Permanent Resident Visa

[Moon Dog]

10 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Nice quiet place.  Have you been there yet?

Yes, of course I've been there. My wife's parents were both born there and the barangay where our house is being built is full of uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews. 

 

6 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Spent 3 years there myself.  I left after Yolanda.  The island gets typhoons every year and more rain than I like.  A friend of mine told me I would never come back.  I said:  Sure I will.  "There are good people here.  I will come back to visit." 

He said the only reason Foreigners spend any amount of time on Biliran is because of a woman.  He was right.  I haven't been back.

Biliran didn't get much damage from Yolanda, at least not in our area. It is somewhat protected by the mountain range on Samar. In the years my inlaws have lived on our property we lost one rickety cottage and the tin on the roof of the hog pen. My wife's grandparents have lived in a two story, unpainted,  wood frame house a few yards from the shore for 50 years and that house is still standing. I've had much worse hurricane and tornado damage here in Georgia during that time. I'm moving to Biliran for better weather.

[Moon Dog]

12 hours ago, Mike J said:

Welcome to the forum.  Yes she will be required to reacquire her Philippine citizenship prior to your application for a 13A visa. 

Thanks. We would have to travel from south Georgia to Washington DC for the dual citizenship and I was hoping not to have to do that. Can she get her dual citizenship in the Philippines? If so is would that require travel to Manila?

I read that she can still own up to 5,000 sq. meters of land as a foreign citizen. The property she owns is only 1,700 sp. meters so we are OK there. If I enter the country with her I can get a 1 year visa each time.

[Joey G]

Start here

 

http://www.immigration.gov.ph/index.php/services/citizenship-retention-and-aquisition/application-for-retention-re-acquisition-of-phil-citizenship

 

Then call the Philippines Embassy in DC for your specific answers... it's your best bet a accurate answer.

[Moon Dog]

10 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Nice quiet place.  Have you been there yet?

I've been there plenty of times and have seen a lot of change. When we bought the property near Cabucgayan years ago it was dirt roads all the way and no internet or phone. The Circumferential Road continues to be improved and it is smooth sailing now and the internet is working OK, we can watch the progress on the house live every day. Thanks

[Moon Dog]

8 hours ago, manofthecoldland said:

Always looking to improve my PI geographic knowledge, Naval, Biliran seems like a nice small city from what I read.

You are accurate. Biliran is connected to Leyte by a single bridge, same as Samar. Naval has everything we need but it is amazing how much we have locally. A lot of the building supplies come from Cabucgayan which is about 1 km. The fancy gates and grills for the fence were made right in Bunga. We built a cheap house on the back of the property for her parents after Yolanda blew them off Leyte and I've recently did some upgrades to that house including sliding glass windows which were made locally. We may have to travel to Leyte when furnishing the house but other than that, we're good. Thanks.

[jimeve]

44 minutes ago, Moon Dog said:

If I enter the country with her I can get a 1 year visa each

It's called a Balikbayan privilege and you may need your marriage certificate at hand at the immigration line.

[Moon Dog]

2 hours ago, jimeve said:

It's called a Balikbayan privilege and you may need your marriage certificate at hand at the immigration line.

Thanks for that tip, I was planning to show her old Philippine passport also.

[Dave Hounddriver]

7 hours ago, Moon Dog said:

I've been there plenty of times and have seen a lot of change. When we bought the property near Cabucgayan years ago it was dirt roads all the way and no internet or phone. The Circumferential Road continues to be improved and it is smooth sailing now and the internet is working OK, we can watch the progress on the house live every day. Thanks

Yeah, the island is almost like 2 different provinces.  In one part they speak Waray-Waray and in the other it is Bisaya.  Fascinating how an island that small can support 2 opposing cultures.  Fortunately foreigners fit in with both . . to a point.  There is still a moderate degree of violence on Biliran but you have been there so you know.

[Moon Dog]

Is Waray spoken in the north? I've been from Naval to Caibiran on the circumferential rd and crossed the middle of the island on the Naval Caibiran road checking out the water falls. I'll check out the northern half and Maripipi after the house is finished and we are settled in, but that also depends on the virus. In Cabucgayan they speak mostly Cebuano according to my wife. I never know what they're speaking myself. The family is fluent in both.

In all the years I've been visiting the property there has been one arrest I know of and that was for selling shabu. Here in the little Mayberry like town I live near in Georgia there have been 4 shooting deaths in broad daylight and too many home invasions, assaults, and drug arrests to count, and that is in a 250 sq. mile county of 10,000 people. Biliran is 206 sq. miles and a little over 170,000 residents according to the 2015 census. I will be moving to a much, much more crime free environment when I relocate from the US bible belt to Biliran.

Here is another interesting statistic, of the 10,000 people in my county, 61 have tested positive for covid-19 and 2 have died. Of the 170,000 people in Biliran 26 have tested positive for covid-19 with 1 death and the other 25 have recovered. The DOH-Eastern Visayas says there are now zero active cases in Biliran.

[Joey G]

7 hours ago, Moon Dog said:

Thanks for that tip, I was planning to show her old Philippine passport also.

Her USA passport shows country of birth.... that will get her classified as Balikbayan for entry when she arrives, so no need for old Philippine passport.  Assuming you have same last name now... I never have been questioned about our marriage... never been asked for a marriage certificate... we always pass through immigration together.... several times over several years... I always got a Balikbayan spousal stamp without any questions.