Travelling to the Philippines

I used to arrive 4 or 5 times a year, there was only one year where I made a point of getting a Visa which at that time allowed stays of over 21 days and multiple visits.

The 21 day rule has of course changed and it is now 30 days, it is easy enough to renew or to get an extension on arrival, although I don't know how easy that is to do now at NAIA 3 and I don't know where or if there is a BI office in the airport at Cebu.

You will have no problem spending 30 days several times a year.

No Chris he's talking about the same kind of visa I was referring to, you can apply for a single or multi entry visa via the Philippine Embassy in London, over the years I had one of each.

These are 59 day stay visas.

http://www.londonpe.dfa.gov.ph/consular-matters/visa

http://www.londonpe.dfa.gov.ph/images/PDF/Non-Immigration-Visa-Updated-as-of-2017.pdf

The thread opener may well not be aware of the risks, specifically the 7 year jail term for adultery which can be used for extortion, as in husband finds out wife is in adulterous relationship husband threatens to report both wife and foreigner to the Police unless the foreigner pays............................ 1 million peso............................. they always seem to pick the same number out of thin air, it's a bit like Dr Evil in Austin Powers, joke lang

I think the story of the British lad 'David' and his partner who suffered exactly this scenario about 8 years ago is back on Banged up Abroad this Monday on Nat Geo at 9pm.

The Balikbayan privilege is not a visa, it is a privilege afforded to returning Filipinos which can be extended to their accompanying family, it amounts to a stamp in your passport.

Neither is it multi entry, if you have a BB stamp in your passport and you leave and return without your Filipino partner you are back to square one a 30 day on arrival visa-free entry stamp.

I got one of these stamps once when I was returning to the Philippines along with Ana, I was in fact given the privilege in error as Ana and I were not married, I only discovered the BB stamp because the Iceland volcano had gone up, my flight was cancelled and I was stuck in the country for more than 21 days so I made a point of visiting the BI office in Intramuros who told me I had no need to extend my visa because I could stay for a year as a result of the BB stamp, it would have been great if I had had the money but I didn't so I had to return home.

http://immigration.gov.ph/faqs/visa-inquiry/balikbayan-previlege

Chris was replying to the above post.

Gary was not referring to BB privilege as BB privilege cannot be bought, Gary was referring to the standard 1 year duration multiple entry visa which can be obtained from the Philippine Embassy in London for the fee of £82, so Chris' response was out of context hence why I replied in order to clarify.

There are 4 things being talked about in this response chain.

Balikbayan privilege, not a visa cannot be bought.

Single entry visa, validity 3 months from date of issue, price £28.
Multiple entry visa, validity 6 months from date of issue, price £55.
Multiple entry visa, validity 1 year from date of issue, price £82.

Garydarby84 was clearly referring to the visas and not the Balikbayan privilege.

Yes the visas you can buy are initially 59 days, they can be extended at any BI office.

It is also possible to ask for a visa extension on arrival, I did this once in NAIA it cost me 2600 peso, this effectively turns your on arrival visa-free stay of 30 days into a real visa valid for 59 days, again a visa which can be extended.

The stamp you get when you arrive is not actually a visa either it is just confirmation of your right to remain visa-free for 30 days the same as a BB stamp is confirmation of your right to stay for 365 days, neither are actually visas in the technical sense.

When the entry stamp is extended they write a visa id number, at least I think that is what it is, under the stamp and give you a set of documents that represent the actual visa, I just checked my passport for that extension on arrival in 2012 and that is how it appeared.

edit: this is what an extension obtained upon arrival at the BI office in NAIA airport looks like, I've mashed the visa number as it could be used to identify me, might still be possible to identify me with the few bits I have left

You can see the arrival date and date it is valid until, are clearly written on the stamp, the number underneath is what turned it into a visa. I actually left just over the 30 day limit although I can't remember if that was in force at that time or if it was still 21 days back then.



And this is what a Balikbayan stamp looks like, note that the date of departure is not specified the girl had just scribbled BB in the bottom right corner of the standard arrival stamp. Her handwriting was awful that flight number on the left is supposed to be KL 807

You were more or less technically correct about the BB privilege Chris, it was just in the wrong context.

Ah ok, my longest stay was just under 40 days, I've always wanted to stay longer.

And yes indeed, Trevor does need to know about the risks and if he is in the UK and has access to Sky and Nat Geo channel then tomorrow night 9pm is the programme to watch, the lad in that programme David Scott has I think posted here at least once.

Banged up Abroad : Series 6 Episode 3: Philippines/Prisoner Of Love.

David and his partner did escape from the country eventually and had a happy ending here in the UK.

Yes, unless you choose to extend.

The value of it is that you didn't have to worry about the 21 day and later 30 day limit, and if you travelled regularly you could in theory stay almost the whole year by flying out to Hong Kong for a couple of days every 59 days.

The validity of the visa is 12 months but the visa period on each arrival is restricted to 59 days.