[2020-10-31] 13A Visa Intramuros Appication BOI Experience (Initial, with potential scam details)

[OnMyWay]

4 hours ago, jpbago said:

 

At our BIR, while we waited, there was a constant arrival of people with foot high stacks of folders going straight up to the counter and getting served while everyone else had to wait. They alternated between customers and those with stacks of folders (which took longer than one customer).

Each office has a head guy who can make those decisions, good or bad.  We are blessed locally in Olongapo, and have a small, uncrowded office that is well run.  We have the travel agents, but I have never seen them skip the line.  I haven't been in there in a long time, so I hope it has not changed.

[Shol]

Yes thank you so much.   I am wondering what fun and games await in the next visit. LOL.

I wanted to take pictures, and bring it to the media, however my wife was scared if I did that sort of thing I might have some motorcycles follow me home...

It was loud and cramped and we had those mask/shield contraptions on our heads which made it even more desirable to GTFOOT :)

I am not even sure how to handle that but I do have a contact at Rappler.   We shall see....

[Jack Peterson]

23 minutes ago, Shol said:

I wanted to take pictures,

 Take care on this

24 minutes ago, Shol said:

I am not even sure how to handle that but I do have a contact at Rappler. 

Take even Greater care on this The above mentioned Media is on the 30's Hit list 

[Mike J]

20 hours ago, Shol said:

Yes thank you so much.   I am wondering what fun and games await in the next visit. LOL.

I wanted to take pictures, and bring it to the media, however my wife was scared if I did that sort of thing I might have some motorcycles follow me home...

It was loud and cramped and we had those mask/shield contraptions on our heads which made it even more desirable to GTFOOT :)

I am not even sure how to handle that but I do have a contact at Rappler.   We shall see....

I would suggest you take the advice of your wife.  This is not a country where a foreigner wants to piss off anyone, even more so if they are a government official or agency.  

[Shol]

3 hours ago, Mike J said:

I would suggest you take the advice of your wife.  This is not a country where a foreigner wants to piss off anyone, even more so if they are a government official or agency.  

Indeed.  I did do just that.  Having said that this sort of thing is one of the many reasons the country "is where it is" politically and why it has such a hard time moving forward in a lot of ways.

Complacency and fear of what could happen to you, your family, whatever.  Sigh but I guess it is what it is for now anyway.

Edited November 3, 2020 by Shol

[Shol]

Greetings all.   Just a small "positive" update.

As of today I checked on the BI website and it seems like my 13A application was approved (yehay!) and now I have to go and secure the implementation.

Not sure if anyone will know, but when I made the online appointment before I put 13 VISA (QUOTA) REVALIDATION (IF REQUIRED) AND IMPLEMENTATION and it seemed fine as the service; was able to get in no issues.

Now for implementation there seems to be no clear one but I do see when you pick the above one it says window 20 and when you pick VISA IMPLEMENTATION, REVALIDATION, RE-STAMPING, GRACE PERIOD IMPLEMENTATION, ACIO ORDER-OF-PAYMENT-SLIP it says second floor, office of the board secretary.   

There are possible other ones to pick but these seem the closest?  Anyone have any experience in the past as to if I should simply use the one I did before when I applied or should I make sure to pick one of the implementation ones as it's a bit confusing unsurprisingly.

Also anyone else who has gotten one in recent times know if I can do the implementation and get the passport back the same day?  We did the biometrics when we applied so just not sure and hopefully no one will try to "rescam" us.

Any tips or thoughts would be great :)

 

Edit :  Tried to book an appointment today after just getting approved on Monday.  It seems that the first available one is like on March 5th over a a month after my current visa expires and perhaps maybe even after the implementation window would be over ugh.  Guess will have to call and make some sort of an arrangement since if they won't let me go there before mid feb I will have to extend and pay another 10k or whatever lol.

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Shol

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 11/2/2020 at 8:51 AM, Shol said:

Yes definitely at Intramuros BOI I called them fixers but I as noted they could have been travel agents. 

Many people such as yourself do not know that these days only accredited agents can do visa extensions for others. They are not fixers but agents accredited by the BI otherwise they can not do or get into the building for visa work so basically there are no fixers such as what years ago would hang around outside to do the work for you.

[Dave Hounddriver]

55 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

basically there are no fixers such as what years ago would hang around outside to do the work for you.

Totally true.  The old fashioned fixers are not allowed to do that any more.  It is now the sole purview of the accredited agenst and BI employees to fix things for you.  Of course, we do not discuss their illegal fixings on this website so perhaps they do not exist.  Perhaps all corruption in the Philippines is fixed now. 

[Gandang Smile]

C and I have been to BI to file for my 13a visa last week. We had an appointment for 28 Jan but I had to collect a clearance, so had an excuse to enter the building and had all the paperwork ready (or so we thought!).

I can't relate on the implementation as still waiting for approval. What I can tell is that, because of Covid, BI has ditched face-to-face interviews and is, instead, asking both partners to fill up a short questionnaire. Usual questions about the relationship - where we met, what good or bad we see in each other, "summarise my marriage in one word", etc. - and the space is so small that no more than a couple of sentences will fit. Very easily completed in half an hour.

Another thing I forgot is two cardboard folders with fastener on top. The application requires documents to be organised in two separate folders, one for the 13A visa application, the other for the ACR-I card application. Each folder needs a separate copy of the CGAF-001-Rev2 form.

Apart from these two small surprises and some major window jumping and small waits, everything went smooth. Hadn't C  realised that the certificate of live birth she provided was actually a copy, and had to rush to the closest PSA office to get one, we would have completed everything in less than 3 hours.

The total payments to BI was around P8,500 for the visa and ACR-I card application and P2,500 for some undisclosed "express lane" charges. It was afternoon when we had to pay and I was exhausted enough to forget to ask what the "express lane" charges were meant to be.

In the end, they told us to call back in a month, as the result will be ready by then.

All in all, it went faster and smoother than I had thought. The BI main hall was crowded but not as crowded as I would have imagined. Judging from the number of purple gilets, there were more BI-accredited agents than individual customers.

 

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, Gandang Smile said:

It was afternoon when we had to pay and I was exhausted enough to forget to ask what the "express lane" charges were meant to be.

 

You'd have wasted your time anyway - in my experience all transactions attract this fee (except the Annual Report). 2 transactions carried out together equals 2 x express lane fees (500php each).

It's not optional either.