Employment is not the only route to long-term residency in the Philippines. Foreign nationals can also pursue residency through investment or employment generation, without relying on a sponsoring employer. Two visa categories are particularly relevant: the Special Investor’s Resident Visa (SIRV), which provides residency based on a qualifying investment, and the Special Visa for Employment Generation (SVEG), which is designed for foreign entrepreneurs whose enterprise puts a meaningful number of Filipinos to work.
Both options differ from the standard 9(g) employment visa covered elsewhere in this series, and each comes with its own eligibility requirements, financial commitments, and ongoing conditions. The 9(d) Treaty Trader or Investor Visa also provides an investment-linked option for nationals of certain treaty countries, making it another route worth considering for eligible investors.
This guide explains how the SIRV and SVEG work, including their investment and employment requirements, eligibility, family coverage, application process, costs, and ongoing maintenance obligations.
The Special Investor’s Resident Visa (SIRV)
The SIRV, administered by the Board of Investments in coordination with the Bureau of Immigration, is the more straightforward of the two conceptually: place a qualifying amount of capital into the Philippine economy and receive residency in return for as long as the investment is maintained.
What Investment Qualifies for the SIRV?
The program requires a minimum investment of USD 75,000, remitted to and held in an accredited Philippine bank before being deployed into a qualifying investment.
Qualifying investments generally include shares in companies listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange or capital placed in new or existing corporations engaged in activities not reserved for Filipino ownership. Examples include manufacturing, services, and tourism-related enterprises.
Wholesale or retail trading activities and direct real estate purchases are notably excluded. The SIRV is intended to fund productive investment rather than property speculation or land acquisition, which is subject to separate land ownership restrictions covered elsewhere in this series.
Can SIRV Holders Work in the Philippines?
An SIRV holder who is simply managing their own investment generally does not need a separate Alien Employment Permit for that role. However, once the visa holder takes on an actual operational or managerial position within the invested company beyond overseeing the investment itself, ordinary labor and employment regulations may apply.
The SIRV is therefore best understood as a residency-through-capital instrument first, and as work authorization only in the narrow sense of managing one’s own investment.
What Are the SIRV Eligibility and Family Requirements?
Applicants generally must be at least 21 years old and have no criminal record, contagious disease, or history of institutionalization for mental illness, subject to applicable character and health screening requirements.
The principal applicant can include a spouse and unmarried children under 21 under the same visa. The visa begins with a six-month probationary period, after which it converts to indefinite residency, provided the investment remains at the qualifying level.
If the qualifying investment is withdrawn, the basis for the residency also falls away.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
|
Alien Employment Permit AEP |
A permit issued to a foreign national who is authorized to engage in employment in the Philippines, subject to applicable labor regulations. |
| Indefinite Residency | A residency status without a fixed expiration date, subject to the holder continuing to satisfy the conditions required to maintain that status. |
The Special Visa for Employment Generation (SVEG)
Where the SIRV rewards capital, the SVEG rewards job creation directly. The Bureau of Immigration issues it, with a security clearance step conducted through the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
The qualifying test is straightforward: the applicant’s enterprise must directly employ at least ten Filipino workers in a lawful and sustainable business, trade, or industry under normal Philippine labor law.
What Does the SVEG Actually Grant?
This distinction matters because the SVEG is often mischaracterized. It does not confer permanent residency in the same sense as the SRRV or a converted SIRV.
Instead, it grants a conditional, indefinitely renewable extended stay with multiple-entry privileges. In practice, a foreign entrepreneur can remain in the Philippines indefinitely as long as the employment condition continues to be met. The visa, however, remains explicitly tied to that ongoing condition rather than converting into unconditional permanent status.
How Does the Ten-Employee Requirement Work?
The ten-employee condition is a floor, not a one-time hurdle. The requirement is not simply to prove that the enterprise made ten hires at some point. The enterprise must maintain that level of direct Filipino employment on an ongoing basis.
If employment drops below the threshold, the visa itself may be put at risk. This makes the SVEG a meaningfully different commitment from the SIRV’s requirement to maintain an investment. Staffing levels can fluctuate with business conditions in ways a bank-held investment generally does not.
An SVEG holder therefore needs genuine confidence in the business’s ability to sustain the required headcount before relying on the visa as a long-term residency route.
What Are the SVEG Family and Application Requirements?
Spouses and unmarried dependent children under 18, whether legitimate, illegitimate, or adopted, can be included under the principal applicant’s SVEG.
The application runs through the Bureau of Immigration in a multi-step process involving forms, document pre-screening, fee payment, a hearing, biometric capture, and, once approved, passport endorsement.
Where The 9(d) Treaty Trader or Investor Visa Fits In
For nationals of countries that have a Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation with the Philippines, including the United States, Germany, and Japan, the 9(d) visa described in the general visa overview elsewhere in this series offers a third investment-linked path.
It covers both treaty traders and treaty investors who develop and direct a substantial capital investment. It is narrower than the SIRV in one respect because it is available only to eligible treaty nationals, but it does not carry the same fixed dollar threshold or investment-type restrictions. Eligibility instead depends on meeting the specific treaty’s “substantial investment” test.
For eligible nationals considering all three investment-linked routes, the 9(d) is therefore worth comparing directly with the SIRV rather than assuming the SIRV is the only option.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation | An international agreement establishing rights and conditions for commercial, investment, and related activities between the participating countries. |
| Substantial Investment | An investment of sufficient size and economic significance to satisfy the requirements established under the applicable treaty for investor visa eligibility. |
How Do You Choose Between the SIRV and SVEG?
The decision usually comes down to what the underlying plan actually looks like.
An investor who wants to hold a portfolio stake, sit on a board, or fund a venture without running its day-to-day operations may fit the SIRV structure more naturally. It is built for capital that generates a return without requiring the visa holder’s constant operational involvement.
An entrepreneur actively building and running a Philippine business that genuinely needs, and can sustainably support, at least ten Filipino employees may be a more natural fit for the SVEG. This can be particularly relevant if the available capital does not clear the SIRV’s USD 75,000 threshold on its own, but the business plan supports meaningful local hiring instead.
These are also not necessarily permanent choices made once and never revisited. A foreign investor might start on a 9(g) employment visa while the business is small, move to an SVEG once headcount clears the threshold, or maintain an SIRV alongside other business activities.
The right starting point depends on which condition, capital held or Filipino jobs created, the actual business plan can support and sustain, rather than which option sounds more prestigious on paper.
ILA Global Consulting can assist foreign investors and entrepreneurs in assessing the available residency routes alongside their investment structure, business activities, and employment plans in the Philippines.
How Do the Costs of SIRV and SVEG Compare?
Cost is also part of the comparison, and the two visas approach it differently.
The SIRV’s USD 75,000 threshold is a hard floor regardless of what the investment itself is expected to earn. The SVEG has no equivalent capital minimum written into the visa rules. Its real cost is whatever it takes to build and sustain a business that can support ten Filipino salaries indefinitely.
For a lean service business, that commitment might be considerably less than USD 75,000 in capital. For a more capital-intensive operation, it might be considerably more. Neither is objectively cheaper; they simply reflect different types of commitment.
What Documentation and Costs Should Applicants Expect?
Both routes involve more paperwork than a simple tourist or employment visa application, so budget time for the process rather than treating it as a formality.
SIRV applicants typically need to show the source of the investment funds, bank certifications confirming the remittance and deployment of capital, NBI or equivalent police clearances, medical certification, and BOI endorsement of the specific investment before the Bureau of Immigration processes the visa itself.
SVEG applicants need to document the enterprise’s registration, actual payroll and employment records demonstrating the ten-Filipino-employee threshold, and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency’s clearance, in addition to the standard character and health documentation.
Government fees for both are modest relative to the underlying investment or business commitment. Professional fees for structuring the investment correctly or setting up and documenting employment relationships properly can often exceed the visa’s own processing costs. This can be worthwhile given how much depends on getting the qualifying structure right from the outset.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Source of Investment Funds | Documentation showing where the funds used for the qualifying investment came from and establishing the legitimacy of those funds. |
|
NBI Clearance National Bureau of Investigation Clearance |
An official Philippine document confirming the results of a person’s criminal record check through the National Bureau of Investigation. |
|
BOI Endorsement Board of Investments Endorsement |
An official endorsement from the Board of Investments confirming or supporting the qualifying investment for purposes of the SIRV application. |
What Should SIRV and SVEG Holders Consider After Obtaining the Visa?
The one thing SIRV and SVEG holders have in common, despite their different qualifying tests, is that neither visa is a one-time achievement.
Both are conditional on an ongoing state of affairs: capital must remain invested, or employment must remain above the required threshold. Either visa can be lost if its qualifying condition lapses.
Anyone weighing either route should plan not just for the initial qualification, but for what happens to their residency status if the business changes shape years later. Restructuring an investment or workforce without first checking the visa implications can jeopardize a status that took significant capital and effort to establish.
ILA Global Consulting Philippines can provide guidance on investment-based residency, employment-generation structures, and the documentation required to support the relevant visa application. Discuss your planned investment or business structure with our team to determine the appropriate route for your circumstances.
Frequently Asked Questions
The SIRV is based on maintaining a qualifying investment of at least USD 75,000, while the SVEG is based on an enterprise directly employing at least ten Filipino workers. The two visas therefore support different types of foreign participation in the Philippine economy.
The SVEG provides a conditional, indefinitely renewable extended stay with multiple-entry privileges, not unconditional permanent residency. The foreign entrepreneur must continue to meet the employment requirement to maintain the visa.
Yes. An SIRV principal applicant may include a spouse and unmarried children under 21. Under the SVEG, spouses and unmarried dependent children under 18 may be included, subject to the applicable requirements.
The 9(d) Treaty Trader or Investor Visa provides another investment-related option for eligible foreign investors. It is available to nationals of countries with which the Philippines has a qualifying treaty, including the United States, Germany, and Japan. Unlike the SIRV, it has no fixed investment threshold or prescribed investment types. Instead, applicants must meet the treaty-specific requirement for a substantial capital investment. Its availability is therefore more limited by nationality and treaty requirements than the SIRV or SVEG.
