Dave Hounddriver

The 2 months following your first 59 days is the most expensive renewal. I forget the exact amount but it could be 8,000 pesos. After that they get cheaper. I have been told in the past they will not give a 6 month extension if you have been late renewing a previous visa but everyone has a different experience. Try bringing donuts. That's a nice gift and yet not a bribe.

They will make you renew. Just to clear that up, you pay the 1,000 PHP fine PLUS the same renewal fee you would have paid so an overstay after 30 days would pay that 1,000 PHP plus the usual P3,030 for a 29 day extension.

It must really depend on the location. There is a McD's close to Crown Regency in Cebu that is always crowded at breakfast and none that I see (unless I look in a mirror) are over 25. I think they are either students or just working near there. I don't ask.

I used to carry whiskey made in Alberta. When I wanted a Scotsman to buy me a drink I offered it too him and claimed it to be better than Scotch. Ahhhh the pride of a Scotsman. I never had to buy a drink.

Count all your change and put it on the coffee table. Count it again the next day. If none is missing you may have a good one. There will likely be some gone.

The condo I stayed in for a month had just such a written set of rules/regulations taped to the coffee table. Not a single one made any common sense and fortunately, not a single one was enforced. Sorry I did not take a pic of the list. It was too stupid to do more than glance at.

Its an ongoing debate. How many lives would be saved by outlawing guns? Or by outlawing abortions? Or by forcing covid vaccines on people? Better to just drink the beer from the crashed truck and stay away from such topics, IMHO.

That surprises me, as the most frustrating driver fatality that sticks in my mind during a similar number of years as a Greyhound bus driver was caused by the driver wearing a seatbelt. He was hit broadside, totally unexpectedly, which forced half his body out the side window. If not for the seatbelt he would have been thrown clear, however the seatbelt held him in place long enough for the bus to topple sideways (like this truck in the pic) and crush his body. BUT none of the safety guys saw it that way. Funny that. There IS an agenda.

I totally understand. I had that problem in Cebu, but since the Typhoon of 2021, and with 2 years of Covid, there were not a lot of top class places available. Hope you have better luck.

You are lucky. Many young fellers complain of Uncles in their bed

And this is why I only ever drank bottled water in the Philippines. Unfortunately, many locals cannot afford that luxury.

MacDonalds pays $17 an hour where I live. I surely expect their burgers will cost more than a place that pays half of that for a full day's wage.

I am curious, did you talk the the branch manager. Anything I ever wanted done I had to talk to the branch manager for. Any bank in the Philippines. It seemed to me that the branch manager did not want to give any power at all to the underlings. No joke. My experience only, others may vary.

This surprises me because I see it here, where I live in Canada, the same as I saw it in Cebu city. Homeless people are often given the choice to return whence they came and the government will pick up the tab. I see so many of them who seem to "choose" to return to homelessness in the city they want to be in rather than have a home where they came from. Is that not a choice?

A very well put together comparison. Thank you. Of course opinions will differ but it was refreshing to hear yours. Now to the "immigration" part that I quoted. This is the first time I have heard of Thailand offering better incentives than Philippines. Can you elaborate on that?

Thanks for letting us know. Always nice when people do not just disappear. Are you saying that Thailand is much better than the Philippines? Specifically for older gents. Some may want to take a look.

I wonder if they are free for "all" residents or only the brown skinned ones. My money would be on the latter but lets here from some SRRV residents if they get a free ride.

Should be no issue. I have had a "bright spark" at the BI on entry who actually plugged in my ticket to see if I was on the passenger manifest. Those overly ambitious types are few and far between but so long as the ticket is real then I don't see any issue either. I wonder how they do it.

I see. I figured if I could do it with my Metrobank account then it could also be done with a BPI account. I have not tried that. You have. I was wrong. Glad I only used banks like RSBC, Metrobank, Maybank, and similar ones as they all allowed it.

Still don't matter. Use the BDO machine. You do not need their bank account to use their ATM.

I am curious why that matters. My account was with a Metrobank subsidiary but I frequently used BDO atms without an account at BDO.

Well you could try another BI office OR you could bring them the official policy from the BI that says anyone can get it. Details here: https://immigration.gov.ph/visa-requirements/non-immigrant-visa/temporary-visitor-visa/long-stay-visitor-visa-extension-lsvve Unfortunately, different BI offices make up their own rules quite often.

I have also been frustrated by certain banks. That is why I learned long ago to ALWAYS have 2 bank accounts wherever I am at. I do not have enough money to make it really worthwhile but I do have piece of mind.

It may be worth reading the Republic Act 4726, otherwise known as the Condominium Act because this may be a case where the condo in question is designated for Filipino ownership only. In that case it may be a good investment for your wife to buy and rent it to them on the cheap. Just a thought, trying to turn lemons into lemonade.

I thought it was bad that our gas prices were up, but we just bought milk and groceries yesterday and milk is up 20% and the other groceries are up almost that much.