March 23rd 2015 Davao city Day 6- Bureau of Immigration visa extension fiasco

The big fight being advertised on a billboard here in Davao.

Here is the dress code requirements for entering the Bureau of Immigration in Davao.

Here is Hans & Frans who are the security guards at the Bureau of Immigation. He saw me taking a picture of the dress code and said "How about you take a picture of us as well". I told them they are going to be famous now.

Here is the photocopy place that I was constantly running to. Came here 3 separate times in total today.

Here is the Biometric scanner that scans all your fingers for finger prints and is all stored on their data base.

Some days the Philippines just tests your patience and today was one of those days where my patience was wearing very thin. Because my visa extension is running out at the end of this month I thought I would go to the Bureau of Immigration on Friday and get another extension but when I got there one of the security guards was jumping up and down pointing at me and saying "Oh! Oh! unacceptable! UNACCEPTABLE!!" and I looked down and I only saw my passport in my hand and wondering what the hell he is talking about and then he points to a dress code policy sign on the door saying I can't wear my shorts or my muscle shirt. I am thinking "Great! I am here to give them their extortion money for a lousy visa extension and they want me to look PRESENTABLE when they take my money" so I tell them I will be back on Monday then. 


On Monday I walk to the Bureau of Immigration which is about a 30 minute walk from my hotel and I make sure to wear a long sleeve shirt and long pants this time. I sign in where the 2 security guards are and then go in and talk to a person about getting a visa extension and he hands me the forms and tells me I have to go a few buildings down and get 2 photocopies of my passport picture info and 2 photocopies of my stamped philippines page in my passport. Apparently their xerox machine is "OUT OF ORDER". I just rolled my eyes and said "OK so how much is this going to cost me?" and he looks over at another person and asks him in Tagalog (I mean why wouldn't he know how much it costs for a 2 month extension as this is his dept?) anyhow he gets his answer and looks over at me and says "It will cost 7600 pesos" and I say "Holy shit. That is a lot of money!" and begin filling out the paper work and I hear an american guy talking to him next and he says "I only want ONE MORE month of a visa extension" and I look over at him and say "You can ask for only one more month and don't have to go for 2 more months" and he says "Yes, I am only here for a few more weeks anyhow so it will be under 4000 pesos" and I say "Great because I have less than a month left here so will do the same" and so I take my stuff and head down to the photocopy business and get those things photocopied for 8 pesos and then return to him and tell him "I want only a one month extension to take me to May 1st as I am gone on April 28th" and he goes to talk to someone and then returns and says "Sorry, we can only do 2 months at a time" and I tell him the guy before me just got a one month extension and he tells me "But he just left and came back to the Philippines so it starts over again with the first extension in the Philippines is one month and then it goes to 2 months" then he says "I need 2 photos" and I say "Well you never told me that when I left and you just said 2 photocopies of each" so I head back to the photocopy place and get 2 pictures done for 50 pesos.


As I am sitting in the Photocopy place waiting for my pictures to be done I am thinking that the 7600 pesos is a complete rip off and have heard other online complain about it so maybe I should just leave the country for a day and return so I won't have to pay anymore visa fees that way I will accomplish 2 things 1) I get to stiff them on their ridiculous 7600 peso extortion fee and 2) I get to see another country for a few days so am able to spend that 7600 pesos instead of giving it away for free to them. Oh I like this idea a lot!! So instead of returning to the Bureau of Immigration I head back to my hotel and start checking Air Asia, Cebu Air lines, and Philippine Air lines for cheap fares out of the country but I see that all the international flights are all out of Manila or Cebu only and NOT Davao. It wasn't financially worth it to fly to Cebu to make it work.


So I head back to the Bureau of Immigration and this time there is a different guy working the desk as this is a few hours later and he asks me "How many months extension do you want?" and I tell him I would like only a one month extension because my flight is on April 28th and he asks if I have the airline ticket on me and I tell him I don't because I didn't think I needed it and he says if you go back and get your airline ticket proving you leave on April 28th you will only be charged 4000 pesos and I said I would head back and get it. 

I grab a taxi back to the hotel and have him wait as I run up and grab my airline ticket and then run down to the taxi and then back to the Bureau of Immigration. Of course now I have to go a few buildings down and have the airline ticket photocopied and they call me behind the plexiglass and I have all my fingers put on the biometric machine for scanning and now they have my finger prints in their data base. When you have biometrics in a 3rd world country like the Philippines that is when you know that the New World Order is already here. 

There was a lot of waiting to get all this done. Well probably a couple hours at least then I go up and it is 4400 pesos ($118 cdn) which is much better than the 7600 pesos ($205 cdn) originally so they didn't have to make me an ACR card but just put a sticker in my passport good until May 1st which was all I needed. As I get home I look at the processing bill where they break down all the bullshit fees like "Visa Sticker fee= 100 pesos" etc... and notice the total comes to 3400 pesos and the cashier asked for 4400 pesos but then I see another receipt that says "Express lane fee= 500 pesos & Express lane fee (Certification)= 500 pesos" so that is where the other 1000 pesos of BULLSHIT FEES went. They should have another fee called "I feel like taking more money fee=250 pesos". I figure it is roughly about $100 per month for just Philippine visa fees here. 

So I am going to book accommodation online for Samal tonight and head there tomorrow morning. I got some rough directions on what bus to catch to get to Samal from Davao. The Island City Express bus which takes you from Davao to Samal for 50 pesos is located at Magsaysay Park. Then my drop off point is central warehouse in Penaplata since I am going to Punta Del Sol Beach Resort. Then take a tricycle for 20-25 pesos to the resort. I might not be able to post on the blog over the next few days as I heard the internet is mostly down at this place so we shall see. After 2-3 days I will head back to Davao and go straight to the Ceres Bus terminal in the south and catch a bus to Cagayan De Oro which is in northern Mindanao.