Permanent Resident travel before ACR card received

[Shol]

Well said and I believe all of that to be the case and each and every "scenario' is afflicted with the general "more fun in the Philippines" nonsense and randomness that mean it could go smooth, could not go smooth, or no go at all :)

Just the thought of how some folks might have had their "papers" put in the wrong pile during the correspondence and lack of technology is enough to make me shed a tear for some of the stories that might exist.   

Anyway take care and hope all works out for you!

[hk blues]

22 hours ago, Shol said:

Well said and I believe all of that to be the case and each and every "scenario' is afflicted with the general "more fun in the Philippines" nonsense and randomness that mean it could go smooth, could not go smooth, or no go at all :)

Just the thought of how some folks might have had their "papers" put in the wrong pile during the correspondence and lack of technology is enough to make me shed a tear for some of the stories that might exist.   

Anyway take care and hope all works out for you!

Yep...the moral of the story is keep checking in and when it gets to the point where something must be wrong, it may or may not be but further follow-up is needed.  

I had such an experience in KFC of all places last Sunday!  Food sitting getting cold because they were waiting for an item that wasn't ordered and therefore wasn't coming!  I insisted they replace the lot because I had had enough of KFC f*** u** in that mall.  

[DaveB]

All good things come to he who waits...if he waits long enough.  Got my ACR card today - so only took 4 months this time, but I am now "permanent" ( except the card expires in 5 years - oxymoron?).  Saved me a trip all the way to Manila to work the ACR waiver letter tap dance.

For both my probationary card and my now permanent card, they judiciously took down my phone number and promised to call when it came in.  For both, I waited a "judicious" amount of time, and then walked up to the "receiving" window one day and asked if it was there.  For both, on that day, it was.  I generally like the Angeles City BI - helpful people and rarely crowded.  But a quirk of that particular office is you can't call them or email them.  The phone never connects (and they have two different phone numbers in two different places, including the field office list off the BI Main website - and neither works).  I envy hearing of other field offices who actually talk on the phone.  In my case I had to drive from Balanga, where I now live, one hour up to Angeles City, where all my applications were submitted so I could stand in front of someone and get service.  But it's good service.  That's just been my adopted strategy with any Philippine government agency.  Stand in front of them, in person, and work the topic, in person - which pretty much reflects a basic premise of Philippine culture anyway.

The tricky thing is always to get past that screener at the front desk.  They are trained to deal with all the usual stuff and do it well.  But if you have a quirk or a weird thing that's out of the ordinary, and actually need to sit down and talk options with an immigration officer, it takes a while to beat down the front desk's other mandate - which is to screen people from the officials.  I see it in hotels, big businesses, government agencies, etc.  Gotta have patience and keep coming back with why the "standard" answer isn't getting to your actual problem.  On a recent fiasco sorting out my actual address, and having danced with the screener for a while, I finally looked at him and asked "There's a standard process for this, right?". He said "Yes".  And I responded "Well...this is NOT a standard problem".  It's like a light went on.  Soon I was huddled with an agent named Bianca, who gave me 20 minutes of effort sorting out the mess, and we got to a great solution.  Just had to get past the barrier to work it.  

Two things that seem threaded through the Phillipine culture - it's "cash and carry" and "personal contact" generates an actual desire to help ya.

[hk blues]

18 minutes ago, DaveB said:

...but I am now "permanent" ( except the card expires in 5 years - oxymoron?...  

 

Yes...but no!  The 13a is permanent (as long as you remain married) but the ACR card needs renewed every 5 years. A bit like the UK driving licence - not sure about USA.

[OnMyWay]

4 hours ago, DaveB said:

I generally like the Angeles City BI - helpful people and rarely crowded.  But a quirk of that particular office is you can't call them or email them. 

Dave, I just read this thread and am glad to see you got the ACR card.  My semi-educated guess is that you would not have had to go to Manila for a waiver, but no matter.  You will need to get your ECC-B when you are leaving.  As far as I know, they do not do ECC-B at any of our local offices, so you will probably have to get it at the airport.

Your timing was bad with your permanent visa.  I got my probationary in Manila but then I was able to get my permanent right there in Balanga.  Small office, never busy, and the attorney / head guy was a nice guy who used to work in Olongapo BI.  That was a few years ago so not sure if he is still there.  You should stop by and see if they can do your ECC-B when you leave.  The BI directory of offices is notoriously inaccurate so don't rely on it.  My wife found out that Balanga does 13A by calling them.  Balanga BI is not busy with a lot of tourists and PRs.  They do a lot of work with ships and seaman.  They actually go to the ships.  I think in my 3-4 visits, I only saw one other customer in the office.

I like Balanga but have not been there in 2 years due to the lockdowns.  My good friend had a nice coffee shop there (2nd branch) that he had to shutter due to Covid.  The Bean Box.  He is now removing the contents because the landlord sold the property.  His 2 year old building will be demolished to make way for a bigger building.

If you don't know about it, another cool thing over there is that you have the ferry to Manila that departs over by Orion.  You can park your car there and do a day trip to the MOA area, etc.  Grab a Grab when you get to the dock.  I think we will do that again soon.

[DaveB]

Actually...I'm, of late, in a position to validate your impressions of the Balanga BI office.  I went there a couple weeks ago to confirm what I understood about having to go to Manila to work that ACR waiver letter.  Got a real helpful guy, very pleasant gent, who said if I came back with the "magic receipt" (the one discussed earlier in this thread - with OR number that is the key to magic kingdom), he could look up the status of my ACR card.  So I went back on Monday, and he did just that and he found it had already been printed and was marked for sending it to the Angeles BI office.  No deep status like "where is it today", so no guarantee that it wasn't still waiting to be sent or whatever, but at least I had input that:

a. The dang thing was processed and approved, so no hang ups or problems

b. The dang thing might be there if I went up to Angeles later in the week (knowing from past experience I couldn't trust they'd actually call me if it was).  That's why I took the chance and went yesterday, and was prepared to go again next week if necessary.  I have some urgency because we're trying to fly to the US for a couple weeks on April 10.

So...given the hassle of trying to contact the Angeles BI by phone, and believing "in person works best" - and knowing they never called me last time - I was at least at a point where the odds of getting it had increased.

The Balanga BI is a small, personable office, about the size of a standard motel room, with three guys working it.  I just moved down here last month and all my processing was centered around Angeles so that was the card I was dealt to have to try to work by remote contact.  But if anyone is down the general Subic way, Balanga is a highly recommended alternative. 

They did tell me I'd need to buy the ECC at the airport.  They don't do that.  I will likely be up to Angeles at least once more before I leave (my wife's family lives in Mabalacat, up the road from AC).  So I might go over to the Angeles BI and buy it there, just to have one less thing to fuss about in that Manila airport quagmire. 

I like Balanga in general.  One hour to Angeles and that includes the Medical City Clark availability which has value to me since it's certified by both Tricare and the VA's FMP.  Meanwhile, the town is pretty well complete with anything you might need, has a "less stress" laid back kind of feel to it, and is generally a pleasant place to live.  Unfortunately, we're only here until May, and then we're buying a house in Morong - which accomplishes a big goal of ours: get by the ocean.  In contrast, Morong is more like a small provinicial city, which likely means we'll need to develop a broader insight on what's available in the Subic/Olongapo area.  But if someone is looking around for nice tradeoffs between "living in the Philippines" in general while still finding a well stocked city, I recommend taking a hard look at Balanga.

Another example: my wife went through a 2 year fiasco getting her PSA birth certificate birth year corrected.  In Angeles, that meant going over to San Fernando and standing in line with a mob for an hour to get in to work any questions.  In Balanga, it meant going to the PSA office, sitting in a chair for five minutes, and getting done.  It's a very Filipino place.  I think I've seen two other ex-pats since I've been here, and I'm the only Caucasian in this subdivsion where I'm renting a house for now.  I get an interesting reaction from the locals - they all want to talk to me and ask questions as I'm a bit of an oddity.  Very pleasant people.

Last I checked, the Bataan ferry had suspended operations per the COVID cut backs.  I've been watching for it to resume.  It would be a great way to get over to Manila for my bi-annual VA checkups.  Beats that three hour drive it would take from here.  Instead, drive to Orion, sit on a ferry for an hour or so, take a cab to the VA.  Hope it starts up again.

[OnMyWay]

44 minutes ago, DaveB said:

So I might go over to the Angeles BI and buy it there, just to have one less thing to fuss about in that Manila airport quagmire. 

According to the BI directory of office, they do not do ECC-B at Angeles.  Let me know if they do.

Approximately where is the house in Morong?  Landmark?

[DaveB]

All I know is that the Angeles BI has a standard window that is labeled "ECC".  So I assumed that means that's where I can get one.  But I've never had to deal with the topic before, so I'm pretty ignorant on the specific ramifications of an "ECC-B".  I'll be up there next week for a VA lab test at Medical City, so I'll go over there and see what they're up to.

If you go from Subic to Bagac on 302, you go through an intersection with a statue of the Virgin Mary in front of the Barangay access road.  It's the Nagbalayong barangay.  When you go in that entrance, you deadend at the church "Iglesia ni Cristo Loki Nagbalayang".  Left at the church and straight past the elementray school and past the turn to the barangay office.  On the left is a fairly non-descript looking typical jammed in house with an upstairs balcony.  It may still have a sign that says "Leni's Market" on it.  It's a tad decieving.  Inside is one extremely well maintained two bedroom house with a very nice backyard garden.  The "market" part is actually what used to be a garage and the owner is taking that all out.  Then we'll convert that into a downstairs master bedroom sometime this summer.  About a 10 minute walk to a public beach.  A bit south of the main resorts, but close enough to go on over and lounge around with a day pass.  Looks like someone is actually building a new resort right beside the publlc beach access road, so maybe some day I'll get a "season pass" there.  Hopefully, we're close enough to beachcomb when we want to but far enough back to avoid the worst of storm surges.

[DaveB]

Just to close the loop...I was up in AC Friday and checked in with the BI there.  While they still have a window marked "ECC", I was promptly informed to just go get it at the airport..  So...that appears to be the standard answer at least for the field offices.

[OnMyWay]

32 minutes ago, DaveB said:

Just to close the loop...I was up in AC Friday and checked in with the BI there.  While they still have a window marked "ECC", I was promptly informed to just go get it at the airport..  So...that appears to be the standard answer at least for the field offices.

Yes, that window is probably for normal ECC, not ECC-B.  There are a few field offices that do ECC-B.