More changes may be on the way for a tourist visa.

[scott h]

34 minutes ago, Onemore52 said:

What is POGO please forumites?

essentially call centers that run on line gambling. These are aimed at Chinese mainland customers. Mandarin and Cantonese language speakers are a must,,,,,hence all the Chinese working at them 

[Onemore52]

Thanks Scott, learnt something today.

 

[robert k]

3 hours ago, scott h said:

I think that this program is going to become a victim to the "republic" system of Phil government. Right now public opinion is dead set against the number of Chinese arriving on "tourist visa" going straight to a POGO, working and extending up to two years. Right now they can not single out Chinese tourists because china just puts to much money into the nation. 

We "know" what is going on, the young men and women arrive, get their arrival visa, go straight to their POGO, hand over their passport, start working and their employer hands over their passports to "fixers" who stand in line at the BI (I think we have all seen them) and when their 2 years are up they go home or overstay and take their chances. 

I tried to google and get some statistics on the number of tourists that extended up to two years but couldn't find any, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the nation makes more money from tourists who arrive for a two week vacation, stay at a swanky resort, spend money like a drunken sailor (sorry jake) and leave than they do from a few thousand older folks on a fixed budget who extend up to two years and repeat as needed.

Those sailors would have to be pretty drunken to spend $18,000 to $36,000 in two weeks, not including plane tickets, in my humble opinion. 

[JDDavao II]

16 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Personally I think the whole system would collapse if it was to stop us long staying tourist. The money it generates in fees, the employment it creates at BI and other places. If you block "tourist" from staying long term then many short termers will not come anymore as well because of bad info and confusion. 

The money spent in the economy from long stays must be high, if you start to remove the hand that helps feed you then either you are dumb or just plain dumber. 

On this note about money: As my 13A has not come through, we went to the BI yesterday as suggested by the officer, to apply for a 2-month extension. After being sent up stairs where the same officer told us that the Mothership was still working on visas from May, she sent us back down to the counter with a note on the extension form.

As I'm here on a BB visa, we truthfully told the agent that I did not have an ACR card but that we were applying for the 13A and the ACR that is required and that the extension was just a safety move to keep me legal while the approval process ground on.

Once the shiny sticker was stuck into my passport, we were handed the itemized bill which included fees for the ACR card and other things we had already paid for when filing for the 13A.

Well, that didn't sit well with us but just go ahead and try to convince a Filipino government person that they made a mistake and should offer a refund.

So the BI took in a couple of thousand pesos yesterday for free.

Edited August 29, 2019 by JDDavao

[Jollygoodfellow]

8 hours ago, scott h said:

I think that this program is going to become a victim to the "republic" system of Phil government. Right now public opinion is dead set against the number of Chinese arriving on "tourist visa" going straight to a POGO, working and extending up to two years

My comment is related to normal tourist visas. 

[fillipino_wannabe]

17 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Personally I think the whole system would collapse if it was to stop us long staying tourist. The money it generates in fees, the employment it creates at BI and other places. If you block "tourist" from staying long term then many short termers will not come anymore as well because of bad info and confusion. 

The money spent in the economy from long stays must be high, if you start to remove the hand that helps feed you then either you are dumb or just plain dumber. 

This is the country with a president that calls their main tourist attraction a shit hole and closes it for 6 months, then starts threatening to turn 50-500k peso per sqm land into a farm. I don't think economics is their first consideration