If you travel into the Philippines as a tourist you only get 21 days to enjoy the country. Since I was planning on moving here 21 days just wouldn't cut it so I went through the process of becoming an immigrant. This process involves an application form, various medical tests, police clearances, financial records, proof that I'm married to a Filipino citizen, even my birth certificate to prove I'm a Canadian citizen. One of the medical tests involved getting a chest x-ray to ensure I'm not infected with Tuberculosis. This x-ray is rather large and therefore rather cumbersome; something that caused me grief later on. Once I collected all my requirements I dropped them all off at the Philippine Consulate in Vancouver. I expected to have an interview with a Consulate representative when I dropped all my requirements off. It even stated on the application form that an 'Interview with Immigration Officer' was necessary. So I go in, drop off everything, pay my application fee and was told, 'pick up your immigration visa in one week'. Huh? Where was the interview? Ithen assumed it must happen once I officially land in the Philippines. I left the office and returned a week later to collect my Canadian passport with a newly attached Philippines Immigration Visa. Upon returning I was handed a my passport and a huge envelope with the words, hand written (rather unoffical looking), "TO BE OPENED ONLY BY THE IMMIGRATION OFFICER UPON ARRIVAL IN THE PHILIPPINES". The envelope, as I said, was massive because it had that damn chest x-ray in it. And since it was to be presented to the Immigration Officer upon arrival I had to hand carry it. A minor annoyance but it didn't make any sense to me that the chest x-ray had to be shown to a doctor once I entered the Philippines. Wouldn't they have ensured I was free of Tuberculosis BEFORE I went there? Well, there was nothing I could do about it. My massive envelope and I hopped on the plane and flew to the Philippines.
I land, stand in the lineup for Immigration, hand the Immigration Officer my massive envelope and waited to see what would happen. I was still assuming there was an interview in the future since the application form (which wouldn't lie would it?) said there was. The Immigration Officer ripped open the envelope, stamped some of the paperwork with the 'official seal', stamped my passport with the 'official seal' and told me to go to the Bureau of Immigration to apply for my Alien Certificate of Registration Card (ACR Card). This card is my identification proving I'm a legal resident of the country. Now, this is where the story gets silly.
Aimee and I go to the Bureau of Immigration office to apply for the ACR. Once we arrive one of the guards out in the street notices my massive envelope and mumbles something about 'Quarantine' but gets so frustrated that we don't understand that he just lets us go in. Once in the building an employee tells us we don't need to be there. Our first step needs to be the Quarantine Office where they will look at my chest x-ray, give me a physical (didn't I already have one in Canada?) and decide if I'm healthy enough to be a resident. After that, he says, I go to a different Bureau of Immigration Office that's a 'One Stop Shop' for all your immigration needs.
We go to the Quarantine Office, the representative looks at my chest x-ray, looks through all my various pages of all the medical tests I did, and after stamping with another 'official seal' directs me to the payment desk. I pay the fee and then get directed to a back room for my physical. My physical consisted of only checking my blood pressure. I knew I passed this part successfully when I noticed one of the employees was stamping my passport 'APPROVED' even BEFORE my physical had completed. Thank you, I am healthy, now back to the 'One Stop Shop'.
Chaos. It's a good word and it's an awesome word to describe the 'One Stop Shop'. We walk in and the office is jam packed with people. I have in my hand my approved medical paperwork and an application for my ACR Card. But there's no clear direction about who I show this to. I see a finger printing station, I see a photo taking station, I see some fee payment booths and other booths listing off services I've never heard of. There's no aircon and it's bloody hot (this is the Philippines after all). We ask the guard at the door where I start and he points in some odd direction that doesn't seem to represent any where in the office. So I go stand in line in front of one of the ambiguous booths because it looked like he was pointing in that direction. He wasn't so that was wasted time. Finally after various bad decisions and incorrect line ups we spoke to some low level employee - for his privacy let's call him Pinoyboy. We asked him, "Where do we start the process for the ACR Card?". "You start with me" (please keep in mind that most conversations were in Tagalog between Aimee and the representatives). We (Aimee) asked him how long it takes to get the ACR Card once the application is completed. "6 weeks", he says. "6 weeks?", Aimee says, "Is there anyway to speed up the process?" (We had a trip planned to go to Hong Kong in two weeks and without that ACR Card I'm not allowed to leave the country). Pinoyboy replies, "Oh, there are ways ... for say, 2000 pesos". This isn't like asking the Canadian Passport Office for speed service to get your passport faster. This is quite ... different. Pinoyboy is some low level employee so Aimee and I were a little nervous about getting 'speed service' from him. We talked it over, weighed the options, thought about the 'service charge' price which is really only $45 Canadian and said, "yes, but we want to stay with you every step of the way". He paused, then put on a smile and said, "Ok". He took my finger prints, got me to sign some forms, and as we followed him around the office, around another office down the street, and back to the original office, I noticed him whispering to various other employees who were obviously part of this 'service charge speed service'. I started to wonder if I was witnessing a group of rogue Immigration Office Employees who share the money or if the 'service charges' are encouraged by the government to fund the services. It's hard to say of course, but all I know is our Pinoyboy and his friends fulfilled their agreement: a week later I received my ACR Card. The card is professional and it's real. I really hate the photo they took of me but at least now I can leave the country if I need to.
Oh, did you happen to notice I never had an "Official Interview" ... the application form did lie. :)
ARC Card: Done
Next stop: a Philippines Driver's License
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4 comments:
hahaha.... I can only imagine the chaos, but having seen some of it first hand I know you're not exaggerating. :)
You probably don't like your ACR photo because you were pretty stressed out by the time they snapped it.
Oh, I liked the original photo. It's just when they scanned it onto the card they squished my face and there's a very unattractive scan line through my head. :)
Oh man, what a civilized country, In Slovakia they would make you wait outside a room while they exit through another door, with your speedy payment in the hip pocket of their neatly pressed chinos. Then you would wait the usual 3 months for whatever rinkydink document you require. But now that we are in the EU, it just costs a bit more!
...as for the scan line through your head, I thought you've always had that??? ;P
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