a question here please

[myliitlehaven07]

if am going to apply for the visa within this month, and my passport is expiring on the 18th of january next year, what date should i give on my intended travel date? will i get refused of visa if i am applying this too close dates?and that my passport is just good for 6months? i cannot wait for renewal on my passport anymore as it will take ages with what is going on with DFA...:Help1:

[Arthur Little]

I can sympathise with your sense of frustration at the "dead slow and stop" service offered by the DFA in the Philippines ... having experienced it myself! :doh

I may be wrong, :rolleyes: but it seems to me that you're faced with two choices here: Either you turn up in person at their nearest office - explaining that you need to renew your passport as a matter of urgency, since you are about to apply for an Overseas Settlement Visa in order to be with your husband asap - OR you could simply go ahead and submit your application to the British Embassy in Manila ... with a covering letter outlining the circumstances. After all, your existing passport STILL HAS 6 months of validity left before it expires. BUT- should you choose to go for the second option - I'd certainly suggest you do so straightaway.

[Arthur Little]

what date should i give on my intended travel date?

:anerikke: ... obviously it would need to be no later than mid-July :NoNo: to permit you to travel using your present passport! So this is where the 'covering letter' mentioned in my previous post, makes sense. At a pinch you could put down ... say ... 11/07/2011 - thus allowing sufficient leeway for the visa being processed within the Embassy's [current] timescales. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[myliitlehaven07]

thanks so much arthur your such an angel!i was thinking of explaining that on my cover letter too, i just needed an opinion to boost me as me and my husband are getting lots of stress and frustrations here!!:cwm23: i went to the dfa here in my place, i was not surprise ( PHILIPPINESSSS!!!:hubbahubba:) that they are giving me a later date and ITS JUST AN APPOINTMENT for renewal and said that the expected date of release will still be DELAYED as there are so many applications that has been processed but up till now they are uncertain if it will be released!!!:xxaction-smiley-047 SO I DONT THINK i can wait that long as me and my husband have been preparing for this for the whole year of our marriage lol!!!

thanks arthur you the only one who had patience to answer my question..thank you very much!!!:xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3:

[steve monty]

Hi there,

My wife and me are having this very same problem now. She was told by the DFA in CDO that it would take 50 working days to process visa! Although as we are applying for a spousal visa at the end of the month she would have had to be in Manila to do the visa application. So she is going up there tomorrow staying with family and friends doing the CFO course and applying for a new visa the next day. If you apply at the main office the processing times are 15 working days for fast or 20 working days normal.

Maybe you could do the same thing if you have family or friends in Manila to stay with? might be an option. I would have thought you would need 6 months on your passport though to be able to apply, so would mean you would have to apply by the 18 june.

I know you want to be together as soon as possible like ourselves but don't rush and get rejected because not enough time left on passport or that your application has suffered because you forgot something because you were rushing to complete before the said time.

Goodluck with your application by the way, I hope you have a successful outcome whatever you choose to do.:xxgrinning--00xx3: :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[myliitlehaven07]

thanks steve my passport is expiring on the 18th of january next year and i would like to apply hopefully next week and my intended date is on the 16th of July. Will that be okay? i also have appointment on dfa and i can state that on my letter hoping they will take that in to consideration with all that is going on with DFA....am just so stressed!! by the way i live two hours drive from manila so i can easily go there and submit papers. I am just worried of that processing for visa and that intend date of travel as i really need to leave by july bec my husband is on sickie. Id like to take the time to take care of him before he goes back to work :( as he cannot take a leave after those sick days once i get to UK.

good luck on your wife application as well!!! lets just hope and pray that those machines on DFA starts working lol

[steve monty]

if you are applying monday next week i would do what Arthur said and put the intended date on the 11 July so hopefully give enough time for the embassy to process the visa and give you enough time to travel before you run into 6 months of your passport.

What is the DFA appointment for? is that to renew your passport? I thought you had to hand in your old passport to get your new one? I maybe wrong. OR if you have not got a passport you need to have one in your application for it to be processed.

[myliitlehaven07]

yes it is for renewal steve, am just hoping if the embassy knows am going to have it renew that they do not have to worry of my passport expiring or only good for 6 months or maybe they will process my visa soon... and then i can go to dfa for renewal..well I AM JUST HOPING lol. :Erm: if i got my visa before my appointment in DFA they will not take my passport with VISA is that how it works? am nt sure? :NoNo:

[steve monty]

For your first time travelling to the UK it would be best to have the UK visa in your passport. I don't think you can transfer it, i am not sure. Somebody else might be able to help you with this. I think it is one or the other for you. Your passport can not be at the DFA and the British Embassy at the same time. you can either..

1. Go for the visa now, not waiting go tomorrow if you can as you are running out of time for the Embassy to process the visa and allowing you to travel before the 6 months is up. They will keep your passport until visa application has been decided.

OR

2. Go to the DFA in person at their head office in Manila and ask for fast processing of passport. Then apply for visa after. But you will not have to worry that you not submitted your visa application in time if you use your old passport.

I think these are the 2 options that are open to you, I hope it goes well with whatever you decide! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[myliitlehaven07]

thanks steve, am thinking of the second option to be safe, but with the DFA even if i ask for the RUSH processing it still will take ages according to the staff bec there are lots that has been delayed too :(:angry: i am so caught up between my need to go there and be with him and this DFA problems...:bigcry:

[steve monty]

Was the delay said to you at a local office or the main DFA in Pasay? If you go to the main office then i think the processing times will be quicker. My wife was told that the reason why the delays in provincial DFA's was because of the sending of documents via post is taking too long.

You want there to be no problems, I think you are doing the right thing by going to the DFA first. Don't wait for appointment if it is a long time away. keep the appointment but maybe go there in person to DFA in Pasay, hopefully you might be seen before your appointment is scheduled.

At least by going to the DFA first, you know your visa won't be denied because of an ageing passport with not enough time left on it. This is what i was worrying that could happen to you. I know you want to be there with your husband like i do with my wife being here, but rushing may damage your visa application by applying with old passport. You done the CFO seminar already?

[myliitlehaven07]

i went here in one of the satellite office in angeles city, a branch of the main consular office in San fernando although i already have an appointment there, thinking that i will be able to get an early appointment than that one they gave on the main consular office....but well of course, they even have a later date of appointment :) the reason they said that there is a delay is bec of the machine use to laminate the passport is NOT WORKING:yikes:

ive been contemplating on that as well and just an hour ago i have talk to hubby and explained that we have to wait a little longer what worries me so much now is my TOEIC test, do you know if its included on the new list of ENGLISH TEST? if not, mine will be invalid on july 18th and that is another problem and MORE EXPENSES!!:angry:

yes i already have my CFO and have my passport amended, am only renewing it in the hope that i can have my passport renewed for the sake of giving the embassy a three months processing.. will it not be better if i only give them one month processing than 3 months? coz its like am just giving them an excuse to process it for three months,...hhhmmm i wonder????:Erm:

thanks steve for all the patience and concern your such a blessing to me while am undergoing lots and lots of stress!!!:cwm3:

[myliitlehaven07]

oh i just got an email from vfs, as i did wrote them my concern, they allowed me to submit my application one month before my intended date :omg: of travel :D

[steve monty]

Nice one, that's great news!! No more worries for you. well get going and apply!! :xxgrinning--00xx3: :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Arthur Little]

Nice one, that's great news!!

Indeed it IS! So it's "full steam ahead" now ... and all the very best with your application - which I'm sure will have a speedy and successful outcome. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[myliitlehaven07]

oh you two are so GREAT!!those encouragement gives me confidence now!!!THANK YOU ARTHUR AND STEVE!!!!!:xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3::xxgrinning--00xx3: