Retired teacher from Texas

Hi Gordon!

Welcome to Expat.com.

Armand

Hi Gordon,

you will get a 30 day visa on arrival directly when you get off the plane. You can apply for 59 days from the airport too, it just takes a few extra minutes (and cash).

Then you can extend your visa easily for 2 months by going to the bureau of immigration. Your maximum stay is 12 months I think, then you can simply fly to a neighboor country (Vietnam, Hong Kong....) and come back to the Philippines where you will be allowed to stay for another 12 months ( by extending every 2 months).

There is also a 6 month visa extension, it just came out a few days ago so we don't know yet what are the conditions.

Point is that it's very easy to stay long in the Philippines on a tourist visa. I think the 2 month visa extension cost 3000 Pesos.

Thomas

Thanks, Thomas. My next question would be about my airline ticket. Do I have to make it round trip if I don't know how long I am going to stay? thanks again for your help....Gordon

I love the beach behind you. Where is it? Gordon

Yes on the r/t ticket.  Can just buy a cheap ticker to HK or SIN if you are not sure of return date.

That's right. You need a return OR onward ticket out of the country (no matter where you fly to).

Now the easy and cheapest way is to buy a cheap refundable ticket (to Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur for exemple). Once you passed the immigration you can go to the nearest office of your airline and have it cancelled and refund. That way you just lose a few dollars instead of bying a return ticket to US!

I passed the immigration 5 times at the airport and they never asked me for this ticket out of the country but the airline you fly with from US to Philippines won't allow you to travel without this ticket.

Well you got the point, just buy a cheap ticket to somewhere in Asia and make sure it's refundable! Easy.

The beach behind me? you mean the frame? it's just a painting from Bali. Don't worry, you'll hardly find more beautiful beaches than the Philippines' !

Thanks, Thomas. Can I get the onward ticket there before I go through immigration? Gordon

No,  most likelly your airline won't allow you to fly if you don't have any onward ticket and there is no ticket counter before immigration so you have to buy it before leaving.