here is all the official information you would need, as a tourist or resident. The information is accurate, also the fees ! http://www.immigration.gov.ph/ now, some rules you may not expect or have heard: 1.) never deal with any person outside of the building ! 2.) never deal with any person offering you help INSIDE the building, except he is behind a counter. Even when he is in Uniform ! Go to the counter ! if you reject the "help" still be polite, since they are still officers, although they are doing something they should not do. get my point, right? 3.) Always pay only at the cashiers counter, don't loose your receipts, you may need them a few years later ! 4.) no pun intended, but the assistance of your wife or girlfriend is often not good. Go alone ! the corrupt people prefer to talk in their native language with your partner and due to cultural reasons she often agrees with some extra money. Pinays are raised to fear authorities. yes, there may be exemptions, but i have not seen many. Mostly the guys think they cut a deal, or better their wifes and in reality they were screwed. the Immigration speaks perfectly well English and if you are polite and well informed (READ the WEBSITE AND ITS RELATED PARAGRAPH for your case) you should not get any problems.
Funnily enough when I got trapped by the Icelandic ash cloud last April, I dressed up good and proper to be respectful to the authorities and turned up at the BI in Manila to extend my visa. A nice chap offered to help the moment we got through the security scanner and did not ask for anything but explained that there were two choices the 15 minute choice or the 2 hour choice. We explained my requirement and off he went behind the glass with my passport only to come back 5 minutes later and explain that I did not need a visa extension as I had a BB stamp already (I was not aware of this ). He was clearly looking for a backhander but never asked for it, when I left my partner handed him 500 peso for his help (outside the building) as I could have waited 2 hours to find out that I didn't need an extension. Funny that as we are not married yet but we did both travel back to the Phils from the UK together Just wish the lassie at NAIA immigration had told me in the first place and I could have saved the visit to the BI.
mmmh, 2 things irritate me here. a.) the invalid BB stamp. seems a nice courtesy and is often used, but if one does not fully fill the requirements it will (maybe) backfire one day. b.) the two hours waiting time was stated by the guy, i guess. And your status did not need an extension, a question a security guard could have probably answered you as well.( A technique i actually use a lot when in a hurry and i am always in a hurry...I go up front and 'just a question,sir". With smiley, smiley i usually get served right away. Sometimes i even ask for the supervisor in offices without stating the real reason to the askers. Nasty towards other honest waiters, but it works usually.) With all due respect, but you have been had for a "Ninoy" as we call the P500,- bill. And as you see, they count on the "partners" shyness and usually get their cash reward, that is why i recommend to go alone. but that happened to me a lot too in the past, i call it 'Learning money".
The place was absolutely packed guenther, two hours was a conservative estimate one only had to look at the queues. The BB stamp was clearly issued as the girl at NAIA immigration clearly just assumed we were married but she never informed me at the time, it's annoying that it is only issued to partners of married couples, we have a son and daughter who are Filipino but in order to visit them I am still restricted to a 21 day visit. The guy actually approached us when we were standing just 5 feet past the security control area at the front door so the security would have been fully aware of everything that was being said, I honestly don't think he noticed the BB stamp until after he took my passport in the office. Normally I would have simply suffered the wait as I don't like queue jumping but I was tired and stressed that day and just thought what the hell, Ana was not too happy about me handing my passport to him but looking at the size of the queue was the reason I accepted his offer of help, as for the amount of money Ana is the one that usually decides how much "under the table" to offer and she is far from shy, unfortunately she is much more generous than me as I am usually a tight fisted Scot To be honest, I've spent a lot of time in the Phils and I am generally pretty careful and very choosy about the use of "under the table", it has come in handy sometimes but if there is any chance of "kano" inflation Ana keeps me out of the way. I do wish though that they just had a bureaucracy that worked and paid it's employee's enough to live on so that they didn't all rely on corruption but sadly that ain't the way is over there.
