26 October 2026 · Bureau of Immigration

Special Work Permit or 9G: choosing by contract length

The Special Work Permit is not a smaller 9G. It is a different authorisation with a ceiling of its own, and the contract length, not the price, is what decides which one you file.

The Bureau of Immigration describes the commercial Special Work Permit as the authorisation for a foreign national who will engage in gainful employment for three to six months. The 9G has no such ceiling, it is employer-sponsored, and it is co-terminus with the Alien Employment Permit behind it. Both are filed at the same office, both need the same passport and contract, and the mistake is treating the choice as a price comparison.

What each authorisation costs

The SWP is ₱6,440 at the Bureau, with US$50 added if it is issued with a one-year ACR I-Card. Both figures are on the Bureau's commercial SWP page, which carries the note that fees were updated on 6 March 2014 and may change without prior notice.

The 9G conversion, for an employer outside the top 1,000 corporations, is ₱10,130 for one year, ₱17,170 for two and ₱24,210 for three, plus the card at US$50, US$100 or US$150. Inside the top 1,000 corporations the one-year figure is ₱10,630.

• SWP: three to six months of paid work, on the Bureau's own checklist for the transaction.
• 9G: the employment visa for a post that continues, issued after the AEP and unable to outlive it.
• A six-month SWP at ₱6,440 is cheaper than a one-year 9G, and it is still the wrong file for a two-year contract.

The gap that gets refused later

Layering an SWP under a long engagement is the pattern that fails. The permit expires on the date printed on its face. If the AEP has not been published and issued by then, the foreigner is working without authorisation between the two permits, and the file that reaches the Bureau afterwards is a fresh conversion, not a renewal.

The arithmetic is the clearest argument. An extension of a commercial 9G for one year is ₱7,060 for a non-top-1,000 employer. A lapse removes that option: the file returns as a conversion at ₱10,130, before any fee for the days worked in between.

Where the delay actually sits

Not at the immigration counter. The employer must publish the vacancy in a newspaper of general circulation at least 15 days before filing, and that publication is only good for 45 days. The AEP is ₱6,000 for the first year and ₱5,000 for each additional year, with processing at 15 working days after payment.

The 9G file then needs the current year General Information Sheet, a current Mayor's Permit, the latest income tax return with proof of payment attached, and a notarised certification of the number of foreign and Filipino employees. Each of those is dated. A document from the previous year is not a request for clarification, it is a refusal.

How to decide, in order

• Fix the engagement length from the contract, not from the intention.
• If it is three to six months with no post continuing afterwards, the SWP is the correct authorisation.
• If it runs past six months, start the AEP now: publication takes 15 days and the permit is granted in 15 working days after payment.
• If a 9G already exists, file the extension as early as 60 days before expiry, and keep it inside the AEP's validity.

Working one day past an SWP expiry is unauthorised work, which is an immigration offence and not a fee to be settled at the counter afterwards. Choosing correctly costs a document set and a newspaper publication. Choosing late costs a new conversion, the intervening exposure, and a file that is read with more attention the second time.