Drink driving conviction

Hello Magicgrey258,

Without being completely sure, I would say no! Drivers in the Philippines drive under the influence all the time!

Not all of them of course, but in the evenings coming out from restaurants, bars, social occasions, parties, and alike, the drivers just get into their cars or enter their motorbikes and drive home, some of them visibly drunk and swirling on the road!  I have seen this hundreds of time as a regular roadside walker, a few times with close encounters to get hit!

I have never seen a police officer checking drivers for alcohol content, only for registration papers, illegal drugs and weapons at street checkpoints. (I know this first-hand because I was watching them from the sidewalk and even talked to some police officers while performing their duty. They actually confirmed that they never checked on alcohol intoxication except when an accident had happened with person(s) injured.)

It appears to me that driving with a few drinks "under the belt" is completely normal so why would an immigration officer be bothered by a 25 years old DUI on your record?

If questions come up regarding this black spot on your record I would just minimize the whole incident by saying something like " in my country authorities are very strict about these events and I was just unlucky and careless that day".

Nonetheless, you won't know for sure until you apply!

You could of course consult an immigration lawyer about it to be sure, but I would advise against it for the following reasons; 1) You don't know if it indeed will be a problem until you apply; 2) You have to shell out money for a lawyer who surely will escalate the importance of any legal issues in order to make it a case and earn as much money as possible from you; and 3) Never ever trust a lawyer!

I'm talking from personal experience. As a foreigner living in the Philippines you are "free prey" to be hunted down by people who don't want you well and who think they can make money out of you by accusing you of breaking the law and bring you to court either on the basis of a scam and fake proof, or a real issue that has been grossly exaggerated and supported by paid-off witnesses.

Foreigners lose 9 of 10 civil cases in court here that is about money. In criminal cases I don't know the ratio, but it is sure not in favor of the foreigner.

Good luck with your application! 

@Magicgrey258 as embarrassing as it is to admit, I had a DD conviction in 2019, paid the fine and completed my ban and got my licence back. I've moved to the Philippines and successfully applied for an extension visa twice so far. They gave me a piece of paper that said something like "no crime record found" (I can only assume they check with the relevant embassy) so you should be good. I looked into the topic and it states something like "acts of morale turpitude" meaning the very bad stuff (theft, murder, drugs, lengthy prison time, that sort of thing). Hope that helps.

Normally it would go off your record after 10 years