Visa Application @ Royal Thai Embassy Manila

[thanchart]

Almost done with the below Visa Applications. Only thing left is the Collection (3 working days). Visas applied for:

Applicant #1:

Nationality: Singapore (Philippines PR)

Visa: Non-Immigration O - B Visa

Cost: See Later

Applicant #2: (Wife)

Nationality: Philippines

Visa: Non-Immigration O - Dependents Visa

Cost: 2900 pesos

Applicant #3 (Baby)

Nationality: Philippines

Visa: Non-Immigration O - Dependents Visa

Cost: 2900 pesos

Below are my experiences and thoughts after going through the process at this Embassy

• this seems to be a no-nonsense office which goes by the book. While the staff are polite enough, they do no tell u much unless u know what to ask. They could have save me 1 trip but well....
• Altogether I will make 4 trips to this office when 2 could have done it (if I had known the requirements)
• 1st extra trip was my choice - just a recce trip to ask questions.

Trip #1 - 3 Oct

Was here to make some inquiries (extra trip - not needed). Guy who attended to me is a Thai who refused to speak Thai with me so I switch back to English. Briefly explained to me the process but have no written documentation to give me, and seem to expect me to remember or take notes (very Filipino style - save on Paper)

• Advised me to apply for Non Immigration O - B visa for myself and Non Immigration O -Dependents visa for my wife and baby,
• Ponted me to the cost of different visas printed on a piece of paper stucked to the counter and had no printout to give me,
• Advised me to apply all 3 visas jointly so as to be smoother and expedient
• Advised me to request my Thai employer company for the supporting docs and also to add my wife and bbaby's names into the letter of request for my Visa and dependents visas for them (good advice)

What he did not tell me was that application is only accepted in the morning even though I was there after lunch that day.

Trip #2 - 11 Oct

My docs arrived from Thailand and reached Philippines on Friday 7 Oct but I did not receive them till Monday 10 Oct cos Philippines Post did not have deliveries on Saturday (unlike the other forwarders).

Arrived at Embassy after lunch only to be told that applications accepted only in the mornin (9.30 to 12) and Collection in the afternoon (3-5). No one had mentioned that and was told it was written on a piece of paper (not at all prominent) om the Notice board outside. How many people would go read this small pice of paper? I did not. Had to come back again.

At least the Filipina lady who attended to my wife and I offered to check through our documents to make sure all is well. OK we will be back the next day.

Disappointment at/with BDO Bank

• We had opened a BDO bANK Remittance Account so that we can remit money back to our account if desired and it comes with a ATM-cum-MasterCard Debit card. Sounds good so that we can still tap on the funds we remit to Philippines if we have to. However my efforts to pay for my Cebu Pacific air tickets was declined despite there being more than enough balance in the account. I had to opt to go to a BDO branch to pay for the tickets and was given till 2359 hrs that night to confirm the tickets. Had to make sure I pay up as prices are going up by the day
• Was told by BDO Legaspi Branch that their Debit card is not accepted by the Cebu Pac booking sysem but this was not stated anywhere by the bank or the airline! How can this be?
• Worse, when I tried to use the ATM card to get cash, the 1st effort was not successful and was told by the machine to try again- said transaction was not processed.
• At the 2nd try, no cash came out and no error message! I immediately went to inform the Customer service and they confirmed that money had be deducted!
• The Custoemr Service Manager tried to help by calling to the Customer Hotline.so that I can register my complain.
• The monent I heard the other end, my heart dropped; Oh no, I am speaking to a Call Center agent. Typically this is a waste of time as the Call Center will take ages to resolve your problem. They do not even hve direct contact with the customer they are serving - BDO bank in thiscase and communuication is by email only. There exist a big abuse of Call centers in this country; their main role is to get scolded by angry customers.
• when this agent listened to my complain and the situation I faced - had to pay for the air tickets by 7pm 11 Oct when the bank closes or I will lose my booking and I have to fly Saturday, he said sorry it will take 3-5 days to get the money credited back into my account. Refused to explore other means - this is the standard policy, he said. I asked to speak to his manager - got to the supervisor and got the same attitude. This time I got angry and demanded that if they can deduct my money by mistake/machine fault instantly, they can also give me back my money by the end of the day, She promised to contact the Bank ATM Center and call me back immediately. Knowing the system here I chose not to wait.
• I spoke to the Branch's Customer Service Manager again and ask her to do whatever it takes to give me back my money or I will ask the bank to pay for the difference in ticket prices if I have to book again or pay for new tickets if I had to use a different airline. She called up the Bank HQ and got clearance to offline the ATM and do a physical count of the cash inside. It was confirmed that there had been an error by the machine and it did not managed to dispense the cash after debiting my account. Reason given by ATM Center was electrical fluctuation had caused the error. 3 hours had passed
• Guess what? The bank was still not able to give me the money as the Call Center still had not sent the email to register my compain!
• Anotehr 2 hours before the Bank HQ got tht email And that promised call by the Supervisor never came, as expected.
• Finally got the money and paid for the tickets.
• Stuck in a bank for > 5 hrs with a baby running a round and trying to clear the flyers rack of its contents --- hmm maybe I should have just let him do it.

NICE PART about the above was that the Customer Service Manager and her staff was really professional and went out f their way to do the unorthodox, Must be the 1st time they had to do this. I went back to the bank today to tell the Bank Mgr I will bew riting a letter of commendation for the CSM and also to lodge my absolute dissatisfaction with whichever Call Center the Bank was using, Their attitude (those who talked to me at least) SUCKED BIG TIME. Cannot tell the difference between a realo emergency and normal complains and hid behind the policy manual.

Morale of the story here.

In the Philippines,

• know yr rights.
• Policies are made by people and people can make decisions to overide them in certain circumstances
• Dun give up - those who are supposed to help u often give up way before tjhey even try
• Call Centers? we all know they are usually a waste of time. Many cases to prove it.
• Dun wait for them. Help will be slow or never come.

Trip #3 - 12 Oct

Arrived in the morning to file the applications.

Surprise #1

was told my application for Non O - B would be FREE (is tht the sme for otehr embassies?

My wife and son paid 2900 pesos each, The embassy had send me a list of requirements and it was 2800 pesos in that doc. Seems it went up 1st Oct and they have yet to update the docs they are sending out?

Surprise #2

After checking the copy of the NSO (National Statistics Office) Marriage certificate and my baby's NSO Birth Certificate, they retained the photocopies and returned the originals . This is how it should be but in Philippines the other govt departments WILL retain the originals and not accept copies . These certs cost 140 pesos a piece and jack up yr application cost of anything you are applying for. Worse one has to spend horus making the trip and queuing up for these certs, taking many hours - even almost the whole day. To have them delivered to you by Post would be 330p and 3 working days. If u need a doc urgently and have no more NSO original copies, good luck

My conclusion is that this is a money collecting scheme by the Govt - one department collecting money for printing the cetts and other depts collect the certs so that u need to pay for more certs when u apply for something else again. I can hardly imagine the waste of resources/time the country is throwing away on a daily basis

Trip #4 (to be updated) - 14 Oct

to go back again between 3-5pm to collect passports wth visas

Observation:

There was an American asking about requirements for Non-Immigration O - B Visa. He was told he needs Police Clearance (an NBI clearance cert - think its 430+ pesos if personal appreance). He has been in Phil for 2 years. Why do I not need this clearance? Does being from Singapore make a difference? Or a PR?

Attached are requirements info and application form

visa applct form001.pdf

Visa Regulations and Requirements.pdf

Edited October 12, 2011 by thanchart

[thanchart]

Update: Collected our Passports at 4pm today with the Visas stamped. No queue - same as during application time so it was easy.

Remember that the Thai Consular Officer who had attended to me the 1st time I came to inquire and was not very forthcoming with information and did not want to speak Thai? Today he decided to attend to me personalty and took over from the Filipina attending to us, , He was really nice and friendly this time and we spoke in Thai 555. He even talked with my wife (in English) and we talked about whats happening now in Thailand, esp the floods.

He asked if the area that I will be in is floooded and asked me to take care.

Explained to me the validity duraion of our visas and remininded me to ask the company to apply for my work permit and aslo match the Dependents Visas. He also advised me about my 2 older step-kids (left in Philippines for the moment with the parents of their late biological father cos of schooling They are attending the schoi where Grandma is the Vice-Principal and I know they are in good hands)

So it was a good day today at the embassy.

[Aquarius83]

I need to apply Non Immigrant ED visa and i really would like to visit Philippines and get the visa from Manila's embassy.

I should get all the necessary documents from the Thai Language school where i study, but i'm still thinking that

is it a bit of a risk to apply the visa from Manila's embassy since feels like so many has had bad experiences from there...