forgiven

At this moment I should be in the Philippines visiting the woman I met online several months ago but I canceled a few days before I was supposed to leave.

I just encourage everyone who is starting this process to keep your ears open to any inconsistencies and always be open and transparent about everything with your partner and demand the same.

I wish everyone happiness and a successful marriage.

May God bless everyone here,

Money- They have currency booths. I do not recomend the airport as your exchange rate may not be as good. You will need to exchange a little just to get to and from once in Davao. I had no issues using my ATM card there. I was never ripped off or anything. Once again, you may not get the best rate as you usually lose 1 peso plus a $2 service fee.....

I was planning on buying a prepaid visa/master card but i could only find a prepaid American express which cannot be used in ATM's, so I will bring a visa credit card with me instead. I don't feel comfortable bringing my visa debit card since it is directly connected to my checking account. How much cash in American money and pesos do you think I should have on me as I fly into Manila and then into Davao?

Make an extra copy or two of your passport. If you are staying in a hotel use your in room safe for your passport

.

So you trust the hotel room safes? The new hotel I'm staying in has the electronic key entry and in room safe

As for ice and drinking water. NO to tap water unless you are in an expensive restaraunt. I mean so expensive you will say "this is USA prices". Then the water is safe due to foreigners and wealthy filipinos eating there. Ice too. If you are at other places, be cautious and use bottled. Depending on your hotel I would use bottled water to rinse and for your toothbrush. If you are staying at a 4 or 5 star you are good to go. Just don't swallow the tap water.

I will be staying in the Microtel Hotel in Davao which is less than a year old. My g/f went and looked at the rooms and said they are very clean and nice. I was told that the water in Davao is treated and the 5th safest in the United Nations. Anyway, I was planning on taking a shower daily in the hotel and it seems you don't recommend that? Also where can i get my clothes washed. The hotel I believe offers cleaning services but I wonder where they get them cleaned?

Tell your doctor where you are going. He can prescribe you meds that will clear you up in 24 hours just in case you eat or drink something bad.

I purchased a diarrhea kit from the place that gave me my vaccines. I was given a typhoid, hepatitis A and B shots plus I have to take Doxycycline just in case a Malaria infected mosquito bites me.

Be patient as the Philippines takes the long way to do everything. God forbide your fiancee want to take you shopping. Mark one day off your calendar if she does.

Yes I have noticed that especially getting a package delivered that I have sent to her. Letters get there in about 9 days but the box I sent at hasn't arrived yet even though I sent it the same time as the letter.

I appreciate the valuable information that has been presented here. The days are counting down and tomorrow and Monday I will be getting everything ready to go. We will be sure to post some photos here during my visit. Thanks everyone

I am excited that 7 more days and I will be flying the friendly skies to visit my sweetheart in Davao Philippines.

I have started this thread so that I can ask some questions about preparations I will need to make before I leave and after I arrive there. I'm sure I will think of more questions as the days draw closer and I will post those as well.

Questions before I leave next week:

1- Is there a web site that I can visit to inform me what I can and cannot take on the plane such as personal items like shampoo, vitamins, electronics, etc?

2- How many pesos should I have on me when I land in Manila because I have heard that I will have to pay a fee to leave the airport there and pay a fee when I land in the airport in Davao as well?

3- I was told that the water is treated in Davao and it is very safe but i will still drink bottled water but is there any precautions I need to take when I shower in the water?

4- what food should i stay away from and what foods are safe to eat?

5- has anyone had a problem as an American in the Manila airport?

6- since my mobile phone wont work in the Philippines is there a prepaid phone that can be purchased to take with me?

I will have more questions in the next few days:

Thanks

Are there any good work at home jobs to make extra money? I have always wondered if any of the envelope stuffing opportunities are legit or not. As everyone knows the US economy is not good along with high prices on everything so I'm just preparing for things possibly getting worse.

Thanks

Yes the clearance she would have to get if she resigns.

How does "Clearing of properties" from a job have anything to do with a Visa Approval or Visa Process.

I am not aware of this term "Clearing of properties"

I assume he meant the clearance you get once you resigned from work.

-Riza

My girlfriend who currently lives in Davao hasn't worked for almost a year and now has an opportunity to start working for a University. We will be submitting the K-1 packet this June and she says if she starts working now and then when the time comes that she will have to go to Manila for the medical and interview she might not get an approval for her to take off a week or more from work to go to Manila and they might not give her a clearing of properties since she will have to resign only after working with them a short time, so is it best for her to not work now or work and risk not getting clearance of properties from her employer?

Hi everybody,

This is forgiven, fleur's b/f. I have an update that we are excited about. She is at Gensan now and got the supplement report of her place of birth, the certificate in Puericlutire center where she was born, and the affidavit and the remarks so now she can reapply for her passport.

Also she went to the local civil registrar office in Gensan and paid the p1200 to have her father's last name spelled correctly, have her place of birth put in, and have her year of birth put in correctly from 72 to 1972 and was told that she would get a corrected BC in a month.

I'm so excited and relieved. We will continue to post here and we are so fortunate to have found this web site.

I asked my g/f to register here so that she can talk directly to everyone so there will be no confusion. She just posted today and here is the link http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=124055.

thanks

I sent you and private message to give you contact info for my g/f. Thanks so much.

I am from Tagum, a city north of Davao but I will be going to NSO in Davao city Monday or Wednesday next week... if you want I can accompany your gf, just pm me her contact number and i will contact her a day before I go to davao. I won't be able to do much for her but I could help her ask for the right course of action at the NSO office.

It is not really that hard to correct those discrepancies in her BC. Yes it will take time and cost a little but if she follows all the instruction from the NSO people, shed be able to fix everything up soonest. Just tell her to have the patience to go through it all on her own and not let an agent do it for her, it will be faster and will save her a lot of bucks. Plus she will be rewarded with a great sense of accomplishment.

BTW, what was the deal with the travel agent she contacted for her passport? Did they give her a refund or will they not charge her another $$$ once she gets her BC in order? If they will ask for additional fee to process her passport again better ask her to demand a refund and she just have to do the passport processing herself. She just needs to be at DFA very early, say 3 or 4am and she will be out by 8:30 or 9am.. that is just a small sacrifice that will even save her some bucks.

she is having such a difficult time getting her passport and a correct birth certificate. I'm unable to help her and everything is so confused and messed up.

Please IM if you can help

I will be posting a new topic tonight or tomorrow of the path my g/f has taken trying to get her passport and her birth certificate corrected so that maybe someone here can help us navigate this issue that has turned sour. I'm hoping that someone here can help us see where we have strayed off the document path and made these simple tasks more difficult than it needs to be.

Before my visit to the Philippines next month , we have decided to get our documents together early so that if we run into any snags it hopefully can be corrected as quickly as possible.

Well we have already run into 2 snags.

1- I said to my g/f that she didn't need to use a travel agent to get her passport but she decided to use a travel agent since the lines were so long to apply on her own. Well this morning when she went to the DFA office to have her fingerprints and interview she said her passport application was denied since her place of birth wasn't on her birth certificate. Goodness I thought the travel agency is supposed to find these things since they charge a hefty fee to the client. Even the Birth Certificates she got from the NSO a few days ago are very hard to read and she said they can't give a more clear copy so this will probably cause problems down the road. I don't understand this either.

Now she has to go to get a supplemental report on her Place of birth from the GenSan Local Registrar to make a remarks on it and go back to the travel agent "another fee of course". Sorry to rant but this step should be one of the easiest so I hope this isn't any indication of what the rest of the process is going to be like.

2- Her father's name is misspelled on her birth certificate and I know this probably wont be a big deal but I asked her to get a correction just to be on the safe side. Well of course she was told it was corrected and is on its way but it never shows up in her mail.she keeps calling and they say it has already been released. She was charged 1500 pesos for affidavit for descripancy made by the lawyer in order to have a record on file in the court to show a proof that she file a correction here at the same time so that there will be legality. Does anyone know what this is?

Has anyone experienced stuff like this? It is frustrating to me because it shouldn't be this difficult. I dont really know what is happening so any shed light will be appreciated. If something isnt clear what I wrote ask me and Iwill try to explain better.

I recently obtained certified copies of my birth certificate and a certified copy of my divorce decree from my first marriage from another state.

Yesterday I went to my local court house's register of deeds and obtained a divorce decree from my second marriage and the man asked if I wanted a certified copy or an exemplified copy. He said the certified copy is mainly good in the US but the exemplified copy is more recognized and is good in the US and all other countries so I paid extra and got the exemplified copy to be safe.

So my question is should I get "exemplified" additional copies of my birth certificate and my first divorce decree or do you think the certified copies will do for the fiance visa?

The only difference I see is that the exemplified copy has gold seals "and costs more" that look like stickers where as the certified copy is just am imprint from a devise that imprints the paper.

I appreciate all the responses so far. A lot of good information.

Our communication has taken a great step forward the past couple of days. I'm getting better at listening more and rereading our chat logs so that i can understand clearly what she is saying.

She is trying very hard to be more direct and tell me what she really wants and feels. I have seen her smile more in the past couple days than anytime before because I believe we have made a connection this time.

We are talking right now about it. I'm a very analytical person so I sometimes read into things too much. I'm a very upfront honest person so I expect others to be that way to me as well. But anyway, I do feel like she goes into too much explanation and then it makes things confusing. I do appreciate everybody's responses and your response as well. I feel comfortable here in VJ and I hope that I will be talking about my "touches" soon.

sometimes you could say its part of the "culture" too like we tend to be seem so polite on not to hurt or offend the person we're talking to (in a way)... people here in the states most likely goes with a YES or a NO answer. its a quite different in the phil... my husband always ask me a certain question whether i like this food or not or if i like this dress or not and most often than not, i always give him a long explanation about my point of views and its not a clear yes or no answer which is kinda bit frustrating to him lol... i told him, its not like i dont like it or i like it, its just that its ok, or i dont mind liking it or not lol... (pointless reasoning) heheh... but what i really meant was that its hard for me to talk negative on a certain things so rather than saying i dont like it (period) i often say, "i dont mind" and it goes on and on lol... like when i say "its up you" (coz i really dont care lol) but he'd take it seriously as if i dont have the mind of my own or something that i have to speak with my own mind (which i did... as ive said, "its up to you" lol) when i gave my views its not always black and white as most of the time, it has to be gray-ish lol ... i wish you'll settle things up and its just a minor thing. somehow you both will learn to understand each other more and more and its just part of the growing relationship... God bless!!!

When I talk online to my g/f in the Philippines and ask some direct questions I seem to never get a direct answer. I end up getting frustrated. Has anyone else experienced this.

The questions can be as simple as why did you miss our chat time today and it turns into a long and confusing discussion. I know our communication styles are different but is this typical?

Thanks Sheriff Uling,

My brain is on overload right now and so I looked right passed it. Thanks for all the information you post here, it is appreciated.

I am unable to find the section 4.3 that you indicated... Could you post the link for me?

thanks

Check out Section 4.3 of the Manila Embassy K1 Visa Guide. Particularly the link in the last sentence of "filling out the form" within Section 4.3. That may give you some ideas on things to include.

Cheers!!!

Sheriff Uling

I have two words... horse and water. Be patient and look again... Then PM me...

I am unable to find the section 4.3 that you indicated... Could you post the link for me?

thanks

Check out Section 4.3 of the Manila Embassy K1 Visa Guide. Particularly the link in the last sentence of "filling out the form" within Section 4.3. That may give you some ideas on things to include.

Cheers!!!

Sheriff Uling

Thanks for all your replies. I plan on taking a lot of photos on my visit to the Philippines. Wow Mae, you sent your now husband 3-5 letters a day.

What you have so far will prove an on-going relationship. When you go over there to visit her, make sure to take tons and tons of pictures (the two of you, with her family and friends, in different places etc). After that, write letters using snail mail more often. I sent my then fiance (now husband) letters every week besides daily email (3-5 letters each day). You will have enough time to build up more evidences of relationship and you will have to keep on saving them until her interview date.

Good luck!

--Mae

Someone posted this question in the general forum and the responses he got made wonder if I will have enough proof of an ongoing relationship with my g/f

Fely and I met on January 30th of this year through filipinaheart.com and I will be visiting her next month May 15, 2008 and I will be there with her for 10 days.

We have chatted at least once a day and sometimes twice a day averaging 2 or more hours each time we chat.

We have many emails

We only use the yahoo phone which is free and it records the date, time, and duration of the call but we haven't used a land line or cell phone yet to communicate. will this be a problem?

she has only sent me a postcard from the philipinnes and I am sending her a hand written letter today. We chat and email so much we just haven't sent letters.

We will be taking a lot of photos during our time together so i will have those as well. From what I have stated here does it seem like we will have a problem with proving a true relationship?

Thanks,

She was told it will take more than a month to get it on her own? How did you get it in 5 days?

No its not difficult, very easy infact got mine only a matter of 5 working days PHP500 which is really good..

I advise you not to have a travel agency because they will charged big.

Hope helps!!

:dance:

Is it difficult for my gf to get her passport in the philippines on her own or is it advisable to go through a travel agency there? She was told about having to go through an interview on her own but if she used a travel agency she wouldn't have to interview.

Thanks

My wife was able to schedule an appointment on the internet. She thought the officials held her up for additional fees. Take some extra money just in case.

Is it difficult for my gf to get her passport in the philippines on her own or is it advisable to go through a travel agency there? She was told about having to go through an interview on her own but if she used a travel agency she wouldn't have to interview.

Thanks

My girlfriend's brother went to get a certified copy of her birth certificate today at General Santos City, Local Civil Registrar and they said that her dad's name is missing a letter and so it will take up to two months to correct it and cost 15,000 pesos. What I don't understand is that she has a photocopy of a certified copy of her birth certificate and the name is correct.

I feel like since this place knows she is applying for a visa they are taking advantage and they are charging more than three months wages to correct this? Maybe I'm out in left field on this one but what do you think about this?

signed,

Aggravated

Well, i guess somebody is trying to scam you, if she has a photocopy with the correct name, then theres no problem.

Request a certified copy of her birth certificate from NSO, thats the US Embassy's requirement, you yourself can request for it online at this website https://www.ecensus.com.ph/Secure/frmIndex.asp.

I'm not sure if theres an NSO office at General Santos but if not there's one at Davao City, your gf can go there and request for one, if she get there by 8:00 am she can get it by 1:00pm. It only cost 125 pesos if she will request it personally.

Thanks everyone for your quick replies. I was unable to get much sleep last night because of this.

I don't know if I gave enough information on my first post because I was upset and tired but from my conversation with her last night she has a xerox copy she made of her original certified BC which is dated in 1996 and her father's name is spelled correctly. The original has been lost and her Father is now passed away.

I will let her know to go to the local NSO office in Davao city to get a copy of her BC and I will give an update on the forum here of what happened.

My girlfriend's brother went to get a certified copy of her birth certificate today at General Santos City, Local Civil Registrar and they said that her dad's name is missing a letter and so it will take up to two months to correct it and cost 15,000 pesos. What I don't understand is that she has a photocopy of a certified copy of her birth certificate and the name is correct.

I feel like since this place knows she is applying for a visa they are taking advantage and they are charging more than three months wages to correct this? Maybe I'm out in left field on this one but what do you think about this?

signed,

Aggravated