Current travel requirements to Luzon?

[BadAmmoWitch 213]

Hello all. I've been out of the loop for a while with all this Covid ####### going on. What horrible timing for our K1 visa. NOA2 in June 2020.

 

Anyway, what are the current travel requirements to the Philippines? Do I need to be vaccinated? Show proof of a negative test? Quarantine when I get there? Can I fly into Clark Airport or do I have to arrive in Manila?

 

I'm starting to plan a trip in 2022, so I want to get a feel for these things. Thank you in advance for anyone that can help.

[flicks1998 1,044]

Before getting into all of the requirements, are you married to your spouse yet?

[BadAmmoWitch 213]

11 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

Before getting into all of the requirements, are you married to your spouse yet?

Thank you for your response. No, not married yet. We filed for K1 in 2019, which in hindsight was a bad decision.

[flicks1998 1,044]

41 minutes ago, BadAmmoWitch said:

Thank you for your response. No, not married yet. We filed for K1 in 2019, which in hindsight was a bad decision.

OK the only reason I asked that question is because you will need a visa to go back with the way things stand now.  They are only giving visas to foreigners who have a Filipino spouse or who have children.  There are a few other ways to get a visa such as investment etc but most on this board would be looking to go the spouse route.  Its possible these rules will change at some point in 2022, but nobody knows when that would be.

[BadAmmoWitch 213]

1 hour ago, flicks1998 said:

OK the only reason I asked that question is because you will need a visa to go back with the way things stand now.  They are only giving visas to foreigners who have a Filipino spouse or who have children.  There are a few other ways to get a visa such as investment etc but most on this board would be looking to go the spouse route.  Its possible these rules will change at some point in 2022, but nobody knows when that would be.

Really? So as it stands right now, I cannot visit the Philippines? Man these are crazy times.

[Puppythecat 89]

19 minutes ago, BadAmmoWitch said:

Really? So as it stands right now, I cannot visit the Philippines? Man these are crazy times.

The good news is it was sounding like Philippines was about to start opening back up to foreign tourism until people started freaking out over omicron.

 

More good news is if your NOA2 was in June 2020 you should hear something any day now from the embassy about a visa interview.  My NOA2 was in April 2020 and interview was in November 2021.

[BadAmmoWitch 213]

1 hour ago, Puppythecat said:

The good news is it was sounding like Philippines was about to start opening back up to foreign tourism until people started freaking out over omicron.

 

More good news is if your NOA2 was in June 2020 you should hear something any day now from the embassy about a visa interview.  My NOA2 was in April 2020 and interview was in November 2021.

Wow, this is a really great bit of information. I had almost given up hope on the K1. I won't get my hopes up, but I am encouraged. Thank you!

[BadAmmoWitch 213]

14 hours ago, Puppythecat said:

The good news is it was sounding like Philippines was about to start opening back up to foreign tourism until people started freaking out over omicron.

 

More good news is if your NOA2 was in June 2020 you should hear something any day now from the embassy about a visa interview.  My NOA2 was in April 2020 and interview was in November 2021.

Can I ask: how were you notified, email?

[RO_AH 1,662]

23 hours ago, BadAmmoWitch said:

Hello all. I've been out of the loop for a while with all this Covid ####### going on. What horrible timing for our K1 visa. NOA2 in June 2020.

 

Anyway, what are the current travel requirements to the Philippines? Do I need to be vaccinated? Show proof of a negative test? Quarantine when I get there? Can I fly into Clark Airport or do I have to arrive in Manila?

 

I'm starting to plan a trip in 2022, so I want to get a feel for these things. Thank you in advance for anyone that can help.

There are several posts here detailing the requirements which change almost weekly. My advice is to follow the Philippines Bureau of Immigration page on FB. It is always updated when new requirements come out and they also are very responsive to PM's

[Puppythecat 89]

6 hours ago, BadAmmoWitch said:

Can I ask: how were you notified, email?

Yes, we received an email back in I think September that basically said "don't try to contact us, we still have your submission, we will contact you when we're ready" then in November we got another email that gave my fiance her interview date only 2 weeks away, from there things moved pretty fast.  

[BadAmmoWitch 213]

34 minutes ago, Puppythecat said:

Yes, we received an email back in I think September that basically said "don't try to contact us, we still have your submission, we will contact you when we're ready" then in November we got another email that gave my fiance her interview date only 2 weeks away, from there things moved pretty fast.  

Thank you. I have received 2 emails of the first type you mentioned. I'll keep an eye out for the coveted second kind. I really appreciate the info.

[Puppythecat 89]

55 minutes ago, BadAmmoWitch said:

Thank you. I have received 2 emails of the first type you mentioned. I'll keep an eye out for the coveted second kind. I really appreciate the info.

Keep a couple thousand dollars set aside for the medical, interview fees, and plane ticket.  It will sneak up on you when you don't expect it!

 

Medical at St Luke's:  $335.00

Embassy application fee: $265.00

Airfare: I paid $900 which is cheaper than a normal year around Christmas time.  Maybe by February it will be back down around $600 but probably not 😕

Edited December 7, 2021 by Puppythecat

[BadAmmoWitch 213]

18 hours ago, Puppythecat said:

Keep a couple thousand dollars set aside for the medical, interview fees, and plane ticket.  It will sneak up on you when you don't expect it!

 

Medical at St Luke's:  $335.00

Embassy application fee: $265.00

Airfare: I paid $900 which is cheaper than a normal year around Christmas time.  Maybe by February it will be back down around $600 but probably not 😕

Good point. My bank account will certainly take some hits. I'm just really excited that there's actual, confirmed K1 activity (your case). We are hopeful that we're coming up soon. Thanks for all your responses and time.

[John & Rose 7,239]

I just returned from Manila.  I traveled with my wife so I didnt need a visa.  There are a lot of rumors of Manila opening up but there are so many caveats that I wouldn't count on it.  They are talking allowing fully vaccinated from Green Countries (US is YELLOW) but not much more.  They are also requiring a government issued and verifiable vaccine card proving vaccination.  The hand written CDC card does not meet that requirement.  I was treated as "unvaccinated/unverified" for my quarantine.  I had a full 7 days in a hotel in Manila.  Others with government issued cards had 3 or 5 days depending on where they were from.  They are trying to push for opening to the US but most people dont believe that will happen until after the election and if BBM/Duterte win they believe US tourists wont be welcome until mid 2023 at the earliest.  The US wont make the green list because they have high infection rates and no verifiable vaccination cards.  I was allowed to eat in restaurants with the CDC card though.  Without it, only drive thru and take out are available to unvaccinated citizens and visitors.  It wasn't bad there but different government agencies seemed to have different rules.  There is a lot of infighting between DOH, DOQ and IATF.

 

In typical Philippine style, places like China are on the green list because they don't track and update their infection rates so the US is getting screwed because they are tracking the virus.  If you read the green list you will see what I mean.  China also has A LOT of money invested in the Philippines.

 

Edited December 8, 2021 by John & Rose

[BadAmmoWitch 213]

4 hours ago, John & Rose said:

I just returned from Manila.  I traveled with my wife so I didnt need a visa.  There are a lot of rumors of Manila opening up but there are so many caveats that I wouldn't count on it.  They are talking allowing fully vaccinated from Green Countries (US is YELLOW) but not much more.  They are also requiring a government issued and verifiable vaccine card proving vaccination.  The hand written CDC card does not meet that requirement.  I was treated as "unvaccinated/unverified" for my quarantine.  I had a full 7 days in a hotel in Manila.  Others with government issued cards had 3 or 5 days depending on where they were from.  They are trying to push for opening to the US but most people dont believe that will happen until after the election and if BBM/Duterte win they believe US tourists wont be welcome until mid 2023 at the earliest.  The US wont make the green list because they have high infection rates and no verifiable vaccination cards.  I was allowed to eat in restaurants with the CDC card though.  Without it, only drive thru and take out are available to unvaccinated citizens and visitors.  It wasn't bad there but different government agencies seemed to have different rules.  There is a lot of infighting between DOH, DOQ and IATF.

 

In typical Philippine style, places like China are on the green list because they don't track and update their infection rates so the US is getting screwed because they are tracking the virus.  If you read the green list you will see what I mean.  China also has A LOT of money invested in the Philippines.

 

Great info, thank you very much for your response. If we don't hear anything on the K1 in the next couple months, I think we'll start looking into traveling to a 3rd country together.