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PH E-Travel system roll out begins...

Discussion in 'Travel Tips and Advice' started by John Surrey, May 10, 2024.

  1. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    I added another edit above, they do know if you don't complete the forms.
  2. Mattecube
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    Mattecube face the sunshine so shadows fall behind you Trusted Member

    Is a Settled British Citizen gone through the visa process classed as a native on this procedure?
  3. ChoiAndJohn
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    ChoiAndJohn Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    I signed up and went through the system using the phone app - which although as @oss pointed out does seem aimed at filipino services, it does accept British and foreign nationals for phone, address and passport. When I click on the e-travel icon on the app, it takes me to the same web page as the link - where my name and passport details are already filled out and I'm 'logged in'.

    I then signed up to the Web link above manually using the same email address and it sent me a one-time password which I entered manually. When I logged on, my name and passport details were visible on the Web page already - so it seems to me like the app and the Web-page do share information and it should be possible to use the phone app even if you're a foreign national.

    I am going to use the phone app. I will report back if there are issues when I arrive.
  4. ChoiAndJohn
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    ChoiAndJohn Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Well... I would imagine that anyone travelling using a Filipino passport is 'native' and anyone travelling on a foreign passport is not. Both choi and I (she will be travelling on a Philippines passport) will use the phone app and see what happens.
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  5. John Surrey
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    John Surrey Well-Known Member

    I filled it all up on the phone and had print outs - don't remember anyone asking of looking for mine

    It's not just Immigration though - it's also for Customs or something - maybe you have to declare you're not taking in/out more cash than you should...
  6. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    That implies they linked the systems since the early etravel website days, my web account does not work on the eGovPH app, my original signup was just after the COVID days.
  7. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Yes it's also a customs declaration now.
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  8. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    Balikbayans and native I would expect and any with dual citizenship.
  9. Maharg
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    Maharg Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Go with the passport that you are using. My wife always goes as British as she only has a British Passport. She always gets asked why when she goes through immigration in Manila.

    Another thing to look out for if you are going from Heathrow - self-check-in of bags. A totally pointless operation similar to using a self check-out at Lidl. Check in the bags and put the labels on them yourself - then proceed to check-in anyway. Saves absolutely no time at all. If anything, it takes longer as you need to work out how to use the damn thing.
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  10. ChoiAndJohn
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    ChoiAndJohn Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Pleased to report that the Philippines egov application in the phone worked fine for both of us. We clicked the e-travel icon on the application 72 hours before our arrival time and obtained some QR codes,

    In arrival in manila, when I was having my passport inspected they asked what flight I arrived on and presumably found my electronic registration. There were no issues. I wasn't asked to actually show the QR code to anyone although I did have it saved on the phone. The system worked fine for both me (British passport) and my wife with her Philippines passport

    It's been 10 years since we came here. Man it's a 'kin long way and the traffic is more psycho than I remember.

    We flew cathay pacific from Heathrow terminal 3. Found out that you have to use bag drop and self check in and print the labels. I really hated it - took me a while to work out.

    Top travel tip here. I've travelled a lot on planes in my life and only now discovered a new tip. I bought a large loose hoodie with a large hood. It's great because you can wedge the cathay pacific little pillow inside your hood and also zip up the hoodie over your neck pillow and so you're kind of coccooned in a padded container which means you can move around and not have your various pillows slip and the hood is big enough to hang over your face a bit which kind feels better somehow when you're sleeping. Anyways figured i would share that.
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2024
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  11. John Surrey
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    John Surrey Well-Known Member

    Traffic truly is a nightmare now: not just the quantity but the aggressiveness of many of the tricycle drivers combined with the sheer stupidity of the young and old ones driving motors (or scooters/mopeds as they're known back home) makes driving here very dangerous if you're not accustomed to it.
  12. ChoiAndJohn
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    ChoiAndJohn Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    The other thing we found out is that the Philippines has rolled out mandatory phone sim registration since 2022 - which makes getting a Philippines sim card a pain in the backside. We bought 2 sim cards from pldt this morning and have been messing with them for hours going through the registration process and it still doesn't work.
  13. Maharg
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    Maharg Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    It's a right pain, isn't it! When we did it everyone was just stood around wondering what the hell to do and a member of eventually did it for us anyway. I asked her: "Whose idea was this then?" and she just gave me a wry smile that said to me: "Tell me about it".

    I don't understand it really. You do this, and then still have to go to the counter afterwards anyway to get them weighed and put on the conveyor belt. Just part of the "self service" nonsense that is a current trend and nobody actually likes unless they are just buying two items at Tesco.
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  14. John Surrey
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    John Surrey Well-Known Member

    Does my head in too - What worked for me was to register as Filipino with valid Filipino Driving Licence - (I used my wife) in your case maybe ask one of your wife's relatives to do the registration for her/you then hand you back the phone... ?
  15. PorkAdobo
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    PorkAdobo Active Member

    We're also heading back to Philippines at the end of October. 1st time in 6 years. Mrs R will be there for 3/4 months (meaning I'll finally be able to use the PS5 when I come back home alone) so I'll leave the stress of sim registration and GCash verification solely in her hands. But for me as a short term 2 week visitor, I'll just register for an esim on Airalo or Saily. Sounds like less hassle than dealing with Pinoy bureaucracy
  16. ChoiAndJohn
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    ChoiAndJohn Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Well several hours on my wife's phone sort of works in that she can receive calls and one of her relatives sent her load so she can make calls too, we couldn't load the phone ourselves using any mechanism we tried. Meanwhile, my phone just doesn't work at all. I think it's because I registered with my foreign details. So the moral of the story does seem to be - don't register your phone as a foreigner - and be prepared for the bloody process to take hours and hours and be a lot of hassle. We are off to buy another sim card that is pre-loaded and register it as her this time,
  17. ChoiAndJohn
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    ChoiAndJohn Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    And just as a follow-up, we just went to the mall and signed up for a dito pre-paid e-sim for 499 pesos at one of those little kiosks. They registered it using my wife's passport, set it up and put it in my phone and it worked. The whole process was painless and took 5 minutes.

    My strategy of buying a sim for 49 pesos in a pldt store and registering it myself and adding services - didn't work and wasted hours. Oh well. :)
  18. oss
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    oss Somewhere Staff Member

    They appear to be enforcing the etravel requirement on departure now too, my flight got cancelled last night by KLM because of the weather at 11:49 just 10 minutes after an email had arrived asking me to check-in.

    I've been rebooked automatically onto Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong and had to do check-in via Cathay and when I did that they demanded that I go fill up the etravel for departure.
  19. ChoiAndJohn
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    ChoiAndJohn Well-Known Member Trusted Member

    Yes. We left today and confirm that e-travel was required to leave. It worked by using the phone app for us.

    Choi has ILR and travelled on her filipino passport for a visit back to the Philippines - so she qualified for a waiver of the 'Philippine travel tax' which charges Filipinos 1600 pesos to leave the country.

    Althoygb it is possible to do it online, it must be done online more than 2 days before departure.

    We didn't have that time, we were flying cathay pacific (check in desks a1-a15 terminal 3) and we were able to get the waiver at desk b15 I think beforehand.

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