General Info

[Goferring]

You can be given a 59 day visa at immigration at some ports of entry.

Which ports? I've always been told that an extension cannot be granted immediately upon arrival.

I haven't worried a lot about it as I always extend my visa at small regional Immigration offices which are surprisingly quick and painless when compared to the horror stories of using the head offices in Manila or Cebu.

Im asked for my onward ticket by airlines all over Asia when travelling to the Philippines. Once Emirates asked me and said 'sorry sir as we can see you have a return with EK later in the month and never again.

But the Philippines is the only country I have experienced which enforces this 'show me the ticket' policy which catches some people out when they are asked at passport control.

I quite often fly to PI via Indonesia and stay there a couple of weeks on the way across. At home I'm often asked to show the Bali Manila flight (on another airline) at boarding time to prove that I won't be over staying. I don't know why but I'm never asked by airlines nor arriving immigration about onward tickets once I leave home. This is even when I'm techniclally in breach of entry requirements, intending to extend my visa once I'm in country. I'm guessing a passport full of visa stamps reassures them that I won't over stay.

Interestingly, I once planned to stay in Indonesia longer and pre paid for an extended visa. The check in girl obviously had this in the airline system as this time she didn't ask about my late return flight nor rifle through my passport looking for a preapproved visa. I tend to agree with the earlier poster about the immigration and airline systems sharing information.

[Wicked Roger]

I need to work out how to game the system to get a free trip home. . . LOL.

I often receive a 30 day visa at NAIA when my departure flight is in 40 or 50 days, no questions asked upon departure nor arrival.

I once simply forgot to extend my visa and was stopped at the immigration desk. All I had to do was pay for the extension there and then and there was no delay to my departure nor any issues upon upon reentry for my next trip.

You can be given a 59 day visa at immigration at some ports of entry and I got a 12 month one when with my pinay who told the officer we were married!

I have been asked for my onward ticket by airlines all over Asia when travelling to the Philippines. Once Emirates asked me and said 'sorry sir as we can see you have a return with EK later in the month and never again.

There are web site where you can 'buy' return tickets and show the person at the counter also. Done this as have friends. As no one has access at the check in counter or immigration to another airline's system and the person see the hard copy and is OK.

But the Philippines is the only country I have experienced which enforces this 'show me the ticket' policy which catches some people out when they are asked at passport control.

Is like 'Welcome to the Philippines. When are you leaving' tourism strategy LOL.

[Goferring]

They don't need to ask. The airline asks. If immigration happens to ask and you don't have one, then it is a big fine for the airline.

I need to work out how to game the system to get a free trip home. . . LOL.

I often receive a 30 day visa at NAIA when my departure flight is in 40 or 50 days, no questions asked upon departure nor arrival.

I once simply forgot to extend my visa and was stopped at the immigration desk. All I had to do was pay for the extension there and then and there was no delay to my departure nor any issues upon upon reentry for my next trip.

[Mr Enternational]

The interesting thing is that I have never been asked at customs / immigration for an onward ticket anywhere. Other than airline staff has anyone been asked by a government official?

They don't need to ask. The airline asks. If immigration happens to ask and you don't have one, then it is a big fine for the airline. I think they do have to type the reservation of your onward flight into the system before it will let them check you in.

[AussieGaigin]

The interesting thing is that I have never been asked at customs / immigration for an onward ticket anywhere. Other than airline staff has anyone been asked by a government official?

I think that travel IT these days is so interlocked, that immigration people can check your past movements and forward bookings from your passport numbers. You are only likely to be "profiled" for interrogation if there are any suspicious activities in your history.

[Kabul Guy]

And yet the Philippines is the rare (visa free) country into which you can't enter without showing the ticket out and onward. Must be so many foreigners going to go tago ng tago.

I have been asked for my onward ticket going to Haiti, the DR, UAE and believe it or not into the USA from Europe. (I'm Canadian.). With the easy availability of refundable or extremely low cost tickets ( for example lots of flights on Expedia.com are fully refundable in 24 hours or low cost $35 tickets Manila to HK on Air Asia), it is becoming a requirement that is easy to get around.

Take a look at the travel requirements, most countries have an onward or return ticket requirement for tourist entry, it is just that the Philippine bound airlines do enforce it more than others. I suspect with the US crack down on illegal immigration that we will see this starting to become more common for USA bound travel.

What I have noticed in a lot of cases, not only airlines, is that people here are very scared of being caught making a mistake that they overcompensate in enforcing the rules. Perhaps one airline had to pay to relocate a denied entry tourist and now all Philippine bound airlines have taken enforcement to the extreme? Perhaps the airline tried to make the employee pay the fine?

The interesting thing is that I have never been asked at customs / immigration for an onward ticket anywhere. Other than airline staff has anyone been asked by a government official?

[Bushes]

I don't know what you are smoking but it must be good and I need to get some.

UK started putting cameras up in the 1990's.

"In 2005, Britain already had as many as 4 million surveillance cameras, whose use as a crime-fighting tool had been encouraged by authorities since the 1990's. Tony Porter, Britain's surveillance camera commissioner, says the number today could be 6 million." (as of 2015).

"Video surveillance of Austin bomber Mark Anthony Conditt helped authorities identify him and track him down. According to an article by SDM magazine, NBC News in Round Rock, Texas reported that it is one of the few states with facial recognition technology that allows officials to check images from surveillance footage against a database of driver's licenses, which helped Texas authorities identify and locate Conditt. CBS Austin released footage of Conditt at an Austin FedEx store where he was wearing a wig, baseball cap, and gloves when dropping off packages on March 18,2018. One of the packages later exploded at a FedEx sorting facility, the second was intercepted near the Austin airport."

And from the Telegram "Barack Obama approved tapping Angela Merkel's phone 3 years ago" in 2010. That is old tech by now.

The West Point officer may be a strategic prodigy like Ender Wiggin in the book Ender's Game. His statement that "Communism will win" may actually be a warning to Americans rather than a declaration of support for communist governance.

The concern about random facial scanning to identify people in crowds comes in a large part from authoritarian countries like China

We are already there. Satellite images are used to find homeowners who do not declare their swimming pools to insurance companies.

If these surveillance systems become widespread, the insurance and human resources industries will pay good money to learn about all the risky behaviors of their clients and job applicants. For example, someone identified in a facial surveillance scan with prostitutes or in an area that prostitutes frequent may suddenly find his health insurance premiums increased. Similarly, employers may reject his job applications in spite of his excellence credentials and experience without any explanation.

Google is your friend. Or is it your big brother. Google that one too. About Glasses and facial recognition. The company is a leader is several technologies in that area, on top of the information being stored from your Android phone and Internet behavior. It is already being used. Have you heard of Facebook and some recent problems it faced?

Also from the WSJ "Companies are working with departments to develop body cameras that could identify faces in real time" for the police. That is retail.

[Golfinho]

Those filipino / as who do this f*ck it up for everyone else as you said. It makes immigration officials think that all filipinos are going to go tago ng tago.

And yet the Philippines is the rare (visa free) country into which you can't enter without showing the ticket out and onward. Must be so many foreigners going to go tago ng tago.

[Kabul Guy]

And when exactly was that?

Georga is one example. The article was published in 2012 and refers to last year so 2011.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspi...law-backfires/#4 de1717492 aa.

To forgo a repeat of last year, when labor shortages triggered an estimated $140 million in agricultural losses, as crops rotted in the fields, officials in Georgia are now dispatching prisoners to the states farms to help harvest fruit and vegetables.

The labor shortages, which also have affected the hotel and restaurant industries, are a consequence of Georgias immigration enforcement law, HB 87, which was passed last year. As State Rep. Matt Ramsey, one of the bills authors, said at the time, Our goal is to eliminate incentives for illegal aliens to cross into our state.

....

The dirty secret that everybody knew was that most of the states agricultural workers were immigrants, many of them illegal. Some lived in the state; others migrated with the harvest from southern Florida up to New York and back. Some of the former have moved away, while many of the latter are bypassing Georgia. Without them, according to a University of Georgia study, farmers were about 40 percent short of the number of workers they needed to harvest last years crop.

[Chocha Monger]

Many illegals work hard am sure but they are illegal nevertheless.

The point about the West Point officer is valid and more of a worry for many. And never forget the true blue Americans who think Puerto Rico is not part of the USA (LOL. Recent TV and media reports), those in the panhandles and mountains who think their grandmother is their girlfriend / wife and the goat and horse the lover LOL. I would be worried about those idiots who are more likely to do harm IMHO then many others because they are 'American' and see the current leader as someone who supports their 'ambitions' LOL.

The kids who saw their parents' American dream turn into a nightmare during the Great Recession of 2007-09 have now come of age, and many see the American dream as nothing more than a myth of opportunity that bankers and corporate CEOs used to exploit their parents. It is not surprising that they reject the system or even intend to tear it down. They make decisions not based on the American dream but rather the American reality, that of the precarious proletariat.

Hence, they avoid mortgages, marriage, parenthood, dinner dates, and anything that compels them to seek employment on unfavorable terms. The people outraged at the "communist" West Point officer fail to see the irony behind their emotions. They hate communism and consider it a threat. However, they have no problem purchasing products made in a communist country by communists working under horrible unsafe conditions. They patronize companies that put money into the pockets of communist governments through the offshoring of American jobs and manufacturing. American politicians created policies that put American workers in direct competition with the most wretched workers under communism. All of this is due to greed for more corporate profits.

The West Point officer may be a strategic prodigy like Ender Wiggin in the book Ender's Game. His statement that "Communism will win" may actually be a warning to Americans rather than a declaration of support for communist governance. Perhaps, he has seen the some of the sheep in the flock happily doing business with the wolves while bleating, "Wolves are baaad!

[Wicked Roger]

http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/18...-runway-repair

So chose appropriate flights but expect more delays.

[Wicked Roger]

They go to the US because Americans can break their own laws with impunity on HIRING the illegals. Spend as much effort on the Americans who break their own laws in giving jobs to illegals and the problem will be solved. It is simple but much easier to shift the blame on "others".

Of course when this was tried the crops rotted in the fields.

There is the rub KG. Some western countries find the younger generation have an entitlement issue and think some jobs are beneath them. In Saudi I would interview locals who when asked what job they wanted the reply was 'manager' LOL. Same with some millennial. I have never found pinoys I work with lazy, more they are hard working diligent and on time (unlike others. On time when NOT in the Philippines mind you LOL).

Some western employers are urging their government to free up visas as they can't find good local hires. This is UK and Australia where there has been a shortage of good people for some areas. Am sure he same in the USA.

[Eszpresszo]

Of course when this was tried the crops rotted in the fields.

And when exactly was that?

[Kabul Guy]

Many illegals work hard am sure but they are illegal nevertheless.

.....

They go to the US because Americans can break their own laws with impunity on HIRING the illegals. Spend as much effort on the Americans who break their own laws in giving jobs to illegals and the problem will be solved. It is simple but much easier to shift the blame on "others".

Of course when this was tried the crops rotted in the fields.

[Red Kilt]

It's actually takbo ng takbo which loosely means "on the run. " Also, undocumented Filipinos in the USA Number more like 300 K, and almost all came here legally on tourist visas, but then, over stayed taking under-the-table jobs. In fact, I know a takbo ng takbo pinoy who was a newscaster at Channel 9 in Manila. So, it is no wonder immigration officials are loathe to grants tourist visas to pinoys even if they have good jobs, a bank account, or even a home.

You've got it wrong Doc.

It's "tago ng tago" not "takbo ng takbo".

Those filipino / as who do this f*ck it up for everyone else as you said. It makes immigration officials think that all filipinos are going to go tago ng tago.

If you are going to quote tagalog, at least get the quote right.