Retirement visa in Philippines

• The SRRV is a special non-immigrant visa that the Bureau of Immigration issues through the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA). The principal applicant must be at least 40 and a foreign national or a former Filipino citizen who is not on the Department of Foreign Affairs' restricted list; the PRA page lists no maximum age.
• SRRV Classic is the general option, with a deposit that depends on your age and on whether you have a pension. SRRV Courtesy is for retired diplomats, retired officers of international organisations the Department of Foreign Affairs recognises, retired military personnel from countries with a defence treaty with the Philippines, and high achievers in academia, business, the arts, culture, music, sport or philanthropy.
• Dependants can be a legally married spouse and unmarried children under 21, included on the first application or added after the principal's visa is approved. Nationals of countries the PRA calls 'PRA identified countries' must supply a birth certificate, a national ID and a social insurance record or retirement certificate; the pages we read do not list those countries, so whether yours is one is unknown.

Sources: Philippine Retirement Authority. Checked 17 October 2026.

• Classic deposit if you are 50 or over and have a lifetime pension: about US$15,000. To be safe, hold more than US$16,000. If you are 50 or over with no qualifying pension: about US$30,000. To be safe, hold more than US$31,000.
• Classic deposit if you are 40 to 49 and have a lifetime pension: about US$25,000. To be safe, hold more than US$26,000. If you are 40 to 49 with no qualifying pension: about US$50,000. To be safe, hold more than US$51,000. These amounts cover the principal and two dependants.
• The Classic pension test is proof of a lifetime pension of US$800 to US$1,000 a month, the lower figure for a single applicant and the higher for a family. To be safe, have more than US$1,100 a month. Each dependant beyond two adds to the visa deposit. The extra is about US$15,000 for each one. To be safe, hold more than US$16,000 for each.
• The Courtesy options carry smaller deposits, about US$1,500 to US$6,000 by age and category (to be safe, hold more than US$6,100), and Courtesy applicants aged 40 to 49 show a pension of about US$1,000 a month (to be safe, have more than US$1,100 a month).
• The deposit goes in as an inward remittance from abroad to a PRA-accredited bank, the Development Bank of the Philippines or a private bank. SRRV Classic holders may use the deposit for investment, and the PRA says accredited retirement homes and condominium projects accept conversions; the pages give no minimum or waiting period for a conversion.

Sources: Philippine Retirement Authority. Checked 17 October 2026.

• For the principal and each dependant the PRA lists a passport with a tourist visa valid for at least 30 days, the PRA application form, a PRA medical certificate dated within six months (done in a Philippine or foreign hospital) and eight 2 by 2 inch photos with a white background taken within three months.
• Police clearance from your country of origin or last residence is needed for every applicant aged 18 or over, valid for six months. You also need a Bureau of Immigration clearance certificate (principal and spouse) and, if you have stayed in the Philippines 90 days or more before filing, an NBI clearance.
• Documents issued abroad, such as police clearances, proof of pension and proof of relationship, must be in English and apostilled by the competent authority of the issuing country (or authenticated by the nearest Philippine embassy or consulate). Classic pensioners add proof of a lifetime pension; dependants add a marriage certificate or household register (spouse) or a birth certificate, adoption papers or custody papers (child).

Sources: Philippine Retirement Authority. Checked 17 October 2026.

• You apply to the PRA in the Philippines while holding a tourist visa. The PRA evaluates the file, holds a Know Your Customer interview and endorses it to the Bureau of Immigration, which approves the conversion from tourist visa to SRRV; you collect the visa at an oath of affirmation. The PRA's offices are in Makati (head office), Baguio City, Cebu City and Davao City.
• The PRA's own turnaround is 10 working days at its head office (10 working days and 2 hours at a satellite office), not counting the Bureau of Immigration's processing time. Offices open Monday to Thursday, 7:00 am to 3:30 pm, and are closed to the public every Friday (Memorandum Circular No. 114 of 24 March 2026).
• While the file is processed you stay on tourist status: visa-free entry is 30 days for nationals of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the Bureau of Immigration lists a 29-day waiver and then extensions of one, two or six months filed at least a week before your stay ends. The Philippine Embassy in Washington says the SRRV is not an e-Visa product and sends applicants to the PRA.

Sources: Philippine Retirement Authority, Department of Foreign Affairs, Bureau of Immigration. Checked 17 October 2026.

• The PRA processing fee is US$1,500 for the principal applicant and US$300 for each joining dependant. The Classic annual fee is US$360 for the principal and two dependants, paid on joining and every year after, with US$100 more for each dependant beyond two.
• The Courtesy annual fee is US$100 for a foreign national and US$50 for a former Filipino, each covering the principal and two dependants, with US$10 more for each extra dependant.
• Tourist-visa costs while you wait are separate: the Bureau of Immigration lists PHP 3,030 for the first 29-day waiver and PHP 4,400 for a one-month extension for an adult, in a table marked as updated in March 2014. The Philippine Embassy in Canberra's schedule of fees, dated 9 March 2016, lists an SRRV visa fee of AUD 720; that schedule is old, so the current figure is unknown.

Sources: Philippine Retirement Authority, Bureau of Immigration, Philippine Embassy in Canberra. Checked 17 October 2026.

• The SRRV gives multiple entry and an indefinite stay; the PRA page states no fixed term. You keep it by paying the annual fee every year, and the PRA announced on 17 October 2025 that every holder renewing the SRRV ID must submit a new photograph.
• The PRA lists exemptions from the Bureau of Immigration's annual report and ACR I-Card, from exit and re-entry permits and from travel tax. The pages we read do not say when the deposit is refunded if you cancel.

Sources: Philippine Retirement Authority. Checked 17 October 2026.

• The PRA lists permanent residency in the Philippines among the benefits of the SRRV, alongside indefinite stay, with no waiting period or extra test. The sources we read do not tie the SRRV to a path to Philippine citizenship.

Sources: Philippine Retirement Authority. Checked 17 October 2026.

• The PRA lists an exemption from tax on pensions and annuities among SRRV benefits, without explaining its scope, and an exemption from customs duties and taxes on a one-time import of household goods and personal effects of up to US$7,000.
• The tax code taxes an alien individual, resident or not, only on income from sources within the Philippines, and defines a resident alien as an individual whose residence is within the Philippines and who is not a citizen. A non-resident alien who stays more than 180 days in a calendar year is deemed to be doing business there.
• Aliens receiving foreign-source income cannot credit foreign income tax against Philippine tax, according to the same summary. The Bureau of Internal Revenue's graduated rates from 2023 run from 0% up to PHP 250,000 to 35% above PHP 8,000,000, and the tax year is 1 January to 31 December with returns due by 15 April.

Sources: Philippine Retirement Authority, Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 8424, 1997 text), Bureau of Internal Revenue (Philippines). Checked 17 October 2026.

• Work permit in Philippines
• Family visa in Philippines
• Investor visa in Philippines

• Visas in Philippines
• Philippines

1. Welcome to the Philippine Visa Online Portal (PH Visa Policy), Department of Foreign Affairs, Office of Consular Affairs (eVisaPH). Checked 16 October 2026.
2. Status table: Convention of 5 October 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents (Apostille Convention), Hague Conference on Private International Law. Checked 17 October 2026. Entry into force: Australia 16 March 1995, Canada 11 January 2024, New Zealand 22 November 2001, United States 15 October 1981, Philippines 14 May 2019.
3. Processing of SRRV Application (revised September 2025), Philippine Retirement Authority. Checked 17 October 2026. Citizen's-charter style PDF listing requirements, fees and turnaround times; file properties show it was created on 12 September 2025 and last modified on 3 November 2025. Exact figures: pensioner lifetime pension of at least US$800 a month (single) or US$1,000 (family); Courtesy applicants aged 40 to 49 show a pension of at least US$1,000 a month.
4. Philippines: income tax convention of 1976, Internal Revenue Service (treaty text). Checked 16 October 2026.
5. United States income tax treaties A to Z, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 16 October 2026.
6. Income tax treaties in force, Australian Treasury. Checked 16 October 2026.
7. Agreement between Australia and the Philippines for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income (signed at Manila, 11 May 1979), United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 1217, no. 19635 (registered by Australia). Checked 16 October 2026.
8. Visa (visa-free entry, 9(a) temporary visitor visa, other visas the Embassy issues), Philippine Embassy in New Zealand (Wellington). Checked 16 October 2026.
9. Special Resident Retiree's Visa (SRRV), Philippine Retirement Authority. Checked 17 October 2026. Lists SRRV Classic and SRRV Courtesy (foreign nationals; former Filipinos). Exact figures: pensioner lifetime pension of at least US$800 a month (US$1,000 with dependants); Classic deposits US$15,000 and US$25,000 (pensioner, 50 and over; 40 to 49) and US$30,000 and US$50,000 (non-pensioner, 50 and over; 40 to 49); US$15,000 deposit for each dependant beyond two.
10. Philippine Retirement Authority home page: announcements, offices, deposit conversions, Philippine Retirement Authority. Checked 17 October 2026. Announcements dated 17 October 2025, 16 February 2026, 5 March 2026 and 24 March 2026 (Memorandum Circular No. 114, office hours).
11. Temporary Visitor (9A) Visa Waiver and extensions of stay, Bureau of Immigration, Philippines. Checked 16 October 2026.
12. Frequently asked questions: extension of stay, ACR I-Card, Annual Report, Bureau of Immigration, Philippines. Checked 16 October 2026.
13. Schedule of fees, Philippine Embassy in Canberra. Checked 17 October 2026. Schedule dated 9 March 2016; fees may have changed.
14. National Internal Revenue Code (Republic Act 8424), sections 22, 23, 25, 34, 42 and 51, Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 8424, 1997 text). Checked 17 October 2026. 1997 enactment of the National Internal Revenue Code. Section 22(F) and (G) define resident and nonresident alien; Section 23(D): an alien individual, resident or not, is taxable only on income from sources within the Philippines; Section 24 and Section 25: graduated rates for residents and for nonresident aliens engaged in trade or business, flat 25% for a nonresident alien not engaged in trade or business; Section 25(A)(1): a nonresident alien staying more than 180 days in a calendar year is deemed to be doing business; Section 34(C): an alien individual cannot claim the foreign tax credit; Section 42(A)(3): pay for services performed in the Philippines is Philippine-source income; Section 51(C)(1): annual return by 15 April. Later amendments were not checked. The wording was checked against a copy of the same Act.
15. Revenue Regulations No. 11-2018 (income tax schedule for 2023 onwards), Bureau of Internal Revenue (Philippines). Checked 16 October 2026.