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Girlfriend Hassled By Philippine Immigration


walletss

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Ok here is a tale of woe. Last time I was in The Philippines I was involved in an airport incident at Clark International Airport.

I had invited my current Filipina girlfriend to Thailand for four days.

When we arrived at the airport and checked in, we proceeded to immigration for processing.

I went first and after getting my passport stamped, I waited for my friend to pass through processing point. I took a seat just behind the counter as she got processed. To my surprise they took her aside and asked her fill out the answers to a bunch of questions.

After that she was interviewed by another senior immigration officer who was seemingly dissatisfied with her answers, and so he sent her over to another Immigration officer.

I could see something was wrong and so I approached the desk where the interview was taking place, but I was blocked by a security guard who tried to usher me through to the departure gate.

I told him I am waiting for my friend who I pointed out to him.

After another twenty minutes my friend came to me with a sad look on her face and told me that Philippine immigration would not allow her to go.

She also told me that she was asked to pass on a message to me, which was, if I make any fuss or complaint, the immigration officer who last interviewed her would blacklist me and I would not be allowed to re-enter The Philippines.

I asked my friend why she was refused departure and she said that they decided she didn’t have enough funds to cover the four days. She told them that I was the one who was covering all the expenditure but they didn’t want to accept that.

Managing to quell my temper, I approached the desk of the immigration officer and asked as politely as I could if I have a word.

I sat and explained to her that the hotel was prepaid and breakfast included and that I had plenty of cash on me.

The female immigration officer then deviated from the financial arrangements and proceeded to give me a different set of reasons why my friend could not join me.

 

This what she said to me.

My friend has to obtain and present to them either a certificate of annulment or legal separation document from her estranged husband.

 

We both would have to attend a “ higher morals course†and present a certificate of completion to them.

 

Thirdly. I would have to show them a fiancée visa or my application for a fiancée visa ..

 

All this just to take my friend out of her own country for a four day holiday to Thailand.

 

Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous in your life?

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Ok here is a tale of woe. Last time I was in The Philippines I was involved in an airport incident at Clark International Airport.

I had invited my current Filipina girlfriend to Thailand for four days.

When we arrived at the airport and checked in, we proceeded to immigration for processing.

I went first and after getting my passport stamped, I waited for my friend to pass through processing point. I took a seat just behind the counter as she got processed. To my surprise they took her aside and asked her fill out the answers to a bunch of questions.

After that she was interviewed by another senior immigration officer who was seemingly dissatisfied with her answers, and so he sent her over to another Immigration officer.

I could see something was wrong and so I approached the desk where the interview was taking place, but I was blocked by a security guard who tried to usher me through to the departure gate.

I told him I am waiting for my friend who I pointed out to him.

After another twenty minutes my friend came to me with a sad look on her face and told me that Philippine immigration would not allow her to go.

She also told me that she was asked to pass on a message to me, which was, if I make any fuss or complaint, the immigration officer who last interviewed her would blacklist me and I would not be allowed to re-enter The Philippines.

I asked my friend why she was refused departure and she said that they decided she didn’t have enough funds to cover the four days. She told them that I was the one who was covering all the expenditure but they didn’t want to accept that.

Managing to quell my temper, I approached the desk of the immigration officer and asked as politely as I could if I have a word.

I sat and explained to her that the hotel was prepaid and breakfast included and that I had plenty of cash on me.

The female immigration officer then deviated from the financial arrangements and proceeded to give me a different set of reasons why my friend could not join me.

 

This what she said to me.

My friend has to obtain and present to them either a certificate of annulment or legal separation document from her estranged husband.

 

We both would have to attend a “ higher morals course†and present a certificate of completion to them.

 

Thirdly. I would have to show them a fiancée visa or my application for a fiancée visa ..

 

All this just to take my friend out of her own country for a four day holiday to Thailand.

 

Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous in your life?

 

I would have ended up in Jail for abusing the Immigration personnel, If i were guaranteeing her financials, and we were traveling in another country, then they have no business querying me or her.

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Think you would pass it? After all, you are Australian. :hmmm:

 

 

What I seem to see in this situation is that the GF is legally married to someone else, though separated (maybe for years). The Philippines is a predominately RC country and I suspect Catholic views have coloured this and caused the problems. If she had left on her own with however much money the bureaucrats felt she needed, it might have been avoided. Even so, it shouldn't be any of Phil Immigration's business. They are not the Vatican's police. But then I was raised as a heathen Protestant not RC, and am probably going to hell by their way of thinking anyway. Thank you, thank you grandma for leaving the Church and marrying a Prod. :worship:

 

This also might give you a hint as to why so many Pinoys want to get the hell out of their country. :(

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Think you would pass it? After all, you are Australian. :hmmm:

 

 

What I seem to see in this situation is that the GF is legally married to someone else, though separated (maybe for years). The Philippines is a predominately RC country and I suspect Catholic views have coloured this and caused the problems. If she had left on her own with however much money the bureaucrats felt she needed, it might have been avoided. Even so, it shouldn't be any of Phil Immigration's business. They are not the Vatican's police. But then I was raised as a heathen Protestant not RC, and am probably going to hell by their way of thinking anyway. Thank you, thank you grandma for leaving the Church and marrying a Prod. :worship:

 

This also might give you a hint as to why so many Pinoys want to get the hell out of their country. :(

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I learned a lesson from all this. i could never work out that every single foreigner I spoke to who was living in The Philippines said the same thing.

 

They all said never buy a condo in The Philippines. Don"t start a business in The Philippines. Don't invest any money in The Philippines. Don't buy anything. Just stay as long as it suits you and pay rent.

There is always some government body who will pull a law out of somewhere to trip you up.

Two reasons. One for a bribe and the other to show you they can.

 

You are right. It is none of their business but there is nobody to complain to. When we went to try and obtain a refund at Cebu Pacific, there were two other ladies who were booked on a flight to hong Kong. They were also not allowed to board their flight. One had already been to Hong Kong previously but on this occasion she wasn't allowed to go.

 

In our case, it seemed obvious to me that they were intent on separating us to pursue an agenda or quota.

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When I was a young Peace Corps vol, I thought the Philippines must be much like Thailand - pleasant climate, good looking women etc. Then I talked to some Philippine volunteers. They were very much down on the country, complaining about so many things. Whilst Thailand had the highest extention rate in PC (beyond the ordinary 2 years), they said most Phil vols didn't even last the 2 years. They spoke of crime, violence, bureaucratic hassle etc.

 

As Thailand vols we could do no wrong. When a couple of friends were on a train that was robbed in Songkla, the Thai government kept it out of the papers and reembursed them for every satang they'd lost. Three of us were down south on a summer project and decided to visit Malaysia. I was the only one with a passport, but we talked our way both in and out of Malaysia. (Malaysia also had PC then.) No visas and 2 of us with no passports! All we had to do was show them our PC ID cards.

 

At the end of our PC service, we got a nice certificate from the Thai government thanking us for helping their country! Wonder what the Phil vols got.

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A girlfriend I had was from the Philippines and a student in Malaysia. When she went home for a holiday, she had to get a letter from her school stating that she was registered there and had approval for the holiday (listing the dates). I thought it was for the Malaysian immigration officials when she re-entered (she had a student visa from Malaysia), but she said it was so that the Philippine immigration would let her leave!

 

It seems that many filipino women go overseas to either willingly or unwillingly work in prostitution - so this is the government's response.

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