Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now what? - Part 2

This is the continuation of my previous post regarding the papers you need to do for your newborn kid in Singapore. http://raabad.blogspot.com/2010/08/newborn-filipinos-in-singapore-now-what.html

Reminder: This post is based from our experience back in November 2010. Some details might have changed since then.

Philippine Passport Collection

Although you generally have to arrive early at the Philippine Embassy to accomplish things faster, for passport collection you actually have a bit of a leeway. No need to be at the gates before 7:00 AM. I was there around 10:40 AM (I got queue number 49; the number being served at that time was 26). I was finished by 11:15 AM.

And -- perhaps more importantly -- there is NO NEED TO BRING THE BABY WITH YOU!!! Yep. There's absolutely no need. Dads can do this on their own, without tagging along the entire baby crew. Means you can move faster and you don't have to worry about your baby getting irritated with all the noise and the weather. Yipee for baby! :)

So here's what you bring along:

• Passport collection claim form with attached recipt; and
• Parent's (your) NRIC, EP or whatever Singapore-issued ID you have.

When you arrive at the Philippine Embassy, here's what you do:

1. Sign up at the (new) gatehouse under the PASSPORT COLLECTION window. You will be asked to present your claim form, after which the guard will provide your queue number which will be written on your claim form as well.
2. Proceed to Window 7.
3. IMPORTANT: At Window 7, there's an inconspicuous tray where you're supposed to leave your claim form and old passport. In our case, just leave the claim form. Note that part of the reason I finished early was because several queue numbers ahead of me actually did not leave their form at the tray; hence, they got skipped and had to wait a lot longer than they should have.
4. Wait for your number to be called. Unlike the other windows, there is no LED display on this window so you need to stay close, as sometimes the crowd noise drowns out the microphone.
5. Check carefully the passport details. Once all okay, you will be asked to sign on a digital pad using the stylus provided.
6. You will get stamped copies of some documents you submitted as well. That is, stamped on the reverse side with "SEEN AND NOTED", with the seal of the Philippine Embassy in Singapore, dated and signed by the Passport and Visa Officer.

So here's the checklist of what you should end up with:

• Your kid's passport (yey!)
• Copy of the Report of Birth
• Copy of the Certificate of Registration of Birth
• Copy of Certificate of Marriage
• Copy of the parent's passport pages
• A small note containing instructions on obtaining an Authenticated Report of Birth from the National Statistics Office (NSO)  printed in security paper 

NSO-Certified Report of Birth

Just for everyone's curiosity, here are the instructions on that small note for the NSO-certified report of birth. And I quote:

Kindly follow these steps:

• E-mail the embassy at php@pacific.net.sg six (6) months after collecting the Report of Birth. Provide the full name of your child, the date when the Report of Birth was filed (Kindly refer to the copy of your child's Report of Birth) and contact telephone number.
• Request for the following details:
• Pouch List No.
• Date:
• Bag No.
• Dispatch No.
• With these details, you may call the DFA CONSULAR RECORDS DIVISION (CRD-DFA) at (632) 836-7743 / 836-7744 or DFA Trunkline (632) 834-3000 / 834-4000.
• If your child's Report of Birth has been delivered to the NSO, a reference number and delivery date will be given to you by CRD-DFA.

Using this information (reference number & delivery date issued by CRD-DFA) as reference to locate your child's duly registered Report of Birth, you or your relatives may proceed to the NSO to obtain the authenticated Report printed on security paper.

 ... And end quote. Haven't done this yet, to be honest, since it stated 6 months after getting the report of birth. Guess I'll blog something about that next time.

Anyway, now on to more important stuff.


UPDATE: Extension of 42-Day Limit

As per my previous post, to prevent the overlap, we waited for the last week before we applied for an extension. Here's the list of what you need to bring:

• Certification from Philippine Embassy regarding the Passport processing. See previous post for details.
• Disembarkation Card (aka white DE Card);
• Certificate of Registration of Birth - original for show, 1 photocopy for submission;
• Passports of both parents - original for show, 1 photocopy (for the data pages) for submission;
• NRIC of both parents - original for show, 1 photocopy each for submission; 
• Marriage Certificate of parents - original for show, 1 photocopy for submission;

Note: Thanks to Adrian for pointing out the NRICs; Not sure about passports, because back when we applied, it was asked along with our NRICs. Guess it depends on the immig officer there.

Go to ICA - Visitor's Center at either 4th or 5th floor (sorry I keep forgetting which one it is), prepare your kid's DE card, show at the counter in order to get your queue number. Typically, the waiting time is relatively shorter as there are not as many people applying for newborn's extension compared to, say, actually applying for PR.

 
Just wait for your number to be called/flashed on the screen, go to the counter, and show the letter. Just submit whatever the immigration officer is asking.

You should end up with the SPECIAL PASS aka Form 18. Important things to note there are:

• File Reference Number (same as your kid's Certification of Registration of Birth number)
• DE Card Number
• Special Pass Number
• Full Name of your child
• Date of Birth
• Purpose of Pass: You are hereby permitted to remain in Singapore for the purpose of OBTAINING PASSPORT FROM EMBASSY TO REGULARIZE STAY
• Date of Issue and date expires

Right now, the special extension is 60 days/2 months and there was no service/admin fee [Thanks again to Adrian for pointing this out]. In our friend's case, before (about 3 months before this) it used to be 90 days. I guess some of you by the time it's your turn to do this, it might be different. Something worth noting.

Anyway, just to reiterate: apply for this extension AT THE LAST WEEK in order to maximize the length of stay. Some officer's don't care if you're gonna overlap, rendering your extension useless. PLEASE TAKE NOTE! It's for your own good. :)


From here on out....

For PRs such as myself, you can either go for the Long Term Visit Pass (LTVP) or Permanent Residence (PR) for your child. It's up to you. We went for the LTVP, so for now, sorry if you were expecting PR instead. Can't help you there at this time.

For EP holders, sorry can't help you here as well. As far as I know, you can apply for a Dependent Pass


Long Term Visit Pass (online)

Before we proceed, have the following ready:

• An internet connection (oh yeah, this is applying online; saves time)
• A valid email address (normally this should be your email address, but well.. whatever)
• Sponsor's (aka one of the parent's) NRIC and Singpass (by this time, you should already have this; if not get one!)
• VISA/Mastercard credit/debit card, AMEX, or iBanking (Citibank, POSB/DBS, UOB only)
• Your child's passport number
• Your child's DE number

So here we go:

1. Go to https://ltpass.ica.gov.sg/eltsvp/main.do. Better bookmark it as well, as you will need it later;
2. Click on New Application;
3. Select Child of Singapore Citizen/Singapore Permanet Resident and click Proceed;
4. When prompted, sign in using your singpass account;
5. Just enter all the information required. Remember: your child is the "APPLICANT" and you (or your spouse) is the "SPONSOR". Take note so you don't mix up the details, ok? :)
6. Once you double-checked all the entries, choose whatever payment method you use;
7. And we're done.

If you have entered a valid email address somewhere in the form, you should receive shortly an email notfication that your application was successful.

You can always check online for the status of your child's application. Go to the page above, then click on Enquire Status/Make Payment link. You will be asked for two pieces of information:

• FIN + Sponsor's NRIC
• Travel Document Number + Sponsor's NRIC
• Travel Document Number + EPEC Issue Date
• Travel Document Number + DE Card Number
• Travel Document Number + FIN 

Choose whatever information you have handy. Normally, you should have your baby's Travel Document No (passport) and your baby's DE card number or your/your spouse's NRIC.

Based from what I've gathered, this should take at least 3 weeks to process. You should receive an email once your application has been approved. If not better check the status online every now and then. If your Special Pass is running out, better go to ICA again to verify the status and avoid the further hassle.

And that's it for now. I'll just post again once I have any other updates. Hope this helps some folks here.

**UPDATE **
Check the complete list of posts for this series here.