I've been watching the expat group for a while, and my first thought was to ask the experts! My wife and I want to stay in the Philippines past 30 days. We won't go beyond 59 days. We don't need an ACR. I applied for the visa waiver online, but it was rejected with "no travel record found." I completed the arrival registration, so this is strange. By the time our 30 days are up, we'll be in Cebu. I'd appreciate any advice on the best way to handle this. Should I deal with it at the airport and just pay the fine? Thank you all in advance!
Someone replied that you should put your first name and middle name together in the same field, and choose Visa Waiver as the application type. Another piece of advice was not to handle it at the airport, but to get the 29-day extension at the Bureau of Immigration before the 30 days run out. There was also an answer saying that if your wife is Filipino, you may be able to get a 1-year Balikbayan entry stamp.
Most people here have it about right: put both your first name and middle name in the Given names field and leave the Middle name field blank. In Filipino naming convention, the middle name is actually the mother's maiden surname, so it doesn't apply to us.
Last words on this post... I feel silly. I assumed wrong. I have the 1-year balikbayan visa, so I have no problem and everything is fine. Thank you all for teaching me, I really enjoyed it. If you ever see me giving advice here, call me out on it!
If it doesn't work online, there are 2-3 immigration offices in Cebu... I know it's a hassle.
Did you choose Visa Waiver or Visa Extension? To get the 29-day extension you have to choose Visa Waiver. I picked Visa Extension before and got that error message. When I switched to Visa Waiver, the error message went away.
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