the philippines immigration embarkation card and a helpful tip

Looking at the statistics of this blog, I noticed that my post “What Most People Go Through at NAIA Terminal 1” was viewed quite frequently, most probably by people who would be travelling from the Philippines. I'm glad that it helped; and since I finally found the little piece of paper I had tucked away, I thought it might also be useful to share with you a copy of the Embarkation Card that all departing passengers have to complete: As you can see, the information they require are pretty basic...and is pretty much the same as the form you have to complete when you arrive in the Philippines. I’m sure when given these forms to fill in, most passengers just take out their passports and flip through the pages to get the relevant information.

But if you’re a mother travelling with your family and you’re the one designated to complete the forms for everyone in your group (because you’re the one keeping all the travel documents and has neater writing), this simple act can become pretty stressful, especially since you want to get everything over and done with as fast as possible. So, to avoid this unnecessary stress, I found it helpful to prepare a piece of paper at least one day before our flight with the following information whenever we travel to and from the Philippines:

• full name as per the passport (surname, first name, middle name)
• date of birth
• place of birth
• passport number
• passport’s issue date
• passport’s expiry date
• place where the passport was issued (and name of the issuing authority)
• address abroad
• address in the Philippines
• occupation
• OFW ID number
• airline and flight number
• date of last entry to and departure from the Philippines

With this information in hand, I don’t need to rifle through my bag and take out every one of our passports (mine, Hubby’s, Caila’s, and Ate Cel’s). All the details I need will be on that paper and all I’ll have to do after completing the forms is ask them to sign on the space provided.

Hope this helps!