How I Passed Through Philippine Immigration as a Freelancer AND Solo Female Traveler
The 5 main steps to get through Philippine immigration control.
By: Grey Belle
I was trembling with fear and so was the guy in the next counter.
Just like you, I did my research and I was worried after stumbling upon several horrifying stories told by other people about being offloaded at NAIA airport. It is not difficult to find such testimonials online.
I am a freelancer without a company ID or an ITR to present. My solo flight to Bangkok was five days before my 25th birthday and I was scheduled to return after a seven-day stay there.
It was my first time to fly out ALONE as I was trying to go outside my comfort zone. Please note, though, that it was NOT my first time to get my passport stamped. Two years earlier my Bangkok trip, I travelled abroad for the first time and I was with my family. Click here to read about My Family's Time in Brunei For A Month.
Mind you, all the preparations I did for my trip were tremendous. It's ridiculous to worry like how I did because my trip was legitimate. Can you just imagine? I carried with me 21 pages total of print-outs but only one print-out was asked by the immigration officer. In any case, it's better to be safe than sorry. Here are five things that I did before the trip:
1. Research, research, research. I might have read every single blog about flying out from Manila as a freelancer, however, it was not that easy to find some suggestions for freelancer AND solo female travelers. So, if you are reading this article, I hope you will find this helpful.
2. Print out your flight tickets. This is one of the very basics. The immigration officer (IO) firstly asked if I was traveling alone. I did a lot of practice as to what answer will I give to this question. "Yes, it's a birthday gift for myself, " "I want to do some soul-searching for my birthday, " and the list goes on. However, during the actual interview, what came out of my mouth was simply "Opo." Few seconds later, she asked for my flight ticket. I was too nervous, I gave her my hotel print-out. Lesson: just relax.
3. Have your hotel reservation ready. My accommodation was booked around three weeks before my scheduled flight. The IO didn't ask for it but like I said, I mistakenly showed it to her because of my anxiety. Nevertheless, just prepare this document just in case you'll be needing it.
4. Letters read and signed by my clients. This was very tedious as I had to carefully explain the situation to each of my clients. I found it very uncomfortable because after the long explanation, I had to ask them to sign the letter. Everybody knows how personal of an information a signature is, right?
I constructed the letters by myself and it went on like this:
To Whom It May Concern:
I, [client's name], a [nationality] national and of legal age, certify that I have been [nature of work] with [freelancer's name]. [Detailed information about the work]
Should you have questions regarding this, please do not hesitate to reach me via email at [client's email address].
Sincerely yours,
[client's signature above printed name]
Sample body of the letter:
I, Johnny Johnson, an American national and of legal age, certify that I have been getting help with my Math homework and projects from Juan dela Cruz. I hired him for a period of one semester at $30 paid monthly through PayPal.
5. PayPal transactions printed out. I receive payments from clients through PayPal. Yes, this is another private information but I just really had to prepare for the worst. I printed out payment transactions for the period of three months before my trip. Please note that the buyers' name/s on your PayPal document must coincide with the clients' name/s on the signed letters from Item 4.
As I mentioned, I printed out several documents but the IO asked for only one of them. I was a little disappointed but I couldn't be happier that I got through her just after around five minutes.
Oh also, another tip I found online that I kept in mind was this: when you're choosing where to queue, be observant of how the immigration officers work. If the IO's queue is moving quite slow, chances are that IO is being strict or meticulous, which means higher chances of being offloaded. Prefer one that lets people pass through rather quickly. In my experience, there were three officers without any queue at all. They were located at the left most though so maybe other passengers didn't notice them. In the end, I decided not to spend longer time in choosing where to queue (as it could also be a little suspicious of me) so I just thought "Okay, I have everything ready. Ikaw na ang bahala, Lord."