Piso Envy

Is there any truth to a Travel Agent being able to get a Passport approved faster than any normal person at the DFA?

I need someone to go to DFA with my Fiancee to help her with the passport process.

Does anyone happen to know someone in Iloilo who can meet her at the DFA and help her?

Disregarding the word "faster" and the phrase "than any normal person." The answer is YES.

Often times using a travel agency is the only solution to overcome multiple denials for petty reasons and clever demands for documents that either do not exist, are burdensome, or irrelevant. Your girl will most likely only have to collect the completed passport in-person at the time of "releasing."

Apart from that you are looking at around P2,600 up to I suppose P5,000 to the agency. I know of two people who paid P2,600 this summer, and for that fee the travel agency helped complete all forms, double checked for all required photos and documents e.g. Live Birth, NBI clearance, old ID's (gotta have old ID's), and waited in line for hours to submit the application at the DFA. Releasing times were at about 90 days.

Most travel agencies that do passports can also obtain other vital records at the NSO for a fee. Live Birth, Annulment, CEMAR, and authenticated (red ribbon and US Embassy notarized) copies of any of those for use in the USA for school or legal purposes.

IMHO, unless your girl or her family personally knows someone who works at the DFA office where she will be applying, or her family is known and considered well-established, has a college degree, and also ID's that are current and also at least 4 years old. Save your headaches and just let the agency handle it.

Good luck.

If she's certain the marriage is over then she should press her husband to file for the divorce. If she files then the divorce will never be recognized in the Philippines. If she subsequently remarries then she'll be considered a bigamist in the Philippines.

Well, almost true. A Philippine citizen who initiates and is granted a foreign divorce can file a Recognition Of Foreign Divorce with the Regional Trial Court. A summary procedure that takes around six months to be approved. After that, and after all paperwork is finished (NSO, amended marriage index, etc.) the Filipino is free to marry in the eyes of the Philippines.

One of the easiest ways:

Philippine Retirement Authority.

http://www.pra.gov.ph/

DONT FEED THE BEARS

As a tourist, there is no reason whatsoever to speak to any Filipino who approaches you on the street. Period.

Legitimate opportunities in the country are few and far between. Peer recognition and wealth are directly proportional to how clever the person is to extract pera from another.

Avoid eye contact, walk past anyone calling out to you on the street. Don't stop and turn your head around for whistes or calling "Hey Joe."

They play the game all day long and have for many years, they have a comeback ready for anything you say to them. Know your route, know the prices, and always negotoate.

Watch your 6 and don't feed the bears.

Doubt this is going to change anything soon. Nobody got killed and it was an isolated incident, so let's all pretend it never happened.

Foreign airlines save money by using gates at Terminal 1. Landing fees into MNL are some of the most expensive in SE Asia. The gate rents at the other terminals are excessive by comparison.

Another example of how the governemnt profits by every incoming transaction into the country, people, cargo, phone calls, remittances...........

The CONOFFS in MNL are fully aware of the problem with slow paperwork. The old Live Birth along with the notarized letter from NSO should be sufficient.

If you really wanted to be safe, get the notarized letter from the NSO plus a new copy of the old Live Birth authenticated with "Red Ribbon" from the DFA. Do it yourself and go back for releasing, or use a travel agency to do it for you.

BTW: All you MNL people should get your Live Births and all NSO documents (birth, annulment, etc) authenticated by the both the DFA and also the US Embassy MNL prior to leaving for the USA.

While the Federal Government will accept and consider anything, including heresay; the Civil Rules of Evidence in your state typically do not allow Foreign Documents without such authentication. (Thanks to fraud, estafa, and the ongoing production of fake documents on C. Recto Street and elsewhere)

There are two terminals serving international flights at NAIA and you can be spared the aggravation of touts and would-be scammers if you can arrange in advance where to meet up.

Terminal 1 is the older and more chaotic of the two as it serves all airlines except the national flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL). When you go down any of the two ramps, there are waiting bays with alphabetical designations just before you cross the street to the designated waiting area for arriving passengers. So an arriving Mr. Jones, for example, can tell his welcome party to look for him under the "J-K" bay.

Terminal 2 (Centennial Terminal), which serves only PAL flights, is much less congested and it is easier to find people there. You can set as meeting place a coffee shop (there's only one free-standing) to the far right of the arrival area, a few meters away from the throng of people waiting for passengers.

Grace

And there is Terminal 3, which Ceebu Pacific uses for both their domestic and international flights, also Air Philippines and All Nippon are also the new terminal.

There are two terminals serving international flights at NAIA and you can be spared the aggravation of touts and would-be scammers if you can arrange in advance where to meet up.

Terminal 1 is the older and more chaotic of the two as it serves all airlines except the national flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL). When you go down any of the two ramps, there are waiting bays with alphabetical designations just before you cross the street to the designated waiting area for arriving passengers. So an arriving Mr. Jones, for example, can tell his welcome party to look for him under the "J-K" bay.

Terminal 2 (Centennial Terminal), which serves only PAL flights, is much less congested and it is easier to find people there. You can set as meeting place a coffee shop (there's only one free-standing) to the far right of the arrival area, a few meters away from the throng of people waiting for passengers.

Grace

And there is Terminal 3, which Ceebu Pacific uses for both their domestic and international flights, also Air Philippines and All Nippon are now using the new terminal.

Call you local AAA (Automobile Association of America) agency and ask them. They issue International Drivers License cards for our use overseas, so they should be able to advise you of any legally accepted options for foreign DL's in Texas.

Where are your wife's folks from?

Smart Bro's postpaid wireless broadband service doesn't require a phone line. Techs come in to install an antenna on the roof of your in-laws' house and that is directly connected to a PC. It's quite fast. I've had mine for over 2 years now, and there has been hardly any outage in terms of service. Not bad for Php 999 per month.

I use MagicJack to call my husband. It's very easy to use. You attach it to a USB port, typically, but it is even better when you plug it into a powered USB hub (no dropped calls). You register for a U.S. number and connect any telephone handset to the dongle...you're all set. There is a US$ 20 registration fee that is due ONE YEAR after you register. In effect, your in-laws will have a U.S. number and all their calls to you would be local. They can also call Canada at no extra cost. You can call them and they can call you for as long as the PC is on.

Can you use a Vonage type adapter or VoIP phone on their end in lieu of a PC and hub/router?

http://www.pinoyphone.net/ Is an great option IF you have a high speed connection, and they are able to to use a Sun Cellular Sim Card and are able to buy the P500 load cards that permit unlimited monthly outgoing calls to other Sun customers. There may be a prepaid option available for SUN service also by now.

What happens is that you buy a pre-configured VoIP phone from them. You plug this phone into your xDSL/cable router. Your VoIP phone is programmed with an unlimited calling SUN to SUN Cellular phone number. Since you both have SUN unlimited service you can talk back and forth for the small monthly fee of about $40 to you and P500 to them in the PI. Email ATTN Edwin at the address on their web site about the SUN Cellular option.

Their more popular options are a local land phone number in Manila (expanded to other areas) where callers from land lines can call you direct and for no additional charge. I understand this is not this option for you, but their Sun cellular number could be, if your PI folks are covered by SUN and can buy the P500 cards every month for their cell phones.

http://www.aspen-communication.com/PinoyCalls/PC_rates.html

Is another option with their bag phones, they do not have nationwide coverage but if they cover your area I have heard that it is a reasonably dependable service.

The tariffs on inbound calls to the PI are around $0.13 per minute. These are the only Internet routed services that I am aware of.

Brother,

Sorry to learn that your going through this anxiety and disappointment. From your previous posts, you admitted to being tipped off to some sort of shenanigans, but unfortunately we can't rationalize that sort of thing at the time.

Forget about HER. Its all about YOU now and what YOU need to do to cover your ###.

Call 911 and have them send out someone and tell the PD what happened. They keep a data base of 911 calls, you will need the proof of this call as well as the case or report number of the officer's visit. Go to the Police station next week and get copies of both 911 and incident report. You need pro-active documentation, lots of it. Apply advice given by the PD.

Take her name off any bank accounts, cut the cell phone, etc. that you set up jointly. Change the locks post haste and without fail.

Eventually, she will come crawling back like a dog with her head down. Whatever you do, DO NOT take her back, you'd be a fool. Avoid any contact, phone, email, SMS, or otherwise. Remember, if she cared about you, you would not be in this situation.

Do not go out looking for her or make threats about her to anyone. Best to keep your trap shut to one and all. Pass no messages to her by way of a 3rd party. Give her no reason to put a restraining order out on you, rather state your fears for yourself and property to the Police and see if you can get a restraining order issued on her. A no-contact order is 2nd best. How you you know that she won't break in your place when you are away? I'd be scared.

Burn all relevant files, photos and messages from your PC to CD/DVD, then delete them, gather up all paperwork, yours and hers, and give it to a trusted friend to hang on to.

When she comes back to your place, call the cops. She abandoned the relationship and will be coming back with threats, a small pocked sized tape recorder is worth the investment. Pile up her belongings by the door which will not be removed until the Police get there.

Take copious notes with time and date, hide that notebook in a high place. When Friends ask how you are, everything is going OK, diba?

She can legally stay in the country for the span of her 90 day visa. In most places, if you invite a guest to your home overnight, they can stay there for 30 days. Think about that restraining order. Your word against hers.

Document everything! And good luck.

Wes