Been a bit absent of late... Seem to have this none stop three week cold/man flu that likes to boomerang back to let me know how little a man I really am Probably 3 colds in a succession but feels like before I feel better again, back to the lemsip I go anyhoo.. It is now 9 weeks before I fly out to Pinas, I have my holiday jabs booked in for next week (they were booked in today but the nurse suggested I leave it a week to get over this man flu). I have ordered some bank statements for ID purposes as I do pretty much everything online. And should also be applying next week for my Certificate of No Impediment! So, things are now moving along pretty quickly.. How long do you guys think I should leave it before I head to the Philippine embassy to get my visa? I was thinking erhaps about 3 weeks from now, or should I leave that till January?
December I would think Sean but be careful of the holidays, the consular section is likely to shut down over Christmas including all processing, are you definitely going down to London? Remember to give the embassy a call in advance explaining that you have to travel a long distance and that you must get your visa processed same day, it was very definitely a turn up early, make the application and return for it mid to late afternoon on the couple of occasions I did it.
Given that I need to produce certain documents I really don't want to lose I planned to head down to London on one of my days off work. I might arrange with a cousin to stay the night at theirs and head back to Manchester the following day.
Everyone is different. With me I would give the embassy a call to find out if an appointment is needed or just turn up. I would tell them you need same day visa issue and ask when they are open for business as usual over the xmas hols. The Phils embassy is very nicely located in Picadilly. Plenty of nice shoppping etc Plenty of nice resto's too. So it would make a nice day out. Also the processes are now much more professional, just like a real embassy
You do need to be sure you get there early as possible, not a good idea to arrive around midday, I would definitely call them in advance to explain what you need from them as Peter says maybe things have changed and they might operate an appointment systems now?
Am I the only one who thinks its nuts to dislocate to get a visa in advance ? Ive been 3 times since Sep 08 6 months 2 months and 7 months and never a problem extending
I take your point Keith but there is something nice in having the right visa in advance, in this case Sean will actually have to extend once over there, albeit for a day, so he still has that issue, but it is one less thing he has to worry about, as although he will have a return ticket it will not be inside the 21 day visa and if asked at immigration he has to explain a lot of stuff that he should not have to. All the Americans and others tell you that you can extend after you arrive and it must be true because the long term guys, have to leave and return every so often and they have to extend a 21 day visa in order to stay.
Being broke myself these days I would tend to think twice about going to London too, I used to come down from Glasgow which is not cheap whatever way you do it. These days there are only two opportunities in a year when I could even dream about staying more than 21 days and both are expensive times to travel to the Phils, Christmas and Easter, my current job has the worst number of annual holidays per annum that I have experienced since the 1970's, I only get 22 days annual leave of which I am obliged to retain 3 or 4 days for Chistmas as the office shuts down over Christmas. Does not compare too well to the 60 or so days I could take off when I was self employed
Was planning on getting to london on a Megabus £10 there and then £10 back again.. £20 all in. A few £££ for my travels round London and then sleep over at a cousins house! Could get to the embassy at noon and if they could get me my visa sorted by the following morning I would be laughing.
Yeah, so long since I travelled on a bus that I kind of forget that there are good deals for that, my daughter keeps telling me I should come down to visit her in the south but the cost of the petrol puts me off, should really see what bus deals are available.
After checking the bus times, I might get the 4am bus, arrives in London at 8.30am and then leave in the evening..
To be honest Sean that would be the best way, it really is better to arrive early as (at least in the old days) they only accepted the applications in the morning.
Went public today... Well, kinda done that long ago.. But today I visited my local registrar's to formally announce my intention to marry Joy So in a few weeks I collect my CNI...
