SG: Renewing your household worker's PH Embassy documents

Due to urgent circumstances, I had to process our household worker's documents in the Philippine Embassy on my own (without agency). And I was able to do it quickly in under two hours. :) There were some prep work, though, and I had a clear plan of what to do and where to go.

Requirements

• Two (2) original copies of Standard Employment Contract
• Two (2) original copies of Undertaking of an Employer
• Worker's valid Work Permit + two (2) photocopies
• Worker's Passport + two (2) photocopies
• Employer's IC + one (1) photocopy
• Seven Thousand Singapore Dollar (S$7,000) Performance Bond/Embassy Bond
• One(1) photocopy of the Ten Thousand Dollar Medical Insurance (MOM)
• One (1) OWWA Information Sheet
• One (1) OFW Information Sheet (aka OEC form)
• One (1) PAG-IBIG membership registration form (MRF)
• Cash amounting to S$110 for Embassy Fees

Renewing your child's LTVP - Dec 2012 Update

My original LTVP renewal post is found here. For the rest o fthe related topics, click on the link above For Pinoys in SG.

Another year rolled in by and you find yourself preparing to extend once again your child's Long Term Visit Pass (LTVP). There have been some changes but otherwise still basically the same as before. Below is the high-level view of the task list.

1. Renew the pass online;
2. Prepare the documents;
3. Payment and e-Appointment;
4. Complete the formalities.

Before you even begin the above steps, you may want to get your kid's picture for the pass. To me, that still remains the most difficult part: coercing your kid to stay still long enough for you to get a decent picture for the ID :)

Just some notes: the "Applicant" will be your child (the one whose LTVP will be extended), while the "Sponsor" will in most cases be the parent (PR with SingPass).

Post Passport Renewal: Transfer your Re-Entry Permit

This is for the Singapore Permanent Residents (SPRs) who have a new Passport number (either through renewal of Passport, update of Passport, etc). Note that if the SPR leaves Singapore without a valid Re-Entry Permit (REP), the PR status will be cancelled. So better get your documents synced up nice and properly.

Fortunately, all you have to do is the "Transfer of Re-Entry Permit". And, it's fast and (to my big surprise)  doesn't cost a thing.

Here's what you need handy:

• your new passport details (passport number, name, nationality, place of issue, date of issue, date of expiry);
• a good network connection;
• a computer with preferably updated browser and plug-ins;
• access to a printer (optional)

UPDATED: Philippine Passport Renewal and Ad-Hoc Validity Extension in Singapore

Just sharing our experience with the on renewal and validity extension of our passports in the embassy. Hopefully these info will help some people out there.

NOTE: These are our experiences in March 2011. Whether the process will change in the future, we don't know yet.

UPDATE: Just updated this port on 2012-05-05, with some new information that I've got, all in RED.

Just a background: our passports will expire in June 2012, but already had plans to go back to Philippines in May. As commonly known, persons with phil passports with less than six months validity cannot go out of the country. So we either had to renew our passports or extend our passports validity. Since me and my wife had differing work schedules, we got to try two methods of renewing our passports.

Extending Validity Only (aka the Ad-Hoc Method)
 

As I found out sooner, this is not an option. Well, not exactly. They don't extend the validity of passport without an existing renewal appointment. (UPDATE 2012-05-05: I haven't been able to confirm if this has changed yet. For the rest of this post, I'm working on the assumption that you still need an existing renewal appointment.) You will end up renewing your passport right then and there. Be that as it may, it does have some advantages.

One Year Later: Renewing your Child's LTVP

Shortly after your son's or daughter's first birthday celebration, chances are you need to work on his/her LTVP renewal which only has one year validity.

 

Just in case you're in the same spot we were, here's what we did to renew my son's LTVP.  Basically, three main parts, namely:

1.  Renew application online.
2.  Prepare requirements.
3.  Complete formalities (if approved).

BTW, as I was looking for the easiest way of renewing the pass, this post is intended for those who are eligible to renwe online. Those who aren't eligible have to personally report to ICA -- as far as I know.

 

 

PART I: RENEW APPLICATION ONLINE

 

For this part, I'm not going to discuss one by one how to renew online, as it is pretty straight-forward. All you need is the link to "e-VP Electronic Visit Pass (Longterm) System", which is:

 

https://ltpass.ica.gov.sg/eltsvp/main.do

 

Instead, I've listed below the factors that you need to consider BEFORE you renew your child's LTVP.

 

Timing of Online Renewal:

First thing to consider is WHEN should you apply online. From what I can gather online, the applicant (ie, your child) is allowed to renew online IF the pass is still valid for 10 days at the time of application.

It should be noted that the actual processing of renewals -- as per the online FAQ and our own experience -- takes around two weeks, which would probably explain the ten day limit -- must be ten working days, which spans two weeks.

 

At any rate, I think that if you're targetting as close as possible to the 10 day limit, it's cutting it too close -- and not worth the extra hassle. Us, we just submitted about four weeks before the expiry date. More time to maneuver, more time to prepare, more time to plan ahead.
 
Requirements for Online Renewal:

Go through the list in the "Important Notes" part of the link and make sure you have everything. Nothing worse than nearly completing everything only to fail because your laptop/PC cannot support your transaction.

•  SingPass account
•  Financial: AMEX, Visa, Mastercard, or Internet Banking
•  Supported browsers + plugins.

Most of these you should already have, since this is a renewal. The only potential problems are forgotten pins and/or passwords, and if you're using a new/reformatted PC/laptop.
If it's the latter one (PC/laptop), I suggest going through the online renewal process until you reach the part where it's asking you to choose your payment method. If you reach this point and can select whatever method, then you're good to go. :)

 

Oh, on the financial side, whatever method you use, be sure that you can pay SGD30.00. That's the processing fee.
 
Doing the Online Renewal:

Once you decide on the date to renew the application, just go to the link and enter whatever information is necessary. Since this is renewal, most of the information is already there, so you just need to enter a few more.

Once submitted, check the inbox of your email. You should have received a notification email about the submission. Expect the next email in two weeks. For the meantime, this would be a great time to prepare the requirements.

 

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PART II: PREPARE REQUIREMENTS

Below is the list of required documents to be submitted in Part III. Note that "applicant" refers to your child and "sponsor" refers to you or your spouse, or whoever was the sponsor indicated in the renewal.

• Approval Notice (available once approved)
• Completed Form 14 (available once approved)
• Terms and Conditions of Issue for Long Term Pass Card (available once approved)
• Applicant's current Visit Pass
• Applicant's Passport + photocopy of applicant's passport particulars
• Applicant's birth certificate (original + photocopy)
• Sponsor's marriage certificate (original + photocopy)
• Sponsor's divorce certificate, if applicable (original + photocopy)
• Sponsor's spouse's death certificate, if applicable (original + photocopy)
• Applicant's recent passport-sized photograph (within 3 months, colored, white background, matt finish, full face shown).

The first three are available once approved; just need to print them out and sign afterwards. The others should readily be available, as they are most likely have been submitted in the original application. Only the photograph needs to be done, and the most difficult to get. If you have your own camera, that makes it a little better, maybe. But the most difficult part is "coercing" your child to stay still, and have his/her picture taken against a white background.

 

Just some pointers:

• For kids under 5, photo restrictions are relaxed:
• picture should be a good likeness of the baby;
• neutral expression not required;
• head does not need to be straight;
• eyes do not need to look straight in the camera; and
• eyecolor should be visible.
• Passport-sized photos are 35mm x 45mm or 400 x 514 pixels. Resize and/or crop as necessary.
• If your child is using a high-chair, use that and simply find a way to hang a white cloth behind. The stage is now set, making it easier to take pictures of your child.
• Background will not be perfectly white. Adjust as necessary with Photoshop or even with just MS Paint -- picture is small enough, that changes via Paint will not be visible if you are patient enough to do it.

For more information, checkout the links below:
  http://www3.ica.gov.sg/apples/faq/photo_image.html

  http://www.kodakexpresscamden.com/Passport-Baby.html

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PART III: COMPLETE FORMALITIES

You should get an email informing you of the approval. Your child has been given Short-Term Visit Pass and the In-Principle Approval. As soon as you get this email, be sure to follow-through right away so you can make an appointment. Appointment slots are limited per day and if you wait too long, you might not find the date/time that you prefer.

Just follow the instructions in the email. You should be taken to the eVP site again, then just click on Enquire Status/Make Payment.

You will need to do the following:

• Print the Approval Notice (link provided)
• Print the Completed Form 14 (link provided)
• Print the Terms and Conditions of Issue for Long Term Pass Card (link provided)
• SGD 90.00 ready "online" (SGD60 Issuance Fee + SGD30 Visa Fee); you'll need to pay at some point when making the application.

Note that the Appointment date will be the Issuance Date in your child's LTVP; the old and new LTVP cards have no dependence on each other. That is, if your child's old LTVP had an Issue and Expiry Date set to November 30th, then you set your appointment to November 15th, then the new LTVP card will have the Issue and Expiry Dates set to November 15th.

Just be punctual for the appointment and have all of the above documents ready and sorted out. Go to the ICA Building 4th Floor at the Visitor's Centre, go to Kiosk 3, scan the barcode on the "Approval Notice", and get queue ticket. Wait for your turn. It should be finished in under an hour.

Lastly, note that the old LTVP card will be collected. So if you are the sentimental type, be sure to make digital copies of your child's old LTVP card; you will not see it again once the new one is issued.

Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now What? - Summary

We finally completed our baby's papers here. I just thought this summary might come in handy for other Filipinos in Singapore who have a child born here. Here's a list of your to-do's in order to ensure that your child has the papers to have a valid stay in Singapore -- i.e., so your child is not an illegal alien, a TNT here.

This is divided into three main posts, as there is a waiting time in between each.

Part One: From Birth to Passport Application
The initial part consists of the following steps:

• Birth Registration
• Philippine Passport Application
• Extension of 42-Day Limit

Completing your Baby's LTVP Formalities (Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now what? - Part 3)

This is the last post regarding of the "Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now what?" articles.

At last, this is the homestretch. Weeks of patience and hardwork now pays off as your child finally gets his new Long Term Visit Pass (LTVP).

That is, of course, assuming your application was approved.

While waiting for the approval...
The review of your child's LTVP application usually takes between two to three (2-3) weeks. During this waiting period, it is best to get the following ready to avoid the cramming:

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:

Newborn Filipinos in Singapore... Now what?

Being in another country, Filipinos should take note of the things that must be done to fix the papers of their newborns. Particularly in this country, you should try to accomplish the to-do list so you want have to cram it all on the last few days.

Remember, once the baby is born, your baby has a 42-day Social Visit Pass to stay in Singapore. You need to get it extended or have a valid pass (PR, dependent, etc.) before the 42-day limit expires.

The child's mother will most likely not be able to do this -- or rather would not be able to do anything at this point -- so this is especially for dads out there.

Before you continue, please note that the information below is true as of the first week of September 2010 -- the week when we applied for this as well. Some of the requirements and/or steps below may -- or probably will -- change later on. So please don't complain to me if the information below is no longer true; let me know the details of the changes and I'll change this accordingly.

Anyway, first things first. Once the baby is born, you have to file his/her birth registration right away.


Birth Registration

As per Singapore Law, you have 14 days to register the baby's birth to ICA. This is different from the 42-day limit stated above. Birth registration should be done within 14 days. The immigration status (i.e. Social Visit, Singapore PR, Dependent Pass, etc.) should be done within 42 days.

There are a few things you need to prepare in order to file the baby's Birth Registration:

• Identity card (NRIC, FIN, E-Pass, etc) of both parents;
• Original Copy of the Marriage Certificate, if applicable;
• Notification of Live-Birth - this is the Red duplicate form you get from the hospital/nurse station;
• Registration of Birth Form - to be filled up by YOU; most of the details should be found in all of the three (3) above documents;
• Fee. I forgot exactly how much I paid, but should not exceed SGD 50: ICA fee of SGD 18 + hospital administrative fee, if you registered at one of the hospitals below.

Hospitals where you can register your child's birth include the following:

• East Shore Hospital
• Gleneagles Hospital
• Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital
• Mount Alvernia Hospital
• Mount Elizabeth Hospital
• National University Hospital
• Raffles Hospital
• Singapore General Hospital
• Thomson Medical Centre

You should check out the reverse side of the Notification of Live Birth form for the above information.

After you have successfully registered, you should get the following:

• Notification of Live Birth - updated with the Birth Registration Number;
• Certificate of Registration of Birth (laminated);
• Disembarkation Card (aka White Card) - usually attached with a notice from ICA "Regularisation of the Immigration Status of a Foreign Child Born in Singapore".

The actual processing takes no more than 20 minutes. The waiting time might be longer or shorter, depending on how lucky you are. Anyway, this makes it the easiest step.

Now before you can get to ICA to apply for your child's PR, Dependent Pass, or whatever, he/she needs a valid travel document, i.e., a passport. So our next step is to get...


Philippine Passport
The actual processing is fast. In our case, we finished within 40 minutes -- includes submission of forms, picture-taking, and payments. Of course, in order to achieve that, we had to get an early queue number. Meaning you have to be at the Philippine Embassy before it opens at 9:00 AM. There's just too many people applying for the new passport.

Also, as of this writing, the babies are required to be physically present in the embassy, as their photographs will be taken there as well.

Just some tips that should help:

• Complete all forms and photocopy the required number of copies beforehand. Saves time and money. (Not sure how much the photocopier in the embassy is charging, but I bet it's slightly higher than usual.) Check out the list below.
• Avoid going there on Thursday and Sunday (the end and start of week, respectively) as well as days immediately before and after a public holiday/long weekend. There's even more people there!
• One person (usually the dad) has to be there really early. The baby can arrive later at 9:00 AM when the embassy officially opens. I was there at 7:15, but there was already a queue! Luckily, I was number 4. Within the next half hour or so, there were 10 people behind me.
• Prepare for a long wait. It's up to you how to deal with long waiting times (around 2 hours). Bring something to read, something to play, something to listen to, or something to eat, whatever to keep you sane while you're waiting. The words "painfully slow" come to mind, so watch out! (Of course, if you're happy with just the chit-chats and gossips, just talk with the people in the queue.)
• Once inside, while you process the papers outside, the baby can stay inside the air-conditioned halls of the embassy.
• The windows to look out for are Window 6 (where you submit everything), Window 1 (where the baby's photos are taken), and Window 9 (where you pay). Best to know where they are, as it can be very chaotic when the waiting area is filled up with tons of people.

So what documents do you need exactly? Here's the list:

• Passport Application Form - get form from the Philippine Embassy website;
• Report of Birth - get form from the Philippine Embassy website; submit the form along with 5 photocopies;
• Certificate of Registration of Birth - original for show, 5 photocopies for submission;
• Passports of both parents - original for show, 5 photocopies (of the data pages) for submission;
• Marriage Certificate of parents - original for show, 5 photocopies for submission, if applicable;

Not sure if this is applicable to all, but Report of Birth and all the 5 photocopies should have the left and right footprints of the child on the reverse side of the forms. In our case, the lady on Window 6 asked us to have the footprints imprinted on the forms. They provided us with the inkpad so that's one less thing to worry about.


After the initial submission of the paperwork on Window 6, everything should go on smoothly. The digital passport photo will be taken at the room beside Window 1. After that, you will be provided a letter to be given to ICA (details below). Then, it's off to Window 9 for payment.
 
You should end up with the following:

• Claim stub for the passport. This should also serve as your official receipt with the breakdown of fees. Take note of the Collection Date (approximately 6 weeks from the date of application).
• Certification from Philippine Embassy regarding the Passport processing - as the 6 weeks will most likely eat up the 42-day limit, you will need to submit this to extend your baby's stay in Singapore.

Extension of the 42-Day Limit
Due to the 6 weeks required processing time for your baby's passport, you can apply for an extension of his/her Social Visit Pass. This should give you some more breathing room to process everything.

Here's what you need:

• Certification from Philippine Embassy regarding the Passport processing. See previous section.
• 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;
• Marriage Certificate of parents - original for show, 1 photocopy for submission;

In order to maximize your baby's stay, wait for the week when the 42 days will lapse before you apply for the extension. We tried applying for the extension a day after submitting the passport requirements. We were advised by the immigration officer in Counter 4 that the extension will overlap with the 42 days; they clarified that the extension will start from the day you applied for it, not on the day after the 42 days have lapsed. So she advised us to just return later when the limit is about to expire before we apply for an extension.


This is as far as we have gone, so far. I'll do another post once we have the passport and applied for the passes in October.


::UPDATE::
Got some new updates, but they're quite long. So, please check my next post on this topic here. For the complete list of posts on this series, please check here.