Should I worry about the 6 months exit clearance?

    Is it better to leave in 5 months and come back so that I won't need to do the exit clearance?
Can someone explain how it works?
   

    -@rlfletcher60

Welcome to the forum, enjoy.

My last ECC was a year ago after near 3 years here so I had to leave on a visitor visa and start again.

Immi was easy aside from the ink from the finger prints, a half hour visit secured my ECC as well as 500 Pesos, simple and from memory valid for 30 days.

While I don't know your visa status, as a visitor it's simple and not complicated nor expensive.

Good luck and ask away if not sure.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

Don't you think ACC is mostly abou $$? But it's no

big deal?

Rick

@bigpearl

This is my second visit here. I shear a condo  with

my Filipina girlfriend. I want to eventually get a 3 Year visa. But I am nervous about the departure.

My last visit I did leave in five months And return in two days. Oh yes, There is deal that stupid throw away ticket. How do you deal with that?

Just by the cheapest ticket you can?

    @bigpearl
Don't you think ACC is mostly abou $$? But it's no
big deal?
Rick
   

    -@rlfletcher60

A little different your reply but reading through the lines?

Scenario: Being here for 35 months I secured an ECC for less than US 10 bucks, we spent a week in Singapore on an overdue holiday and in 35 months will repeat the process. A throw away ticket every three years, 50 bucks, the flight to wherever you are headed is the cost, do that every 5 months and you are going backwards if you are happy to be here in the Philippines.

I paid no departure tax but my better half a PH. national had to pay departure tax, go work that out.

No big deal for me, very simple and inexpensive.

Cheers, Steve.

Rick, as a US national you can arrive on a 30 day visitor visa as long as you have a valid exit ticket. Can stay for 36 months. You as you probably well know the 1, 2, 6 month visits to immigration to extend your visa, throw away ticket aside, that is the law here and While I won't get into my durations of exit tickets whether 1 or 6 months out have never had a problem getting on a plane. I have never had immi here ask for my exit ticket extending my visa nor at arrivals in the Philippines. I have been knocking around here for 13 odd years and never had an issue with immi nor airlines as I always have an exit flight.

My last exit flight back to Australia 4 years ago was cancelled because of Covid and after 2/3 months the money was refunded to my Amex. lived here happily for 3 years then left/returned with a 50 buck throw away ticket, think about it, 50 bucks over 3 years is a measly pittance per day, pennies.

You know the answer as you flew out and returned 2 days later so you must have had an exit flight or not allowed to board. You have a problem paying a 500 peso ECC?

All else is flexible.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

        @bigpearlDon't you think ACC is mostly abou $$? But it's nobig deal? Rick        -@rlfletcher60

A little different your reply but reading through the lines?

Scenario: Being here for 35 months I secured an ECC for less than US 10 bucks, we spent a week in Singapore on an overdue holiday and in 35 months will repeat the process. A throw away ticket every three years, 50 bucks, the flight to wherever you are headed is the cost, do that every 5 months and you are going backwards if you are happy to be here in the Philippines.
I paid no departure tax but my better half a PH. national had to pay departure tax, go work that out.

No big deal for me, very simple and inexpensive.

Cheers, Steve.
    Ñ
    -@bigpearl

The time and money situation may be different for expats in the provinces. In my case (Dumaguete), if I needed an ECC I would have to get a hotel room In Cebu, apply for ECC at BI, receive the ECC in another day, about 7 days before departing at Mactan. So it is mostly hotel room, meals and wasted time at a hotel. I have no experience with ECC since I do not need one with an SRRV.

Sad you need to travel Dan if you needed to, here in our backwater province as some say, 5 hours north from Manila, 6 hours on a busy day. I am blessed with a 40 minute drive south, my only ever ECC took 30 minutes, pic/fingerprints/ paperwork and 500 pesos walked out with ECC in hand and went shopping then home.

Not sure but don't you have an immi satalite office in Duma?

My next big trip will be to renew my passport at the Oz embassy in Manila later this year, not excited about that but has to be done. A mini holiday and headache.

Cheers, Steve.

It is a pain for expats in Dumaguete who are here on tourist visas (i.e. most of them). They need to travel to Cebu perhaps a week or 10 days earlier than departure time. There is a BI office here but it will not handle ECC, unfortunately. Not so with us. In our case, we have never obtained an ECC because SRRV permits free travel in and out of the country without one, which is a real advantage. The SRRV attempts to ensure you never have to work directly with BI and actually, in our case we never did have to enter a BI office for anything, even during the application process. Another permanent visa, 13A, is almost as good as SRRV because with that visa, you just do your ECC at the airport on the day of departure. Well, when you visit the Australian Embassy you should have that good feeling of visiting home once again (because you are). I enjoy visiting the US Embassy even though many of the people working there are foreigners (Filipinos). They have embassy souvenirs on sale like US Embassy polo shirts with the USA Great Seal making you immensely popular with nationalists you encounter lol. Or FBI hats. But there is a lot of security bureaucracy before you can get in. I saw huge crowds of Philippine foreigners waiting in line to get in... Gosh I never knew that our much maligned and criticized Country was so popular here.

    @bigpearl
Don't you think ACC is mostly abou $$? But it's no
big deal?
Rick
   

    -@rlfletcher60

I think it is. I understand they have a 500 php express lane fee. If they took this seriously, they would just issue ECC's after their "investigations".  But charging an extra $10.00 just to make sure you get it in a reasonable time (you basically must spend the money no matter how crowded the office is) tells me it is primarily a money maker.

Sorry to hear that your satellite office doesn't offer the ECC for visitors there Dan, even our little office seems to do everything aside from 6 month extensions. Manila or Cebu only apparently.

I'm definitely not  looking forward to a visit in Manila and the Oz embassy and the last thing I'll be looking for will be memorabilia, just a new passport, my 5th and dearly hope I have to suffer getting a 6th in 10 years after that.

I also have to stop driving on an Oz license, man up Steve and go to the LTO, stop breaking the 90 day rule.

Cheers, Steve.

        @bigpearlDon't you think ACC is mostly abou $$? But it's nobig deal? Rick        -@rlfletcher60

I think it is. I understand they have a 500 php express lane fee. If they took this seriously, they would just issue ECC's after their "investigations".  But charging an extra $10.00 just to make sure you get it in a reasonable time (you basically must spend the money no matter how crowded the office is) tells me it is primarily a money maker.
   

    -@danfinn

Yes Dan the 500 pesos is the express lane fee, no other charges for the ECC in our local office.

Cheers, Steve.

I have been weighing my options for moving to the area south of Dumagete or south of Cebu City.  The BI office in Cebu certainly makes a guy think twice about choosing Dumagete.  It really is too bad that the office is not the same as Cebu. 

I am leaving just 5 days short of six months.... am I correct to understand I will not need an exit certificate as I am less than a full six months?

Thanks,

Donald

If 5 days under the 6 month ECC period you should be fine Don. As for immi offices I struck gold here in SFC La union and generally I'm the only one there, in and out in under 10 minutes,,,,,,,,, unless their computers go down, happened only once in 5 years. If unsure ask PBI.on FB.

Cheers, Steve.

@AlbertaDonuts

If you leave the philippines in less then 6 months.

It is much easier.  Plus you save the exit fee.

LOL. My exit fee, ECC was 500 pesos @ 35 months stay or 3 US buck a year,,,,,, money making? I doubt it just complying with the laws.

Consider leaving prior to 6 months and saving 500 pesos for an ECC and weigh up the flight and accommodation costs every 6 months, a no brainer for me over a whole10 bucks, stay as long as your visa allows then exit.

Or like many get an SRRV, golly all over a 10 buck ECC fee? We spend that every second day going out for a meal, probably more.

I don't even have a problem spending P 22K a year to extend my visitor visa.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

@AlbertaDonuts

Don't quote me on this, as I haven't checked. But I wouldn't be surprised if you got your ECC within minutes at our favorite Immi office.

@Larry Fisher

For this trip I just happen to be gone 5 days short of 6 months so that will save me the trip to the bi office o e more time.

I was in the Philippines almost 2 1/2 years and exited without an ECC or without paying any sort of exit fee. I have the SRRV expanded courtesy visa so I know the ECC wasn't required but even Mary Rose said I would have to pay something like P1,600 upon exit. I'm curious if this is policy or was the payment overlooked?

At which point in the exit process are you asked for money?

Moondog, Sounds like she was thinking of the Filipino travel tax, which is 1600, levied any time they leave.

@pnwcyclist

Probably, but I didn't have to pay anything.

Do you think I was supposed to pay but it was overlooked somehow? To whom would I have paid it?

No, not since you have an SRRV.  Believe me, they would have stopped you at Immi on the way out if you needed to.

Sorry, hit the button twice lol

@Moon Dog

Thats the travel tax at the airport.  As the pandemic was ending,  I was heading to Singapore to restart my visa.  I went directly to the Cebu pacific counter to check in for my flight,  she checked me in, had my boarding pass ready to hand it to me,  when I opened my big mouth,  said it was so great to be able to travel after being lockdown here.  She pulled back the boarding pass,  said,  did you pay your travel tax?  I had to go pay,  got my receipt,  and never had to show it to anyone,  including her afterwards.  So it apparently is hit or miss.

@blacksheepjuno

Thanks for that info. Where did you go to pay it?

I had a bit of a conversation with the lady who stamped my passport. She looked over the SRRV page and asked me for my SRRV ID card. Maybe she was the one to check for the payment receipt and forgot?

Hey guys. I've done my 1st 2 international trips since arriving during the pandemic (long story) in the past couple of months and received my ECC for each trip online at the BI website. I asked after the 1st trip if I needed a new one for the 2nd trip (a month later) and was told that they are single-use and I needed a new one for each trip, but the express lane fee was waived for the 2nd one. They claim that it can take 3 days for processing but in both cases, it was issued almost immediately. I'm on a 13a permanent resident visa, so I don't know if that makes a difference. Cheers -- Rich

@rcvining

Why would you need another ECC for a trip one month after the first? It is only required after 6 months in the country. Maybe I didn't understand your comment, if so I apologize.

@pnwcyclist That's what I thought, but to avoid any hassles at the airport I asked via their chatline and was told I needed one. I guess it's just another case of nobody really knowing what the rules are. Welcome to the Philippines!

Haha so true. I paid the travel tax myself once by mistake. They will always take your money in my experience.

@pnwcyclist At least it's not big money.

@Moon Dog

There is a counter right at the airport.  They will gladly direct you to it,  lol.  Don’t know if there’s any place else to pay it in advance, if you were so inclined.