I think it was without penalty if you do it within 30days after 'qurantine'... I made my last month and my visa was expired one month before that time... But since it was that 30days period... Was bit hassle here in Davao at least as you had to make reservation in order to do it, lol.. But yea was one of my quickest visit there after i made it since not many ppl obv.
They explained to some older 'americano' that you still need to pay for renewal... but the penalty was waived... Though i think the 30day period is over allready... But you can always try to explain that you were late because of the situation... But maybe have to pay penalties allready

I renewed on June 29th, my visa had expired on April 15th. They waived the late fine but it was still 7600 to get my visa extended to August 15th, here in AC. The office was not extending visas here until some time in June, maybe that is why they extended the fine waiving.

Looks like they allready lifted some travel restrictions... Though obv still not very wise to travel... As cases are rising(would not surprise me if it will get more stict... But obv very hard to make right decisions)... But i quess there is still change i can make my trip as planned.

Anyone staying in the Beacon in Makati? Looking for someone to throw the medicine ball around with outside. I have one if anyone is interested.

Source ?

Was one of those Tv announcement some spokeman said tourism is ok now... But should probably not listen filipino politicans... As it has been getting worse since then. And cebu pacifig allready cancelled my flight from Manila to Vietnam on september.., Probably will just stay in Davao and wait things to get better... I just wish they would lift liquor ban here allready.

Intuition was right, now hard lock down again in Manila and soon forced to wear the face shield thing together with mask in public. Very likely it's going to take at least a year for travelling to be anywhere near a true and comfortable opportunity.

Since it is beginning to look like I have to spend the rest of my life in this crap hole, is there any other way to get money into the Philippines, besides paying 15% at the ATM? I do not have any Philippine ID's or ACR card so I am not eligible for any Bank Accounts or Gcash.

Well there are western union and other similiar services like transwerwise(cheapest i have found but i use my Philipine bank account to get the money, though i think they have other options as well.)... Offcourse they cost some money to use... But way less than 15%(though i think even atms dont cost that much usually). And offcourse cryptos are very popular now.
Though if you gona spent rest of your life here, you should get ACR and able to open bank accout aswell.

My Bank recently teamed up with WU to provide a cheaper than normal transfer (5$ as opposed to the normal $15). I currently have a transaction in progress with WU that they claim normally takes 2-4 hours to process but it has been over a day already so I am not hopeful that it will go through.

I withdrew 5000 pesos from a ChinaBank ATM, I got the usual 250 peso atm fee from ChinaBank, plus the 5$ fee from my bank plus the exchange rate I got was 47.50, when google listed the exchange rate of around 50 pesos to one USD, that adds up to around 15%. Now granted, when I get money next time I will be withdrawing my max limit of $300 so my fees on that will be $22 for a 7% rate but that is still pretty harsh. Crypto? Does that even exist in AC? I have yet to see anything related to Crypto here. I would have to find someone to trade with and pay some sort of vig?

I went to every Bank branch in AC and not having an ACR is a non-starter. I was planning to only spend a month here, but it seems I may never be able to leave unless I bite the bullet and spend the $5000 to go home and waste 2 weeks in quarantine.

HSBC ATM doesn't charge you a fee, and you can withdrawal up to 40k pesos at a time. You can also sell bitcoin via localbitcoin.com.

Hsbc will charge 250 as well but he can get bigger amounts.

You can also check coins.ph & paymaya

Hi I have a Rebit account that could convert your BTC to PHP all you need is to send your bank details and BTC via Rebit. I can help you out and can live teamviewer me, I think this would be the best route for you

Anybody living in Cebu atm? or wants to set up a grindhouse in Cebu? I feel so bored grinding apps alone lmao

No HSBC ATMs in the Philippines do not charge a fee to withdrawal, just the standard exchange rate of around 2.5%. Your bank may charge a fee for using a foreign ATM.

Thanks for all the responses and help guys.

For closure sake, I wound up calling my bank in the futile hope they could see what was going on at Wu. The Helpdesk agent saw the same In Progress message I saw, but then called her manager over and he was able to see that money was ready for pickup with his privileges. Not sure what is going on at my bank but is time to change once Covid is over.

I picked up the cash. My bank stuck me for 180 pesos and WU took 220 pesos on the exchange good for 1.2% total in fees, not bad considering my bank would have dinged me for 2.5% at home for buying pesos. Makes me realize what a scam money changing is in North America when compared to Asia.

I have never seen an HSBC branch nor ATM in AC, but I will keep an eye out for them when ever I am out and about.

Well money changing has allways been tricky everywhere(and it usually cost something to buy foreigner currency). Here in Philippines Bank also scam you if you send money to your peso account as you usually get shitty rate when they convert it. WU used to be bad also... But yea they have been improving as they get more competition nowadays... Just have to be observant and see what rate they giving you and if they have other fees.

I"m going to go to Philipines in a few months..
sounds like a fun vacation.
I"m looking for another poker player to have fun with , go out to bars, meet locals, and study and grind poker with.

Pm me if interested.

about me i'm a 42, swm, 5'11, 240... easy going, funny, honest, have money saved.. etc

talk to me if u can give advice about where to go .. whats safe.. if u dont mind

Wouldnt count on country being entirely open again anytime soon

All depends on what you are looking for. In terms of live poker Manila has a ton of different venues and the biggest spread in stakes as well. Games are generally pretty good. If you are going to be grinding online, you just need a stable internet connection, preferably with a direct wired connection. How long are you thinking of going for? I was there for a couple of years, am out of the country but my fiance and our son are there so I will be heading back sooner or later. But can definitely give you some advice if you have any questions.


But yah, like Tim says, right now the country is basically closed. You could apply for a visa, but there is no visa on arrival right now. They are not even letting Filipinos out.

Where to buy Herman miller embody or Aeron?

What price should i be expecting?

CWC interiors bgc

bought for 80k^. No embody in stock which sucks.

Anyone able to play on ggpoker or natural8 here? How about with VPN's? I heard they dont care all that much?

W vpn no problem.

I bought my miller at cwc as well but markups for millers here are quite sick. Bit surprised they didnt have embody in stock

In the China thread someone said they emailed GG and asked specifically about VPN. They said if you're doing it to gain access from a country they don't service (ex: the USA) it's not allowed, but if you're doing it just to have a faster connection or something it's ok.