Philippines lifts ban on non-essential outbound travel on October 21

[top_secret 2,059]

13 hours ago, Cody&Razely said:

and neither is an inbound test required for costa rica as of Oct. 26th and on Nov. 1st will be open to all nations as it was Pre-Covid Panic er sorry I mean "pandemic" darn auto correct  lol

 

This is fantastic news.  I had been looking at Costa Rica as a possible third country to marry in since Costa Rica has very easy marriage laws for foreigners.  No residency, translating or apostille requirements that I am aware of.  Costa Rica still had the travel ban on Filipinos though so that is very good news that they might be lifting it.

 

You may have one challenge yet to overcome.  Getting it ticketed in such a way that a Filipina can get to Costa Rica.  Most options for Philippines to Costa Rica transit through the US or Canada and that is no bueno on a Philippine Passport.  It looks like Lufthansa flies Frankfurt to San Jose Costa Rica and Philippine passports CAN transit without visa through 'most' European countries (UK, and France being notable exceptions).  Something like Manila-Istanbul (on Turkish Airlines) Istanbul-Frankfurt-San Jose (on Lufthansa) would be an easy way in on a Philippine passport but it would have to be all on one ticket. I'm looking at this myself and am not seeing bookable online tickets.  You may have to go through a travel agent to get it ticketed. Or if you have a big stash of frequent flyer miles anywhere, award tickets might give you flexibility you cant even buy.   I think it's going to take two airlines on one ticket no matter what you do.

 

If you come up with a solution for booking the ticket I am interested in Costa Rica myself.  I'm working on the same issue.

[jameyj 73]

53 minutes ago, top_secret said:

 

This is fantastic news.  I had been looking at Costa Rica as a possible third country to marry in since Costa Rica has very easy marriage laws for foreigners.  No residency, translating or apostille requirements that I am aware of.  Costa Rica still had the travel ban on Filipinos though so that is very good news that they might be lifting it.

 

You may have one challenge yet to overcome.  Getting it ticketed in such a way that a Filipina can get to Costa Rica.  Most options for Philippines to Costa Rica transit through the US or Canada and that is no bueno on a Philippine Passport.  It looks like Lufthansa flies Frankfurt to San Jose Costa Rica and Philippine passports CAN transit without visa through 'most' European countries (UK, and France being notable exceptions).  Something like Manila-Istanbul (on Turkish Airlines) Istanbul-Frankfurt-San Jose (on Lufthansa) would be an easy way in on a Philippine passport but it would have to be all on one ticket. I'm looking at this myself and am not seeing bookable online tickets.  You may have to go through a travel agent to get it ticketed. Or if you have a big stash of frequent flyer miles anywhere, award tickets might give you flexibility you cant even buy.   I think it's going to take two airlines on one ticket no matter what you do.

 

If you come up with a solution for booking the ticket I am interested in Costa Rica myself.  I'm working on the same issue.

I recently inquired with the Costa Rican embassy in Washington Dc on the ability or restrictions of Filipino citizens to travel to Costa Rica. Once I hear back, I will inform you all. 

 

 

[Cody&Razely 134]

53 minutes ago, jameyj said:

I recently inquired with the Costa Rican embassy in Washington Dc on the ability or restrictions of Filipino citizens to travel to Costa Rica. Once I hear back, I will inform you all. 

 

 

Already contacted them by phone and email last week and already confirmed Filipino's will be allowed entry as of Nov. 1st as they stated in the email all countries allowed, and they directed me to their website stating the same 

[Cody&Razely 134]

@top_secret I will surely let you know what I find as we are most likely going to be switching from Brazil to Costa Rica now

 

I have been Eyeing a flight (all same carrier) for some time now, yet to pull the trigger as we are pending a few final documents to fulfill the Crazy IO Exiting Requirements of the PH BI, but the flight is this: MNL-DOH / DOH-MAD / MAD-SJO 

 

My only concern is transiting Spain as they always seem to be in an out of favor from one moment to the next for various reasons from civil unrest to covid cases to "I just don't like you" per some other country lol. At least that is the way it seems to me. Not sure of the exact transiting requirements though. Additionally idk how much you planned to spend for travel but the ticket is pretty $$$ though travel time is not so bad, though not the best either, layovers are short but total travel time is approx. 34hrs

Edited October 23, 2020 by Cody&Razely

[top_secret 2,059]

37 minutes ago, Cody&Razely said:

I have been Eyeing a flight (all same carrier) for some time now, yet to pull the trigger as we are pending a few final documents to fulfill the Crazy IO Exiting Requirements of the PH BI, but the flight is this: MNL-DOH / DOH-MAD / MAD-SJO 

 

Your routing looks absolutely valid for a Philippine passport.  DOH flights get a little extra scrutiny by PH exit immigration since Qatar is a common destination for people seeking work, and booking a ticket through DOH and then jumping ship in DOH is a thing.

 

I came up with another option that may be a little cheaper.   Turkish Airlines flies MNL-IST-BOG for ~$1600 RT, with just one (long) layover. Istanbul is a really nice airport.  Filipinos are admissible without visa in Colombia.  You could meet there and travel to Costa Rica together on separate tickets.

 

We may do the same but to Panama instead of Colombia.  MNL-IST-PTY on Turkish Airlines is $1400.  And PTY-SJO flights are cheaper and shorter than from Colombia.  My fiancée could do that because she already holds both a multiple entry Korea visa and multiple entry Japan visa, either of which Panama will accept as a substitute visa for Filipinos.  However without substitute visas I think a Panama visa visa would be needed.  Not needed for Colombia or Costa Rica.

[jameyj 73]

1 hour ago, Cody&Razely said:

Already contacted them by phone and email last week and already confirmed Filipino's will be allowed entry as of Nov. 1st as they stated in the email all countries allowed, and they directed me to their website stating the same 

Great news. Could you share that website? I've looked at some and the most I've seen is "Asian countries" where they list some but not the PH. 

 

Maybe we'll all have a party in Costa Rica ?

 

Thanks

Jamey

[Cody&Razely 134]

11 minutes ago, jameyj said:

Great news. Could you share that website? I've looked at some and the most I've seen is "Asian countries" where they list some but not the PH. 

 

Maybe we'll all have a party in Costa Rica ?

 

Thanks

Jamey

Sure thing here you go 🍻

 

https://www.visitcostarica.com/en/costa-rica/planning-your-trip/entry-requirements

 

IMPORTANT NOTICES:

• As of October 26, all local and foreign passengers who entered Costa Rica by air must not present a RT-PCR diagnostic test with a negative result.
• As of November 1: Costa Rica re-enables its air border to all countries in the world as long as they meet the visa requirements when required, as well as the requirements established in the framework of the pandemic.

Here is their Response to me in email, I don't have the Message I sent to them as I sent it Via FB And they responded via email after I asked them Specifically about if My Filipina holding a Philippines Passport could enter, stating their Website did not specifically forbid it but also did not specify allowing either: gestionconsultasict@prides.net 

 

Thank you for contacting us!

 

As of November 1: Costa Rica re-enables its air border to all countries in the world as long as they meet the visa requirements when required, as well as the requirements established in the framework of the pandemic.

 

 

Edited October 24, 2020 by Cody&Razely

[Adventine 3,187]

Keep us all updated on how all the travel goes! 

[top_secret 2,059]

I'm feeling about 80% ready to head off for a wedding in Costa Rica.  The only thing holding me back right now is she has a new passport application filed to fix her surname on her passport to match her birth certificate.  She still has her old passport and could travel tomorrow but then there is the issue of marriage in a foreigne county when passport doesn't.match birth certificate.  In any case I'll work that out and it looks like we are very likely marrying in Costa Rica.

 

I'm thinking I'll be choosing CR-1 over K-1 now since there are some minor red flags on us,  no big deal or show stoppers but might be a little less hassle with CR-1 than the K1. Plus a marriage might get ME a visa to get back in the Philippines while we wait. Mainly there is an urgency to become un-seperated but if I can fly over anytime I want in the mean time, a year or two wait becomes less troubling.

[Cody&Razely 134]

11 hours ago, top_secret said:

I'm feeling about 80% ready to head off for a wedding in Costa Rica.  The only thing holding me back right now is she has a new passport application filed to fix her surname on her passport to match her birth certificate.  She still has her old passport and could travel tomorrow but then there is the issue of marriage in a foreigne county when passport doesn't.match birth certificate.  In any case I'll work that out and it looks like we are very likely marrying in Costa Rica.

 

I'm thinking I'll be choosing CR-1 over K-1 now since there are some minor red flags on us,  no big deal or show stoppers but might be a little less hassle with CR-1 than the K1. Plus a marriage might get ME a visa to get back in the Philippines while we wait. Mainly there is an urgency to become un-seperated but if I can fly over anytime I want in the mean time, a year or two wait becomes less troubling.

Nice! Well if ya'll do get hitched soon aboard Congrats my friend! I would be lying if I said the thought had not crossed my mind as well lol  especially just to secure the 9a Spouse visa to the PH. But I think my fiancé would not agree to it, since she is still one of those with some fantasized supreme faith in that the government is really looking out for each individuals best interest, including her specifically and that somehow they know what each individual 100 million people there think and need and will ultimately give all to them "in the right time" lol.

Me though, not so convinced. However I am a little more worldly. 

My only reservation in a foreign marriage to secure a 9a is the PH is teetering on Dictator Socialcommunism and who knows how long the current allowances will stand considering the PH Gov. shifts with the winds and has the steadfast attitude of a toddler with the only notable exceptions being that of "I want more power, I want more control, I will lie, lie, lie no matter what"

 

I think we'll stick it out with our K-1 for a little longer since it is already at NVC (For a long time) and there is a pending suit against the U.S. State Dept. on behalf of Some K-1 Plaintiffs world wide, to be preliminarily decided on in the next 2 weeks. If that produces no results and it goes to court it will be a lot longer before anyone knows which way that will go. But the USEM will not resume until the situation in PH is stable and is seems Dirty is hell bend for leather to make sure it remains as unstable and fluid for as long as he can keep it so.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Cody&Razely

[top_secret 2,059]

26 minutes ago, Cody&Razely said:

I think we'll stick it out with our K-1 for a little longer since it is already at NVC (For a long time)

If I had already filed a K-1 petition I would definitely stick it out.  I couldn't predict when USEM would resume full scale regular interviews but consider that in normal times they do as many as 14,000 B1/B2 interviews in a month.  There were days when they were conducting 1,000 or more visa interviews of all types in a single day.  Whenever they do decide to resume, I would assume clearing a K-1 interview backlog would have priority over B1/B2 interviews and I'm betting that when they do start, USEM could clear an enormous K-1 interview backlog a whole lot quicker than some people might think.  Quite possibly with a bias towards approval from rushed cursory interviews. The question being, when will they actually start in earnest. 

[jameyj 73]

It occurs to be that although "officially" outbound non-essential travel is now allowed, are there not local laws requiring travel passes? Right now, none of the travel passes I know of although for leisure travel. So it seems to me there is still local hurdles to overcome. 

 

It may be that local laws have not caught up to the latest directive, which would seem to me forgo the need of any travel pases, but again, its the Philippines.  May have to take a wait-and-see approach unfortunately.

 

Jamey

.  

[Cody&Razely 134]

7 hours ago, jameyj said:

It occurs to be that although "officially" outbound non-essential travel is now allowed, are there not local laws requiring travel passes? Right now, none of the travel passes I know of although for leisure travel. So it seems to me there is still local hurdles to overcome. 

 

It may be that local laws have not caught up to the latest directive, which would seem to me forgo the need of any travel pases, but again, its the Philippines.  May have to take a wait-and-see approach unfortunately.

 

Jamey

.  

Yes, you're right at least in the case of where my Fiancé lives and they have been on MGCQ for some time but still with some really weird restrictions. Anyways, she will have to get a Travel Authorization to leave her area to enter Manila, which seems strange since she is only going from one airport to another and then leaving the country but whatever. She has family in Manila and she mentioned something about it being helpful for her to get the authorization I guess. Not too well versed on the intricacies of it myself. 

[Adventine 3,187]

Head's up, the Schengen states are starting to lock down again so a transit through any of the affected countries may become difficult again.

[payxibka 10,044]

3 hours ago, Adventine said:

Head's up, the Schengen states are starting to lock down again so a transit through any of the affected countries may become difficult again.

Transit through a Schengen country for a k1 has been banned for 6+ months