SVEG visa in the Philippines: residence for the employer of ten Filipinos
The Philippines rewards a foreign national who creates jobs with a visa of its own. The Special Visa for Employment Generation is granted to someone who actually employs at least ten Filipinos in a lawful, sustainable enterprise, first on probation, then indefinitely. Asia Relocation Philippines builds the file from the enterprise's records and carries both steps.
Three routes exist in the Philippines for a foreign national who brings money or work to the country, and they are not interchangeable. One rewards capital invested, one is a numerically capped immigrant quota, and this one rewards employment: a business that actually puts at least ten Filipinos to work in a lawful, sustainable trade or industry.
The test is the headcount and the enterprise behind it, read from records rather than intentions. The Bureau of Immigration grants the visa on probation first and amends it to an indefinite stay once the conditions are shown to hold, which makes the second filing as important as the first, and the headcount a figure to keep rather than to reach once.
Asia Relocation Philippines has read enterprises in Manila, Cebu and Clark against this route since 2011, and sent as many owners to the investor's route or the employment route when the evidence pointed there. The consultant who reads the records builds the file and carries both steps.
What the employment-generation file carries, and what the neighbouring routes carry
The right-hand column names the two routes an owner is most often confused between.
Carried by the service
- The route check: the enterprise's records read against the threshold and the alternatives, so the file that opens is the right one.
- The enterprise's file: registration with the securities regulator, articles of incorporation, the latest information sheet, and the labour department's certification of the Filipinos employed.
- Your file: passport, your own permit to be employed in the enterprise, the police clearance where the timing requires it, the medical certificate from the quarantine bureau, and the household's documents.
- Filing and implementation at the Bureau of Immigration in Manila, the hearing, the biometrics, and the registration card issued with the visa.
- The second step: the amendment from probationary to indefinite, filed when due with the records brought up to date, and the annual report and card renewal tracked after it.
The headcount is the condition; we write into the file how it is evidenced and when it will be checked again.
A different page
- Residence built on capital. Money remitted and invested in eligible activities is the Special Investor's Resident Visa, endorsed by the investment board.
- The capped immigrant route. Fifty grants per nationality per year, under reciprocity: the quota visa.
- Your permission to be employed. The labour department's Alien Employment Permit is part of this file but has a page of its own.
- What comes after the grant. Annual report, card renewal, downgrade if the enterprise closes: our other immigration services.
One file, one coordinator, whichever of the three routes the enterprise turns out to fit.
Four owners, and what the headcount means for each
The visa is the same; the evidence behind it is not.
Founder of an operating company
An enterprise already trading in Manila or Cebu with Filipino staff on the payroll. The cleanest file: the records exist, the labour department can certify them, and the probationary grant is the formality.
Owner reaching the threshold
A business growing towards ten employees. The file waits for the tenth contract, and we say when the records will support it rather than filing early and being refused.
The probationary review
The amendment to an indefinite stay, filed when due with the enterprise's records and the headcount brought up to date. The step owners forget, and the one that decides whether the visa lasts.
Owner who is really an investor
Capital brought in, few employees. The evidence points to the investor's route, not this one, and we say so before the wrong file is opened.
Records read, file built, hearing attended, then the second step dated
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The enterprise, read against the route
Registration, headcount, the nature of the trade. If the records support the threshold, the file opens; if they point to capital rather than jobs, the investor's route is quoted instead.
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The two files
The enterprise's documents and the labour department's certification on one side; your passport, employment permit, clearances and medical certificate on the other, with the household's documents where dependants are included.
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Filing and hearing in Manila
Lodged at the Bureau of Immigration's main office, the hearing attended, the biometrics captured for the registration card, and the file followed until the visa is implemented in the passport.
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The probationary period
The headcount kept and evidenced, the annual report filed within the first sixty days of the year, and the amendment to an indefinite stay prepared before it is due.
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The indefinite stay, and after
The amendment implemented, the card renewed on its own schedule, and the enterprise's ordinary filings kept in step with the visa that depends on them.
The business owners the route was written for
Entrepreneurs running a Philippine company
A trading, manufacturing or service business in Manila, Cebu or Clark with Filipino staff. The visa follows the payroll.
Founders arriving on a visitor stay
In the country, building the enterprise, and needing a status that matches it. The file is prepared while the headcount grows, and opened when the records support it.
Owners with a family to include
Spouse and minor children as dependants, each with documents and a card. Adult children need a route of their own, mapped before filing.
Holders approaching the probationary review
Granted a while ago, review due, records not assembled. The second step is a file of its own, and it is the one that keeps the visa.
Filed in Manila, for enterprises anywhere in the country
The visa is a Bureau of Immigration filing at the main office in Manila; the enterprises we read are in Metro Manila, Cebu and Clark.
The Bureau of Immigration's main office handles the visa, the hearing and the card, whatever the region the enterprise operates in. A company in Cebu or Clark sends its records; the owner attends the hearing in Manila, and we schedule it with the rest of the file.
The labour department's certification of the Filipinos employed comes from the regional office that covers the workplace, which is the one part of the file that does not travel to the capital. We obtain it where the jobs are.
What business owners ask before filing for residence through jobs
Who qualifies for the SVEG?
Is it granted for good from the start?
What has to be proved, and by whom?
How is it different from the investor's visa?
Does it include my family?
Can I work in my own enterprise on it?
What happens if the headcount drops?
What are the annual obligations?
The capital route next door, and the silo above
You bring capital rather than a payroll
Residence built on money remitted and invested in eligible activities, endorsed by the investment board before immigration.
Special Investor's Resident 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 what the enterprise does and how many it employs, and we name the route
One coordinator for the probationary grant, the review and everything the visa asks for each year.
Check the enterprise →