Pete and Gina Bennetts British Embassy Experience


Well where do i start, perhaps at the beginning, as some of you will know, I had flown out to Manila with a good freind of mine, Steve Smith from Glasgow, who was also visiting his wife in Cavite, sadly, they had to cancel their settlement visa interview which was for the 9th of June, as they do not have the required evidence of accomodation, and other important documents, it was decided that he should cancel...to leave for later date and not suffer the chance of a refusal to issue a visa.

Gina and I flew to Manila on Saturday afternoon, wanting to be in town, for two things

1. To take stock of our paperwork and prepare.
2. To do some role playing on the ECO/Applicant interview.

Well as you will see later, we actually had a gift horse thrown at us, to perhaps help some of you in the future, I think the Embassy actually made a mistake, in that they accidentally released the notes they had made about the interview from their point of view, when Gina called on Tuesday to collect her Passport with the nice UK Entry Clearance Visa stamped neatly in the back.

The Morning of Monday the 6th June 2005 interview appointment time 11.00am.

Working on the basis of "its better to be earlier than late" Gina and i awoke around 6.30am and had a hearty breakfast, we left the hotel, with our massive Rustans shopping carrier bag, with the following items inside.

1. Evidence of relationship File.
2. Large Album of Photos spanning 2 years of courtship.
3. File with Application Forms, NSO Docs, Birth Certs, Mutliple Copies of this and that.
4. Wedding Album
5. 6 Ton of personal letters (Just Kidding - Keith will understand this one)
6. Passports

We arrived at the Embassy at around 10.15am for our 11.00am time slot, on arrival we noted the prescence of 2 Philippine Marine Guards with M16's and 1 Police Officer, also a civilian security guard, we were asked to deposit our ID Card, although I was not asked to leave ID..Gina was.

We then went to Ground Floor reception, at reception a Filipina asked us what our business was, She asked if it was for Visa, we stated affirmative, I then tried to go upstairs to the 15th Floor, but was denied entry, on the grounds that Sponsors are not allowed up to the Visa Section as their is no where for them to wait, and they are not allowed in the Interview room.

At that point I tried to argue the situation, again to no avail, a polite smile, and that it is the British Embassy policy, I had to leave Gina and say goodbye, she then proceeded upstairs in the lift without me, no doubt Rob went through same situation as I did.

Their is no where to actually wait outside the Embassy, so i made freinds with the Marines and started a conversation about everything from "Do you have a loaded weapon, or full magazine" to the weather, they let me stay there, outside, whilst other filipinos were asked to move on, this is something to note for the future, to anyone who goes after me, there is little point in my view of the Sponsor husband or fiance actually hanging around as

1. The Applicant cannot take a cellphone in to call you.
2. You have no idea how long they will be as I will show you.

Gina left to go upstairs at 10.15am, I did not see her again until 12.30pm, and by this time she had still not been called forward for her interview.

Let me explain further.

Remembering now it is 30 degrees outside on the sidewalk, the traffic is bedlam, the noise is incredible, standing on the corner of Ayala and Makati Avenue, opposite the Shangri-la is the worse place to actually be, and outside the LV Locsin Building they are altering the road, so there is no path, its a dogs dinner, and hot.

I managed to find out, that all applicants are interviewed on the basis of Alphabetical order, this is ok in principle, but as I found out, if your maiden name is Yap as Gina's is, (and by the way, it does not seem to be a problem, if you are married and are interviewed as what is in your passport..i.e. your maiden name, this has no relevance, so dont go worrying about changing your wife's passport to her married name, this can take up to 1 month)

So applicants are interviewed from the A's through to the Y's etc, this meant that all applicants that turned up in the morning, and appointments started at 08.30am, this seems to be irrelevant, therefore, in my case, after standing outside for 2 and 3 quarter hours, I was sweating, sticky and tired, Gina came out with another lady who both said, they had not even been called.

They were told to come back at 2pm.

So Gina and I..and another guy who was stood with me, Kenny from Birmingham, and Steve and Lorna my freinds, we all went to the Ayala Centre Museum Cafe, incidentally, this is nice, about 100 yards to your left and easily spottable, we had a nice lunch there, and its air conditioned throughout.