Permanent status runs on a quota: no more than fifty visas a year per nationality.
between leaguesDay to day the Philippines is an easy place for a foreigner: public services in English, no integration courses or exams, and the family is processed together with the main applicant without a separate income threshold. But the country exports labour and lets foreigners into its job market only where no Filipino can be found.
Delivery is slow and in person. The 20-working-day standard stretches to 3-5 months, the key steps are done in person at the Bureau of Immigration, and every year between 1 January and 1 March all foreign card holders must report in person or pay a fine of 200 pesos a month. Anyone who has stayed more than six months needs a separate certificate to leave. The Bureau does not publish refusal statistics.
The main reminder of how hard the state can be: in 2024 the ban on the POGO gaming industry cancelled the legal work visas of an entire sector, with visas to be downgraded by 15 October and holders to leave by 31 December 2024. Over the past year the Bureau's operations have targeted overstayers and illegal work, not legal residents. Since 2024 a 9(g) holder who is promoted must get a new AEP and a new card, or face refusal and an order to leave.
The visa is tightly tied to the employer: changing jobs means a new AEP with a labour market test and a new visa from scratch. On dismissal the 9(g) is downgraded inside the country to a tourist visa, which gives 59 days to find work or leave, but you cannot work on a tourist visa. A spouse gets no right to work, children need a Bureau permit to study, and under the Constitution the regulated professions are open only to citizens.
Most banks open an account only with the ACR I-Card, which means months after arrival.
The index score ignores nationality. This is what changes for citizens of specific countries.
A separate 13(a) immigrant visa by marriage: a route to permanent status outside the 50-visa quota.
When we checked in August 2026 we found no rules aimed specifically at Russian or Belarusian citizens. The general conditions apply to them too: quota permanent residence is open only to nationals of countries with diplomatic relations and reciprocity, and the digital nomad visa is promised only to countries offering Filipinos a reciprocal visa, a list that has not been published.
The place interval 71-86 shows where the country lands when the data is nudged and the index is recalculated. One place of difference in the table means nothing; a difference of a league means something.
Between leaguesThe league holds in fewer than half of the recalculations. Read this country as sitting between two leagues, not as a member of the upper one.
The thin mark on each bar is the average across 97 countries
The strongest category here is Pressure on newcomers: 67 out of 100, against a 97-state average of 65.2. The weakest is Path to citizenship: 13 against 57.1. Above the world average: 1 out of 7.
All 97 states are calculated for one applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route that is actually in use.
Your passport, your income and your family do not change the table. They change which of its lines apply to you. A different income makes entry read differently, a family makes the family category read differently, and your passport makes everything read differently.
Up to 20 working days under the Bureau of Immigration's charter, but in practice the Bureau stage takes 2-3 months and the full path with the work permit 3-5 months.
Not with the right to work. You can live there on the SIRV investor visa ($75,000) or the SRRV retiree visa from age 40, but neither lets you work; the digital nomad visa is not being issued in practice.
The Bureau of Immigration's official table lists 10,130 pesos for a one-year 9(g) plus $50 for the foreigner card, but it is dated 2014. We could not confirm the 2026 rate or the work permit fee from official sources.
Yes: on dismissal the work visa is downgraded to a tourist visa, giving 59 days to find a new employer or leave, and you cannot work in that time. In 2024 the state cancelled the visas of an entire industry at once.
For most foreigners permanent residence is out of reach in practice: a quota of 50 visas a year per nationality, reciprocity and a $100,000 investment. Citizenship through the courts after 10 years of residence, giving up your previous citizenship and speaking a Philippine language.
Day to day, yes, and in English, with no integration requirements. But the state guards its job market for locals, the agency is slow and wants you in person, and putting down roots is almost impossible.
97 states, 26 indicators, seven categories, 2,522 scores. Every score has a source and a source class: primary means the texts of laws and government portals; reliable secondary means reports by international organisations, tax reviews by audit firms and specialist legal publications; weak means community posts and single secondary sources. The classes add up to a confidence level for the country, and a country with low confidence gets neither a score nor a place.
Every indicator is scored against a fixed ruler, not against its neighbours. Adding new countries therefore does not move the old ones, and a change in a score means a change in policy and nothing else.
A high place does not mean a good country. It means one thing: the state machine treats newcomers predictably and by the rules. Living there may be expensive, dull or hot; that is not our question.
Checked 01/10/2026. Facts come from the country's index card and official websites.
We make mistakes and we will go on making them: policy changes faster than any database. Our answer is not a pose of infallibility but a visible trail of corrections. Every correction is published: what it was, what it became, the source and the reason for the error. The corrections log opens with the second issue, together with the first block of changes.