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Immigration @Mactan airport

Discussion in 'Tourist Information' started by RR_biker, Nov 10, 2019.

  1. RR_biker

    RR_biker DI Senior Member Veteran Marines

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    Friday, Nov. 8, arrived @Mactan airport by 11:30pm. Start to line up for Immigration @11:55pm. It took me exactly 2 hours and 50 min. to pass through. Welcome in the Phils. The bureau of Tourism is promoting this country by advertising, video clips and more. Well a good idea might be to talk with Immigration to reduce waiting times. People waiting @that time were 99,9% from Asian countries. Only a handful of foreigners outside Asia, among me. There are 14 counters available of which only 6 were occupied. The detection gate by scanning passports of PH citizens not included. Is this a lack of enough officers or another reason. All regular flights arriving are most of the time full so depending on the plane it carries 200 to 300 passengers. When 4 flights arrive within a time span of let's say 30 min. about more than one thousand have to pass Immigration and that can be time consuming as I found out.
    For sure Immigration knows exactly the arrival of all those regular flights and the average number of passengers, so why it seems to be impossible to have enough officers available to handle that the waiting time can be reduced up till 30 min., which I feel is acceptable but almost 3 hours..................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     
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    Last edited: Nov 10, 2019
  2. Edward K

    Edward K DI Senior Member Veteran Navy

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    Hey Biker, Welcome to the Philippines (although I think you've been here longer than me).. You did arrive just before midnight... I would guess by now you figured out that the national motto is "Wait awhile.." Filipinos' culture includes WAITING in line, whether midnight or noon. You just deal. Medical, gummint office, bank, traffic, you just stand in line, like Building Department or Dept of Motor Vehicles in the states. .. At least in the states, airport immigration (JFK-nyc) has 5 officers (2 min each) and 25 AI robot kiosks for returning US citizens..

    I've heard horror stories from people who tried to save money by flying thru Shanghai, even transit passengers spent SIX hours in lines, many missing connecting flights (never transit through mainland china)... BPI branch yesterday had over 50 waiting with TWO tellers at 3 in the afternoon... Getting windows staffed is like trying in Dumaguete to get two main courses out of a restaurant kitchen at the same time (other than Salaya or Adamo)...

    Welcome to the world...Maybe living in a cabin in northern Montana, you don't wait in lines.
     
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  3. OP
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    RR_biker

    RR_biker DI Senior Member Veteran Marines

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    The first time I came to to the Phils was in 2007. Once in a while i did experience a more than accepted waiting time, but that was in Manilla never in Cebu.
    Your final hint..maybe a good idea, will give it a thought.
     
  4. Dr. Shiva

    Dr. Shiva DI Senior Member

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    This year on vacation in the Visayas. Arrived at Sunday at 11 am and 8 immigration booths were occupied. Less than 15 min waiting time.
    At departure one months later less than 10 min to pass thru the immigration.
    Just with one luggage we had a mess for second checking. They told me the system gave an alarm for acid inside. The "acid" they found was in reality a bottle of Gatorade! :hilarious: But all personell was nice and polite to me.
     
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  5. djfinn6230

    djfinn6230 DI Senior Member

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    Get an SRRV visa. Pass through the diplomatic line. Problem solved.


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  6. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    I recently flew in to Cebu but in the early afternoon. 400+ passengers, 6 counters open, 2 for OFWs, 1 for diplomats, 1 for ASEAN countries, 2 for everyone else (but were also servicing ASEAN countries). It was very slow going and the immigration officer I got grilled me about my reason for travel, itinerary and visa extension and was very stern with me. I felt it was a bit excessive but even after the long wait at Immigration I still had to wait 15 minutes for my bags to arrive so....meh. At least standing in the immigration line I got plenty of entertainment listening to other people's screwed up conversations and watching their p*ss poor parenting skills.

    The only way I know to shorten the wait is to fly business or select a seat towards the front of the plane.
     
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  7. OP
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    RR_biker

    RR_biker DI Senior Member Veteran Marines

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    Agree, but that only works when no other flights have just arrived before your own flight has arrived.
     
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  8. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    Technically it always works. Your wait will always be longer if you are the last to get off your flight, no matter how many flights landed before you.
     
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  9. djfinn6230

    djfinn6230 DI Senior Member

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    It may make a difference where the flights ahead of you originated from. I suspect flights from 1st world countries get processed more quickly than flights from, say, Bogota Colombia. Just a hunch. I once was returning on Air Jamaica flight at Miami; they did not profile, they just treated everyone as if they had 2 kilos of ganja and they took their time.


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  10. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    They are just slow. Doesn't matter where you are coming from.
     
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