I will Deport You
Expats living in the Philippines, as tourists must get their visa extended every 59 days. I usually try to stay clear of Bureau (BI) just to make sure no one upsets me. Today’s visit to BI was a perfect example. Well, I would have never done what this expat did. What he did was next to insanity.
A Visit to Immigration
On a side note, when I went to Bangkok a couple of weeks ago I walked up to the immigration window on my way out of the country. The woman was behind a glass that had only a small opening to slide your papers through. I don’t remember even that but there must have been something or I couldn’t have given her my passport. The area is huge, with high ceilings and noisy. Lots of echoes. She told me something but I couldn’t hear her. When you can’t hear someone, most of us will raise our voice and after I walked away, I realized I had. She kept talking and I couldn’t hear her and she made no effort to help me. Very frustrating. I guess she realized I couldn’t hear though or it could have gone badly for me.
Today, a guy in Mandaue City, part of Metro Cebu City was at BI trying to get his exit clearance which requires a 2*2 inch picture. He had only a 1*1 and the BI officer told him she needed a 2*2. He responded with “its all I have in a raised voice.” The officer continue to tell him that she had to have a 2*2 and continued to insist he didn’t have it. Soon the officer told him not to raise his voice to her and the expat asked why not. She reminded him he was in immigration to which he said “so what?” What a dufus! Her reply was I will deport you if you continue.
Now he understood! He replied with asking where he could get the required picture. She told him and he left. He was on the verge of getting thrown in the Mandaue Immigration Jail! The exit certification he was attempting to get is required after an extended stay. I think you need it if you are here for more than six months. I could be mistaken about the time table. If anyone knows, please correct me. The point being, if you have been here that long you should already know better. Based on the way this guy was acting at BI, I’d guess his time here will be limited.
I’ve heard other stories about pushy Americans in BI, often over their dress code but this guy took stupidity to a new level! Its a lesson in how to get thrown out of and blacklisted from returning to the Philippines.
I am simply amazed when I see bad behavior like this from foreigners when they are at the BoI office. I mean, we all have our little outbursts from time to time, but anybody with a mind would understand that you don’t do this at the BoI office. No matter how much you don’t like something, or how bad it is, at the BoI office you need to keep your responses things like “yes sir” or “yes mam.” I will never understand this, and I see it nearly every time I visit the BoI.
If this guys that stupid do we really want him to stay here anyway? Maybe he was just having one of those days.
He probably felt that he own the whole world and have all rights to do what he has done.
if he is having a bad day, he should not have come to BI office in the first place, he should have waited until he is ready to come down to BI office and do his thing.
you gotta remember your not in kansas anymore! your in there world and there rules apply they dont care what you think.or who you are to them you are nothing to them ,so what if your american its not relevent to them! when i got my balikbayan visa(which is good for one yr)i went to mandaue because they wouldnt stamp my passport for me in manilla they were shaking me down for extra money!so i waited untill i got to cebu and my wife happens to be from mandaue so we went to immigration and got my son and my passports changed to balikbayan! still cost us money but,we didnt wait on line we told the guard what happened and he took us upstairs to the bosses office we bartered the price and wallah we had our passports restamped balikbayan!
I hate those windows. I have trouble hearing when their is a lot of background noise and those windows with a hole make it a lot worse. I usually take my wife along to “interpret”.
Reminds me I need to get back to Manila to get my I-Card. Anyone know how long just my passport with resident visa label will work?
kamusta rusty
ahh my only bad experience with immigration was wearing all the required clothing and almost fainting from the heat there.i think most foreigners wear teeshirts,shorts and sandels.
one day my fiancee ask me to go to a formal restruant and so im wearing a nice long shirt,long pants socks and shoes.wow when i left the house i about died from the heat.i returned inside the house and showered and put back on my teeshirt,shorts and sandels.she said what are you doing?i said saving a trip to the hospital for me because i cant take it.hahahaha
salamat rusty
The first time I landed in Manila. I was going from international to the local flights. I think the fee was $4.00, and I handed him a$5. He offered me to pass through. I looked him in the eye, and politely asked for my $1. He answered no change. I said then we will wait, and smiled. He tried to rush me through. I refused, and ever so politely said. That if you don’t have change I will wait, or we can see a supervisor? He gave me my $1, and I thanked him politely with a sir added in.
I never knew about losing face until I joined here. Fortunately for me I understand I am in a foreign country to me. I also understand that where ever you go people will try, and take advantage. I try my hardest to win, but leaving them as my equal. It’s kind of like a game of chess…….i2f…..John
Now don’t get me wrong here, I do not like the ‘ugly American’ anymore than anyone else, BUT that being said this is just retarded backward thinking for the Government to DEPORT someone who is raising his voice over something he does not understand. Maybe he was having a bad day *BAN* deport…yeah, that is helpful service.
I doubt you would find that in ANY first world nation. It has not been my experience anyway. I’ve seen people here at customs in many airports getting irate with our people and the only thing that happens is the officers actually try to help them. Odd.
Quick question. How do you use the gravatar here? I signed up but did not see anything on the site about how to insert the pic.
Another helpful topic Rusty. I think with the help of posts like these I gradually am getting the picture, along with reading online Phils newspapers every day. There’s certainly a lot of picture to get.
Hello Rusty,
OMG…you know reading your article made me remember that there are only two girls that usually work at that office! I have to admit that raising your voice expecially to someone who is going to help you get your papers mmmmmmm….not really a good idea. If I remember correctly, just about anyone can get thrown into jail for raising their voice (to the wrong person). Last time I was there…my wife and I ended up waiting almost the entire day!!
hi there. how do i deport a filipino?
Amy, I guess you’re in the Philippines? If he is too, you can’t.
You can’t deport someone from their home country. If they are in a foreign land then you can by contacting immigration in that country and report a violation.
You wont be able to say he insulted you in the USA, in the USA foreigners have freedom of speech too. Unless he broke a law, you’re just have to move on.
I hope you’re okay.
And in this case, what the officer was asking for was not unreasonable at all. It was stupid to fight with her over this.
Federal employees in the US just have to grin and bear these kinds of things for the most part.
Yeah Daryl, we need him, to make the rest of us look reasonable. LOL
Guy is probably a vet, use to being mistreated by the VA. I guess though he’s had a lesson in Kultura Filipino now.
you can pretty much have anything done for you quicker or changed if your willing to pay a little more. its so corrupt in the P.I. everytime there seems to be a problem if i mention giving them a express fee all of a sudden theres no problem anymore!
hi mike,
you know what mike? If somebody in the philippines wants to charge you higher than the usual fee you have a choice to report them or talk to their supervisor, the problem i am seeing with many foreigners who are willing to pay an extra fee to make things easier for them are those who are not willing to help philippines to stop the corruption.
remember, if you pay someone to do things done for you illegally, you are actually condoning it and patronizing them, in turn the next foreigner behind you who wants to do it legally will fall on the same guy you just patronized. and in turn, you just helped the bad guy to steal from another foreigner. it is a continous cycle.
remember there is always a higher guy from the guy who wants to steal from you and you can always threat them that you will report them to the highest authority, as long as you know you did not do anything wrong, there is nothing to be worried about being deported.
I have never had anything like that happen.
If I did, I sure wouldn’t mention it in public.
And I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize my stay in the Philippines. Its just not worth it. You may run into another BI official that has an issue with what you’ve done. The stamp is not valid. You risk being deported and blacklisted.
I’ve heard other’s talk about getting improper Balikbayan status in whispers. No way am I going to risk it. Its too easy just to pay an agent to get my normal and proper stamps.
another example we where flying home and my wife had bought to much stuff and they where going to charge us a couple hundred dollars extra for to much extra baggage my wife took the handler on the side gave him some money(few peso extra )and all of a sudden we didnt have a overwt baggage anymore.
Hi mike – It’s important to remember, though… the person who pays money to get things done is engaging in corruption just as much as the person who accepts the money.
hi bob,
I am in total agreement with you, corruption starts when someone is willing to pay someone to make things easier, many times when i needed to renew my passports or whatever papers i need to be done there is always someone who will approach me and offer their service for a fee, I always refused to deal with them, there’s also a case where I was threatend that my paper will not go through if I don’t pay them, all I did was, I told them I am willing to report them to the authorities and file a corruption charges against them.
the problem bob is many foreigner do not want to spend a day or 2 procesing their visa which will give them a year of stay.
is 1 or 2 days too much in exchange for a year of stay???
all i can say is god bless america and europeans,canadians and australians because if it wasnt for us marrying there daughters and sending and spending our money in the philippines it would be even worse off!
I got the feeling that he thought he was too good to be held to the rules.
Yeah, it was much less busy than thee last time I went through but I couldn’t hear a thing.
Also when I fly, I can’t hear anything for a while.
Hi John H,
If you are going to the BOI office in Intramuros be there when they open in the morning – I renewed my I card late and it took about 10 minutes -there was nobody else there and the people were helpful and polite.Later in the day it would have been crowded and some ill mannered idiot would have upset the staff as usual.A couple of years ago I saw what looked like a Chinese or Korean lose his temper and become really aggressive – when a supervisor was asked what to do he said throw him out.Have good manners in the face of any problems and you may get a pleasant surprise – the BOI is much better than it used to be.
Im find Ron!
The BI office in Mandaue has adequate air con.. Of course getting there could be difficult. The buses in Cebu can give you a bad day if you were otherwise okay.
The heat can certainly make someone irratable.
BI has a problem with t-shirt? I know shorts are not okay. I really that is uncalled for but whatever.
I have also been to BI in Tacloban, it was hot at first at first but they turned the air con on and it colled off just fine. I went early. I have been usingn an agent. I think Jessie is going to become an agent, save me some cash and make her some cash.
I usually don’t go.
what can i tell you stand out in the hot sun or wait in line for 3 days and get turned away is your time not worth something, i have better things to do then save a couple pesos.in america our goverment has express service you pay for with the mail or your passport,or stores charge extra for quicker delivery, its the same difference !no body stole from me, i chose to get things done faster and avoid all the aggrivation and wasted time that would of cut into my stay there!
and to clarify i did nothing illegal the guy in manila stamped my passports incorrectly and i was just getting it stamped what he should of done in the first place! he didnt want to stamp my passport balikbayan because my wife was cebuano and not from luzon,filipinos are very provicial!
Three days? Hot sun?
I’ve been to BI twice and it took under an hour.
It is worth something, that’s why I hire an agent for P500 and they handle everything for me.
Making a payment to a government official to influence the outcome of an event is and always will be illegal.
Hi mike – Actually, the guy in Manila did not make a mistake. The Balikbayan stamp is a privilege. Nobody has a right to the Balikbayan stamp. It is purely at the discretion of the person at the airport to decide if he will give the Balikbayan stamp or not. That is the law.
mike,
The moment you pay someone to “fix” thing for you is already illegal regardless of who offered it first. if somebody tell you that for a fee your paper will go through faster than the usual processing time, then that is a form of corruption which you just patronized.
is 3 days of your time too much for you in exchange of 362 days of stay? and if philippines is so bad and so corrupt, then why stay? mike, I am a filipino and I am trying my best to make a difference, our country cannot change if there are people who are willing to corrupt our officials.
Mike, you are the true true unsung hero. You’re doing the Phil a favor, you should qualify for a Ramon Magsasay awardee (the Asian Nobel Prize). You should always remind your wife and her children how lucky they are.
mike,
do you really think that philippines is much worst without the help of foreigners married to filipinas? did you marry your wife for a benevolent cause?
that’s cold Mike
classy, mike. real classy. being filipino, i guess i owe you a debt of gratitude. at least i know who to send my future daughter to if i want to better my family’s future.
need a shovel for that hole you keep digging?
oh wait, what am i saying. you’d probably hire a filipino to dig you that hole. just make sure to keep that white hood in the closet.
I personally would not wait for a dollar, especially in an airport.
There was a time I might. For me, just not worth it.
Better things to do with my time but that’s just me, not saying you’re wrong.
That P750 fee at the Manila airport is significant. Get a ticket to Manila for P4000 but have to pay nearly another P1000.
Its another line, another stopping point, not my country but its a pain in the butt.
Hi Randy – After you sign up and upload a Gravatar on the Gravatar.com site, you don’t have to do anything else. It can take up to 30 minutes or so before your Gravatar shows up, though. Make sure that the e-mail address you used at Gravatar matches the e-mail address you are using to comment here, or else no Gravatar will show.
Hi Randy – Fact is that this is not in the USA, or in any First World country. What Rusty described is in the Philippines. If you want to come to the Philippines, you have to learn to accept stuff like this. It’s always good to remember that you are not in America anymore! Anybody who cannot accept this would be much better to not even come to the Philippines. Like I always say… 90 Million people are not going to change for you… it is you who must do the changing if you want to make it here.
I agree with Bob, if you can’t accept the way things are here then you probably will not be happy here. You’re the one that must adjust. If you don’t, you’ll be miserable.
one of the hardest things for American’s is we do NOT have free speech here
The term “third world” country has negative connotations. Filipino usually use the term developing nation. Filipino usualy take the most positive approach in their language that they can.
Developing nations, such as the Philippines have been crapped all over by people like Mike that has posted in this thread. That might make them hypersensitive to insults. You have a point about the raised voice being pretty weak to our way of thinking. But when people have disagreemens here in business transaction, they don’t yell and scream and act like we do in the States. Even then people are polite. In this society, treating and showing respect is required even if you hate their guts.
Not being able to make these kinds of adjustments could also get you on the receiving end of the rarely used but always possible quick justice known as “just hire someone to bash him.”
All of this is true for many Far Eastern cultures, not just the Philippines.
In Thailand they’ll jail you in a heartbeat for speaking negative toward the royal family.
I think you can do it though, make te adjustments, I am pretty sure you are the Randy I’ve talked with in email?. I know quite a few bitter American’s that live here. They even complain about Filipino speaking in their native language. Seemed it didn’t occur to him to learning the language could be an option.
Glad it was helpful for you.
I’ve got an alarming article coming up in a few days.
And one every expat needs to know about, but most don’t!
ok
Rusty: Nearly every country in the world has some form of exit tax…Including the US (Though they call it a security fee…) It is just more visible in the Philippines because you go to a separate window. In most places the airline collects it as part of the extra taxes added to your ticket and you barely notice.
Last week, while in Peru, they have a separate window there and I watched a guy carry on for 15 minutes about the tax ($30).
If you’ve been here over, I think 6 months, you also have to pay for an Exit Certifica which cost me another P1800 but that probably included P500 for the agent I used.
I thought the P750 is paid by everyone, even if not leaving the country. I guess not though as I paid only P200 I think it was when I came back. On the way out, I paid a terminal fee of P250 and Cebu and P750 in Manila. I paid no fees going or coming in Thailand.
When you have to pay P4000 for your ticket, P3000 to get through the airports is too much. Not as hard on me is it the Filipino. I’ve not complained much at all about the fees, thought they were pretty low but they are inching up P500 for this and P1000 for that.
Got my extension to say past 21 days to 59 days and paid P3030 for that, no agent. Next month it will be a lot more. But the bright side is, I do get to stay.
There is an airport fee you pay at departure in Thailand. 500 baht if memory serves.
I don’t recall the 500b but I could have forgotten. My memory usually isn’t THAT bad but there’s always exceptions.
Hi Jason,
There are a lot of women in there, though I don’t know how many deal with the public. There was one fine Filipina that I wish would work with me. LOL Poor girl, I’ll flirt with her and she can’t even see it. I’d never do it there, I be scared. LOL
There is one girl that works the complaint desk, that alone should tell people something. Their is a desk set up with no line that is labeled “complaint desk.” I doubt they are interested in complaints about the BI.
How long ago was that that you were there all day?
Yes you can be jailed for raising your voice to anyone. Jailed, blacklisted and if you have enough money to pay your way, deported. Otherwise you’ll probably site there until you do. It is my understanding that the Philippines doesn’t usually pay for some one’s deportation. BUT, I didn’t get that from the BI, other expats said that so it may be untrue.
I have a story coming out here tomorrow that will likely blow people away. Its easier than you might think for someone, especially a foreigner, to get thrown in jail and for child abuse, no less.
I am in usa and he is in california which he went there when he left me back in 2006 and it took 3 years to process the paperwork for him to come to usa. i file that in 2003. we married in the philippines. also he divorce me just last month too. so how do i deport him?