Special Work Permit (SWP) for short work

TL;DR: The Special Work Permit is a Bureau of Immigration permit for listed short-term work by a foreign national who is not taking up employment. It runs for up to three months, with one final three-month extension, and stops at six months. It is not a 9(g) visa. Employment uses an AEP and a 9(g), with a Provisional Work Permit only while those are pending.

The Special Work Permit, SWP, is issued by the Bureau of Immigration so a foreign national on a temporary visitor visa can do specific short work in the Philippines. The rule in force is BI Operations Order No. JHM-2019-008, dated 27 June 2019 and published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on 2 July 2019. It implements the 1 May 2019 joint guidelines of the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Immigration.

The order defines the SWP as a permit to work outside an employment arrangement. A Provisional Work Permit is the permit for work under an employment arrangement while an Alien Employment Permit or a section 9(g) visa is still pending. Both permits assume the person holds a temporary visitor visa under section 9(a) of Commonwealth Act No. 613, or is admitted under Executive Order No. 408.

The BI’s current commercial SWP service page describes the applicant more broadly, as a foreign national who will engage in gainful employment for three to six months. Where that wording and the 2019 order differ, this page follows the order. The order says it repeals prior issuances that conflict with it.

Who needs one

Section 1 of the order lists the people the BI may issue an SWP to:

1. Professional athletes, coaches, trainers, and assistants.
2. International performers with exceptional abilities.
3. Artists, performers, and their staff who perform before an audience for a fee, if they meet the endorsements of the relevant agency.
4. Service suppliers who come mainly to perform temporary services and who do not receive salary or other pay from a Philippine source, other than expenses incidental to the stay.
5. Treasure hunters who hold a permit from the government agency concerned.
6. Movie and television crews authorized to film by the relevant office.
7. Foreign journalists practicing their profession or covering a specific event.
8. Trainees assigned to a government instrumentality, a government-owned or controlled corporation, or a private entity.
9. Lecturers, researchers, trainers, and others on academic work, assigned to a school, university, research institution, government agency, or other entity, with or without compensation.
10. Religious missionaries and preachers.
11. Commercial models and talents.
12. Culinary specialists and chefs.
13. Professionals.
14. Consultants or specialists.

A typical Chamberlain case in this list is a consultant, a trainer, or a specialist brought in for a defined project, a performer or crew on a fixed run, or an athlete or coach at a tournament. The engagement has to fit the list, and it has to sit outside an employment arrangement. A foreign national hired onto a Philippine company’s payroll is in the employment track: Alien Employment Permit, then a 9(g) work visa.

A regulated profession also needs a Special Temporary Permit from the Professional Regulation Commission when the position is one the PRC regulates. The SWP does not replace that permit.

How the SWP compares with a PWP, an AEP, and a 9(g)

The practical split is the employment relationship. A short consultancy, a performance, a tournament, a training course, or a film shoot that is not employment is an SWP question. A job, including a founder who goes on the Philippine company’s payroll, is an AEP and 9(g) question. If that person must start before the 9(g) is approved, the Provisional Work Permit is the interim authority, and only while the AEP or the 9(g) application is already in process.

Documents

The commercial list in section 4 of the order is the set for consultants, specialists, professionals, and the other commercial categories. File all of the following:

1. A letter request to the Commissioner from the petitioning company.
2. The accomplished Consolidated General Application Form for a work permit. The BI service page says to get the form from the Public Information and Assistance Unit at the BI main office, or from the BI website.
3. A photocopy of the passport bio page and the latest admission with a valid authorized stay.
4. For a corporation or partnership: the SEC certificate, the articles of incorporation, the current General Information Sheet stamped received by the SEC, and a valid mayor’s permit.
5. For a sole proprietorship: the DTI certificate of business name registration, and the mayor’s permit. That DTI certificate is the filing covered on DTI registration.
6. A contract of service, or a secretary’s certificate of election, appointment, assignment, secondment, or deployment, stating the duration, compensation and benefits, and the scope of duties.
7. A board resolution if the people who sign the letter and the contract are not the signatories in the articles and the latest GIS.
8. The petitioner’s latest income tax return with proof of payment. A new company submits its BIR certificate and proof of quarterly tax payments. A company with no income, or with an overpayment, submits the return with proof of filing.
9. A sworn declaration of the petitioning company.
10. The applicant’s TIN card or other proof of TIN.
11. A certificate from the petitioner, through its authorized representative, stating whether this is the initial SWP or the final SWP, and that the documents are genuine.
12. A PRC Special Temporary Permit when the position is a regulated profession.
13. A BI clearance certificate.

Artists, chefs, athletes, and religious preachers use the section 2 list instead. The promoter’s letter must name the people, give the itinerary and schedule, and undertake to withhold and remit BIR tax on the income. Endorsements are specific. For concerts, Asosasyon ng Musikong Pilipino for musicians, or Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit for singers, and the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, FILSCAP, for a public performance of copyrighted music. For athletes, trainers, coaches, and participants, the Philippine Sports Commission, the Philippine Olympic Committee, or a recognized body such as the PBA or PFL. For religious preachers, the CBCP, PCEC, INC, JIL, or another legitimate religious sect.

Commercial models need the endorsement the order abbreviates as FAP. Foreign journalists need an endorsement from the Malacañang Press Corps. Trainees need an endorsement from the government-owned corporation or the private sponsor.

The order names movie and television crews as an SWP category if a relevant office has authorized the filming. It does not give crews a separate checklist. Use the commercial list unless the accepting BI office publishes a crew-specific one.

How the filing works

The petitioning company files. A passport by itself is not an application. The BI commercial service page sets this sequence:

1. Get the Consolidated General Application Form from the Public Information and Assistance Unit or the BI website.
2. Submit the form and the documents for pre-screening at the Central Receiving Unit of the BI main office, or at another immigration office authorized to process the SWP.
3. Receive the Order of Payment Slip.
4. Pay the fees on that slip.
5. Submit a copy of the official receipt.
6. If no ACR I-Card will be issued, claim the approved SWP.
7. If an ACR I-Card will be issued, attend the hearing and the image and fingerprint capture on the schedule printed on the receipt, then claim the SWP and the card.

Section 9 of the order tells the receiving office to check that the petitioner exists and can support the engagement, that the addresses match, that the nature of the business on the SEC certificate fits the work, and that the company holds the government licence it needs. The alien control officer, or the officer authorized for that office, approves or disapproves.

The main office accepts commercial SWP applications. Other immigration offices do too, if they are on BI’s list of offices authorized for this transaction. File at the office that covers the place of work, and confirm that office is on the list before you travel to it.

Validity, extension, and whether it converts

Section 7 of the order sets the period for both the SWP and the PWP:

• Maximum of six months.
• The permit is non-renewable after that maximum.
• The first grant is not more than three months.
• One final three-month period is available if you apply for it.

For artists, chefs, athletes, and religious preachers, the order also says the SWP is valid for three months, extendable, or for the length of the event or tournament, whichever comes first.

The second period is a completion of the six months, not a new permit you can keep stacking. The order’s numbering system marks that second approval with a “B” suffix. The petitioner’s certificate must say whether the application is the initial SWP or the final one.

There is no conversion section. An approved SWP does not become a 9(g). If the assignment turns into employment, stop and file the AEP and the 9(g). Do not keep working on an expired SWP while those applications are prepared. If the person must work during that gap, the correct interim document is a Provisional Work Permit, and the order requires the AEP, or at least the official receipt of the AEP application, before the PWP is issued.

The SWP also does not replace the visa. Section 13 says the holder presents the SWP order to the Tourist Visa Section, or to a subport, at the next extension of the temporary visitor visa. The stay is encoded as a temporary visitor with an SWP. The office is not supposed to extend the stay, or issue an ACR I-Card, if the SWP is not in the system. Keep the tourist visa or other authorized stay alive for the whole engagement. A longer visitor extension, when that is the right stay, is covered on the six-month tourist visa page. That extension is still not permission to work.

Fees

The BI commercial SWP page publishes this schedule:

The page states that the fees were updated as of 6 March 2014 and may change without prior notice. Treat ₱6,440 as the last figure BI has posted on that page, not as a 2026 quotation. The amount you pay is the amount on the Order of Payment Slip.

Mistakes and penalties

These are the failures that show up in the order and on the BI filing page:

• Starting the work on a temporary visitor admission before the SWP is approved. The permit is the authority to do the listed work. The visa stamp is not.
• Using an SWP for a real job. Employment belongs on the AEP and 9(g) track. The PWP covers only the gap while those are pending.
• Letting the authorized stay expire because the SWP was treated as a visa. It is not.
• Treating the first three months as six months. The final three months have to be applied for, and the petitioner must say that the application is the final one.
• Applying for a third period. Section 7 says the permit is non-renewable once the six months are used.
• Skipping the TIN, the BIR withholding undertaking in the petition letter where the category requires it, or the PRC Special Temporary Permit for a regulated profession.
• Misstating the job, the petitioner, or the documents. Section 12 says any violation of the terms, and any misrepresentation, renders the permit invalid and may subject the holder to deportation proceedings.

Working with no permit at all is an immigration violation. In G.R. No. 159835 the Supreme Court described a charge under section 37(a)(7) of Commonwealth Act No. 613 as remaining in the Philippines in violation of any limitation or condition under which the person was admitted as a nonimmigrant. A section 9(a) temporary visitor admission is a visit. It is not an authorization to work. This page does not quote a peso fine for that violation. No current BI schedule stating the fine was confirmed.

How Chamberlain handles it

Chamberlain files the SWP with the petitioning company when the engagement is an SWP case. When the person will be employed, the filing is an AEP, a Provisional Work Permit, and a 9(g). The government fees above are separate from the professional fee. Visa and work-permit work is quoted per applicant on the pricing page.

Book a consultation before the person starts work. The full set of routes is on the Philippine visas hub.

Sources

• BI Operations Order No. JHM-2019-008, Implementing Rules on Special Work Permit and Provisional Work Permit, 27 June 2019, published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on 2 July 2019. A full text is posted at Legaldex.
• Bureau of Immigration, Special Work Permit, Commercial, filing steps and the fee table dated 6 March 2014
• G.R. No. 159835, the Supreme Court’s description of a section 37(a)(7) charge