Traveling with Phillipines Passport (soon to expire) and US Green Card

[Moofy 1]

My wife has her 2-year Green Card (expires in August 2019 so we're coming up on the renewal) and a Brown Philippines Passport that expires in July 2019.

 

She was planning on flying back to Bohol in two weeks for a 2-week duration to visit her family and renew her passport; but upon further study we're finding some issues.

 

1) What is the 6-month expiration visit Philippines thing? A friend told her if her passport expires in under 6 months they won't let her travel. Is this true? What is this? Does her having a valid Green Card with a return ticket address any issue?

2) If she renews her passport in the Philippines can she fly back on our old one while we wait for the new one? She was planning on going to Cebu to renew her passport. Will they take her passport and will she be stuck there until she gets her new one?

3) Is there any reason or way she could get "stuck" in the Philippines, unable to return?

 

Any details to help plan this trip would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

[payxibka 10,044]

11 minutes ago, Moofy said:

My wife has her 2-year Green Card (expires in August 2019 so we're coming up on the renewal) and a Brown Philippines Passport that expires in July 2019.

 

She was planning on flying back to Bohol in two weeks for a 2-week duration to visit her family and renew her passport; but upon further study we're finding some issues.

 

1) What is the 6-month expiration visit Philippines thing? A friend told her if her passport expires in under 6 months they won't let her travel. Is this true? What is this? Does her having a valid Green Card with a return ticket address any issue?

2) If she renews her passport in the Philippines can she fly back on our old one while we wait for the new one? She was planning on going to Cebu to renew her passport. Will they take her passport and will she be stuck there until she gets her new one?

3) Is there any reason or way she could get "stuck" in the Philippines, unable to return?

 

Any details to help plan this trip would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

1.  The 6 month is for visitors, not citizens or residents. 

 

2.  They typically don't take the old one

 

3.  No, not as long as she had a valid passport and green card 

[Moofy 1]

Thank you for your response, Pay! So I looked at the DFA site and the whole 6-month thing was VERY confusing the way it was worded, and my wife has all of these Filipino friends telling her it's going to be an issue. Can you point me to any details online posted by the Filipino government to confirm what you've represented?

 

You said they "typically" don't take the old one. Are we risking her losing her Passport and getting stuck in the Philippines if she tries to renew there? I just want to make 100% sure because even expediting the passport, there's no way she could have the new one before she had to fly back to the US.

[payxibka 10,044]

The six-month validity passport rule is a requirement of other countries accepting foreign travelers. The six- month passport validity rule is enforced because nations do not want to risk having travelers and tourists overstaying their passport validity. Six months is now the standard validity requirement for many countries.

 

Pay attention to two words.  FOREIGN TRAVELER

[Bruce Herrington 8]

1 hour ago, Moofy said:

My wife has her 2-year Green Card (expires in August 2019 so we're coming up on the renewal) and a Brown Philippines Passport that expires in July 2019.

 

She was planning on flying back to Bohol in two weeks for a 2-week duration to visit her family and renew her passport; but upon further study we're finding some issues.

 

1) What is the 6-month expiration visit Philippines thing? A friend told her if her passport expires in under 6 months they won't let her travel. Is this true? What is this? Does her having a valid Green Card with a return ticket address any issue?

2) If she renews her passport in the Philippines can she fly back on our old one while we wait for the new one? She was planning on going to Cebu to renew her passport. Will they take her passport and will she be stuck there until she gets her new one?

3) Is there any reason or way she could get "stuck" in the Philippines, unable to return?

 

Any details to help plan this trip would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

1. Returning to the Philippines, She is exempt from the six-month rule. See link below

2. She has to wait for her new passport before she will be allowed to return to the US (must be valid for 6 months)

3. Yes she could get stuck. She can't leave the Philippines without a new passport.  Does she already have an appointment with DFA?  Appointments are very hard to get.

http://immigration.gov.ph/faqs/travel-req                                                                                                                                     

[payxibka 10,044]

18 minutes ago, Bruce Herrington said:

1. Returning to the Philippines, She is exempt from the six-month rule. See link below

2. She has to wait for her new passport before she will be allowed to return to the US (must be valid for 6 months)

3. Yes she could get stuck. She can't leave the Philippines without a new passport.  Does she already have an appointment with DFA?  Appointments are very hard to get.

http://immigration.gov.ph/faqs/travel-req                                                                                                                                     

She is exempt from the six month rule when returning to the USA because she has a green card 

[buenavides1 7]

1. The six months are for those visitors not the citizen of the country.

2. No, they don't accept the expired passport. Also it will take only 7 to 12 days if she will get a new one. 

3. No, for as long as she renews her passport and has a valid green card. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by buenavides1

[Moofy 1]

Her passport isn't expired; it expires in July. But she won't have time to wait for the new one during her trip (she's actually in PH only 11-12 days and can't get an appt until the middle of her trip). So the question is can she get her new passport and travel back to the US on her old one while we wait for them to ship the new one to our address here in the US?

 

Or does she just forego the entire passport thing and we take a trip to Vancouver when she returns? (the closest embassy)

[millefleur 5,035]

**Moved from DCF Discussion to PHIL regional forum; question is country specific**

[Hank_ 9,173]

7 hours ago, Moofy said:

My wife has her 2-year Green Card (expires in August 2019 so we're coming up on the renewal) and a Brown Philippines Passport that expires in July 2019.

 

She was planning on flying back to Bohol in two weeks for a 2-week duration to visit her family and renew her passport; but upon further study we're finding some issues.

 

1) What is the 6-month expiration visit Philippines thing? A friend told her if her passport expires in under 6 months they won't let her travel. Is this true? What is this? Does her having a valid Green Card with a return ticket address any issue?

2) If she renews her passport in the Philippines can she fly back on our old one while we wait for the new one? She was planning on going to Cebu to renew her passport. Will they take her passport and will she be stuck there until she gets her new one?

3) Is there any reason or way she could get "stuck" in the Philippines, unable to return?

 

Any details to help plan this trip would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!

1)  Being a citizen of the Philippines your wife doesn't need 6 months of validity of the passport to fly there, that 6 month requirement is for foreigners traveling TO a foreign country.

 

2-3)  Stuck?  Yes very possible.   I don't think 2 weeks is adequate time to apply for and receive a new passport before traveling back to the USA.   Do take note that when applying for the passport renewal they take the OLD passport, which they will return with the new passport.  There will be NO traveling without a passport.  

 

 

[payxibka 10,044]

8 hours ago, buenavides1 said:

 

2. No, they don't accept the expired passport. Also it will take only 7 to 12 days if she will get a new one. 

 

Document the source of this statement please

[DennisMN 11]

Just to add about getting passport appointment.

It was in the realm of impossible and now it has gotten better with the second Cebu site.

Helpful things to me was this private site that was showing where appointments were available https://dfacalendar.netpinoy.com/

the official scheduling for DFA is this site https://www.passport.gov.ph/appointment

Notice the two sites now in Cebu:

Cebu (Pacific Mall Metro Mandaue, Cebu)

Cebu POW (at SM Seaside)

 

The second one has more availability.

no walk in, appointments are required.

You also have to pay for the appointment in advance. (Sounds like you should choose pay PHP 1,200.00 for expedited processing)

Review the https://www.passport.gov.ph/faqs_2

Look at ePayment Portal there is limited list of where you can pay the fee.

Applicants can pay the passport processing fee through any of the following Payment Centers:

• Bayad Center
• EcPay
• Pera Hub
• Robinson’s Business Center and Department Stores
• Waltermart Department Store
• 7-11
• USCC (Western Union)
• Villarica Pawnshop

Cheers.

 

 

[Moofy 1]

Thank you to everyone for your feedback.

5 hours ago, Hank_ said:

1)  Being a citizen of the Philippines your wife doesn't need 6 months of validity of the passport to fly there, that 6 month requirement is for foreigners traveling TO a foreign country.

Thank you Hank - so the question is will she encounter an issue coming back to the US (since her passport expires in less than 6 months) even though she has a valid Green Card? I would assume not.

 

I'm shocked how much confusion there is around all of this - in my day, things were fine until expired. Now it seems they've created all the rules no rational person could know about without discussions like this. Crazy - and unnecessary.

[payxibka 10,044]

4 minutes ago, Moofy said:

Thank you to everyone for your feedback.

Thank you Hank - so the question is will she encounter an issue coming back to the US (since her passport expires in less than 6 months) even though she has a valid Green Card? I would assume not

She will not.

 

As an aside, the USA doesn't enforce the 6 month validity upon arrival (not to be confused with Visa issuance)

[Just Paul 4,591]

57 minutes ago, Moofy said:

since her passport expires in less than 6 months

Have you considered renewing her passport from the US?   We did ours from Mexico City and Mary had her new one in about 2 weeks.