Philippines 9G Work Visa Requirements: Employer, Employee, Role and Stay

What the employer must meet for a 9G: the company clears first

In the Bureau of Immigration file the employer is the petitioner and the employee only the beneficiary, so the first gate is the company: it must show it genuinely exists, files taxes and has a valid signing authority. Read together, the BI checklist and the Citizen's Charter expect the company to produce:

• Current-year registration papers: for a corporation or partnership, the SEC certificate, articles and a current-year GIS stamped received by the SEC; for a sole proprietor, the DTI business name certificate; plus a current-year Mayor's Permit.
• The latest income tax return with proof of payment: an official receipt, a bank teller validation or a BIR eFPS payment printout.
• A notarised headcount of foreign and Filipino employees, signed in original by the applicant and the employer's authorised representative.
• A complete signing chain: officers listed on the GIS or the sole proprietor may sign directly; anyone else needs a board resolution, secretary's certificate or special power of attorney.

If you fall short: replace stale papers with current-year versions before starting; add authorisation documents if the signatory is not on the GIS; and if the company is too new to have filed a return, ask BI how that item is substituted under its current practice rather than guessing. A company petitioning for a foreigner for the first time is usually read more closely simply because the agency has no history on it, so a clean file saves the most time. The full document map is in the 9G work visa documents checklist.

What a 9G requires of the employee: a record that supports the role

The employee side is not a contest of who is most impressive; it asks whether your education, experience and licences explain why this role needs a foreigner. In practice reviewers look at:

• Education and field: relevance to the duties, and whether foreign diplomas have been authenticated.
• Work history: whether past posts form a credible line of experience.
• Professional licensing: a PRC-regulated profession needs a special temporary permit; a nationalised industry also involves a DOJ authority to employ foreigners.
• Passport: at least six months' validity at implementation, and the original must be brought to any evaluation or interview.
• Record: no derogatory record affecting entry or residence.

If you fall short: foreign documents must be authenticated by a Philippine post or apostilled, with English translations where needed; this is the slowest link and should start first. If the role is regulated, confirm the PRC permit is obtainable before talking about the 9G. If the passport is running short, renew it before filing so you do not discover a re-stamping problem at implementation. Any fixed education or experience threshold follows the current DOLE order and the receiving office; this page states no numbers.

9G position requirements: whether the AEP passes depends on the role

The AEP is issued by the Department of Labor and Employment and it reviews the job, not you: is there no competent, willing local worker for it? The current rules are DOLE Department Order No. 248 (in force from 10 February 2025, followed by supplementary guidelines under 248-A), resting on Article 40 of the Labor Code. The role must clear these points:

• A specific, consistent job description: duties, reporting line and qualifications must agree; vague titles such as manager or consultant draw more questions.
• Publication as required: a first-time conversion filing also needs the actual AEP publication or the publisher's certificate.
• Two hard deadlines: the permit must be applied for within fifteen calendar days of publication and within fifteen calendar days of contract signing, running in parallel.
• Consistency: the title and exact pay in the contract must match the AEP filing and the tax withholding.
• Not a reserved occupation: jobs reserved by law for Filipino citizens cannot be held by foreigners.

If you fall short: rewrite a vague job description before filing; if the contract is already signed, check at once how much of the fifteen-day window remains and follow the receiving office's instruction; if the role itself is reserved, redesign the role or the engagement model rather than renaming it. Why the order is AEP first and 9G second is covered in AEP or 9G: which comes first.

How much stay must remain for a 9G: status premise and buffer

When converting from visitor status inside the Philippines, the Citizen's Charter states that at least thirty days of authorised stay must remain when fees are assessed. Many applicants are turned back at the counter on this point, because pre-screening, payment and hearing all take time and the case cannot move once the stay has lapsed.

• Not enough buffer: extend the visitor stay first, then file the 9G.
• Still abroad: this BI checklist covers in-country conversion and extension; a route starting overseas must be confirmed according to where you are.
• Already on a 9G that is expiring: use the extension checklist, refresh company papers to the current year, and renew the AEP first.
• Wanting to work while waiting: an AEP proves the role, not the right to start; the proper bridge is a provisional permit once the AEP and 9G are on file, see the PWP provisional work permit.

If you fall short: plan backwards from the stay expiry printed in your passport, subtract the extension, authentication, AEP and pre-screening stages, and only then pick a start date. If the stay has already lapsed, resolve the overstay before talking about a 9G.

What to do if you do not meet the 9G conditions: lawful alternatives by bottleneck

Falling short does not mean there is no route, but every alternative stays inside the review process; none goes around it. Choose by where you are stuck:

• Timing: the application is filed and the person must start, so use a provisional work permit that follows the 9G review; it bridges, it does not replace.
• Duration: the work lasts only months, so a local company can apply for a special work permit for a visitor-status holder, but it runs an initial three months with one final extension, capped at six months for the same work, and cannot stand in for a 9G long term.
• The role: the job is reserved for Filipinos, so change the role design or the engagement model.
• The company: the employer's standing or compliance papers are missing, so fix company compliance first or move to a genuine, qualified employer.
• No real employer: the 9G is a pre-arranged employment visa; if you only want a status without an actual job, this route is not for you.

One route to rule out explicitly: borrowing the name of a company that does not really employ you. It changes the legal basis of your whole status, and the consequences once discovered far outweigh the trouble it seems to save.

Doing a 9G yourself or using help: which steps the employee or employer must do

First, a 9G has no option for the employee to file alone; the petitioner must be the employer. The real choice is whether the company runs it in-house or hands the delegable parts to an agent. Broken down:

• Only the employee: signs the application form, provides the original passport and personal credentials, attends biometrics capture at the alien registration counter, and appears with the original passport at evaluation or interview.
• Only the employer: co-signs the petition letter as petitioner, issues the contract, tax returns, registration papers and notarised headcount, and fixes the signing authority; on the DOLE side the employer is also the legal AEP applicant.
• Can be delegated: checking and ordering the checklist, filling forms, arranging authentication of foreign documents, filing and payment runs (an agent filing must attach a copy of the BI-accredited representative's credential or an original special power of attorney, plus a copy of the representative's ID), and tracking agenda lists and status.

Questions to settle before delegating:

1. In what capacity will they file, and who issues and signs the authorisation?
2. Which steps they handle and which the company or you must do, ideally in writing.
3. Will they check your stay expiry and both fifteen-day deadlines before building a timeline?
4. How progress is reported, and who keeps the official receipts and acknowledgement originals.
5. Whether they promise an outcome. Approval rests with DOLE and BI; anyone guaranteeing approval or a fixed number of days is a reason to stop.

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