My visa woes

[Clermont]

8 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

No you dont have permission and if you have a job opportunity then why are you posting from Nigeria ? 

Banned ?????? wit. 

Another troll bites the dust 

[OnMyWay]

I'm still trying to figure out what "visa conversion" on the paper means????  What visa is readily available to replace it?  13A and SRRV is all I can think of and those are not readily available.

[Dave Hounddriver]

I am at J Mall BI in Cebu this morning.  Even arriving at 0815 they still say that the pickup time for the ECC is 3 PM.  I tried the usual "gift" tactics and was told that some big shot was coming today and they could not help me.  Further enquiries got the information out of them that an internal memo came through a month or more ago about controlling the long stay tourists but so far they are just observing and no one has decided on a long term course of action.  Time will tell.  For now they are much more conservative than they were (by my personal observations) in the past, but they are still issuing tourist visa renewals to some of the people around me.

I did find the lady at window 6 to be nice.  She told me to check back just before lunch and "IF" my ECC was ready then she would give it to me.  But she would not put a rush on it.  She just said they were not very busy this morning and it might be ready early.

The times, they are a changin' but we are not yet sure how.

[Jollygoodfellow]

17 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

they still say that the pickup time for the ECC is 3 PM

Yes we were told 3pm. Don't wait if others are at the pick up window as they just keep calling names and it seems unless you ask they bypass it and you stand there for nothing. 

[Peaceful John]

Jolly, There's a person at the Cebu BI that might be able to help you...........  PM me if you're interested.  Otherwise, I agreed.  According to the published BI guidelines, you're good.  It seems in my experience, ladies in the BI are strict to the rules and unflexible, but the men can be persuaded..........  Good Luck.

j

[Jollygoodfellow]

15 minutes ago, Peaceful John said:

Jolly, There's a person at the Cebu BI that might be able to help you...........  PM me if you're interested.  Otherwise, I agreed.  According to the published BI guidelines, you're good.  It seems in my experience, ladies in the BI are strict to the rules and unflexible, but the men can be persuaded..........  Good Luck.

j

Thanks John

I think I will be OK and will find out before my 30 days is up.

[Mike J]

3 hours ago, Clermont said:

Another troll bites the dust 

Sounds like the folks from Nigeria have moved on from "help me move this hidden money out of Nigeria" to providing non-existing jobs to OFWs for a fee.  Does this mean I may not ever get that gold and diamonds that I was promised?  

[Dave Hounddriver]

7 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

it seems unless you ask they bypass it and you stand there for nothing. 

Some truth in that.  The lady at window 6 calls out the names of the visa renewals and totally ignores the ECC applicants.  There were about half a dozen of us who got there about 8 am, filled out the forms, and waited, and waited, and waited, and asked frequently if any ECCs were done yet.  It was 2 pm before they started to come out and we all had to go and ask. 6 hours for the fecking thing.  Those who went at 11 am were also told to come back at 3 pm so it does not help to go early any more for an ECC.  Still good for the tourist visa renewals though.  Those applicants were in and out in approximately 2 hours.

So I took pics that I could not be arsed to upload.  One says "Cut off time to apply for ECC 1 PM"  The other, on the opposit wall, says "Cut off time for ECC 3 PM".  So I had to go and ask the guy behind the window which sign was correct.  He said "Both".  So I asked "If I want to tell me friends when they should come for an ECC what time shall I tell them".  He said: "If you apply before 1 PM we try to do it today.  If you apply before 3 PM you pick it up next business day . .  at 3 PM"  I said: "How long does it take to complete the process."  He said "From 3 to 6 hours".  (Mine took 6 hours).

So I am pissed off about it but it is done now.  If I had to do it again I would plan to arrive in Cebu by Noon, file the application, get a room, go back at 3 ish and wait for the dang thing then stay 1 night in Cebu.  But that's me.  As usual, your milage will vary

PS If you are somewhere that you can get an ECC that is NOT Cebu BI at JMall then I suggest it will be better.  I heard Mactan BI will do them but I have not tried it.

[hk blues]

9 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I'm still trying to figure out what "visa conversion" on the paper means????  What visa is readily available to replace it?  13A and SRRV is all I can think of and those are not readily available.

I doubt they care how easy it is to convert to another Visa type.  They are simply saying they think the Tourist Visa is no longer suitable and another visa should be obtained. 

[GeoffH]

10 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

What visa is readily available to replace it?  13A and SRRV is all I can think of and those are not readily available.

For those whom it is an option the Balikbyan priviledge might be a better choice.