Testing & quarantine for arriving passengers

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Thanks, JW. Does anyone know the statistics on arrival testing? What percent of passengers have tested positive?

Here in Canada the false positive rate is about 2%. Easy to get a second test here for verification if the first is positive. Have not heard how that is in other countries or how it is going for arrival testing in Philippines.

My mother-in-law is going Vancouver to Manila on 3rd of July so will report once I hear how everything goes for her.

Hopefully PAL will be successful having IATA agree to testing in home countries before departing for Philippines so there is no gamble on false positive on arrival.

Sorry. I said 2% false positives here in Canada. That should be 0.2%.  Sorry for the error.

Hi,
Any updates on this.
My travel agent says can book me Emirates flight London - Dubai-Manila-Davao (about 8 hours stop in Manila.

Is this possible to stay in airport and continue on to Davao. or still need to stay in Manila etc for quarantine for few days?

Hi, Andy. The good news is that they've just doubled the capacity of arrivals into Manlla to 1200 passengers daily. The bad news is that on arrival you will get a COVID nasal swab test and then need to quarantine in an approved hotel for 2-3 nights while waiting for the test results. The cost of the hotel, transportation, and the delivered meals is on the passenger.

My flight in from LAX last week on PAL was diverted to Cebu, and they would have flown me back to Manila free of charge. I got them to fly me to my actual destination, Cagayan de Oro, which is imposing a 14-day quarantine despite the negative test results I got in Cebu. Be sure to check on your final destination - they might not communicate with you directly until you arrive (that's what happened to me, but I had a heads-up from my brother-in-law so I wasn't totally shocked). Good luck.

Good luck bro

Thanks for feedback RC.
What papers did you have to get there?
Marriage certificate?
What kind of Visa do you have.

I have marriage certificate and birth certificate of daughter but i only get tourist visa when i arrive.

I am not worried about doing the quarantine but am concerned won't be let on plane or let in.

A friend of friend (!) was refused boarding on Emirates from Uk to Manila a few days ago, as they said he needed his wife with him. Yet they sold the ticket!

it seems still to be bit random.

Thanks Richard

Hi, Andy - some would say random, some would say constantly changing.

Yes, the rule as of last week is that only PI citizens and permanent residents are allowed into the country, or spouses traveling with PI citizens. I have a 13a permanent resident visa (married to a PI dual-citizen), but PAL still gave me a hard time both at check-in and at the gate. My wife was stuck in the Philippines so wasn't traveling with me.

They let me board because I had the 13a stamp in my passport, her birth certificate, her old PI passport, and the report of marriage. Immigration in Cebu didn't give me any trouble at all.

This is a good site to monitor - it's the list of proclamations of the Inter-Agency Task Force that is managing most regulations and restrictions: https://www.doh.gov.ph/COVID-19/IATF-Resolutions

I'm not a big facebook user, but there is one extremely helpful group dedicated exclusively to this topic. It's called "Filipinos Stranded Abroad". Plenty of firsthand accounts of returning Filipino/spouse/family.
Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot!

Appreciated

You said that spouses are aloud into Philippines. Me and my pinay are married since more than a year, but the marriage isn't registered in Philippines yet, due to the bureaucracy... So I'll bring my Swedish marriage certificate... will I be sent back?

Cathay Pacific cancelled our RT flight in early Aug from Anch to CEB.  I knew they probably would. We will now wait until January to come back. Have a house in Argao that we need to check on. Wife is a dual citizen however her Philippine passport expired.

Good question, Orjanf. Assuming your wife is traveling with you and the name on her passport matches the name on the marriage certificate, you "should" be ok.

They are starting to loosen travel restrictions - Filipinos can now travel internationally, with some restrictions.

It's a good idea to keep up on postings by the Department of Tourism: http://www.tourism.gov.ph/; and the IATF: https://www.doh.gov.ph/COVID-19/IATF-Resolutions

Good luck,
-- Rich

Because the narriagr certificate hasnt been registered in Philippines yet, the name in the passport lacks my sirname... - we got married after she got her passport... However, her old name is on the Swedish marriage certificate so it should work...

Orjanf - yes - you just need to be able to show her maiden name (Philippine passport) and your marriage certificate. You made need to make the case that you submitted the report of marriage request and it's been held up because of the shutdown. It would be better if your wife speaks with them. Since they aren't letting in "tourists" yet (soon), be ready to say that you will be applying for a permanent resident visa once all the paperwork can get processed (you will need the report of marriage as part of that, plus a lot of other things).

Andy777 wrote:

Thanks for feedback RC.
What papers did you have to get there?
Marriage certificate?
What kind of Visa do you have.

I have marriage certificate and birth certificate of daughter but i only get tourist visa when i arrive.

I am not worried about doing the quarantine but am concerned won't be let on plane or let in.

A friend of friend (!) was refused boarding on Emirates from Uk to Manila a few days ago, as they said he needed his wife with him. Yet they sold the ticket!

it seems still to be bit random.

This is bad news for me, despite having all papers with me (marriage certificate, passport copy) but travelling without my wife, I can't take the risk of being denied at boarding. Worst case scenario , do you get a refund or ecredit ?

Hi, Tom,

In normal times you should expect to pay a change fee to rebook your flight at a later date, but during this time I think all airlines have been waiving change fees and offering full credits or refunds in a case such as yours. But these policies are per airline, and some of them may be winding these policies down as travel starts to open back up. So, check with your airline. You should also try to contact the Philippines embassy or consulate that covers your area to see what they say about your status for flying and maybe even get a statement from them to use. Good luck. -- Rich

rcvining wrote:

Hi, Tom,

In normal times you should expect to pay a change fee to rebook your flight at a later date, but during this time I think all airlines have been waiving change fees and offering full credits or refunds in a case such as yours. But these policies are per airline, and some of them may be winding these policies down as travel starts to open back up. So, check with your airline. You should also try to contact the Philippines embassy or consulate that covers your area to see what they say about your status for flying and maybe even get a statement from them to use. Good luck. -- Rich

Thank you Rich.
I was thinking to do that but i've been hearing different answers. I guess your 13A helped you, but me as a tourist is a whole different story. I guess i will just wait until they open to tourists, since they plan to allow filipino tourists to leave by mid august, they may let foreign tourists let in as well.

They actually opened up external tourist travel for Filipinos this week, with some restrictions (such as no restrictions at the destination). And they are opening Terminal 3 at NAIA to international arrivals tomorrow, so they must have additional testing / quarantining capacity in Manila, or they are relaxing the requirements (I haven't heard which). That said, your patient approach is the practical one. I waited patiently for 6 weeks until I saw an opening, and I'm glad I got out of Palm Beach, Florida when I did.

One other thought - the Department of Foreign Affairs (embassies) and the Bureau of Immigration (border control) don't always have the same understanding of the rules. DFA swears that my wife is a dual citizen but BI hasn't recognized it.

"They actually opened up external tourist travel for Filipinos this week"

I am not sure what that means.  What exactly does external tourist travel for Filipinos mean.

It means that Filipinos can now leave the country for non-essential travel

rcvining wrote:

They actually opened up external tourist travel for Filipinos this week, with some restrictions (such as no restrictions at the destination). And they are opening Terminal 3 at NAIA to international arrivals tomorrow, so they must have additional testing / quarantining capacity in Manila, or they are relaxing the requirements (I haven't heard which). That said, your patient approach is the practical one. I waited patiently for 6 weeks until I saw an opening, and I'm glad I got out of Palm Beach, Florida when I did.

One other thought - the Department of Foreign Affairs (embassies) and the Bureau of Immigration (border control) don't always have the same understanding of the rules. DFA swears that my wife is a dual citizen but BI hasn't recognized it.

Regarding the lifting restriction on non essential , the presidential's spokesperson said " The lifting of the travel restrictions will take effect 15 days after the notice is published in the government's Official Gazette. Roque estimates it will be cleared by mid-August."  here is the full article https://www.rappler.com/nation/265909-p … -filipinos

I'm also supposed to take off from Florida, but it is a big mess right now with Delta, they have no flights available for August.

Something borders me right now, the memorandum of BI mentioned that it is possible to travel without the filipino national, but as you said they don't have the same understanding of the rules. here is the memo https://f.datasrvr.com/f1/320/30749/BI_ … h_2020.jpg