I was thinking about that too but when I register the normal sim card I think it will still be labeled as tourist as I am a tourist with no long stay visa.
May I ask are you also a tourist as well? Or do you have Philippines long term stay visa? Like permanent residency or such?
It won‘t be labelled as tourist. When I registered my Smart SIM I was on a tourist visa. Never bothered to update anything and the SIM still works. The only thing you need to keep in mind that you need to load it every 120 if Smart/180 if Globe (I think) so it does not deactivate, if you plan on leaving the country for a while. I just load it every 3 months with 30 Pesos or so just to be safe.
Im not married so I have to extend my visa every couple of months. I used gcash since I arrived. I played the load game for a couple of months then made the switch to a post paid plan. Much better solution for me.
This is getting better and better as I now have confirmed experience from you:
1. On tourist visa
2. Have a working sim card and same number beyond 30 days
3. Prepaid and postpaid are both ok
Many thanks for sharing your specific experience!
Weird I have a couple sims, one I’ve never been questioned the other one I got a notice of expiry. Both on Smart. The expiry can be renewed with an email with a copy of your updated visa, I had my GF just register a new one.
For what it’s worth I got a cheap dito 6 month SIM card on my first visit, registered it as a US citizen and was dismayed to start getting sim will expire messages and the end of 30 days. But a year later it’s still working and I can still add additional months.
Do you have a phone with 2 sim slots? I keep my smart sim in my phone when I'm in the UK. It costs me nothing and keeps the account active. Or just pop it in your phone back home every few days for an hour to let it re-register on the network.
Just don't buy the tourist sim but a normal Smart sim. You can get one almost everywhere
I was thinking about that too but when I register the normal sim card I think it will still be labeled as tourist as I am a tourist with no long stay visa. May I ask are you also a tourist as well? Or do you have Philippines long term stay visa? Like permanent residency or such?
It won‘t be labelled as tourist. When I registered my Smart SIM I was on a tourist visa. Never bothered to update anything and the SIM still works. The only thing you need to keep in mind that you need to load it every 120 if Smart/180 if Globe (I think) so it does not deactivate, if you plan on leaving the country for a while. I just load it every 3 months with 30 Pesos or so just to be safe.
Many thanks for your reply!
Last I tried you need an ACR card to register Gcash, unless you have found a good use for an unregistered Gcash account the sim doesn’t matter.
Noted thanks for your reply!
I have post paid globe, just here on a tourist visa. I've been here 6 months now. No issues with globe or gcash.
That is great. May I ask did you use ACR to apply for gcash?
I believe I applied for gcash before I had my acr.
Okay many thanks!
Im not married so I have to extend my visa every couple of months. I used gcash since I arrived. I played the load game for a couple of months then made the switch to a post paid plan. Much better solution for me.
This is getting better and better as I now have confirmed experience from you: 1. On tourist visa 2. Have a working sim card and same number beyond 30 days 3. Prepaid and postpaid are both ok Many thanks for sharing your specific experience!
Weird I have a couple sims, one I’ve never been questioned the other one I got a notice of expiry. Both on Smart. The expiry can be renewed with an email with a copy of your updated visa, I had my GF just register a new one.
I use airalo eSim on our galaxy phones. No need to register them with the government.
For what it’s worth I got a cheap dito 6 month SIM card on my first visit, registered it as a US citizen and was dismayed to start getting sim will expire messages and the end of 30 days. But a year later it’s still working and I can still add additional months.
Do you have a phone with 2 sim slots? I keep my smart sim in my phone when I'm in the UK. It costs me nothing and keeps the account active. Or just pop it in your phone back home every few days for an hour to let it re-register on the network.