Philippines · Visa required
Emigrating to the Philippines
With a Dutch passport you can enter the Philippines without a visa, for thirty days. After that you extend at the Bureau of Immigration, up to 36 months at most, but that's no lasting right. Whoever wants to stay chooses a route. With the SRRV, the retirement visa of the Philippine Retirement Authority, you live there from 40, with a deposit from 15,000 dollars, about 13,400 euros. If you're married to a Filipino or Filipina, there's the 13(a) visa, and whoever goes to work needs a work permit. Your AOW goes along in full, even if you go alone. The tax treaty gives your occupational pension to the Philippines, and the Philippines doesn't tax income from outside the country. There's no healthcare treaty, so no CAK.
€ 399 one-off · 41 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- In without a visa, then a route to stay: the SRRV at the Philippine Retirement Authority, extending as a tourist, the 13(a) visa through your spouse, or work
- The clock
- After thirty days extending at the Bureau of Immigration, up to 36 months at most; after 59 days an ACR I-Card, and every year the Annual Report
- Note
- An AOW treaty, so the full AOW; a tax treaty that gives your occupational pension to the Philippines; no healthcare treaty, so no CAK
Last updated: 20 October 2026
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Five phases, from the first thirty days to your own residence permit
This journey turns on one clock and a choice. The clock is the thirty days you get on entry: after that you extend at the Bureau of Immigration, first to 59 days, then by one, two or six months. The choice is the route to stay. The SRRV is for whoever is 40 or older and sets aside a deposit, and saves you the extensions, the ACR I-Card and the Annual Report. The 13(a) visa is for whoever married a Filipino or Filipina, first a year on probation. On top of that there's what the brochure doesn't mention: your AOW goes along in full, and the tax treaty gives your occupational pension to the Philippines, which doesn't tax it.
- Orientation
Thirty days at a time, four routes, and a treaty for your AOW
In this phase you learn how living in the Philippines works, and what it does to your income and your healthcare. With a Dutch passport you may stay thirty days, and after that you extend. Whoever wants to stay chooses the SRRV, the extended stay as a tourist, the 13(a) visa through a Filipino spouse, or work. A visa for digital nomads exists on paper, but can't be applied for yet. Because of the 2001 treaty on the export of benefits a single person keeps the full AOW. There's no healthcare treaty, so no CAK. And the travel advice is red for the west of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago, and yellow for the rest: read it before you choose where to live.Read more
- Your visa
Choosing a route, papers with an apostille, and the application in the Philippines itself
In this phase you arrange your ground to stay. You apply for the SRRV and the 13(a) visa in the Philippines itself: you enter as a tourist and convert that stay. So don't take an e-Visa, because it can't be converted. For the SRRV you transfer the deposit to a bank the PRA accredits, with a medical certificate and a certificate of conduct at most six months old; the PRA takes 30 to 45 working days once everything is complete. The 13(a) visa first gives a year on probation, after which you apply for permanent residence. Whoever goes to work needs the 9(g) visa with a work permit (AEP) from the Philippine Department of Labor. Your papers get an apostille, and an English translation if they aren't in English.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
The full AOW, the occupational pension to your country of residence, and no CAK
In this phase you work through the familiar list for closing down in the Netherlands. Your AOW goes along in full, even if you go alone, but child benefit stops. The Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW, and a pension from government service too. The tax treaty gives your occupational pension and, according to the treaty text, your annuity to the Philippines, and the Philippines doesn't tax income from outside the country. For that you apply to the Belastingdienst for an exemption from payroll tax. You no longer get a tax credit. There's no CAK: your policy has to be accepted before you deregister. And whoever leaves before the AOW age can insure themselves voluntarily within one year.Read more
- The move
Household goods at customs' discretion, the car stays here
In this phase you move the household goods, the car and the pet. Whoever settles in the Philippines can bring their household goods without import duties, but customs decides and wants proof that you're really coming to live there. With the SRRV up to 7,000 dollars of household goods is free once, about 6,240 euros. A used car is in principle not allowed into the country: sell it in the Netherlands. The pet needs an import permit, the SPSIC, and a health certificate from the NVWA at most ten days old. From 1 January 2027 a rabies blood test is also compulsory. Have it done in the Netherlands: then it also counts for the way back.Read more
- Arrival in the Philippines
Extending and your ACR I-Card, then healthcare, licence and house
In this phase you arrange your stay, your healthcare, your driving licence and your house after landing. As a tourist you extend at the Bureau of Immigration before your thirty days are up, and if you stay longer than 59 days you get an ACR I-Card, the residence card for foreigners. Your international policy stays your healthcare; you can add PhilHealth, the Philippine health fund, voluntarily. With your Dutch and an international driving licence you may drive for 90 days, after that you convert it at the LTO. And buying a house only works halfway: a foreigner may not own land, but may own a flat, as long as the building stays at least 60 percent in Filipino hands.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Philippines journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 3.4 of your plan
Deregister and tell the SVB: your AOW goes along in full
- Lead time
- deregistering is possible from 5 days before departure; the whole takes 4-8 weeks
- Costs
- limited — cancellation costs per contract
In this step you deregister from your municipality and pass on your new address. If you're going to live outside the Netherlands for more than eight months a year, you have to deregister. That's possible from five days before your departure up to the day itself.
The municipality passes your new address on to Dienst Toeslagen. But an allowance you're no longer entitled to, such as rent allowance, you stop yourself in Mijn toeslagen.
Tell the SVB about your departure too. For the AOW the Philippines is a favourable exception:
- The full AOW goes along. The General Old Age Pensions Act gives whoever lives outside the Netherlands the AOW for married people. But the treaty with the Philippines says: a rule that restricts a benefit only because you live outside the Netherlands doesn't apply to whoever lives in the Philippines. So a single person keeps the AOW for a single person.
- The Anw goes along too. The treaty also applies to the survivors' benefit.
- A supplement doesn't. The Supplementary Benefits Act and social assistance aren't in the treaty.
That difference is large. In a country without such a treaty, a single person drops from seventy to fifty percent of the minimum wage. In the Philippines not.
Respond to post from the SVB. The SVB checks through the Philippine social insurance whether you're still entitled. If the SVB asks you for information, and you don't respond within three months, the benefit may stop.
If you leave before your AOW age, your AOW build-up stops. The treaty arranges the payment, not the build-up. Whoever goes to live outside the Netherlands is usually no longer insured for the AOW and the Anw. For every year you're not insured, you later get 2 percent less AOW. You can close the gap with voluntary insurance at the SVB. You have one year for that from the moment you're no longer insured. If you go together, this applies to each of you separately.
What this step rests on
- NederlandWereldwijd — when do I have to deregister from a Dutch municipality
- NederlandWereldwijd — how do I deregister if I go abroad
- Wetten.overheid.nl — the treaty with the Philippines on the export of benefits, articles 2, 4 and 9
- Answers to parliamentary questions 2024Z02891 — the 36 treaty countries, including the Philippines, where the full AOW goes
- General Old Age Pensions Act, article 9a — the rule for whoever lives outside the Netherlands, which the treaty sets aside
- Supplementary Benefits Act, article 6 — no supplement for whoever lives outside the Netherlands
- SVB — you're going to live outside the Netherlands: 2 percent less AOW per uninsured year, and one year to insure yourself voluntarily
- Dienst Toeslagen — I'm moving abroad, what do I pass on?
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Philippines.
This is step 3.4 of 41. The other 40 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 41 steps for PhilippinesWhat you get for € 399
All 41 steps to Philippines, for your situation
In order, with the office and the official source at every step. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear.
Your deadlines in one place
For each step you see the latest date to start, and you get a heads-up before something is due or expires. Your documents sit in the vault, with their dates.
A plan that stays right
Twice a month we check the sources. If something changes, it's in your plan and you get a message.
The step-by-step plan for Philippines
€ 399
one-off · 41 steps
- Pay once, no subscription
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Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Philippines: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Philippines change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Philippines? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Philippines starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
On 2 January we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on the Philippines
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Healthcare in the Philippines: no CAK, your own policy, and PhilHealth if you want itThe Philippines is not a treaty country for healthcare: after you emigrate there is no CAK scheme, and you take out health insurance yourself. As a foreign national you can voluntarily join PhilHealth, the Philippine health insurance. According to a 2017 circular that costs ₱ 15,000 a year with an SRRV and ₱ 17,000 with an ACR I-Card. The emergency number is 911.
- Residence routes to the Philippines: SRRV, extending as a tourist, partner or workMost people move to the Philippines without a visa in advance: you enter for 30 days and then choose a route. From age 40 you can apply for the SRRV retirement visa, with a deposit from US$ 15,000. As a tourist you extend up to a maximum of 36 months. Married to a Filipino, the 13(a) visa is open to you, and for work you need a 9(g) visa and an AEP.
- Working in the Philippines: the 9(g) visa, the AEP, SSS contributions and tax on Philippine wagesAnyone taking up employment in the Philippines needs a 9(g) visa from the immigration service, and before that a work permit from the Department of Labor, the AEP. The visa costs from ₱ 10,130 for one year. As an employee you pay income tax of 0 to 35% and contributions to the social security fund SSS. Working remotely on a digital nomad visa is not possible yet.
- AOW, pension and tax in the Philippines: full AOW, and a company pension that is taxed nowhereFor the AOW the Philippines is a treaty country: since 1 November 2002 an agreement on paying benefits abroad applies, so even a single person gets the full AOW there. Under the 1989 tax treaty the Netherlands taxes your AOW and an ABP pension from government service. A company pension may only be taxed by the Philippines, but the Philippines does not tax the foreign income of a foreign national.
- Car and driving licence in the Philippines: a used car may not enter, and after 90 days a Philippine licenceImporting a used car into the Philippines is prohibited, apart from one narrow exception for immigrants. So sell your car in the Netherlands. With your Dutch driving licence and an international driving permit you may drive for the first 90 days. After that you convert it at the LTO, for ₱ 785 and without a driving test, because in the Netherlands you also drive on the right.
- Dog or cat to the Philippines: an import permit from BAI, a ten-day certificate and from 2027 the blood testYour dog or cat may come to the Philippines with an import permit (SPSIC) from the Bureau of Animal Industry, a health certificate from the NVWA no more than ten days old and a valid rabies vaccination. From 1 January 2027 a rabies blood test is also required. You need it for the way back to the Netherlands anyway, so have it done in the Netherlands. You may import at most three animals a year.
All 13 articles about Philippines
- Household goods to the Philippines: free if you settle there, but customs decides, and the balikbayan box is not for you
- Banking and paying in the Philippines: cash, a dollar account and 20% on your interest
- The first weeks in the Philippines: 30 days, extending, and the ACR I-Card after 59 days
- Buying a house in the Philippines: no land, but a condo within the 40% limit, and a 25-year lease
- Renting in the Philippines: the rent law only applies up to ₱ 10,000 a month, so your contract is your protection
- Registration in the Philippines: ACR I-Card, Annual Report, ECC and your TIN
- School in the Philippines: thirteen years of K-12, lessons in Filipino and English, and a Special Study Permit
Also applies to your move
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The step-by-step plan for Philippines: 41 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.