Updated note: this was in 2017, so things could be different now!

I get a lot of questions from close friends about visa application experiences so I decided to finally write about one, especially in Cebu. I love how it’s fairly easy to get visas in Cebu now without having to fly out to Manila anymore. Why not take advantage, right?

I will try my best to be as detailed as possible with this entry. I know many probably won’t read and just skim through so I will also make the requirements concise as well. The reason why I consolidated this post for both countries is that I applied to both in a span of a couple of weeks therefore it made obtaining my requirements a lot more time efficient.

Introduction

There are a lot of other blogs that provide more detailed process for different kinds of applicants. This post is about my own personal experience that’s why I can confidently write about it. I could say that I owe my knowledge to blogs for making me close to sure that my requirements were sufficient to support my application.

This post will be based on my background; which is—

• I’m single and unmarried at the time of application,
• with no guarantor from each country and personally paying for travels,
• a regular employee in a reputable institution,
• have several OECD issued visas in my passport (not a guarantee for visa approval, but it helps).

Part 1: Requirements

I made a written checklist in my journal so I could monitor my progress. Here’s a short list before I delve deeper into each requirement.

Passport

If you don’t have a passport, secure one right away from the Department of Foreign Affairs via passport.gov.ph. DFA in Cebu is at Pacific Mall in Mandaue. As of Oct 2017, I heard that the earliest you can get a slot is by November and December 2017. If you’re strapped for time, I suggest you go to the nearest DFAs in Dumaguete and Tacloban to get your passports. This isn’t a post about passport processing, so I’m going to leave it here.

NSO Birth Certificate and/or Marriage Certificate

NSO documents can be retrieved from the NSO Office in Gaisano South, downtown Colon. This blog post about getting your NSO document is very helpful and provides a lot of photos and step by step information.

Japan Embassy requires that these certificates must be issued at the very least one year prior to application date. So if you have an old NSO birth certificate lying around from 3 years ago and you planned to use that, forget it. Please make sure your birth certificate is readable otherwise you may have to submit other supporting documents.

Bank Certificate

In my case it wasn’t difficult to get a bank certificate from my bank, BPI. I went to my branch of account and requested for a certification of all my accounts stated in one document. The bank usually asks you for your purpose of request so they can state it in the certificate.

Korean Embassy requires your bank certificates to have the following details aside from your total savings such as: date of account opened and average daily balance (v impt!).

Honestly, I do not know how much you need to have in your bank account to be approved for a visa. The contents of my accounts are not huge. I’ve read a blog post where a guy was approved for a visa and only had Php 7,000+ in his account. Frankly, that’s a bit of a gamble but that’s just me. I calculate the amount based on my projected spendings in a day during my travel. So for example if I spend 5 days in Seoul and plan to spend at most USD 100 a day, that’s USD 100 x 5 = USD 500 = Php 25,000 minimum amount in my bank account.

As for the maximum, that’s up to you. If you only have Php 7,000 in your account and plan to apply for a visa and asked someone to wire you Php 500,000 for it to look good on your bank certificate, then it’s still not going to count because it will affect your average daily balance. Someone with 500k with an average daily balance of 5k? That’s suspicious and may be grounds for questioning.

Photo for Application Forms

This is possibly the easiest one out of the bunch. Just go to a Picture City branch, I think there’s one in both Ayala Center Cebu or SM City and tell them you need your photo taken for a Japan and/or Korea visa. More often than not they already know the dimensions and post-processing so all you have to do is pay the fee, sit down and pose for the camera.

Certificate of Employment

This one is subjective. You either have a very accommodating workplace that churns out COEs at your disposal, or a bureaucratic one that needs about 10 approvals before it’s in your hands. Point here is, ask your immediate head or HR representative to provide you an employment certificate that details

1) your tenure or start date,
2) monthly salary,
3) any other monetary benefits,
4) and the purpose for issuing the employment certificate.

Make sure your Certificate of Employment also includes the address and landline phone number of the company, as there may be instances where they call your workplace to verify your employment. I’m sure this isn’t the case for every application, but it’s always good to be sure in order to avoid any issues.

Part II: Japan Tourist Visa Application Process

The links below are the key pages you want to check when applying for a tourist visa in Japan. It is PRETTY straightforward and shows that the Japanese government really welcomes you to be a tourist in their country, given the right circumstances. These 2 links will help you with your application:

http://www.ph.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/00_000035.html
http://www.ph.emb-japan.go.jp/files/000232573.pdf

Instead of going directly to the Japanese embassy or a consulate and line up to get a visa, they instead require you to apply at a partner agency that handles the processing. As for us, we chose Friendship Tours as it was closest to home. Show up with your requirements and submit everything during office hours.

Friendship Tours & Resorts Corp.
Unit 101 Bldg. 1, Oakridge Business Park, 880 A.S. Fortuna St., Mandaue City
3453459 / 3444825 / 09177243373

My mom sent in the application for us to Friendship Tours (herself, my sister, and I) with all the requirements. Applicants are required to pay a fee of Php 1,200, and Php 1,800 if you get granted multiple entry.

My mother is a recent housewife and she has worked up until 2015, while my sister is a student. My mom has been to Japan before therefore she was granted a multiple 5 year tourist visa and added Php 600 on top of her initial Php 1,200 payment, while I was granted single entry and so was my sister.

I checked our visa issue date and even though we received it after a week, I found that we were approved just 2 days after we submitted our requirements. Yay.

Part III: Korea Tourist Visa Application Process

This will be the 2nd time I’ve gotten a tourist visa for South Korea. My first one from 2013 doesn’t really warrant a post because I didn’t do much of the legwork and just submitted all the requirements and paid a fee of Php 2,500 to a local travel agent. Times have changed now because getting a tourist visa for Korea now is free, provided that you will stay for less than 59 days.

Since my trip to Korea is with friends, this was a single application. Before going to the consulate, make sure there are no Korean holidays and non-working days being observed otherwise you may go there and it’s closed. As for me, I went on Chuseok week (Korean Thanksgiving) so I double checked closures. Always refer to the Visa Announcement page on the consulate website for any announcements and changes on visa processing.

Old process: Visa processing is 5 working days for applicants without OECD visas and stamps and only 3 days for applicants with OECD visas and stamps.

New process: Visa processing is now SEVEN (7) working days for all types of applicants.

South Korea Consulate – Cebu
12th Floor Chinabank Corporate Center
Lot 2, Samar Loop Cor. Road 5
Cebu Bussiness Park, Mabolo, Cebu City
+63-32-231-1516(-9)
E-mail: phi_cebu2015@mofa.go.kr
Open Monday-Friday from 08:30-17:00

This is a quick (really quick and easy!!) step-by-step process on how to apply for a South Korean Tourist Visa.

1. Get a queue number from the guard for visa processing. You do not need to surrender any belongings but the guards cover your camera lens with a sticker because picture taking is not allowed inside the consulate office.
2. Proceed to the waiting area and wait for your queue number to be called. There’s a big screen TV where they show Korean movies, and an area where you’re able to fill out forms depending on your need.
3. Once your number is called, proceed to the window to pass your requirements. I was only asked one question and that is what was my reason to visit South Korea in 2013. They also returned my ITR and BIR documents because apparently you do not need to submit if you’ve already been issued a visa before.
4. Nothing else!

As long as your requirements are complete, you can be in and out of the consulate in less than 30 minutes depending on your number. I arrived early at 9am and I was Application No. 11, and No. 4 was being served so it was really quick for me. I didn’t reach up to an hour.

When I was there, a girl was sent home and asked to come back because she had incomplete requirements. Make sure that doesn’t happen to you because it is such a hassle to go back and forth.

I received a claim stub stating that my passport would be available within 7 days with a pickup date. Pick-up time is from 2pm to 4pm on weekdays and a week later, I received my passport with my single entry visa! I’m working towards a multiple entry visa but it’s mostly applicable for when you visit Korea 2-3 times a year. I would really like to go yearly especially during the fall. My recent visit got me in awe and so in love of the weather.

Epilogue

It’s good to remember that everyone starts from an empty passport, so the only way to remedy that is to travel as little or as much as you can, even if it’s just once a year or every few years. When it comes to traveling abroad, it’s the destination that matters for me in the end so I’m an advocate of promo flights, miles redemption, and getting the most cost effective option to get from point A to point B. I am fortunate that my family values the benefits of travel as much as I do.