[ Note: thanks for all the recent support mga kapatid, it would be awesome if you could subscribe to our humble blog, wala po tayong pinapanigan o agenda kundi ang pagtaguyod ng OFW, migranteng Pinoy at ang uring manggagawa. We welcome corrections and gentle criticism, as well as OFW and migration related anecdotes and life stories you might want to share. please comment directly below or email to noel0514@yahoo.com.]
WELL, NOT ALL the transit travel hacks, it would be too difficult to keep track of everything helpful. We only want to focus on keeping you spending too much, and keeping out of trouble.
There’s a show on local New Zealand TV that’s been so popular it has spawned at least two spinoffs, and I don’t even know which is the original: Border Security Australia, Border Security New Zealand, and Border Security Canada. As the series title suggests, its about how customs and immigration officers defend and administer laws governing travel through their respective borders.
As you might imagine Precious Reader, quite a few of the show’s episodes feature subjects passing through borders in the first two versions are our very own kabayan. It is these episodes that are most entertaining to us, and by no coincidence, it’s where we draw the most lessons from.
The list you’ll see here won’t be kilometric or designed to keep you looking at ads on the margins (which we don’t have anyway), but will consist of knowing the basic truths learned by a Pinoy traveling between international ports of entry (or exit), a fact of life for the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) and the Filipino migrant :
Laging taya ang bansot. I don’t know how many times I’ve passed through Customs on transit, whether in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane (on the way to Manila or Auckland), but every time I’m in a queue where the hand-carried luggage are inspected, nine times out of 10, I will be pulled out of the queue and be asked to submit to a personal search and asked a few questions. Now, I don’t know what criteria or guidelines are used to choose people to search, it must be a rule they follow, but deep down I guess I fit a certain profile. What that profile is, I leave it to you Precious Reader to make up on your own. Physically, I’m a brown-skinned, below-average height and small-bodied Southeast Asian, in short (literally) a typical Pinoy.
This is the business end of my advice: DON’T argue, even though you may feel like you’re being singled out. DON’T make it difficult for the airport staff, even though there is no reason they should choose poor old you. And this is counter to common sense, but don’t act nervous or tense, even though the situation should cause you a bit of stress. If you’re able to do all three, within ten minutes they will send you on your way.
Wag magdala ng gamit ng hanapbuhay. Aminin na natin kabayan: A lot of us use visit visas (or more popularly known as tourist visas) to know more about a place greatly desired as a work destination, extend such visit visa to better familiarize oneself with the place (if the visa’s conditions allow such extension) and eventually (and ideally) secure a job offer, obtain a work visa to replace the visit visa, seamlessly change status without leaving the strange land, and try our luck there.
Well and good, in theory. Nothing should stop you from enjoying a visit to Australia or New Zealand, entertain thoughts of working there along the way, and applying for a job and work visa while you’re at it. The pursuit of work is a human right which is recognized everywhere.
At least, until you realize that many visas of many countries specify that the purpose of a visa is limited to whatever you applied it for, whether it be for a visit, education, or an event you’re attending for a specific time. New Zealand is one of those countries.
Kaya kung may balak tayong mangibang bansa with the end-in-view of scouting the area for jobs while enjoying the sights, it might not sit well for immigration authorities, who train their personnel to be on the lookout for such situations at the port of entry, dun pa lang.
[ I’m not an immigration adviser, nor do I pretend to be (esp. if you knew my back story). But I do have a bit of experience and common sense (konti lang) to know that quite a few kabayan aim for work visas using this route. It ain’t pretty, but if you’re a risk-taker, well... ]
More than a few episodes of Border Security have taught us that bringing the tools of your trade, particularly literature, textbooks and academic professional credentials (official documents lalo na) is practically shouting out to whoever can listen that, hey I’m here as tourist, but (wink wink) if I can get a gig on my skills, di na po ako babalik muna sa pinanggalingan, pasintabi lang po.
The items you carry, which, for a tourist will seem odd for you unless you treat your job and tools as a religion that you read about and keep around you 24-7 will be enough for immigration people to delay your processing, hold you up while the rest of your tour group is prevented from enjoying the complimentary welcome drink, and convince themselves that you, a construction builder, only brought your power drill and work boots because you’re emotionally attached to same.
Seriously, don’t bring anything related to your work with you while traveling. Whether or not you intend to use them. It’s practically an invitation to cancel your visa.
Don’t spend on transit airports. This is controversial, and may go against the commonsense notion, why not spend when you’re on vacation? I’m limiting this thought only to those who visit with a budget, and those who are travelling like Advice No. 2 above, with an expectation to extend one’s stay for work, in short maybe 75% of all travelers to these parts.
Airports by nature are like tourist traps: they’re legally allowed to charge much more than market price, which these days already hurts the pocket. Airport tenants are already paying astronomical rent, as they know they will pass it on to captive customers, namely, you, the poor traveler.
So, all non-essential goods that you can easily purchase outside, no go. If you’re hungry then by all means patronize the restos and fast food joints. But don’t forget po: you will have a full-course meal on the plane, or have had enjoyed one already. Why insist on paying extra when you will eat again on the plane? Besides, air pressure and being prolonged seating position will aggravate what will surely be a bloated system. Is that worth the pleasure of a Big Mac that you could eat anywhere else?
Also, you’d have to carry whatever you buy till the end of the trip. With all your pasalubong and padala, you don’t want that.
Hope this helped. Thanks for reading!
