I'll make this quick as I'm doing this on my phone. We are at present in London to get the wife her dual nationality and Philippine passport reissued after getting her British citizenship. Both have failed as apparently the birth and marriage cert we have for her are not the original certified ones!!!!! These are at the NCO in Manila!!!! I'm quite angry about this as the ones I have are all certified. It now means we'll have to do this once we get to the phils, something I wanted to avoid due to the excessive paperwork etc. Anyway whilst here I thought I'd apply for a 12 month multi entry visa. When I handed over the form, passport etc over and explained that due to work I'll be leaving and entering the phils on my own so the Balikbayon stamp won't work after the first exit. I was told that as from the 31st August you don't need a visa if your stay is 30 days or less!!!! This is an increase from the standard 21 days with no visa requirement. Happy days for me as I'll be there for about 27 days at a time and free to come and go as I please as long as I have a return ticket out of course. This should make life a bit easier for people now. Right best to, off to see we will rock you to to tonight.
In addition Stu,I believe that the R.P are now issuing a straight 6 month visa which will help avoid the extension palava after a 21 or 59 day stay.
Unfortunately not. The first extension will grant a further 38 days stay after which one can apply for a six month extension.
Ahh..Thanks.. Seems a bit daft to me.. It would make much more sense to offer an either/or (at Filipino embassies)to help reduce queues in immigration offices here.. Then again,if it made sense then it wouldn't be the Philippines..
Nothing was said about extensions and I didn't ask as it doesn't affect me. Saying that the wife as a Brit citizen now comes under the same regulation which I didn't consider! Not quite sure how we're going to deal with this as when we arrive in the phils we will be busy house hunting etc. There was no problem when we last entered and my wife presented her Brit passport and I got a Balikbayon stamp. Hopefully we can slip through and the wife can re-acquire her Philippine / dual status before her passport runs out in feb next year.
I don't think it matters if your wife's Philippines passport expires, she would still qualify for Balikbayan status as a former Philippines citizen - just make sure she keeps her old passport and take it with her when she or you both go to the Philippines... http://philembassy-uk.org/consular-matters/balikbayan-privilege
