Dogwood_Poet

Quick note, no cellphones will work in Japan except for ones made for Japan. So if she has a long layover, she will need to buy a calling card and find a payphone in the airport.

Also they have pay as you go internet computers so she could just get some yen and send you an email letting you know how her trip is going.

hello guys.. anybody who can help me have a job??? any decent job will do...

City ? ? ? State ? ? ? Country ? ? ?

Details, details ! ! !

My wife wears my mother's wedding band (I had kept it in my safe since my mother passed away) and I bought my wedding band while I was in the Philippines. I thought it would be nice that she has a ring from the US and I have a ring from the Philippines.

Mom and Dad were three months away from their 50th anniversary when she passed away, so maybe it will bring us the same happiness they shared.

My wife is from outside of CDO so it took a couple of weeks even for Express mail to reach her. I found out that once the mail is taken off the plane in Manila, it is no longer under the USPS control.

So for any hope of guaranteed service use one of the global companies like DHL, UPS, or FedEx.

Even if you have a tracking number the last thing it will show is the package leaving the US.

You do not say if he is sending it to the office here in the US or sending it to you in the Philippines. The 2-day delivery promise is only valid for the US, as for delivery in the Philippines, it could be two weeks or a month or more. I know when I sent my wife things when she was still living in Cagayan de Oro, it could take a month or more for "Priority" mail packages to reach her. So if you are living in the provinces, you are at the mercy of the Philippine postal service.

I think DHL or UPS is about the only sure way to get things delivered fast outside of Metro Manila.

Shucks! I thought this was a thread about the US government!

One thing, if she waits until after she is married, she will need to take the CFO seminar before they will let her get her passport. No big deal, they will give her a certificate so once she has her passport and visa, she can just go by and get the stamp.

Just keep this in mind when taking the medical early, they put my wife's expiration date six months from the date of the medical, NOT the interview.

(She had to reschedule her interview because of having to take the sputum test)

That's what I thought, I don't want there to be any problems, Kathlene is already worried about coming back home alone as this is the first time she has left the country with her green card.

We have a small Phil/Asian store here and we are only a couple of hours away from a couple of big stores in Nashville, so you can find a lot of stuff already here.

My wife is coming home from her visit to the Philippines next week, I came home a couple of weeks ago (only had two weeks vacation) and from what I read on the customs forms they hand out, you cannot bring any fish (dried or otherwise) or canned meats back to the US.

Am I correct? Kathlene had a bunch of friends wanting her to bring all this stuff back and I don't want her to risk any problems coming back into the states.

Right now she isn't going to bring anything back to be safe.

You have a 90 day time frame once he enters the US to get married. So you can go directly from the airport to the preacher, or anytime before the 90 days is up.

Thanks, that's what I thought, but just wanted to double check!

We live in western Kentucky, so I think it worked out pretty good us being gone during the recent ice storm, I don't know what Kathlene would have thought of all the damage and no power/heat for several days!

She comes home on the 22nd, so maybe they will have most everything cleaned up by then.

I have been looking at the Philippine Tourism Authority site and it says my wife should be eligible for a exemption/reduced rate on her travel tax since she is US permanent resident.

Has anyone gotten this exemption? Kathlene has been living in the US for over a year and we just went back for a visit. I had to come home to go back to work, but Kathlene is staying another three weeks then coming home. I just want to be sure she brings enough money with her to the airport, but we also don't want to have a lot of extra pesos to have to sell back at a reduced rate either.

This is what the Tourism Authority site says about permanent residents of other countries:

Who can avail of a Travel Tax exemption/reduced rate and

What are the documents required?

(Presentation of passport required in all cases.)

Filipino permanent residents abroad whose stay in the Philippines is less than one (1) year.

Copies of the ID pages of passport and stamp of last arrival in RP

Proof of permanent residence in foreign country (e.g. US Green Card, Canadian form 1000, etc.)

_____

Also, is it an exemption or just a reduction in the tax? I know it isn't that much money, but if she doesn't have to pay it, we'd like to keep it!

It did take several weeks to get the return back from the IRS, but you can send a copy of the return you file, no need to wait for the one from the IRS.

I filed using a w-7 when my wife was still in the Philippines, but there was a small snag. I could not get my refund until my wife got here because her name is on the refund check.

I had direct deposit, but my bank rejected it because my wife's name was not on the account and they could not add her until she had her SSN. But my bank may be a little ####### anyway. . .

We use Startec, you can buy prepaid or a monthly bill for 17.9 cents a minute to a cell phone in the Philippines.

We have been using them for about six months now.

I was planning to make a few visits to a tanning booth before my wife and I's trip back to the Philippines next month and it occurred to me does Kathlene need to get some sun also?

I burn pretty easy, so it just makes since for me to get a little tan before heading from winter in Kentucky to the Philippines, but I wonder if Kathlene needs to build up some resistance as well since she has been in the states for over a year now.

I am also bringing sunscreen, I just know the sun is a lot stronger in the Philippines than here in Kentucky.

Any comments?

I have been searching for tickets for my wife and I's return trip to the Philippines and when I put in a return date of over 30 days (give or take a day) they add another $300 to the ticket price! She was wanting to stay about five weeks, but we may settle for just a month.

All the travel sites I have searched do this, so I guess this is standard procedure.

Anybody have any idea why? Or is it just another airline policy?

January fares from Kentucky to Manila about $1,300 round trip for mid-January according to most travel sites, and that is leaving from our local airport!

Paducah - Memphis, Memphis - Detroit, Detroit - Mania

Thanks for the advice, that was what I was thinking, there are still many seats available according to the online charts. I may just open two windows and book each ticket in a different window, that way I could see the seats open and make our choice at the same time so there would be less of a chance of the seat being gone by the time I booked the second ticket

We are going to Kathlene's hometown in January for the fiesta, but she wants to stay longer than I can (only 2 weeks vacation) and I am trying to figure out the best way to book our flights.

I called 'customer service' at one of the travel sites and they suggested I buy two one-ways there and two one-ways back so we could be guaranteed we would sit together. (at higher prices, I'm sure!)

Should I try and book both flights at the same time in different windows and hope I can pick adjoining seats before they are gone, or book both flights the same and pay the penalty to change her return date?

I tried to contact a travel agent I used in the past, but she has not returned my e-mails.

Any suggestions would be welcome as I am hoping to go ahead and get our flights booked in the next couple of weeks.

If the Cowboys are 'America's Team' when do I get my share of the profits?

What's 'America's Team' doing in the Philippines anyway?

I think Ralph Nader is going to steal the election, then we will all be driving electric cars governed at 45 mph!

We live in western Kentucky and we go to Nashville to the InterAsian Market & Deli. They have a pretty good selection so it may be worth the drive.

Check them out on the web:

InterAsian Market

As long as you going to be outside the country for less than 6 months and it is not close to the expiration date of your green card there is no problems with traveling, just carry your passport and green card with you as you travel.