I found this article on PIA regarding the establishment in Davao of a satellite office of the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA). They feel that the retiree population is expected to continue to rise primarily due to the SRRV (Special Resident’s Retiree’s Visa). This includes not only retirees from the United States, but also those from Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan and Europe.
“The goal of making the Philippines a retirement destination has taken off,” said Aglipay, “The challenge is to build and create socio-economic and technology infrastructure that proactively responds to retiree needs thru our partnership with industry stakeholders.”
The Special Resident’s Retiree’s Visa has been promoted as an alternative to the other visas, such as the 13a Permanent Resident Visa and the Balikbayan Visa, for longer term solutions to staying in the Philippines. The SRRV does have investment requirements that change based on your criteria, so it is best that one look into all the stipulations first, if you feel you may be interested in applying for this type of permanent visa. One of the benefits of this visa, as I understand it, is that you are not required to be married to a Philippine citizen, as is the case with the 13a Permanent Resident Visa and the Balikbayan Visa.
In addition to Davao, the PRA has previously established satellite offices in Clark, Subic and Baguio.
I am not really sure what it all means, but if they are serious about attracting more retirees don’t you think allowing foreign ownership of land would be the first order of business? I won’t hold my breath waiting on that, though.
The Davao satellite office of the Philippine Retirement Authority agency can be contacted for more information at:
PRA office: (632) 848-1412; fax numbers (632) 848-7106 and (632) 848-1420.
Interested parties can also send an email via email address: inquiry@pra.gov.ph or visit the website at www.pra.gov.ph
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Jul 26, 2008 @ 16:57:00
Hi Randy. If PI allow foreign ownership of land, then there should also be STRONG regulations preventing farmers from selling off their agricultural lands. We have seen this in NZ, where property values skyrocketed due to the surge in property investments by i.e., Japanese and Koreans. Farmers, especially sheep farmers, are going through hard times and therefore it doesnt take much for them to agree to sell their lands, and most of them are coastline properties. Even though there were regulations against this, it was easy for them to make the buyer pretend to agree that they will continue the farming business, when in fact, they normally don’t. From what I have been told, NZ used to have 80 million sheep, and now it is down to around 40 million, probably still decreasing. Amazing isn’t it? The country has only about 4 million people! And I wonder why they are crying on the increase in milk/ dairy prices. Philippines have their own problems now, from being a rice exporter to a rice importer. Agreeing to foreign ownership will, I think, aggravate this problem in no time.
But they should have exemptions for people like you and my husband
.
Cheers,
Ellen
Jul 26, 2008 @ 18:13:00
Hi Ellen – thanks for your thoughts.
I agree it’s not necessarily an easy thing to do. It is difficult enough for many Filipinos already. I think there are ways to accomplish it though, such as limiting the amount of land a foreigner could own. They could, for instance, institute the same rules as are current for Balikbayan. I believe that allows up to 1,000 square meters of residential land, and one hectare of agricultural or farm land.
There are probably other solutions, too. Yes, there is always someone and someway to circumvent the system and I’m sure some will try. None the less, I think it would be a positive step and would certainly help obtain the goal of attracting more retirees.