Hi there,
It’s looking like I will need to make a visa run to the Philippines. I was wondering if someone might be able to tell me where I would need to go to get a visitors visa when in Manila? Also, if anyone has any experience with getting a visa in the Philippines…difficult/how long does it take etc?
Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines
41F, Tower 1, RCBC Plaza,
6819 Ayala Avenue, Makati City
1200 Metro Manila
Philippines
Phone: +63-2-8876688
Fax: +63-2-8877679
E-mail: phl@mofa.gov.tw
Website: www.taiwanembassy.org/ph
My experience, long ago … difficult, and 2-3 days … because the Philippines is one of the busiest visa issuing offices …
I said long ago, can be different now …
agreed with Belgian Pie re: being difficult.
They don’t give out visitor visas at all, until I made a big stink about it, as the office in Taipei told me that I could get one there. The woman behind the counter kept saying that this isn’t Taipei, and that the decision of that office is that no one gets visitor visas.
They had me have an “interview” with the manager of the place, and after about an hour of trying to explain my plans (which were to get a visitor visa and then go back to Taiwan to decide what language school I wanted to attend), she said if I get a letter from a Taiwanese friend stating that I am visiting them that she will give me a visitor visa.
She assured me that I could transfer it to a student visa when I got back.
Getting this letter took a day, so I had to return the next day as they were closing. I paid extra for same day visa processing.
Boy was I in for a shock when I tried to convert that visitor visa to a student one 2 weeks later in Taipei.
Stay away from the Philipines if you can avoid it. And the best part of it is that when you end up getting wrong info from one department, the other department won’t accept what their own government officials told you 2 minutes ago. Every office feels free to set their own rules.
Same here, made some noise (big stink as you said), than I asked to discuss the matter with the deputy director, anyways I got one … because I told him I was visiting my then girlfriend and were going to marry soon …
And I went back one more time, some diving, 5 weeks instructor course on Boracay, but now I went straight to the deputy director and had no problem getting one … but he said that next time we met I had to be married … 