Refused at manila airport

[Scottie1875]

Hi everybody, I was looking for a little advice.

My Sister in Law was travelling to Sweden for 3 months to stay with her boyfriend. She lives in the philippines. She applied for her Schengen Visa and was approved. She turned up at the airport today to fly out and they wouldn't let her leave the country, saying she didn't have enough money on her for her 3 months stay.

She had $300 on her but that was just for her travelling money. Of course when she gets to Sweden he Boyfriend will pay for her stay.

Surely if she has a visa for the country and shes been through all the checks they shouldn't refuse her to leave the country.

What should she do now? Any suggestions would be welcome.

Many thanks...

Owen

[johncar54]

A friend of mine's, gf had the same problem. I sent an email confirming that I would be responsible to all her expenses and they allowed her to fly the following day (paying the extra charges of course).

I would suggest to anyone in a similar position to get a letter from the bf / friend etc confirming they will pay all expenses.

[joebloggs]

i would have thought they should/would have phoned her boyfriend and got him to confirm that he was going to sponsor her finances, and he must have done a letter stating this when she applied for the visa?? maybe she should have taken a copy with her??...

who refused her? normally immigration in sweden would refuse her when she lands, not unless they check first in manila ?. I suppose they can refuse her, becuase when she applied for the visa, she could have shown she had £1,000s and but she gets to the airport only $300 and no credit cards etc if she has no money the chances are they will think she will work llegally

[Terpe]

Similar stories seem to be cropping up more often.
It may have something to do with the tightening up of human trafficking laws, and the impacts of immigration staff being stricter on how they view the regulations.

Sorry I can't offer a solution. The immigration people can pull up and question anyone they feel a need to.
How old is she?
Did she request to speak with a manager?

Probably one of the things to do is to have the immigration office explain which specific rules she needs to comply with.

That's really tough for her.

[grahamw48]

Similar stories seem to be cropping up more often.
It may have something to do with the tightening up of human trafficking laws, and the impacts of immigration staff being stricter on how they view the regulations.

Sorry I can't offer a solution. The immigration people can pull up and question anyone they feel a need to.
How old is she?
Did she request to speak with a manager?

Probably one of the things to do is to have the immigration office explain which specific rules she needs to comply with.

That's really tough for her.

It IS to do with anti-people trafficking laws.

The US has tied in the the tightening up of of these with future financial assistance packages.

There has also been an inter-departmental dispute involving the BOI, which hasn't helped matters.

The immigration officials feel entitled to consider that a young lady travelling abroad from a poor country, and with limited funds, may be going there on the basis of false promises, possibly to be channelled into the sex industry, possibly also to become an over-stayer in that country, leading to repatriation expenses being funded by the Philippines Govt.

Let's all be grateful for the freedoms that WE have in our country.

Now maybe the human rights people will get to work on helping the Filipina slaves kept by diplomats from certain (mainly middle-eastern) countries...but of course they have oil and money.

[johncar54]

When my friend wanted his GF to join him for a holiday in Thailand I wrote to the RP immigration asking what she would require. This is my email:-
A friend of ours, a Filipino, is intending to travel to Thailand for an 11
day holiday. I have just visited your web page and it shows she will
only need a valid passport (she has a new one just issued) and her return
ticket. No visa needed to Thailand.
My wife tells me she is certain that the friend will need a stamp from CFO and maybe more!
I should be grateful if you advise what she will in fact need.

Many thanks, salamat, John C ..........

REPLY From: "BI Helpdesk" <xinfo@immigration.gov.ph>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 11:06 PM
To: "John Car........." ....... @ ...........>
Subject: Re: Bureau of Immigration, Philippines: Filipipno travelling to
Thailand as a tourist.

She only needs to present a valid passport and a confirmed return ticket at the airport of exit.

The CFO stamp is only for immigrants and not for tourist.

> Have a nice day.


Despite this undertaking she was not allowed to leave.

I then sent this fax to Immigration and she was then allowed to leave.


FAX .0063 2 8795917 13th November, 2008.
Chief Immigration Officer.
Immigration Dept, R.O.P. Manila

RE Miss Arleen D..... , Passport No. XX.............

Who was booked on PAL flight PR730 on 13th November 2008, flying to Bangkok, with a return ticket to MNL on 9th December, 2008.

The original ticket was booked by me on-line and paid for on my VISA credit card, No. XXXXxXXXXXXX 6826.


I subsequently changed the return date to 9th December Ms Diaz. I sent the money for the additional payment to Ms Diaz and she paid in PAL office in Makati.

The reason for the trip is to meet her fiancé Carl N ......... , a personal friend of mine. The couple were introduced by me and my Filipino wife and Carl stayed in Manila with Ms Diaz a couple of months ago. They are booked to stay at Asia Pattaya Hotel, room 707, 352 Moo 12 Pratamnak Road. Nongprue, Pattaya City, Cholburi 20150 Thailand. Tel : +66(0)38 250401-11 Fax: +66(0)2 215 9005

In January Carl N...... will travel to Manila, with documentation to permit him to marry Ms Diaz in early February, 2009. They will then apply for a visa for Ms Diaz, then Mrs Arleen N........., to reside permanently in Spain.

I hereby undertake and guarantee, to be fully responsible for all costs for Ms Diaz for her holiday in Thailand and for her return to Philippines. She has travel insurance which was arranged by Carl N..........




(John C ............)
my address .........

UK Passport Number 705......... Copy attached.

[grahamw48]

Things have changed significantly since then, as I have outlined in my post above.

[Terpe]

Couple of Interesting headliners from the Immigration website:-

Immigration chief exhorts men to sustain anti-trafficking drive

http://immigration.gov.ph/index.php?...=670&Itemid=78

2 OFWs nabbed at NAIA for trying to bribe BI man

http://immigration.gov.ph/index.php?...=669&Itemid=78


No mention of what to do if you get stopped/refused.

[Scottie1875]

Thanks for all the responses.

I am still waiting to hear exactly what happened at the airport. I will let you all know how she gets on and hopefully she will be able to travel once she has letter of support from her bf.

Thanks,

Owen

[Terpe]

Thanks for all the responses.

I am still waiting to hear exactly what happened at the airport. I will let you all know how she gets on and hopefully she will be able to travel once she has letter of support from her bf.

Thanks,

Owen

Owen, does this mean she no letter from her B/F?
I'd be willing to bet that would be one of the reasons.

Please let us whatever info you can. It can all help others to provide appropriate documents.
Hope she is OK ?

[Scottie1875]

I believe there was definately a letter of support sent to the Embassy as part of her visa application but I don't think she had anything like that on her when she went to the airport to travel.

[johncar54]

Aren't we confusing the point here.

Its nothing to do with applying for the visa but being allowed to leave RP.

As I quoted above,, the RP immigrantion dept say:-- a citizen only needs to present a valid passport and a confirmed return ticket at the airport of exit.

Then they start inventing reasons to punish their citizens.

[Scottie1875]

Aren't we confusing the point here.

Its nothing to do with applying for the visa but being allowed to leave RP.

As I quoted above,, the RP immigrantion dept say:-- a citizen only needs to present a valid passport and a confirmed return ticket at the airport of exit.

Then they start inventing reasons to punish their citizens.

I agree, there should not have been any reason for her to be refused permission to leave when she had a valid visa, passport and return ticket.

[joebloggs]

Aren't we confusing the point here.

Its nothing to do with applying for the visa but being allowed to leave RP.

As I quoted above,, the RP immigrantion dept say:-- a citizen only needs to present a valid passport and a confirmed return ticket at the airport of exit.

Then they start inventing reasons to punish their citizens.

exactly, i can understand if she had arrived in sweden and immigration had asked her about her finances and refused her entry but not even to leave manila

[Terpe]

As both Graham and I have said previously, the Human Trafficking laws have been very significantly tightened up. This has resulted in immigration officers being actively encouraged to utlise both their powers and their discretion in allowing the exit or not from Phils.

[johncar54]

Ok but does it say anywhere (on line) that a citizens must have anything other than a valid passport and a confirmed return ticket at the airport of exit. ?

[Terpe]

Ok but does it say anywhere (on line) that a citizens must have anything other than a valid passport and a confirmed return ticket at the airport of exit. ?

Yes.
It does. (More research would surely yield more information)
Take a look at this this:-
Friday, 11 February 2011 16:21:34 PHT
The immigration reply to my letter, girlfriend refused to leave Manila on a tourist visa.
Dear Sir:

Please be advised that the Bureau of Immigration, as a member of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, is implementing strict departure formalities for certain Filipinos (BI Memorandum Order No. RPL-10-004 dated 09 August 2010). This regulation of the right to travel is pursuant to the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 (RA 9208) and other allied laws, and applies to those who are reasonably detected to be in a potential trafficking situation. This means that every departing passenger is assessed based on the totality of the circumstances at the time of departure, by scrutinizing the passport, ticket, visa or purpose of travel, capacity of the passenger to undertake the particular purpose of travel or that who is guaranteeing the travel, the authenticity of the POEA documents, if applicable, etc.
The regulation of the right to travel however does not authorize our Immigration Officers to treat passengers with discourtesy nor to extort money. If you feel that the Immigration Officer acted in such a manner, please feel free to execute a sworn written statement and trust that it shall be given appropriate and administrative due course.


Comment by observer:-
Thanks for sharing this. Unfortunately, Filipinos are often recruited by various unscrupulous recruiters, who abuse them once abroad, including such horrible things as slavery and forced prostitution, to prevent this, and to avoid Philippine embassies and consulates being troubled with people seeking help, the named laws have been implemented. To avoid being denied exit, depending on your travel purpose and destination, you will be required to follow various types of seminars, or submit yet more documentation about your travel sponsor.

A further complication is that some immigration officials see this as an opportunity to extract money from people wishing to leave the country, forcing them to either hand over several hundreds of dollars on the spot, or miss your flight. The best remedy here is to know the regulations exactly, and have an abundance of paperwork available to make your point.

I've also found that leaving through some of the alternative airports (Cebu, Davao, etc.) is far more relaxed than departing from NAIA.

[Pete/London]

Just a thought as it hasn`t been mentioned, does anyone know her age and would this have any bearing on the refusal

[Terpe]

Just a thought as it hasn`t been mentioned, does anyone know her age and would this have any bearing on the refusal

Good point. I already raised this and asked the question in post #4
This issue is obviously part of the profiling

[Arthur Little]

her age and would this have any bearing on the refusal

Reckon it could have ... IF she happened to be a "minor" travelling alone. But there again, would she have been granted a visa at all if she were under 21, for instance?

Or does this ruling only apply to those applying for settlement abroad?

[Scottie1875]

Just a thought as it hasn`t been mentioned, does anyone know her age and would this have any bearing on the refusal

She is 27 years old

[Terpe]

So Graham, do you have any information from your contacts that might help shed some light on what additional documentation/evidence may help smooth the way for genuine travellers??

[grahamw48]

So Graham, do you have any information from your contacts that might help shed some light on what additional documentation/evidence may help smooth the way for genuine travellers??

That would be too easy wouldn't it.

We're talking about the Philippines here.

'Normal' travel documentation is required pertaining to the type of journey, but final permission to travel is at the discretion of the immigration officer on duty at the airport.

That's where the lottery starts, it seems.

[ampy]

Show Money,,,,,they used to ask show money for tourist visa or first timer ,,,but i thought they have stopped it many years ago,
That is what i dont want about philippine immigration officers they sometimes go over the top and play God if they can get away with it.,,I was stopped one time and because my visit visa was not the original copy,it was supposed to be collected in Dubai airport ,everybody do the same they just wanted to pick on someone every now and then,,,i told myself,,what if i can talk my way out of it,i have to show money that i can pay for myself,pictures of my husband and some of important papers that i am not going to work abroad that i know what i am going to do,a bit of humor here and there,,,i think i made them laugh so much or they just had enough of me,,i got lucky !!!!they let me in,that was 1995

[Scottie1875]

My sister-in-law's boyfriend has phoned to find out why she was refused and they said she didn't have enough money for her 3 month stay. He asked how much would she need to have and they said 'enough' When he pressed them on how much 'enough' was they hung up on him.

It turns out she was also told at the airport that she was undergraduated. Sounds like they are making rules up as they go along.

I feel very sad for them both.. Hopefully they can sort it out.

[ampy]

,hmmm, sound liked it yeah !!! tell her to ask for the supervisor,she can complain there,ask even a porter to take her to talk to whoever is in-charge there,,,she s got all the complete documents with her,,they dont have any reason to stop her,graduated or not,they can explain to her what she will have to do.
i have complained there before and the sales lady help me out,she called the personnel for me to complain about one immigration officers,first time i saw them so low and didnt even try to reason out,,
i really feel sad for her,i hate to be in that situation!

[gerrychina]

Hi everybody,my girlfriend,who lives on the Philippines,was also refused at Manila Airport by Immigration,for the same stupid reason,not enough money on her,she showed the letter of guarantee,official invitation,health/liabilityinsurance policy etc.But because it was written in Dutch she was send away.Immigration has nothing to do with these papers!They are meant for Dutch Customs,they want to know if she has a sponsor who pay all her costs.Now i wonder if she can use the same ticket after i sent her an English translation of these papers,otherwise i'll lose over 1000 Euro,its really a banana republic!

[tboy555]

you have my sympathies. It would be nice if the Immigration dept could categorically say what is required for exit. I had similar problem when I tried to fly my girlfriend to meet me in Thailand. All websites say no visa needed. She was stopped at the airport saying I needed to send her a certified letter of support. I was furious. I then wasted a day in the filipino embassy in Bangkok where the nice guy did me a favour giving me the documentation same day (and rinsed me a bit in the process). She had to rebook the following day, stay with her aunt overnight and pay $100 for the privelege. It's a pathetic system. Just hope with her visa/cfo sticker etc she can board the flight to UK in a few weeks.

[gerrychina]

Hi everyone,it seems that my girlfriend is going to fly afterall,the Letter of Guarantee has to be legalized by the Ph.Embassy,why?I don't know,its legal piracy.I went to the Embassy and kindly persuaded one of the employees to fix it right away because i was very pissed!!Well,it costed me some money,but you get something!Wow,a declaration of an employee,very official,with a red ribbon and a gold self-adhesive seal.And then send by Fedex to the Philippines.
Another 100 Euro gone,but she's got the document and if all goes well she'll fly to Holland coming Tuesday,if not,well,better not say what i'll do,hehe.If she fly's,i considder myself an expert now on inviting someone from the Philippines.Btw,Dutch Embassy does nothing!Just enjoying the weather over there and wait for their retirement.

[Magnus]

Its my gf who was stopped at the airport.
She is 27 years old
She was so surpriced by beeing stopped from traveling that she left imigration before she call me and told me what hapend. I asked her to go back and hand over the phone to someone at imigration, but they all redused to pick the phone.

She tell me they say money not enough, and that she is undergraduated.

To be able to get her visa i have written an invitation letter where i take full responsibillity for her while she is here.

Nowhere i can find that the imigration need an invitation letter.

Looking their site you need: passport, ticket (return ticket) and visa if required. My girlfriend was carrying all this.

I call the embassy in Stockholm, and they sounds as surpriced as me, but then tell me to arrange an affidavit. I have never heard of that before. This document should be stamped by the notarius publicus, the department of forign affairs and the Phil embassy in Stockholm.
Then should the original be sent to my girlfriend. Then they said that she should visit any imigration office and show the document, to see if they considder it valid. I asked if any other requirements to be fullfilled, they did not know.

After this i call imigration in Manila, trying to find out, how much money they considder girlfriend should have, and if any other documents needed, not to be stopped again.
Enough, was the answere i got. i ask again: There should be a guideline, again reply is enough, when asking the third time they simply slammed the phone in my ear.
Girlfriend also called the imigration, and got same reply.

Money for the ticket most likely gone so when the AFFIDAVIT passed with all stamps, we have to buy new ticket, and just hope for the best

This is learning the hard way.