Americans requiring a visa.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Quote

Pimentel said parity in administrative travel conditions between the Philippines and the United States could also be achieved if the US removes the requirement for Filipinos to apply for a US visa. 

Now lets see, how many Filipinos move or gain entry to another country and disappear? I read the figures for Australia a few years back and I recall it was high. Now the reason the US has these controls is to try to prevent this. In contrast how many american citizens disappear in the Philippines I imagine would be rather low.

They talk about the revenue it would create but dont talk about the amount of tourisam dollars and expat dollars they lose if people could not be bothered with getting a prepaid visa.

They add the last sentence quoted above as in tit for tat stuff which makes me think the Philippines is losing the plot. 

[Ram1957]

Just found this, seems that there is other changes in the works. Don't know if is true or not but Obama told Kerry to make up a new visa policy regarding Filipinos. This is exchange for the PI to allow US Military.

Moderators note:  Link removed as it is a spam site that auto loads a bunch of p*rn links etc.  At least it does on my laptop.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Dave Hounddriver

[AlwaysRt]

All I know is that if I had to get a VISA by attending an interview - even if free or by paying $160 for the VISA, I would not have given the Philippines a second thought. As has been said, plenty of other places in the world to go to. A major reason I did come here and spend the $1,000s I have so far is the VISA on arrival. So, they need to adjust their VISA income forecast down by p600,000 a year just to account for me.

[robert k]

Cambodia would become more attractive, from what i hear the visa is much easier there. Since I've turned the big 50, I can't marry a local should I desire to. I've always had an interest in Archeology, not the digging but the seeing. The prevalence of spoken or at least generally understood merican gives the Philippines a leg up, but not necessarily an insurmountable one. I think the Marianas islands are more expensive but American territory and I'm told there is great diving, but I'm not a diver. From what I read a week or 10 days ago the Marianas counts as residency for the US and Chinese, Russians and Filipinos can I believe go there for 90 days at whim, if I remember correctly.

Still, the Philippines is still the choice until something changes to disqualify it.

[Jack Peterson]

33 minutes ago, robert k said:

 

Cambodia would become more attractive, from what i hear the visa is much easier there. Since I've turned the big 50, I can't marry a local should I desire to.

 

 Oh! some strange law or do they see over 50 as over the Hill? 

[robert k]

12 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Oh! some strange law or do they see over 50 as over the Hill? 

I suppose some people objected so the government made it a law. Some might consider it a plus because then they would have an excuse..."I would marry you honey but it's against the law?".

As long as I stay over the hill and not under them, I feel I'm ahead.

Edited November 3, 2016 by robert k

[Snowy79]

1 hour ago, Jack Peterson said:

 Oh! some strange law or do they see over 50 as over the Hill? 

They probably realise that by 50 you wouldn't be stupid enough to get married. 

[Jack Peterson]

13 minutes ago, Snowy79 said:

They probably realise that by 50 you wouldn't be stupid enough to get married. 

 I was 60  but told her  and it is working so far ( 9 years and Counting)

[OnMyWay]

6 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

They talk about the revenue it would create but dont talk about the amount of tourisam dollars and expat dollars they lose if people could not be bothered with getting a prepaid visa.

And nobody talks about the expense of processing the visas.  As more that 100 countries can enter Philippines visa free, most tourists are coming in that route.  Even just changing to visas for U.S. tourists will require a big new bureaucracy.

What some of these people don't realize is that a large part of the U.S. $160 tourist visa fee is spent on bureaucracy.  Research has to be done.  The visas don't magically appear on the passports.  I doubt that it is a cash cow as some people think.

The other part of it is to create a fee that will discourage people who can't afford to visit from applying.  Can you imagine the flood of Filipinos who would apply for a U.S. visa if there was no fee?  I can't see any way the U.S. could go visa free with Filipinos.  There has to be a process to weed out some applicants.

I just paid the $160 visa fee today for my step-daughter.  I hope it doesn't get messed up due to side effect from all this BS.

[jpbago]

7 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I think Americans tend to overvalue their worth as tourists.  Here is a chart of tourism in Cuba after the Americans were required to stay away.

If the place has desirability then tourists will come, despite Dutertes best efforts to keep them away.

The increase of tourists in Cuba was because there was no Americans there.