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Foreigners wishing to retire in the Philippines may have to put their plans on hold.
The board of the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) suspended the granting of retirement visas to foreigners on Friday after several senators raised security concerns over the presence in the country of nearly 28,000 Chinese “retirees,” some of whom which were only 30 years old.
PRA, an adjunct agency of the Department of Tourism, was authorized by law to process and issue a retirement visa, which is a special non-immigrant visa granted to foreigners who “want to make the Philippines their second home or investment destination. “.
The PRA board, chaired by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, also directed agency officials to evaluate the existing requirements for the issuance of the Special Retiree Residence Visa (SRRV), which provides various privileges to their headlines.
“In a special meeting, the board directed the PRA to review its policies on minimum age and dollar deposit requirements, and the conversion of these deposits into permitted investments,” the PRA said in a statement.
“In accordance with its current policy, which has been in place since 1993, the PRA accepts retirees (who) are at least 35 years old,” he said.
The board said that all SRRV applications and processing would be temporarily suspended as they would discuss potential policy changes during their next meeting on November 6.
He ordered the PRA to coordinate closely with the Bureau of Immigration (BI), the Department of Justice and the Department of Labor and Employment, and improve its program to “regularly monitor the profile and activities” of foreign retirees.
“The PRA was also instructed to coordinate with the Tourism Promotion Board for the formulation and review of PRA’s marketing and product development plans, and the benchmarking of its retirement program with other countries,” the board added.
Among the privileges enjoyed by SRRV holders are indefinite stay in the Philippines, exemption from the presentation of the annual immigration card to the BI and the payment of travel taxes and customs duties for the single importation of domestic items and personal worth up to $ 7,000.
During a Senate budget hearing on Monday, Senator Richard Gordon questioned Puyat about why Chinese citizens who were only 35 years old were allowed to live in the country as foreign retirees.
Created by an executive order issued by dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1985, the PRA currently grants retirement visas to foreigners aged 35 or older who have a minimum of $ 50,000 (P2.5 million) in cash.
Bernadette Romulo-Puyat
‘Age of the soldier’
Gordon, who had previously warned that Chinese-owned Philippine offshore gambling operators could be in charge of China’s intelligence agencies to snoop in the country, said the number of Chinese retirees raised a “security concern. national “as 35 is considered” the age of a soldier “.
“Their number is equal to 27 regiments (of the Army). That’s dangerous. Why would they retire here at 35? “Gordon said at the hearing.
The Philippines and China have been embroiled for decades in a maritime dispute over parts of the South China Sea. Beijing has been insisting on sole ownership of nearly the entire waterway, including the Western Philippine Sea, which is part of the country’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.
In 2016, China’s claim was dismissed by an international arbitral tribunal in favor of the Philippine government, which challenged the so-called “nine-dash line” of Beijing’s maritime borders.
Dangerous multiple visa
Gordon said the Chinese could have chosen the Philippines as their supposed retirement destination “because they can come and go without a visa.”
“With a retirement visa, they can have multiple visas. That’s dangerous. I did not know. It bothers me, ”Gordon said. “Retirees, as you know, retire an average of 56 to 60, to 65 years.”
According to the PRA, some 28,000 Chinese had already been granted retirement visas. They represent about 40 percent of all foreign retirees living in the country.
In second place are Koreans with 14,200, followed by Indians (6,100), Taiwanese (4,850), Japanese (4,000), Americans (3,700), Hong Kong (1,870), British (1,600), Germans (800) and Australians (750 ). .
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