Opening A Can Of Worms At Immigration

[Bundy]

Here's our story ; I am an Australian citizen and travel on an Australian passport.My wife is also an Australian citizen travelling on an Australian passport. We live here in the Philippines and use the "Balikbayan Priviledge".

We are going to have a baby on or around October 14 / 15 here and as such the child will automatically become a Philippine citizen. Now, we will need to leave for a "visa run" early January so that doesn't leave much time for us to obtain the birth certificate for the child, process the Australian citizenship "by descent" and apply for an Australian passport ( which needs to be done in Manila ).

So.......smartarse me comes up with the idea, ok, we'll just get a philippine passport for the baby temporarily until the Australian one becomes available, then we can take the baby with us to Hong Kong, Singapore or wherever we go for a few days and return to start our 12 months Balikbayan over again.

Guess what?........we have been told that even though the child will be a Philippine citizen by birth, he or she CANNOT obtain a Philippine passport!!!! Why you ask.........because the parents need to apply for the passport on behalf of the child and both are foreigners! Has anyone come across this before? 

[SubicSteve]

Is your wife a Filipina who gave up her citizenship to get an Ozzy passport?  If so/not how do you use a Balikbayan visa?

Edited May 7, 2013 by SubicSteve

[Bundy]

Is your wife a Filipina who gave up her citizenship to get an Ozzy passport?

 Yes, that's correct, about 6 years ago.I believe these days the Aussie government now allows Filipina's to keep their citizenship as well as becomming an Aussie. This was not the case with my wife.She still has a Philippine passport but it's long expired.

[MikeB]

The 1st thing I would do (if you haven't) is establish your wife's dual citizenship in the Philippines - http://immigration.gov.ph/?option=com_content&task=view&id=163&Itemid=83

After that it should be downhill.

[Bundy]

The 1st thing I would do (if you haven't) is establish your wife's dual citizenship in the Philippines - http://immigration.gov.ph/?option=com_content&task=view&id=163&Itemid=83

After that it should be downhill.

 

G'day Mike,

Yes we are looking at this now and went to Mandaue yesterday to be told that you cannot do this here in Cebu. You can file the paperwork here and take the oath of allegience here but you need to go to immigration in Manila for the final step.

[Dave Hounddriver]

Perhaps contact your Australian Embassy.  I suspect that your country would take care of its citizens similar to Canada.  The Canadian Embassy told me:

 

 

"As your child does not have citizenship documents, you will need to submit the original proof of Canadian citizenship from one of the parents, the original foreign birth certificate showing both parents' names, and the receipt confirming submission of the citizenship application. Our passport examiners will assess your case and determine the necessity of issuing a limited validity passport to meet your child's travel needs.

 

Please note that a Limited Validity Passport can only be issued to children aged below two (2) years old who have no Declaratory Evidence of Citizenship."

 

Alternatively, if it is just a Visa run, can you leave the child with a trusted family member while you make a quick trip?

[Bundy]

 

Perhaps contact your Australian Embassy.  I suspect that your country would take care of its citizens similar to Canada.  The Canadian Embassy told me:

 

 

"As your child does not have citizenship documents, you will need to submit the original proof of Canadian citizenship from one of the parents, the original foreign birth certificate showing both parents' names, and the receipt confirming submission of the citizenship application. Our passport examiners will assess your case and determine the necessity of issuing a limited validity passport to meet your child's travel needs.

 

Please note that a Limited Validity Passport can only be issued to children aged below two (2) years old who have no Declaratory Evidence of Citizenship."

 

Alternatively, if it is just a Visa run, can you leave the child with a trusted family member while you make a quick trip?

 

 

 

Good point Dave,

We are going to the VIA center tomorrow so i'm going to ask about that. Thanks.

 

"Leave the child with a trusted family member"...........hahahahahaha, very funny.

[Call me bubba]

such the child will automatically become a Philippine citizen

I may be wrong and if i am i apologize in advance,

 a child would only be an AUTOMATIC citizen ... ONLY if 1 or both parents are FILIPINO CITIZENS.

as what i have read, both parents at this time are AUS citizens/passport holders.. correct?

 

what I have read in "strange"situations..is that sometimes, a way can be found to solve some RP issues.

(follow me so far). one case, a person was "overstayed" and had to meet w/some official..and since it was due to health related issue, (had his pertinent records available) he was granted a waiver,, 

 

have you thought of going to your LOCAL BI office ? or the MAIN OFFICE in manila..

and ask them what can be done?

 

 

 if you cant take the child (out of the country)DUE TO PAPERWORK( issues) could that be a ground for a extension?

if the mother was "ILL" with a doctors note stating she cant (TRAVEL)leave in january would that be allowed as a "ground"for extension?

 have you considered doing the "RUN " in june or july? before she cant legally travel by air?

or going to a "regular"visa in January for 2-3 months til the "passport" or other paperwork issues are resolved?

 

 

hope that this can be of use,,

(or read  post #8 above)

[i am bob]

It's not too hard a problem, is it?  I"ve been there and done that too.  My daughter was born in Germany and we had her Canadian papers within 2 weeks - half of that was for delivery time.  Even though your little one will be born in the Philippines, (s)he will be able to have Australian papers done immediately after birth and travel on Mom's passport.  Ok, so the papers take a bit of time but they don't take too long to do - the government has to issue them in a decent amount of time for travel purposes as you are outside Australia.  Second part, get your wife's Philippine citizenship back and the little one's at the same time.  You can all travel on the Australian one to start with and then just finish up the Filipino papers on return.

 

Note - I don't know about Australia but some countries do the Identification papers up at the embassies.  I"ll see what I can pull up on the Australian procedure once I get home...  I'm sitting in a park drinking a coffee and going through the forum on my netbook...  And the clock just changed over to 7 am...  hehe!