Special Work Permit · Philippines

Special work permit (SWP) in the Philippines: the short assignment, done legally

A consultant here for a project, a trainer for a season, a performer for a run of dates: none of them needs a year-long employment file, and none may work on a visitor stay alone. The Bureau of Immigration issues a special work permit for that engagement. Asia Relocation Philippines builds the company's file, lodges it, and says plainly when the short route is the wrong one.

File a short-assignment permit → What the permit covers
In the Philippines since 2011 Filed at the Bureau of Immigration Consultants, trainers, performers
2permits: commercial, and artists & athletes
2011filing short assignments in the Philippines since
6months: the ceiling of a short engagement
1coordinator for the permit and the stay beneath it

The Philippines draws two lines through foreign work. On one side, the employee hired by a local company, who needs a permit from the labour department and a visa built on it. On the other, the person here for a defined engagement, who needs neither but may not work on a visitor stay alone. The Bureau of Immigration issues a permit for the second case, short by design.

The permit comes in two forms: a commercial one, for gainful employment of three to six months, and one for artists, athletes, entertainers and performers whose engagement runs under six months. Both sit on top of a valid visitor stay, both are sponsored by the Philippine company that engages you, and neither can be stretched into employment.

Asia Relocation Philippines has filed these permits for companies in Manila, Cebu and Clark since 2011, and turned as many away: an assignment that will outlast the ceiling belongs on the employment route from the start.

The perimeter

What the short permit covers, and where the long route begins

The right-hand column is where an assignment stops being short.

Carried by the service

  • The route decision: whether the engagement fits the commercial permit, the artists' permit, or neither, before the company spends anything.
  • The sponsor's documents: registration papers and information sheet, tax return with proof of payment, permit to operate, board resolution where needed, and the attestation of your diploma and résumé.
  • Your documents: passport with the valid visitor stay, taxpayer number, and the office's templates filled in once.
  • Filing and release at the Bureau of Immigration, with or without the registration card as the office decides, until the approved permit is in your hands.
  • The extension within the ceiling, requested before the first period ends, and the visitor stay extended separately if it runs short.

The ceiling is written into the quotation: if the engagement will pass it, we quote the employment route instead.

A different page

  • The assignment that is really a hire. A role that will last past the ceiling needs the labour department's Alien Employment Permit and the employment visa built on it.
  • Working while that visa is pending. That bridge is the provisional work permit, which exists only because a long-term application is running.
  • A regulated profession. An engineer or a health professional on a short engagement may need the special temporary permit from the professional regulator as well.
  • The stay beneath the permit. Extending the visitor stay, and the exit clearance owed after a longer stay, sit on our other immigration services page.

One file, one coordinator, whichever route the engagement turns out to need.

Two permits

Commercial, or artists and athletes: the same office, two files

The Bureau of Immigration publishes them separately, and the difference is the nature of the engagement.

Commercial permit

For gainful employment of three to six months with a Philippine company: consultants, trainers, technical experts, project contractors, lecturers. The registration card may or may not be issued with it.

Consultants · experts

Artists and athletes

For entertainers, performers, artists and athletes whose engagement in the Philippines runs under six months: a run of dates, a season, a production. Filed on the engagement contract, and normally issued without a card.

Performers

The extension

A first period extended once within the ceiling, on the same sponsor. Requested before the first period ends; a gap between the two is a gap in the right to work, and the office does not backdate.

Within the ceiling

When the answer is no

An engagement that will pass the ceiling, or a role the company intends to keep. We quote the employment route instead; two short filings cost more than one long one and end in the same place.

Long route instead
How it works

Route decided, sponsor's file ready before you land, permit filed on arrival

  1. The engagement, read against the rules

    What you will do, for whom, for how long. If the answer is short and defined, the permit fits; if it is open-ended, it does not, and we say which page you are on.

  2. The sponsor's file, before the flight

    The Philippine company's documents and the attestation of your diploma and résumé are assembled while you are still abroad, checked against your passport for names and dates.

  3. Arrival on a visitor stay

    The permit is issued on top of the stay you enter with, so it is filed once you are in Manila, Cebu or Clark. A short stay is extended first.

  4. Filing and release

    Lodged at the Bureau of Immigration, followed until the approved permit, and the card where one is issued, are released.

  5. The ceiling, and the end

    The extension window and the stay's expiry go into our calendar. When the engagement ends, the permit ends with it; if an exit clearance is owed, you know before booking the flight.

Who it's for

Four short engagements, and the file each one needs

Consultants and technical experts on a project

Sent by a head office or hired for one project in Manila or Cebu: the commercial permit, on the engaging company's file, for the months the project runs.

Trainers and lecturers

A course, a season of sessions, a programme delivered in the Philippines and then finished. The same permit, and often the same question about a regulated profession.

Performers, artists and athletes

A run of dates, a production, a tournament: the second permit, filed on the engagement contract, usually without a card, and finished when the engagement is.

Companies that are not sure the assignment is short

The most useful call we take. If the role may become a hire, we quote the employment route now, not the short permit and then the long one.

Coverage

Filed at the Bureau of Immigration, for engagements anywhere in the country

Sponsors in Metro Manila, Cebu and Clark; the permit is a Bureau of Immigration filing, at the main office or another office authorised for it.

The commercial permit can be lodged at the main office in Manila or at other immigration offices authorised for it, which matters for a sponsor in Cebu or Clark; the artists' permit goes through the main office. We choose the counter that shortens the file's journey.

Where the engagement is in a regulated profession, the professional regulator's permit is a separate filing in Manila, sequenced before this one on the same file.

FAQ

What companies ask before engaging someone for a few months in the Philippines

Who is the special work permit for?
A foreign national engaged for a short, defined period: a consultant, a trainer, a technical expert on a project, a lecturer, or an artist, athlete or performer here for an engagement. The Bureau of Immigration issues it on top of a visitor stay, for work measured in months.
How long does it cover?
A commercial permit covers an engagement of three to six months; the permit for artists and athletes covers one of under six months. A first period is granted and extended once within that ceiling. Beyond it, the assignment is no longer short and needs the employment route.
Do I still need a valid tourist stay?
Yes. The permit sits on top of the stay you entered with; it does not replace it or extend it. If the stay runs short during the assignment, it is extended separately, and we track both dates on the same file.
Does the Philippine company need to do anything?
Most of the file is the company's: registration papers and information sheet, tax return, permit to operate, a board resolution where the signatory needs one, and an attestation of your diploma and résumé. The engaging company is your sponsor, and the office reads its documents first.
When is the short permit a false economy?
When the assignment is likely to run past the ceiling, or to become a hire. The permit cannot be stretched into employment, so a company that files it for a role that will last a year files twice. We say so at the first call.
Is a registration card issued with it?
The commercial permit exists with or without the registration card, and the office decides which applies to the engagement. Where a card is issued, its own fee and validity follow it. Artists and athletes on short engagements are usually issued the permit alone.
Can it be filed before I arrive in the Philippines?
The company's half of the file can be assembled before you fly; the permit itself is filed once you are in the country on a visitor stay, because it is issued on top of that stay. Arriving with the company file ready keeps the assignment on schedule.
What happens when the engagement ends?
The permit expires with the engagement and nothing has to be downgraded, because no visa was built on it. After a longer stay an exit clearance may be owed before departure; we tell you before you book the flight.
Not what you were looking for?

The long route next door, and the silo above

The assignment is really a job

The labour department's permit that starts the employment route, and the visa built on it.

Alien Employment Permit →

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 the engagement and its dates, and we say which permit, or which route

One coordinator for the permit, the stay beneath it and the extension.

File a short-assignment permit →
Short-assignment permit What's included
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