🇵🇭 Manila · Paperwork

Registration, banking and utilities in Manila

An immigration category that depends entirely on why you are here, and a registration card that follows it.

The thing people get wrongThe Philippines has an unusually wide spread of visa categories — employment, retirement, investment, marriage, special resident schemes — with materially different requirements. Identify the right one before you arrive, because switching category in-country is often the hardest path.

Working and staying

Employment generally requires both a work permit or authority from the labour department and an appropriate visa from the Bureau of Immigration, with the employer driving most of it. Separate schemes administered by other agencies cover retirement and investment and carry their own thresholds. Requirements and fees have been revised repeatedly, so confirm the current position with the Bureau of Immigration or the relevant agency rather than relying on a summary.

Employment: labour-department authority plus an immigration visa — two separate processes.
Retirement and investor schemes are run by separate agencies with their own criteria.
Short business visits and tourist entries can often be extended, within limits.
Confirm your category in writing before making commitments that depend on it.

The ACR I-Card and annual report

Foreign nationals holding longer-stay status register with the Bureau of Immigration and are issued an ACR I-Card. There is also an annual report obligation early each calendar year for registered foreign nationals — a short, cheap formality that carries a penalty if missed, and which people forget precisely because it is so minor.

ACR I-Card for registered foreign nationals; carry it.
Annual report within the window at the start of the calendar year.
An emigration clearance certificate may be needed when leaving after a long stay.

Banking and payments

Opening an account is easier with an ACR I-Card and a local address, and requirements differ between banks more than you would expect. Day to day, GCash and Maya cover a very large share of payments, transfers and bills, and are worth setting up early — a great many small transactions in Manila run through them rather than cards.

Bring passport, ACR I-Card, proof of address and often an employer letter.
GCash and Maya are close to universal for everyday payments.
Post-dated cheques are still sometimes requested for rent; ask before agreeing.

In order

Identify your immigration category before you travel, and confirm it with the authority.
Let your employer start the labour and immigration steps early.
Enter on the correct visa for the category.
Apply for the ACR I-Card once your status is granted.
Diarise the annual report at the start of the calendar year.
Open a bank account and set up GCash or Maya.

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