Anyone with recent experience taking their wife on a vacation there? She/we have plenty of property and documentation. Anything we need to do in advance?
Im a U.S. citizen so even though i have not been back in years, im sure my wife will be required to have 1. Anything else special I should know about taking her there? If she is denied entry for any reason, im supposed to eat the price of her airline ticket?
You will most likely lose out on her ticket. Be sure to check out the visa requirements for any countries you travel through. Earlier this year my wife and I planned to travel to Canada via Tokyo. The visa requirements for my wife in Japan was either a proper visa or an ongoing ticket. Unfortunately the computer screen at Cebu Pacific said "visa required". The CP staff were shown the Japanese Embassy policy but would not let her board as she didn't have a visa.
Getting her a tourist visa is no slam dunk and may take more time than you think. The US government website provides a to-do list for her visa application. Suggestion: may as well pay for a 10 year visa in case she goes back again.
Two separate trips are needed, The first is to go to the new centre in Quezon City just to make the appointment needed to get the green light to go embassy in Roxas for the actual visa and that can't be done on the same day, suggest you join a few Facebook pages for locals getting US visas if you haven't already and have her ask there.
You might look at getting a Visa service involved. I remember going to the BCIS in LA at 4:30 am and a line already starting to form, but the lawyers would walk in at 9am through a special door. I have no experience with getting a Visa, but maybe someone with connections or knows the lay of the land inside out, might be able to get it done faster. If nothing else they might be able to set an expectation and you can change your ticket to a later date, so you don't lose the entire price of the ticket.
