If you are looking to stay in the Philippines with your spouse, the first step is to apply for a TRV or Temporary Resident Visa. Once you have all the legal papers ready, the application would be very easy afterwards.
Just to give you an idea, we got married last May 2024 and then my husband went back to Egypt for a while. During that time, we work on registering our marriage and getting all necessary papers prepared and ready here in the Philippines.
The details of our interview and how the whole process worked for us is listed on the end of this posts after all the requirement details, and all those stuff.
Requirements for TRV Visa
- Marriage contract PSA (original copy)
- Birth certificate of wife PSA (original copy)
- Original PSA birth certificate of you child (if any)
- Valid ID of wife (photo copy)
- Latest NBI of foreign national (original copy)
- Original latest extension receipt
- Original Passport of foreign national
The first TRV is valid for only 1 year for Egyptian citizen and after renewal would be 3 years. Processing time is around 4-6 weeks they said but ours kind of took longer. We applied around September and we got it early Feb (but date issued is Jan).
Fees & Charges
Money talk now. Honestly, I have no clue how much the raw pricing is because we had someone helping us on the whole processing. We went with Passport & Visa Service agency here in the Philippines.
So, my husband first applied for tourist visa and traveled to Philippines by Sept 2024. His tourist visa is only valid for 30 days so he needs an extension. We did everything with the Passport & Visa Service agency so the costs I will disclose is probably not the raw pricing, I highly recommend you check directly with immigration to confirm the charges.
TRV Spousal Visa Rate – Php 45,000
NBI Clearance – Php 2,500 (we paid this but looking it up it is only Php 130! 😒)
Visa Extension Feeeees
The first month extension is kinda pricey, so his visa expires Oct 14 so we need to make sure he gets his extension while we are in the middle of processing. We paid for 2 months to be sure and agency charged us Php 11,440.
The visa receipt for 2 month extension is only for Php 6,940 + Php 2000 = Php 8,940 but you guessed it right, they charged us total of Php 11,440 including their service fees. This was valid until Dec.
By Dec, unfortunately no updates on the approval so we have to extend another 2 months. They didn’t send me receipt for this one but they charged us Php 8,330.
Other Requirements & Details
Based on timeline, we first met with the agency for NBI clearance by Sep 15, 2024. They made us go to NBI Main Building, Taft Ave, Ermita, Manila, 1000. And they made us fill out the below information.
Foreign Spouse
– Height
– Weight
– Complete Address in the Philippines
– Complete Address Abroad
– Educational Attainment
– Profession
– Mobile Number
– Landline (if any)
– Email Address
– TIN Number (if any)
Filipino Spouse
– Complete Address in Philippines
– Mobile Number
– Landline (if any)
Two Reference – It can be 2 friends, brothers or sisters that personally know you and your husband. They must be living in the Philippines (2 of them!)
– Name
– Complete address in the Philippines
– Contact Number
They also asked us to take a clear picture of the following:
- Biopage Passport
- Last Arrival Stamp
- Marriage Certificate
- Government ID of Wife
- Birth certificate of Son/Daughter (if any)
Our Interview & How did it Go
So, our interview took a while to get scheduled and it was set for Nov 4, 2024, 8:30am at the Bureau of Immigration Head Office Intramuros Manila.
They advised that failure to appear on your interview date will result to the denial of your application. Very important!
Important Reminders
- Husband and wife must both attend the interview
- Wear at least casual attire
- Ready and save a picture of your wedding photos that can easily be viewed on your phones
The day of our interview
We arrived very early but it took soooo long for us to get called and they don’t call people on a first come first serve basis but they call based on the papers they have on hand. Ours took hours! Like for real, we kinda rot in there.
We brought photo album of our marriage photos but the IO kinda just brushed on it, just looked ones and OK, that’s it. They just asked where we met, how our relationship is going and that’s it. Then, we were set for a 5-month waiting game.
What’s Next?
1 year is kinda short. With all the hassle and everything, I think it should be longer. However, this is the policy for Egyptian Nationals so… anyway, they told us that the next renewal is for 3 years and he has to be here in the Philippines to renew, otherwise, it will start over to 1 year (not fair!) The agency advised that this will be for Php 70,000. Too much honestly. If we find a way around this on his renewal, I will update here.