Philippine Embassy London

Myself and the loved one traipsed down to London on the train earlier in the week to renew her passport which expires in February 2015, all information, forms and the outreach calendar can be found on the Embassy link below;

http://philembassy-uk.org/

We arrived in London Tuesday afternoon and it was our intention to visit the Embassy Wednesday morning. After we had checked into our over rated and over expensive hotel in Trafalgar Square I said we might as well pop to the Embassy now as its only around the corner. We arrived at the Embassy at 3pm and was out at 4pm all done and dusted as the missus jumped the queue by mistake, she actually just went to the desk to ask the process and ended up submitted her documents there and then, As you can imagine its not the most organised of places but the job gets done and I do not think you would have to hang around too much. The length of time it will take will depend on the people attending on the day. One thing to remember, if you recently married in the UK then you need to register the marriage with the Embassy, there is a form on the Embassy website.

One word of advice, if you need to go back to the Philippines and your passport is running out, apply for a new one sooner rather than later as it can take up to three, yes three months to get a new one and there is no fast track service like for a UK passport. My wife needs to go back to the Philippines in February to attend her daughters graduation so now she has a nervous wait. Remember to take a self addressed special delivery envelope with you too so the Embassy can mail you the new passport.

London is a great place to do all the touristy things so if you haven't seen the sites of London before then take a couple of days to have a good look around, the Filipino/Filipina loves London the Filipino/Filipino spouse doesn't as it costs a bloody fortune to stay there

Seriously, if you have not seen London then its a must see, lots of things to see and do and great pictures for Facebook

Oh, and another moan, why does the Philippine passport only last five years, effectively 4.5 years, its a real pain, is it just a money making matter?

Good news. Nothing like a bit of queue jumping eh?! Which hotel did you stay in. We also stayed in that area, about 10 min walk from the embassy, right in the middle of trafalgar square, covent garden and leicester square. We where there for 6 nights and still didn't see everything I wanted to show the wife! She walks too slowly!!

We stopped at the Grand at Trafalgar Club Quarters just off the square on Northumberland avenue, it was okay and had lots of restaurants around as you know, in fact there are too many eateries to choose from. I know exactly what you mean about the missus walking slowly but I cant say too much because she's already read your post and will check on my post knowing what I will write when I'm not around

I think you would agree that London is a must for our Filipino loved ones.

Lol, I actually put off going to london because I hate cities but I must admit I enjoyed it, as did the wife. We plan to go back soon to do the sights we missed.

Funny you say about the restuarants, we just decided to walk round covent garden one evening and just pick a place. Ended up in a little italian place with pictures on the wall of all the famous people that had eaten in there. I must say they must have had a proper chef because our meal was shocking!! Tip always check Trip advisor, sort of takes the fun of just trying a place but when your talking london prices i think its best to use it.

One thing next time is I will look at hotels out of the centre of town. I wanted to be close to what I thought was the hub of bars, resturants and clubs but the truth is after a day puonding the streets you're too knackered to go far!! Plus transport is pretty cheap.

Thanks for this post, Timmers. This will be a big help for passport renewal of ladies and chaps here in the future. Good job of your missus' "innocent mistake" to be out of queue

My son's experiences at the Embassy were altogether less agreeable. He and his mother both wanted to resume their Filipino citizenship under the new dual citizenship rules. The woman who (eventually) saw him and his mother insisted on only speaking to his mother, in Tagalog (he is 19) . She told his mother that her marriage to me was never registered (a lie) and refused to accept his Birth Certificate because it is an old one not the NSO type. She refused to look at his old passports, or his mother's old passports.

Both of them were seething with fury when I met them later.

I have also heard (from an impeccable source) of a bribe being demanded from a lady who wanted to resume her Filipina citizenship. The man who told me this was her employer and he told her to go back there the following day, tell them that the request for a bribe would be reported to the Police and to mention his (well known) name. The corrupt official backed down.

I was actually thinking of stopping outside London on this occasion, I've stopped in Windsor before and caught the train into Waterloo each day. What amazes me about London is that you do not realise how far you walk around the streets taking in all the sites. Windsor is quiet in the evening compared with London but still has a few restaurants and a theatre, the great castle of course which is the Queens residence in the winter months.

One of the best ways to see London in my opinion and to get all the important pictures is to take the Big Bus Tour (£25 per adult ticket), the ticket is valid for 24 hours and you can hop on and off wherever you like. The bus stops are throughout central London and there is one just around the corner from the Philippine Embassy just off Trafalgar Square.

The only downside to London is the expense, everything is so expensive and it is difficult to get value for money in any of the hotels and restaurants.

A credit card, camera and a very comfortable pair of shoes are the most important items to take with you on a trip to London, and keep one hand on your wallet especially when using the Underground, there are lots of pickpockets about.

I take it you couldn't have gone with them to the Embassy then Andrew, you could have sorted them out

I don't think I'd like to go to the Embassy on any other matters than the renewal of a passport or name change, seeking dual citizenship and the like sounds like it might be a bit tricky as in your case.

I saw very simple things at the embassy that were confusing people and could be easily rectified. For example there was a guy behind one of the desks who had to come from behind the desk to see which number on the ticket roll was next, I was amazed that they don't have a automised system to keep track of who is next in the queue.

It doesn't really jump out at you what to do and where to go when you enter the Embassy, they need some kind of reception desk where you could be directed and given instruction.

Correct, Timmers; I could not be there - but will be when they summon up the courage for another attempt. My ex really must get this sorted as she owns a house (which I gave her) and as non-citizen she could lose it to one of her siblings.

I understand your concern Andrew.

Hopefully people will add their experiences here as there are more things to do at the Embassy than just replacement passports and name changes as Andrew has already suggested.

One thing that did stand out whilst I was there was the amount of people filling forms in at the last minute, you would have thought that all the forms required for Embassy business would be available on the Embassy website. Or maybe it is just a case of some Filipinos not having access to a computer at home.

We're looking into this at the moment - like all dealings with government departments nothing is clear, we need to change my wifes passport to her married name, I presume we fill out the e-Passport application form, print it and take it to London with the relevant supporting documents - is that it?

I highly recommend that she take a current NSO Birth Certificate with her along with a certified copy and the original of your Marriage Certificate.

That's about it I believe, they stopped changing just the name in the passports a while back, you have to get a new passport now I believe but check as always.

With the downloads from the embassy site you get a comprehensive list of the required documents to submit, they seem to like everything in triplicate from what I remember .

Owning Land in the Philippines

Former natural-born Filipinos can own property in the Philippines, subject to limitations prescribed by Philippine Republic Act 8179 AMENDED BY RA 8179

PROVISIONS UNDER RA 7042 AS AMENDED BY RA 8179
Maximum of 5000 sq. meters for urban land
Maximum of three (3) hectares for rural land

In case he/she already owns urban or rural lands for business purposes, he/, she may acquire additional urban or rural lands which when added to those he/she presently owns shall not exceed the authorized maximum area.

http://www.lhiza.com/property.htm

An update, the wife has now been waiting over two months for her passport, if it doesn't come in the next two weeks then she will miss her daughters graduation in the Philippines.

She tried calling the Philippine Embassy four times today, and there was no reply.............. no surprise there then

My wife renewed her Philippine passport last year before she went back to Philippines. It took took four months, and she had to use her British passport to enter Philippines, she had to explain to the customs and show her docs that she is a dual citizen. PI passport come two months after she left England, which I brought it with me when I came over in December 2014.