PRA halts application processing amid influx of Chinese ‘retirees’

The Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) indefinitely suspended processing applications for new Special Resident Retiree's Visas (SRRVs) starting October 23.

The PRA made the move after it was revealed during Senate budget deliberations that the PRA had been allowing foreign citizens as young as 35 years old to retire in the country.

It was Senators Nancy Binay and Richard Gordon who questioned the policy after it was confirmed by PRA General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Bienvenido Chy that there were 27,678 Chinese retirees in the Philippines—the highest number among over 100 nationalities who chose the country as their retirement destination.

“The public is hereby advised that the acceptance and processing of applications for new SRRV is suspended beginning 23 October 2020 until further notice pending the ongoing review of the SRVV Program and the PRA’s compliance with the directives set forth by the Philippine Retirement Authority's Board of Trustees (BOT) during the Board Meeting held on October 23, 2020,” the PRA said in a statement.

For servicing-related transactions of existing SRRV holders, PRA advised the public to reach out to its Servicing Division at servicing@pra.gov.ph or +632-8848-1412 to 16 local 2007, 2009-2011 , 2054, 2038, 2063.

The PRA statement issued on Friday was signed by PRA chief Chy.

Chy earlier told Senators that the agency accepted retirees as young as 35-years-old because members of the Korean military retired at age 35.

Binay and Gordon argued that it was hard to believe such young Chinese citizens were retirees and were not working illegally in the country, considering that individuals at that age were generally able-bodied.

According to PRA data revealed in the Senate, Korean citizens ranked second in the list of foreign citizen retirees in the country, followed by the Indians at 6,120. — DVM, GMA News