The words nobody explains

Every family conversation that spans the ocean eventually hits a word one side uses daily and the other has never heard. Here they are, in plain English — grouped by situation, because nobody alphabetizes the word they don't know yet.

The paperwork words

PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority): The agency that issues the official copies of civil records — birth, marriage, and death certificates. When any process asks for a birth certificate, it means the PSA copy on security paper, not the hospital one.
SPA (Special Power of Attorney): A notarized document letting someone act for you in specific transactions — sell a lot, claim a pension, sign at the bank — essential for anyone managing Philippine affairs from abroad. It ends automatically the moment the person who granted it dies. The SPA checklist →
Apostille: The international certification that makes a US-signed document (like an SPA) legally usable in the Philippines, replacing the old "red ribbon" consular authentication for most purposes. Issued by the Secretary of State of the US state where the document was notarized.
Consularized / acknowledged document: A document signed before a Philippine Consulate officer, who acts as the notary. The alternative to the apostille route — useful when a consulate is nearby or when a receiving office insists on it.
Barangay: The smallest unit of Philippine government — the village or district hall. Relevant abroad because barangay certifications, disputes, and clearances appear in more processes than expected, and the barangay is often the first responder in a family emergency.

The property words

TCT / CCT (Transfer / Condominium Certificate of Title): The actual proof of ownership: TCT for land and houses, CCT for condo units. The owner's duplicate is a physical piece of paper whose location the family should always know. A name on a tax declaration is not a title.
Tax declaration: The local assessor's record of a property for real-property-tax purposes. It shows who pays the tax — not who owns the land. Plenty of family land is "in Lolo's name" only on a tax declaration, which is where inheritance problems start.
Amilyar (real property tax): The annual property tax paid to the city or municipality. Unpaid amilyar quietly accumulates penalties and can eventually lead to auction — one of the classic surprises for owners abroad. Property guides →
eCAR (Certificate Authorizing Registration): The BIR's electronic certificate proving the taxes on a transfer — sale or inheritance — are settled. The Register of Deeds will not move a title without it. No eCAR, no transfer, no sale.
Extrajudicial settlement: How heirs divide an estate without going to court: a notarized deed signed by all heirs, published in a newspaper for three consecutive weeks, then filed with the BIR and Register of Deeds. Works only when there is no will, no debt, and everyone agrees. The two-country checklist →
Estate tax: The 6% Philippine tax on a deceased person's net estate (for deaths from 2018 on), with the return due within one year of death. The long-running amnesty for old unsettled estates expired June 14, 2025.
RESA (Real Estate Service Act): The Philippine law licensing real-estate brokers and salespersons. It is why unlicensed middlemen cannot lawfully broker sales for a fee — and why this site only ever introduces owners and inquirers, with no commission on anything.

The money words

Padala: The money sent home — from the Tagalog for "to send." The word covers everything from the monthly support transfer to the emergency top-up after a hospital text. Compare what each provider really delivers →
Puhunan: Capital — the money to start or stock a small business, and the most common request framed as the opposite of dependence: "this way I won't have to ask again." Whether it becomes that depends far less on the amount than on what is agreed around it. Funding a relative's business without funding its failure →
BMBE (Barangay Micro Business Enterprise): A registration under RA 9178 for businesses with assets under ₱3 million: the certificate, issued through a DTI Negosyo Center, exempts the business's income from income tax. Almost every family sari-sari store or carinderia qualifies, and almost none register. The programs families never hear of →
Negosyo Center: DTI's free small-business help desk, in every province and most cities — registration, mentoring, and the door to the P3 microloans and BMBE certificate. The first stop for any relative starting a business.
Exchange-rate margin: The hidden fee in most transfers: the gap between the real mid-market dollar-peso rate and the rate the provider gives you. A "zero-fee" transfer with a 2% margin costs more than a $5 fee at the mid-market rate. Peso Watch →
SSS (Social Security System): The Philippine pension system for private-sector workers — a parent who worked formally may have a monthly pension and death/funeral benefits the family under-claims. Not to be confused with US Social Security.
GSIS: The counterpart pension system for Philippine government employees — teachers, city hall staff, uniformed services. Same idea as SSS, different agency and rules.
Pag-IBIG: The national savings and housing fund. Relevant for its housing loans, the MP2 savings program some families use for peso savings, and small benefits that surface at claim time.
13th month pay: A legally required extra month of salary paid in December to employees in the Philippines — including a household caregiver or kasambahay. If the family employs a caregiver, December costs two salaries; budget it in January, not November. Caregiver cost calculator →

The care words

PhilHealth: The national health insurance program. All Filipino seniors are automatically covered, and it meaningfully cuts hospital bills — when the number is known and the paperwork is in order at admission.
PhilHealth YAKAP (formerly Konsulta): PhilHealth's primary-care programme, renamed and expanded from Konsulta in July 2025: free consultations, 13 laboratory tests, six cancer screenings, and 75 essential medicines up to a yearly cap, through a registered provider. Registration is the step most families skip — the benefit exists but must be activated.
OSCA ID (senior citizen ID): The city's Office of Senior Citizens Affairs card that unlocks the 20% senior discount and VAT exemption on medicines, medical services, and more. On a maintenance-medication budget, this card is worth real money every month.
Kasambahay law: The law covering household workers — minimum wage, SSS/PhilHealth/Pag-IBIG registration, 13th month, rest days. A family caregiver hired properly is an employee under it, which is exactly what the payslip generator handles. Payslip generator →
TESDA: The national skills authority. Its NC II Caregiving certificate is the standard training credential to ask about when hiring a caregiver — verifiable, and a fair thing to require. Care resources & vetting →

The coming-home words

RA 9225 (dual citizenship): The law letting natural-born Filipinos who naturalized elsewhere re-acquire Philippine citizenship — keeping US citizenship while regaining the right to own land, vote, and stay without visas. The step-by-step guide →
Balikbayan privilege: Visa-free entry for one year (instead of 30 days) for former Filipinos and, when traveling together, their foreign spouse and children. Often all a visiting family needs — no paperwork beyond the passport that proves it.
Balikbayan box: The care package institution. Sent through door-to-door freight forwarders, with duty-free treatment for qualified Filipinos abroad within Philippine customs limits — the reason the box, not the suitcase, carries the pasalubong.
OWWA: The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration — membership, insurance, and repatriation help for documented OFWs. Relevant to families whose parent or sibling worked abroad under a contract; less so for permanent immigrants. The benefits seafarer families forget to claim →
Allotment (seafarers): The portion of a seafarer's salary — at least 80% by law, under the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers — remitted monthly to a named allottee in the Philippines. The seafarer chooses the allottee; the allottee receives but does not own. Most seafarer-family conflict starts with who is named. The seafarer in the family →
Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers: Republic Act 12021 (2024; rules 2025): the law that consolidates seafarers' rights — contracts, wages, the 80% allotment, medical care and repatriation, onboard communication — and caps lawyers' fees on seafarer claims at 10% while targeting ambulance chasers.
SRRV (retirement visa): The Philippine Retirement Authority's Special Resident Retiree's Visa — indefinite stay for foreign retirees, with a required deposit. Mostly relevant to non-Filipino spouses; former Filipinos usually do better with RA 9225 or the balikbayan privilege. Retirement budget calculator →

The US-side words

I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative): The USCIS form a US citizen files to start a family green-card case — including for a parent. Filing it is the easy part; the decision around it is the hard part. Petitioning a parent — and whether you should →
Immediate relative: The immigration category for spouses, minor children, and parents of adult US citizens. It has no annual cap — which is why a parent's case has no visa queue while a sibling's case waits decades. Who you can petition — and who you can't →
Visa bulletin / priority date: The State Department's monthly table of which petitions can move forward. Your priority date is the day your petition was filed; when the bulletin's cut-off date for your category passes it, your turn has come. The Philippines has its own column because demand outstrips its share of visas. How to read it →
F4 (siblings of US citizens): The family category for brothers and sisters of adult US citizens — and for Filipinos, the longest line in the system, currently running around eighteen years. The petition that most often outlives the petitioner.
214(b) refusal: The most common tourist-visa denial: the officer was not convinced the applicant would return home. Not a permanent mark, but the same facts produce the same answer — what changes the outcome is stronger evidence of ties to the Philippines, not a better explanation. Getting a parent a visitor visa →
Schedule A / VisaScreen: Schedule A is the US Labor Department's pre-certified shortage list — registered nurses and physical therapists are on it, which lets an employer skip the labor-certification step. VisaScreen is the CGFNS credential check every foreign healthcare worker needs before a visa can issue. The nurse pathway →
MWO (Migrant Workers Office): The Philippine labour office at each embassy or consulate — formerly POLO. It verifies contracts, handles distressed workers, runs shelters where needed, and is the call a family makes when someone abroad goes quiet. Save its number for the destination before departure, not during a crisis. The escalation ladder →
DMW / OEC: The Department of Migrant Workers — the agency that replaced POEA — licenses recruitment agencies and issues the Overseas Employment Certificate, the exit clearance that proves a worker is leaving through the legal system and is covered by it. No OEC usually means no protection. Working abroad, legally →
I-864 (Affidavit of Support): The legally enforceable contract a sponsor signs promising the immigrant won't become a public charge. For a sponsored parent it typically lasts until citizenship or 40 quarters of work — for an elderly parent, effectively indefinitely.
ITIN: An IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number — the tax ID for someone not eligible for a Social Security number. Needed before a qualifying dependent without an SSN can appear on a US return. Claiming parents on US taxes →
Qualifying relative: The IRS category a parent must fit to be claimed as a dependent. Four tests apply, and the one that decides most Filipino families' cases is citizenship/residency: a Filipino citizen living in the Philippines does not qualify, regardless of support sent.
Federal Benefits Unit (Manila): The Social Security Administration's office at the US Embassy in Manila — the point of contact for anyone receiving US benefits while in the Philippines, from direct-deposit setup to the yearly proof-of-life form. Social Security in the Philippines →

Missing a word that confused your family? Tell us and it goes on the list. Definitions here are plain-language orientation, not legal advice — the linked guides carry the details and the dates.