Making Manila travel plans to be with wife during interview

[scott300hp 0]

Ok, here's my situation. For starters, I'm going to Manila. I can only stay in the Philippines for 21 days on just my passport. The thing is, although we are anticipating zero problems of being approved, you never know and we may be waiting for delivery of the visa beyond those 21 days. I know I can get a visa (I've done it before), but if I obtained one here in the states before going you need to show proof of a return ticket to the United States or an onward ticket to another country. My problem is that I have no idea when my return date will be since we don't know the exact date of receiving the visa. And even if I did know a date and booked it, it would be very hard to get my wife's return ticket with the exact same itenerary and flights as mine. And of course, us traveling back together is VERY important....especially since she has no experience with international flying. Also, because I have to have a return ticket to the States or an onward ticket to another country just to travel with my passport, I can forget about a one way ticket. If I could get a one way ticket, then I could get my visa (extension) when I got to Manila and then when she got her visa, buy our return tickets together. I feel like there is probably a simple solution I'm overlooking but right now I'm totally stumped. Any suggestions or comments would be great. Thanks so much for all your help.

[rnlen 0]

hello,this is rnlen13inasia's fiance speaking.:-) i'm in the same situation as you.i dont know if this will help,but this is what i'm gonna do.my fiance has her interview date at the u.s. embassy in the PI on may11. i spoke to my travel agent that i've known for a long time now,and what we're gonna do is schedule my flight to the PI on may 8-may31. as soon as she gets approved from the interview,i made arrangements with my travel agent,that all i have to do is call her and she'll instantly try to match her flight to my flight on may 31st,then all i have to do is verbally give her my credit card number.the only reason why i'm doing this is because i've been purchasing tickets from her for awhile now,and i pretty much trust her. if ever she has a hard time doing this,i was informed that there isnt an extra fee to reschedule your flight back as long as it doesnt exceed a 2 month period.so if ever,i think it'll be easier for her to match another flight home that has an available seat for my fiance also on the same day.umm..you could also purchase the airplane ticket for your fiance in the PI,but i chose to do it through my travel agent since i trust her and have been purchasing my tickets in the past in her office.i heard its also more expensive if you buy her ticket in the PI for some reason.hope this helps,and good luck!

p.s. if you exceed the 21 day tourist visa,i know you could easily extend your stay for a fee.dont know how much though.but last time i wasnt aware of this 21 day period...what happened was that i had to pay an express extension fee at the manila airport!i think it was at least $50?luckily i had some cash on me,because they didnt accept credit cards or checks.

[swellington 0]

what i had planned to do before i was put on AR .....I bought my ticket with open return(no extra cost) then i would have just called my agent and said give me a return date and 1 way ticket for my fiance same itinerary, now the downside to this is sometimes it can take 2 weeks to get a open date for return if season is busy. as in my case i had already extended my visa twice and was gonna expire again and we were put on AR, so i abandoned that plan and returned alone march 6th ...so of course she recieved her Visa 11 days later.

[one_coolchiq 0]

Hi my fiance went with me for the interview before and only have 2 weeks vacation from work he got his ticket from his travel agent here a 2-way ticket bec. we're not sure if i can have my visa to be able to fly back to the US together. So what happened was we went for my interview July 19,05 and we heard that if you live in MetroManila it will only take 3-7days for delivery of visa but would take longer if you live in other parts of the country. So anyway my visa came that saturday only 4 days and my fiance called his parents to arranged for my ticket same day as my fiance schedule but then we had probs bec. my fiance has to stop over by Vancouver and they said i will need a transit visa so he cancelled his ticket and paid the fine ofcourse but he was able to get another Manila-Los Angeles-Denver Co. btw it's cheaper if your going to buy the ticket here in the US. Goodluck!