hard to travel abroad for first time travelers..
By kaeirole
@kaeirole (668)
Philippines
February 10, 2012 7:21am CST
i'm not the one who planned to travel abroad, but it's a friend of mine..
she was scheduled for singapore.. she's travelling alone since she'll only visit her boyfriend there. and this what happened to her....
she chose to davao city, philippines as her point of exit to go to singapore..and sad to say, the immigration officer denied her travel..and the reason they gave her---FOR HER OWN SAFETY..
so she decided to rebook her ticket and transferred to cebu city, philippines as her point of exit..but unfortunately, she was denied again..and the reason --- INCOMPLETE DOCUMENTS..and what's more disappointing was she has the documents that she'll be back here in the philippines since she's on leave for work and the reservation information for the hotel, etc. and the immigration supervisor advised her to rebook the ticket for next day and present a scanned passport of her boyfriend, then they'll let her travel..but she never rebooked her ticket when a security guard secretly advised her not to rebook and just travel next time.
so does it mean that immigration in the philippines really does monkey business??because they said it has more chance to travel abroad when you're in group..and in fact, she met 2 passengers at that time that decided to act as boyfriend-girlfriend and luckily were granted to travel to singapore..
3 responses
@Flashpointer (784)
• Philippines
10 Feb 12
Maybe the immigration supervisor is planning to ask her for money and wait for her to lend him money to approve her passport. As we all know, there are lot of monkey business happen here in the Philippines and by that, it needs to report the incident to the department of foreign affairs and consult regarding the hocus pocus situation.
1 person likes this
@kaeirole (668)
• Philippines
11 Feb 12
if the officer planned to ask money, she should ask directly.. :) but we think that the immigration officers has a percentage when someone will rebook their ticket..it's just sad to think that there were 8 passengers who were denied to travel to singapore because of that officer..and rumors say, it's easy to travel when you're in group than when you're alone..
philippines never ran out of monkey business..
@Flashpointer (784)
• Philippines
11 Feb 12
I think the immigration supervisor can not ask directly to the passenger because all areas are recorded with cctv cameras and phone wires were tapped to monitor their authorize personnels in the immigration office. Good thing, there is still good men like the immigration security officer who advices her to process next time because he knows who are these men that do monkey businesses inside the vicinity, though he don't want to let it know because he might loose his job and he just follow the their standard operating procedure as a guard.
1 person likes this
@doggydimon (1369)
• Philippines
10 Feb 12
This is quite strange. First time I heard this kind of reason from immigrations in the Philippines. Did your friend checked her passport if it is still 6 months valid? Was she issued a roundtrip ticket which is less than one month from departure? Did her hotel reservation coincide with the days of her travel in Singapore? If yes, then you have to report it to the proper authorities.
1 person likes this
@kaeirole (668)
• Philippines
10 Feb 12
yes she have the roundtrip tickets..since she'll only be staying there for 3 days just to spend time with her boyfriend..and her passport is valid for more than a year..that's why it's so disappointing..she did talked to the supervisor..and the supervisor told her that she must present a photocopy of her boyfriend's passport for her to travel..
@doggydimon (1369)
• Philippines
10 Feb 12
What for? You said she had a hotel reservation, right? Or did she tell the immigration officer that she will be living with her bf?
@maximax8 (31053)
• United Kingdom
10 Feb 12
I am shocked to here how the immigration officer treated your friend. Singapore is a very safe city for a lone lady to travel. I have been there on my own three times. It is strange that a lady and a man acted as girlfriend and boyfriend were allowed to fly out successfully. It is none of an immigration officers business unless it is people coming into the Philippines. As long as the person has a passport it should be alright. The destination is the travelers choice I believe.
I traveled on my mom's passport when I was a child. I got my first passport when I was 17 years old for my trip to the Netherlands. Then at age 18 years old I flew to Helsinki on a one way ticket. I came home by inter railing around Europe after my work there ended. At age 20 years old I had an immigration officer ask if I was going to work over there in America. I said no and showed him I was intending to work in Australia. I got a warm welcome arriving there to lovely Australia.
1 person likes this
@kaeirole (668)
• Philippines
11 Feb 12
wow..you really traveled a lot..you're lucky because you're not from the philippines..we filipinos are having a hard time in travelling to other countries..the judgment that the traveler is gonna be back relies on the immigration officers' judgment..and sad to say, their judgment can also be affected when they include their monkey business on it..
