13a Resident Visa I-Card Delays

[OnMyWay]

59 minutes ago, Ryan. said:

Ok thank you.

I guess I am not looking for the get around to picking it up time but the current amount of time between 13A Permanent Resident Approval and the actual physical ACR card arriving in Cebu. Any data points appreciated on how long 13A ACR cards are taking to physically arrive. Anything helps. Will physically go to BI and email them on FB, too.

As mentioned above, when I got mine 13a permanent at Balanga the guy there told me to phone BI Main in Manila and talk to the ACR card people.  He seemed to indicate that could speed them up.

[Ryan.]

I read about calling Manilla, valuable information that makes forums so appreciated. I just don’t see a follow up to if it that was useful. I figure the more information that can be posted the more guidance can be given. I am looking for physical timelines around this time period,  for the wait for physical ACR 13A card. Maybe nobody knows here. I will add what I find out next week, if I find out anything. Maybe I can answer my own question and then pass it on as current information. The small office in Cebu handling the cards gave me the impression they had little conviction- they said maybe two weeks more wait time. They also said to call the main office. Sometimes that is a way to pass off the matter. Just like the two weeks comment can serve that purpose. (Very possible my impression is wrong, too). So I will try to provide current real world timelines if I can get them. At least that would be a bit of current data to add for the next hapless soul. Thank you.

[scott h]

1 minute ago, Ryan. said:

Maybe nobody knows

You hit the nail on the head here Ryan. No one really knows for sure. Here is my personal experience with BI in Manila. Procedure went smoothly. Was told to keep an eye on the BI web page for when my card was ready for pick up. Whelp the Web page only seemed to be updated about every 3 weeks. When I got my Probationary card, I waited until my name showed up and went to pick up the card, no problem. Turned out the card was ready for 3 weeks prior. When I went to get my permanent card, did some calculations in my head, gave it enough time, and went to pick it up. I got lucky it was ready. My name appeared on the list 2 weeks after I picked it up.

As with almost everything else here,,,,,,,,,,,,, YMMV 

[Ryan.]

1 hour ago, scott h said:

You hit the nail on the head here Ryan. No one really knows for sure. Here is my personal experience with BI in Manila. Procedure went smoothly. Was told to keep an eye on the BI web page for when my card was ready for pick up. Whelp the Web page only seemed to be updated about every 3 weeks. When I got my Probationary card, I waited until my name showed up and went to pick up the card, no problem. Turned out the card was ready for 3 weeks prior. When I went to get my permanent card, did some calculations in my head, gave it enough time, and went to pick it up. I got lucky it was ready. My name appeared on the list 2 weeks after I picked it up.

As with almost everything else here,,,,,,,,,,,,, YMMV 

0h man, excellent results. Thanks very hopeful even though yes yes yes YMMV (It’s more fun...). Scott rings all the bells in the good luck department.

[Ryan.]

So I followed up in person. As of this post Immegration officials are saying 2-3 months from the day your 13A is stamped permanant (from probationary) to arrival of ACR Perminant Resident Card.

The officials said leaving before it arrives was an easy matter of arriving one week before the flight and getting a waiver, even in Cebu they do waivers. Not just Manila.

That opens up a whole other can of worms returning without the ACR card. In theory you should get the 13A stamp returning  because you are a perminant resident and had an official waiver to exit without the ACR card because card is late arriving.

Information is directly from I-Card BI officers who deal with ACR cards daily.