A year after obtaining a golden visa, Bea Alonzo, a Filipino actress, can now get her Spanish residency card, making her eligible to apply for Spanish citizenship later.
The actress made the news public in a vlog published earlier this week, where she also revealed plans to visit several European cities and regions, including some of Italy’s most famous, such as Milan, Florence, Lugano and Tuscany, as part of her 20-day Eurotrip.
I will get my residency card, so I will be an official resident of Spain. It’s a really important trip for both Dom [partner] and I. It’s also the first time I’ll be able to live in my house in Madrid. – Bea Alonzo, Filipino Actress and Spanish Residence Permit holder
As a Filipino citizen, Alonzo was able to travel to the Schengen area only by obtaining a visa from competent authorities. The 36-year-old actress will be able to move freely in the borderless zone thanks to her Spanish golden visa – a residency by investment scheme which enables third-country nationals to obtain a visa by investing €500,000 or more.
Third-country nationals can also obtain a golden visa by buying real estate, investing in a Spanish company or creating employment opportunities in the European country.
Alonzo obtained her golden visa last year after she purchased an apartment in the heart of Madrid, and now, a year later, she is getting her residence permit, which will enable her to reside and work in Spain for some time.
After two years, Alonzo will also be eligible for Spanish citizenship, indicating that she will be able to travel freely, live and work anywhere in the Schengen states. By obtaining a Spanish passport, Alonzo will be able to travel to 105 countries in the world without a visa, compared to 37 that she can currently visit with her Filipino passport.
According to the Passport Index by VisaGuide, the Filipino passport is ranked 124th internationally for the strength of the document, enabling its holders to travel to 26 countries with a visa-on-arrival and another 35 with an e-visa, while one country has an entry ban in place for Filipino passport holders and 127 require a visa.
Spain, on the other hand, is ranked the third-strongest passport in the world, falling behind Singapore and Finland, with a score of 89.20. This indicates that Spanish passport holders are able to travel without a passport to 43 countries, 29 countries with a visa-on-arrival, and 19 countries with an e-visa. Spanish passport holders are required to apply for a visa to enter 19 countries in the world.
Due to the visa requirements for Filipino citizens, they must file visa applications to visit the Schengen area. According to data by Schengen Statistics, Filipinos filed a total of 152,817 applications in 2022, with the majority of them (29.6 per cent) being submitted to Netherlands consulates – around 45,354, indicating that Filipinos are the third-largest nationality group to file the most visa applications to the Netherlands.
