I've been listening to the experiences of other expats renewing their visa and I thought I had it all figured out. First, go to MacDonald's for breakfast. (Luv them egg McMuffins). Then cross over the street to the ATM and withdraw money to go pay for visa. Then go to EMall (EverMall or whatever) to get pictures taken for BI (only 50 pesos). They are fast and they tell me to come back in 5 minutes to pick up the pics. During that time I walk around the corner to get clear photocopies at only 1.5 pesos per copy. Then I come back, pick up pics, and walk to BI. Thats when I find out its a National Holiday and BI are closed. No one else in town appears to be closed. Its not like they cannot wait for Holy Week to take off all the time they want. They have to close for some unknown holiday in the middle of the week when people like me are trying to get stuff done ahead of the Holy Week. Its more fun here.
LOL, surely the embassy staff at McDo would have told you it was a holiday if you had talked to them! I hear Hayahay is open. Larry
And no notice. No sign. Not a tiny piece of paper hang on the door saying "Visas out of stock, sir, due to national holiday". Only a girl in a shop opposite the BI trying to get over a wish to sleep. Saying just one word: tomorrow. Much. More. Fun.
And now its time, for the rest of the story: Its the day after the holiday and I am at B.I. Dumaguete at 10 minutes before 8 a.m. The guard is still standing in the hallway getting dressed for the day. He tells me to 'just wait a while' because it is not quite 8 a.m. yet. A couple of other foreigners turn up and tell me what a great office this one is and how great the gal is who works the desk. As I already have taken care of the preliminaries, it only takes 10 minutes for her to inform me that the fee is 2,830 pesos. That's about what I expected. But then she goes to the back room and comes over to inform me that will be 3,830 pesos because I should have been there yesterday. I explain that I was there yesterday and they were closed and she says I should have been 2 weeks early to prevent such problems. I explain that I tried that before in Cebu and the official told me I was too early and they could not renew my visa in advance. She replied that its a new rule. I asked her if that rule will change again before I come back as the rules at B.I. seem to change daily. She replied by asking me: What is your profession? I told her its my job to come here every two months and give her a hard time. *Blank Stare* so I told her its a joke and I am retired. Then I gave the typical "No Problem" response and she told me to come back in a couple hours to pick up my passport. I did, and *no problem* Next time I will try going in 2 weeks early just to see what happens O--O
You will soon learn you hardly ever get the same answer to the same question here, no matter how little time has passed since it was last asked. Just more fun here if you like confusion and lack of consistency.
Interesting. I was able to extend my tourist visa 2 weeks in advance recently. (Last week of March, here in Dumaguete). The only new twist I experienced was the new form and requirement to attach photo.
They did have a notice on the front door stating that you could now renew your visa up to 14 days before, im not sure if it is still there. Your correct the do change the rules weekly , for a 6 months visa you have to go to Manila WTF cheers
They have rules here and everything is stored in the computer they can not change dates it is up to us you to be more up to date on when your expiration is expired it happened to me once before and it was simply my fault"""""...I have never had a problem here otherwise .....I generally go 10 days before expiration and never on a Monday
I do realize that some people are absolutely meticulous about getting all paperwork done on time, all bills paid on time, and keeping other details of their life in complete order. Others of us are in complete chaos most of the time and are lucky when the bills are paid on time, let alone 2 weeks early. My hat is off to those who lead such an orderly life. Unfortunately I was brought up to believe that perfection is boring and it often bites me in the @ss.
