligible activities may be evaluated on that basis, and may be issued the indefinite visa directly, subject to the board's approval.
Is there a registration card?
The board issues its own identification card to holders with actual investments, presented in place of the immigration registration card and used to seek exemption from the exit and return clearances when travelling. Its validity depends on where the money is invested.
Can my family come on it?
The spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one qualify as dependants, each with their own application and documents, and their own identification card. Adult children need a route of their own.
What can cause the visa to be revoked?
Failing to file the reports the board requires on time, withdrawing or disposing of the investment without approval, or ceasing to meet the conditions. The visa rests on the investment being real and maintained; the annual report to the board is how that is shown.
Not what you were looking for?

The jobs route next door, and the silo above

Your business creates jobs rather than holding capital

Residence for the foreign national whose enterprise employs at least ten Filipinos, probationary then indefinite.

Employment-generation 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 →

Tell us where the money would go, and we say whether the board will accept it

One coordinator from the letter of intent to the indefinite visa.

Start the investor file →
Investor's visa What's included
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