TBK Tells- Finally I have my Special Resident Retiree’s Visa (SRRV)

The Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) is a government-owned and controlled corporation mandated to attract foreign nationals and former Filipino citizens to make the Philippines their second home or retirement destination. 

The Special Resident Retiree’s Visa (SRRV) is a non-immigrant multiple-entry, indefinite-stay visa. With the SRRV, the holders may stay in the Philippines for as long as they want without giving up their citizenship.

I first enquired about getting my SSRV in August 2021 however they advised me to delay my application until my Pension was first paid in July 2022. Prior to this I submitted the forms for Pre evaluation, had a medical in Bahrain and had two Good Behaviour Certificates (GBC) in Bahrain and one in the Philippines. I also had to get the forms in Bahrain apostilled by the MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) ( who asked for the Medical to be approved by the NHRA- National Health Regulatory Authority). 

You can read more about the form filling and driving around Bahrain to get everything apostilled here: The truth behind the April Fool

Once in the Philippines I met with the PRA in Manila to check what else I needed , Next I had to resolve the issues with transferring money for the UK To Philippines . After that the PRA sent me a Letter of Intent ( LOI) which I took to Union Bank in Puerto Princessa to set up a new dollar account with my Alien ID.

      Thanks to Chester the Hooman for doctoring my Alien ID card image

Finally after 2 hours on the phone over 3 nights I managed to persuade the Fraud office at Lloyds Bank in the UK to let me send $10,000 from my UK account to my new Philippine bank account. That arrived on 6th July but it took Union Bank a month to provide the TDC ( Time Deposit Confirmation) for PRA. Then PRA asked me to send them all my documents again by email for a final check.

I had to laugh at the email from my contact there, Ivana, who Chester the Hooman and I met in Makati where she says:

"I know this is exhausting but I will have to ask you again to send your documents for pre-evaluation. I need to double-check every detail before I ask you to proceed with the lodgement of your application. "

Too right, very exhausting! The PRA really does nothing to ATTRACT foreign investment or people to retire in the Philippines by making the process so complex and long winded. I guess that's why many people I asked about PRA and SSRV before I applied told me not to bother! On the 4th check they identified I had sent a Police Clearance from the Philippines not an NBI check (which they omitted to tell me on the three previous times I sent it). I also identified the SSRV application had the Heritage Hotel in Manila as my address (which PRA did not notice) so redid and resent that, but the PRA then picked up that the new form had my middle name missing so it had to be redone again. They also needed a letter to authorize Chester to lodge my application and a letter asking them to accept my expired medical.

The Police check that I did not need but had to book online and pay for when I was given incorrect information and which I sent to PRA 3 times before they told me I had the wrong document. Chester kindly wrote to tell me all about NBI, so for anyone else going through the same process I will repeat what he said. 

"You may be required of an ID so your Passport and/or ACR will do. And the fees just about 170 pesos. Though a hurdle may be the processing time which normally takes 2 weeks or more if you are applying at a satellite/provincial branch. That said, if you know someone from there to expedite the release of your NBI Clearance faster (or maybe they have an express process option) then opt for that."

In reality you cannot just turn up, but you have to book an appointment online taking your passport, Alien ID card, parents' details, home address in UK (they would not accept that I sold my UK house in 2004 and I have not been there for 12 years, or that my parents were dead, so I have no property in the UK. You also need a copy of your two forms of ID and a passport photo. By the time we got all these, having started at 2 pm the NBI office was closed (3.30 pm) so I had to return the next day. They then confirmed that it will take 3 weeks to process and when I told the PRA they said I would have to redo my medical as the one I had done 6 months ago in Bahrain was out of date. By then I only had 3 weeks left on my Tourist visa . I had to renew it 3 times since I entered Palawan to get my SSRV in March 2022, 10 months ago. At one point it  looked like I would never get my SSRV or run out of money having endless medicals, documents apostilled, Bahrain and Philippine police clearance, NBI clearance, Photos, couriers, 3 hours of calls on a mobile to my UK bank to transfer money to the Philippines and so on.

For your info this is what the NBI clearance looks like:

I think I must be the SSRV applicant with the most security checks as I had two Good Behaviour Certificates from Bahrain in 2021 and 2022, a Philippine police check and then my NBI clearance. It would really help people applying for an SSRV if the PRA remembered their target audience are old, from outside the Philippines and do not know the difference between a Police clearance and an NBI clearance.

     My first GCC in Bahrain when I started to apply for my SSRV in Feb 2021

Next, I had to pay my fees for the SSRV to PRA a 68,721-peso initial fee and then an annual fee of 17,762 peso. In GBP that’s 1070 GBP initial fee and 275 GBP payment annually). However, as the Philippines has been labelled High Risk of Money Laundering by the UK Revenue and Customs the transfer from my UK to the Philippines bank account was declined and my UK bank account suspended for the third time causing another 2000-peso hour long call from my mobile to the UK to get it released.

Once I got the NBI clearance, on return from my vacation in Sabang,  I had to courier all the documents and 8 passport photos to Chester in Marikina and he delivered them to the PRA office in Manila (another 200 Peso for the courier, a Grab for Chester and his lunch- 19,000 pesos). I tried to leave the documents (which have been ready for 5 months) at the PRA office in Makati when Chester and I visited in March, but they would not accept them until the process was complete! Once Chester got the documents, he emailed them to arrange to deliver them on Thursday, but they said they were busy and asked him to go on Friday. 

Sadly, they turned Chester away as he did not have my passport, visa or the printed letter from my pension provider or the hard copy paying in slip for the fees (which PRA already emailed me to confirm they had received them.). The annoying thing is I had emailed them the week before when I dispatched the documents to check I had not missed anything but got no reply from PRA.

I sent the required documents by courier and Chester contacted PRA on receipt to visit them on Friday, but they said they only had a skeleton staff on Friday (well it was Halloween!). They asked him to go on Thursday but Ivana was not there and the person he saw sent him away saying my pension was insufficient to get an SSRV. I checked with my brother when Chester told me a week later and he said he had deliberately ensured the pension met the PRA requirement. I wrote back to PRA to complain and they apologised and said he had been given the wrong information. They asked him to return but by then it was another 5-day Philippine holiday ( Undas 2022) and asked his brother to return the passport to me to renew the visa. Eventually PRA suggested, when we realized the courier did not collect the passport, that Chester just sent the documents in a Grab and they would renew the visa and return the documents once the SSRV was processed. They told me they would send me the documents back by LBC (  a Philippine Courier company) . Previously they said this would take two months. I also asked them to confirm if and when I had to go to Manila to take the oath so I can arrange hotels, flights and someone to look after Chester (the Dawg). I will be looking after Chester the Hooman with a slap-up meal once we finally collect my SSRV. As yet PRA has not replied to my email (no surprise there then!)  

I then heard nothing from PRA or Chester during November and as my Tourist Visa was about to expire asked them to return the Passport so I could extend my visa. At first they said they would renew it and then they said my SSRV had been approved so I did not need to extend my tourist visa. However , in spite of several emails by January 2023 I had still not received my SSRV or my passport. I wrote to them again and they told me to write to the processing department which I did on 3rd January 2023. Danny Fajardo replied and said that the SSRV had been received but he had only received it the previous week. There was no information as to where it had been between November and December! He then asked me to collect the SSRV from Manila.

Once again I had to write to explain that I lived in Palawan and asked if my friend Chester could collect it for me. He then said he could BUT I would need to execute a Special Power of Attorney to allow CDS to collect the SSRV from the PRA. He also wanted a copy of a valid ID for myself and Chester attached to the SPA! Strange , because he has my passport! I hope! 

I wrote back copying him Ivana's email saying I did not need to go to Manila and that they would send it to me by LBC. I also explained that previously, to deliver my passport Chester only needed a letter of authorisation from me which I wrote, they accepted and have on file. Once again it seems PRA make it up as they go along, and the various departments do not talk to eachother. However I am hopeful this will be resolved soon and I will get my passport back with my SSRV via LBC from PRA in 2023. 

Next Danny emailed me to say:

Good Day!

I am sending your Affirmation of Membership since you cannot come to PRA to take your Oath. 

May I therefore request you to do the following:

1. Download the attached Affirmation of Membership

2. Print 2 copies in Legal (Long) size coupon bond

3. Accomplish these forms by:

     - Affixing your signature in the space 

       provided located at the lower right of

       the form

     - Affixing your left and right thumbmark

        inside 2 small squares provided in

        the lower center of the form

4. Go to the nearest LBC in your area and send these forms to PRA via this address:

Philippine Retirement Authority

29F Citibank Tower, 

8741 Paseo de Roxas,

Makati City 1200

Attention: Danny Fajardo - RRSD

Once we receive your documents that is the only time that we will process your request to send your documents to your residence.

Thank you and have a good and safe day!

Danny Fajardo

So I printed the documents ( on A4 plain paper as I do not have Legal (Long) size coupon bond!) Then I went back to NBI to ask them to take my thumb prints and put them on the form which I signed and took to LBC to send back to PRA.

Then I had the rudest and most aggressive email from SSRV to date:

Danny Fajardo	Mon, Jan 16, 3:16 PM (10 days ago)
to me

Dear Mr. Porter,

Your signed Affirmation of Membership is now with me but you print it in short size coupon bond. My instruction is clear and simple....

Print 2 copies in Legal (Long) size coupon bond

Good Day!

I am sending your Affirmation of Membership since you cannot come to PRA to take your Oath. 

May I therefore request you to do the following:

1. Download the attached Affirmation of Membership

2. Print 2 copies in Legal (Long) size coupon bond

3. Accomplish these forms by:

     - Affixing your signature in the space 

       provided located at the lower right of

       the form

     - Affixing your left and right thumbmark

        inside 2 small squares provided in

        the lower center of the form

4. Go to the nearest LBC in your area and send these forms to PRA via this address:

Philippine Retirement Authority

29F Citibank Tower, 

8741 Paseo de Roxas,

Makati City 1200

Attention: Danny Fajardo - RRSD

Once we receive your documents that is the only time that we will process your request to send your documents to your residence.

Thank you and have a good and safe day!

Danny Fajardo

Visa Processor

This was the final straw in 17 months of appalling service from PRA so I asked him to cancel the visa and return my money. 

He then backtracked and replied:

Danny Fajardo	Jan 17, 2023, 5:22 PM (9 days ago)
to me

I already endorsed your documents to the one in-charge of courier, Mr. Porter. I am just telling you that my instruction is clear and simple.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

My response was also clear and simple:

The British Kabayan <thebritishkabayan@gmail.com>	Jan 17, 2023, 4:59 PM (9 days ago)
to Danny

Ok well I don't have so please return my passport and cancel my ssrv and refund all the money I spent so fat to get ssrv because this is now beyond ridiculous

PRA was set up to attract foreign investment in the Philippines and in my case you have just continually asked for more money... what does it matter what paper it is printed on. It has thumb prints and my signature as you asked

Please refer this to a director at PRA And have them contact me on this email as I am currently on vacation and I have wasted two years trying to get my ssrv and had the most appalling service from PRA

I am still waiting to hear from their Director. However a few days later I received a text from LBC saying they would be delivering a parcel for me. They did not however deliver after I stayed at home all day. I had a similar text the next day so went out at lunch time when they had still not arrived. As we were returning to Puerto LBC called to say they were outside my house, and finally I received my SSRV- which was valid from November- but did not arrive until nearly February!

I would just like to thank everyone who has helped and encouraged me on the long journey to get my SSRV. In Bahrain Ewan and the security team at Bapco helped with my 2 GBC, Brett and the team at Awali hospital did the original medical (now invalid) and my doctor here in Palawan did a second medical for me. Chester took me to the PRA office in Makati in April and took minutes of our meeting, and then he returned in September to lodge my documents for my SSRV and again in October when again they refused to accept them as I had not sent him my passport.  He also sent the documents a third time by Grab after PRA admitted their mistake. My brother Richard in the UK cheered me on from the sidelines and arranged for the Compass Pension to be paid early so the PRA had the relevant paperwork. Finally, thanks to Attorney Baroney here in Palawan for completing my Affidavit for PRA.

Excuse the picture, this one took 3 hours of queuing and visiting 7 different desks at the Land Transportation offices and waiting while the evaluator had her lunch break!

                Their evaluation of the documents Chester delivered!

I cannot believe how many times PRA changed their minds during this horribly long bureaucratic process. First, they asked me to go to Manila to lodge my documents, in spite of telling me by email and when I visited their office that I would not have to return. Eventually they agreed I could send the documents by Courier to Chester (the Hooman), and he could deliver them, but I had to transfer the money to the PRA account first and send a letter of authority to allow Chester to lodge my documents. After a month's wait I got my NBI clearance and sent this to Chester, paid my PRA fees and paid Chester his expenses. He travelled to the PRA offices, but they refused to accept the documents as I had not given him my passport, visa, and as the Bahrain Good behavior Certificates were out of date, they demanded another $10 to get Interpol clearance. 

They needed the original paying in slip from Land Bank, in spite of emailing me to say they had received the money. They also emailed me a document I had emailed them with details of my Compass Pension and asked me to print it and courier it to them. These people are insane!

It has been a long journey but now I have my Philippine Driving license, my Alien ID and my SSRV I feel like I have become a little more Filipino!

However, I would warn anyone considering getting an SSRV, do not bother. The cost is prohibitive, with all the duplicate medicals, police clearances in Bahrain, Palawan and through Interpol, courier and delivery fees and paying for tourist visas every 2 months until I got my SSRV I worked out that I spent 676,100 pesos (that is $11,454, £10,758 or 4,318 BD) to get my SSRV. In addition, you will spend many weeks getting medicals and the required X-rays and blood tests. If you work for a big company , like I did you will have to get letters from your Security Department and then try to get an online appointment to get your Good Behavior Certificate. NBI and National police will then take your photos and fingerprints numerous times. Amazing that two similar bodies in Palawan do not share their data. In Bahrain I also had to get documents authorised by the NHRA and apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign affairs/ I also had to visit the Philippine embassy, but they refused to stamp my SSRV application.

If all that is not enough PRA will accuse you of insinuating, you are bribing them and claiming everything is your fault and they have done nothing wrong!

Please do not take it from me, another Pinoy commented:

" I also am ashamed that this is the image they present to foreigners like you wanting to make Philippines their 2nd home.

Totally disgraceful."

Ingat palagi!