13A Leaving the country for a while....

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, Clermont said:

I suppose if they haven’t got there stamp, they’d be classed as a first timer, plus they’d have a exit stamp in their passport 

They may have the stamp in another passport though?  As far as I know, it's a once only thing and the stamp is placed in the current passport but isn't transferred over when a passport is renewed.

[OnMyWay]

13 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Nope.  Different gf, same age, came to Canada with me without any of the same problems.  Both were/are Common Law wives by Canadian statute and both were first timers out of the country.  The current one went to the seminars is the only difference but whatever, split hairs if you like.

I'm talking about the OP.  He is married and this is about his wife.

[OnMyWay]

2 hours ago, hk blues said:

My wife (then GF) and I came to the Philippines in 2013 with our 6-month old baby and we were not asked any questions when leaving to return to Hong Kong. 

Having kids with us has always been the golden ticket!  The ultimate proof of relationship? 

2 hours ago, hk blues said:

However, when my wife came to renew her passport here and update her name from maiden to married she was advised she had to attend the seminar before the passport could be renewed and updated.  The seminar only takes place in Cebu and Manilla (as far as I know) so this was a kinda big deal.  Luckily, my wife was able to stand her ground and they crumbled and agreed to renew the passport with the married name - this was back in 2017.  Now, if we were to want to travel abroad I'd certainly seek guidance on whether the seminar was still required.

Same thing for us.  I have described it in previous posts.  DFA told my wife she had to do the seminar in order to change her passport to the married name.  She went to Angeles for the seminar.  As soon as she told the front desk why she was there, she did not have to take the seminar and they issued her a certificate.  Since then, we planned to emigrate to the U.S., so I contacted CFO to ask what she will need to do, and they just said when ready, they will put a sticker in her passport.

I have since been told that DFA was wrong on this and CFO is not needed to change the passport name.

[hk blues]

10 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Having kids with us has always been the golden ticket!  The ultimate proof of relationship? 

Same thing for us.  I have described it in previous posts.  DFA told my wife she had to do the seminar in order to change her passport to the married name.  She went to Angeles for the seminar.  As soon as she told the front desk why she was there, she did not have to take the seminar and they issued her a certificate.  Since then, we planned to emigrate to the U.S., so I contacted CFO to ask what she will need to do, and they just said when ready, they will put a sticker in her passport.

I have since been told that DFA was wrong on this and CFO is not needed to change the passport name.

Yep.  As I said, when my wife went to renew her passport they said it was a requirement but they backed down which is unusual here so I was of the opinion that it was not actually a requirement after all.  

[Clermont]

11 hours ago, hk blues said:

They may have the stamp in another passport though? 

When my wife renewed her passport they never renewed the stamp section, it is all computerized now and once you've been through customs it is flagged as being out of the country before.

[hk blues]

5 hours ago, Clermont said:

When my wife renewed her passport they never renewed the stamp section, it is all computerized now and once you've been through customs it is flagged as being out of the country before.

Yeah, I get the system is computerised but...

How would  they distinguish between someone who has been out of the country before but whilst single who then married and was leaving the country for the 1st time as a married person? That would be my wife's situation. 

Would the system indicate that it was the 1st exit as a married person? 

Maybe I was misinformed, but I was told the seminar was only for married women exiting. 

 

[ExtraThree]

Regarding the ridiculous CFO two methods of proof now work. One or both gets her thru. (PDF download of certificate of completion or actual physical sticker). Nice improvement in that regard since PDF is instantly sent on completion and not physically mailed. 👍🏻

[Huggybearman]

23 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Technically, the CFO seminar is only for a Filipino moving overseas.  Emigrants.  Your wife will have a tourist visa, correct?

CFO answered me quickly on their Facebook a few years ago.  Maybe shoot them a message explaining your exact situation, and see what they say.  If favorable, screenshot it, print it, and bring it with you.

If you are travelling with her, she should not have a problem leaving the country, provided she has the correct visa.  Bring all the stuff mentioned like marriage license and proof of relationship. 

Filipinas who get stopped from leaving are usually travelling alone and that has gotten worse during Covid.

Thank you. Yes, my wife travels on a UK Visit Visa (the UK’s tourist visa). We always travel together, her first 4 visas were 6 month ones, then she got a 5 year visa which has just expired at the end of March. She currently has an application in with the UK embassy for a 10 year one which I am confident she will get in the next few days. I am pretty sure she won’t have a problem exiting the Philippines. But as we had never heard of this seminar thing I just wanted to ensure we dodged a bullet as we exit the country. 

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, Huggybearman said:

Thank you. Yes, my wife travels on a UK Visit Visa (the UK’s tourist visa). We always travel together, her first 4 visas were 6 month ones, then she got a 5 year visa which has just expired at the end of March. She currently has an application in with the UK embassy for a 10 year one which I am confident she will get in the next few days. I am pretty sure she won’t have a problem exiting the Philippines. But as we had never heard of this seminar thing I just wanted to ensure we dodged a bullet as we exit the country. 

Just to be sure - Your wife has exited the Philippines numerous times, including relatively recently, and has never been asked for proof of attendance for the seminar. 

I wonder if any members' wife's have had to show the proof or is it something required only for women exiting alone and permanently?

[Huggybearman]

57 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Just to be sure - Your wife has exited the Philippines numerous times, including relatively recently, and has never been asked for proof of attendance for the seminar. 

I wonder if any members' wife's have had to show the proof or is it something required only for women exiting alone and permanently?

Yes, not just 7 visits to the UK from the Philippines, but numerous (20 plus) times to Thailand where we used to live between 2011 and 2015. Strange we never heard of this seminar. All of those times we were boyfriend/girlfriend as we only got married in 2019. We never had a single issue with her leaving the Philippines. Some of the trips to Thailand were solo trips for her as I had permanent residence there but she was limited to 30 days in Thailand each visit.  She would occasionally return to the Philippines on her own to take care of her farming business. 
 

Possibly it might have been something to do with her age that she never encountered a problem, as when we first exited the Philippines she was in her early 30’s. That age might be outside of the profile of someone who was likely to be trafficked.