ekimswish Posted March 7, 2012 Posted March 7, 2012 Hey, I'm going to come off pretty irresponsible in this post, but what's new?We landed in the Philippines in November, 2011, and a year later I was ready to do a visa run for my kids. They and I were all given the one-year balikbayan stamp because we entered with my wife. They're Canadian citizens and I haven't gotten them dual-citizenship with the Philippines (yet?).Anyways, back in November my wife said her friend at the local immigration office (Tacloban) took the kids passports and then gave them back (a few days later?) and said they were good until March. Now she tells me that March 19th we need to pay $450 per kid to renew their visas.She wasn't clear on a lot of the details, so I told her to check back with him and find out everything. I'm going to do my own search online right now to find out about the costs and things like that. I assumed that because they are her dependents, it wouldn't be so expensive. Anyone have experience with this?Thanks a lot. If it is $450 each, then it might be cheaper to fly to Hong Kong and back on Cebu Airlines, and get another year that way. I'm not sure. About to see.Oh yeah, the reason I'm stressed is because I made a lot of promises to pay back some Filipinos in March and April, and with these expenses, that won't be possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekimswish Posted March 7, 2012 Author Posted March 7, 2012 OK.... I detect some mis-information or B.S. going on here. Here's what I found on the BI website:http://immigration.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=203&Itemid=43Nothing on this site, including applying for citizenship, even, is $450 per kid. Aiyaiyai..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billten Posted March 7, 2012 Posted March 7, 2012 (edited) Dude, DO IT LEGAL... trust me, having a 'friend' in BI will bite your butt in the end, and you will pay more than twice. BI is an agency that has over the last few years computerized, and the friends and fixers DO NOT HAVE ACCESS to the system. So all the papers you get are off the grid and when, one day, they are noticed as fake. YOU WILL PAY!!!Go to BI, go upstairs, politely and quietly explain your situation and be ready to pay whatever they ask for. Make sure the only person you talk to is a high ranking BI official and that the only person you give money to is the teller who gives you a receipt. You will most likely find that BI are pretty decent about the whole thing and it will cost a lot less than the 'friend' option. It certainly will cost a lot less in the longer term... Edited March 7, 2012 by billten Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hounddriver Posted March 8, 2012 Posted March 8, 2012 Nothing on this site, including applying for citizenship, even, is $450 per kid. Aiyaiyai. That sounds about right for the standard BB stamp scam. That's where an official takes your passport and stamps it that you left the country, then returned and got another 1 year BB stamp. Its common, its illegal, its expensive and as you said, you are entitled to take the family to Hong Kong and back and get a legit stamp. (Many who do that scam are not legit BB qualifiers). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scianna54 Posted March 8, 2012 Posted March 8, 2012 You have to do the normal visa extension for your kids. Click the link below where it says "Wedding Planning/Visa Renewal" and Paul can do it for you at a fee. Even if you applied for the RP citizenship for your kids, they still would have to enter the country with their RP passports in order to stay indefinitely. Tell your wife not do the "visa extension" she got offered. That is a scam and will bite you in the butt eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Sibbick Posted March 8, 2012 Posted March 8, 2012 Check the departure date on the entry stamp from November. If you entered as Balikbayan, the hand written departure date will be November 2012.If it is Novemberber 2012, that should be the end of the matter. No fees to pay! If the hand written departure date was 21 days from entry, usd $450 will probably be correct. I haven't bothered to calculate it but with 3 extensions, ACR-I card and over stay fees to be paid, it will be a big bill.Regards: Jim 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ancienrocka Posted March 8, 2012 Posted March 8, 2012 Jim,You are spot on as normal with your assessment. The only way to really tell is to look at the entry stamp in the passports; but the OP said "They and I were all given the one-year balikbayan stamp because we entered with my wife." - this would mean their visas would expire Nov 2012.If the OP could scan the entry visa page and post it we could better advise him of the situation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekimswish Posted March 8, 2012 Author Posted March 8, 2012 Thanks for all the comments. I talked to my wife on the phone today (I'm in Taiwan and she's in the Philippines) and told her that nothing of what she told me made any sense. BTW, I wasn't aware that anything illegal was going on. I told her back in November to go to the office and handle it, but (sorry for sounding prejudice), like a Filipina, she relied on her friends instead of putting in the work herself. I told her that if that guy did something illegal, we could be in trouble because of him and have to pay a fine. I told her to go to the office in Tacloban herself, and get to the bottom of it. I wasn't even aware that there were these types of scams. I'll also tell her to check their passports for any marks he left in them.aiyaiyai 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekimswish Posted March 12, 2012 Author Posted March 12, 2012 Figured it out today.My wife's friend's brother-in-law (how's that for the start of a Philippine story?) works at BI in Manila, and told her in November, when my kid's visas were up, that she could just wait until March and he'd help her pay for them.I guess what he meant was, we're going to have to pay monthly anyways, so just pay it all together after a few months (and hopefully) he would help us save on administrative costs and late fees(?). They figured it'd be more convenient that way.What immigration in Tacloban told my wife today is that we owe 28,000 pesos between the two kids from Nov.21st~April 20th, and it increases 5,000 pesos a month. In that 28k is included administrative costs and late fees and stuff. Now my wife is going to see if that guy can help us save some money here and there on those extras, which I can only assume is what he intended on in the first place.I'm pissed, because for 28k I could've flown the three of them to HK and back, and the kids would've renewed the balikbayan entry stamp for another year. But nooooooooooo. Nobody could ask me what I thought we should do. I even could've applied for their dual-citizenship, or figured out if there was a one year residence they could apply for since they're dependents of a Filipina. Now, I've gotta pay that 28k, plus another 5 every month. Frak!Anywho... back in November I told my wife that I could fly them on a visa run, or she could figure it out at the immigration office. I left it in her hands. NEVER leave it in the wife's hands. OMG... One more hole to dig us out of.Guess it's my fault, ultimately. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billten Posted March 12, 2012 Posted March 12, 2012 Smile bai, bahalina... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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