My NAIA Terminal 3 Immigration Experience: Part Two

This is part two of my NAIA Terminal 3 Immigration Experience. You can view part 1 here.

After I handed out the form I filled in, here’s what happened:

IO: San ka pupunta?
Me: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam po. Then Siem Reap, Bangkok, balik ng Phnom Penh, then Ho Chi Minh, tapos uwi dito.
IO: Ba’t mag-isa ka lang? Wala ka bang kasama?
Me: Busy po kasi eh. My siblings are in school and my parents have work.
IO: Patingin ng mga documents mo.

I gave her all. She looked at it one by one.

IO: Bakit Vietnam? Di Hong Kong or Singapore?
Me: Actually, naubos po kasi yung promo seats. But it’s okay naman po kasi makakatravel naman ako buy buses sa Cambodia and train for Thailand.
IO: Freelance writer ka? Pano yun? Paki explain nga. Pano yung sweldo?
Me: Yes po. I write for several online companies. Yung sweldo po via Paypal.
IO: Talaga?

I showed her my publishing contracts, Paypal statements, and bank statements.

IO: Anong gagawin mo sa Vietnam?
Me: Magtu-tour lang po.
IO: Baka maghahanap ng trabaho dun.
Me: Hindi po.
IO: Eh ano to?

She showed me the form where I filled up “Employment available in your country of destination (or something like this)”.

IO: Bakit “teacher”? Magtutro ka dun?
Me: No, hindi po talaga…
IO: So bakit nilagay mo to?
Me: I just follwed instructions… Sabi niyo ho kasi sagutan lahat.
IO: Oo nga, eh bakit “teacher”?
Me: Naisip ko lang po…
IO: Maghahanap ka talaga ng trabaho dun eh, noh?
Me: Hindi nga po. Sumusunod lang ako sa instructions…
IO: Miss, hindi ko kasalan kung yan ang sagot mo. Pwede kitang ioffload dahil diyan.
Me: No po, I’m not blaming you. Sinabi ko lang na I’m just following instructions. Eh yan yng naisip kong ilagay.
IO: Eh di sana N/A yung nilagay mo.
Me: Pero mag tu-tour lang po talaga ako…

I gave her my complete itinerary, hotel bookings, and budget proposal.

IO: San yung hotel booking mo for thailand?
Me: Ah, dun na po sana sako maghahanap kasi mas mura in person. Sa Khao San road.
IO: Parehas lang naman yun. Asan yung bag mo?
Me: Ayun po.
IO: Hindi ba pwedeng back pack?
Me: Mas convenient po saken yung trolley eh.
IO: Patingin nga ticket.

I gave her my ticket.

IO: 2012 mo pa pala to nabook?
Me: Opo, one year ko po tong pinagplanuhan.

She took some of my documents and went to the other room. I couldn’t explain how I felt. But somehow I believed I was going to be offloaded. Grabe yung gisa saken and
I told myself na okay lang… But no. I can’t afford to be offloaded. I had a trip to India to look forward to after a week!

The IO came back with photocopied docs of my original ones stapled on the form.

IO: Paki-explain nga ulit ng work mo.
Me: Eto po. [explained to her in details I forgot what about.]
IO: So makikita namin to sa website na to?
Me: Yes po.
IO: May camera ka?
Me: Eto po. [Took out my holga and trusted digicam]

She went back to the room for quite sometime. I was getting hopeless. It was nearly time for my flight but I was still sitting there, feeling oblivious. I was ready to text
my parents but the officer came back and gave me my form.

IO: Anong maganda sa vietnam?
Me: French Architecure. yun po talaga yung gusto kong makita.
IO: Maganda yung coffee sa vietnam. Export quality. Okay. Ibalik mo to dun sa kanya (referring to the male IO who interviewed me first). Okay ka na. Enjoy your flight.
Me: Wow! Thank you thank you po talaga!

I went back to the male IO checked, my form and then finally stamped my passport! I was super happy!They bade me a happy trip and I thanked them once again.

Green: PH Departure Stamp
Red: PH Arrival Stamp

In conclusion, I guess what saved me were the following:

• My detailed itinerary. Almost everyday I keep reading and revising it until I came up with something I’m confident to bring.
• Proof of Finances. It was tricky as I didn’t have a Certificate of Employment for my line of work. I also had a budget proposal with a one by one list of entrance fees, transportation,and food budget so it was very clear.
• Consistency and Composure. I guess, despite the big mistake, I didn’t really seemed to be pressured and tried to answer properly.
• Pure luck. This was on my side that night.

How was your Immigration experience?