Visa conversion from Tourist to 9f for Foreign Students in the Philippines

By dint of unplanned or pre-arranged condition, you came to Philippines and decided to study, but you are holding tourist visa type, here are some procedures that would help you in your visa procession. It is my assumption that you entered Philippines with a visa type 9(a) non-immigrant; in other words, as mentioned already, you are holding a tourist visa or Visa-free stamp. And there are a good number of outstanding academic institutions in the Philippines. They might become attractive to you after you landed in the Philippines. Sto. Thomas( the oldest University in Asian), University of the Philippines, Brend, De La Selle etc., are prestigious institution in the field of secular education. For Evangelical Theological education, Asian Graduate School of Theology (AGST), ISOT, Asian Theological Seminary (ATS) etc., are very competent seminaries to join.

By reason of these above, if you have decided to study while holding a tourist visa type, the followings are what you can do. Depending upon the course duration you might like to make your own options out of the provided types and procedures. However, your prospective school must be accredited with CHED (Commission of Higher Education) for undergraduate or graduate level and DEped (Department of Education) for secondary Education. If you’re prospective school is not listed among these, and fortunately if your course is religious studies, you might like to take the track under the procedure of Missionary Visa type.

1. SSP (Special Study Permit)

• - You will need your passport valid.
• - You will recent id photos (2x2)
• - You will need NBI police clearance if your tourist visa is not converted into SSP.
• - You will need your Birth Certificate from your country (Notary Public translation in English with authenticated seal.)
• - Get a certificate letter with your enrolled subjects listed from your prospective school Registrar office.
• - And fill up the SSP application form.

In this procedure, you remember that you are still tourist yet you are applying for a permit to study. Therefore, you still pay the same as a tourist pay for monthly visa extension. It is about 3,250 Pesos (about USD 80 as per current exchange rate) for every two months. And the fact that you can extend your tourist visa up to 16 months only (though the policy is subject to change). After 16 months of stay, you have to be out of the country for a day or few days and you can re-enter for another 16 months of stay. I had used this type for my first of study in Philippines.

2. Missionary Visa 9(g).

- You will need a valid passport.

- You will need recent id photos (2x2)

- You will need two certificates from your sending church, organizations (certificate of sending for one and certificate of years of service for another in your church or organization)

- NBI Police clearance of Philippines

- Medical Quarantine of Philippines

- And Proceed to your perspective schools or the remaining documentations.

In this type, once your visa is approved you can stay up to 2 years without extension. However, I cannot provide you with the estimated cost for this since I had not had this type of visa yet.

3. Student Visa 9(f).

- You will need a valid passport

- You will need recent id photos (2x2)

- You will need transcripts from your previous high schools, and colleges or Universities.

- Bank Certificate with amount of at least USD 1,000 or maybe more

- NBI police clearance

- Medical Quarantine

- Certificate of Enrollment from your prospective school

- Fill the application form

In this type of visa, once your application has been approved by Bureau of Immigration of the Philippines, you can stay up to one year without any extension for the first year. But for the consecutive years, you need to extend your student visa every semester. It means every 6^thmonths. And by February of ever year, you need to do annual report.

In terms of the cost, I cannot provide you for the time being. However I will try to do as soon as possible. The cost as well as the policy of the BI in Philippines are subject are to change. I will write about the cost of living in Philippines a student and detail steps of visa extension in my next hubs.

Aside from our actual load and assignments from School, visa application and extension are another challenge that we encounter as alien Students studying in Philippines.

Enjoy your study!