Hello everybody. I'm back to update my blog on Immigration as promised. I'm lagging on my updates because of the many things we need to do while here in Manila before we head to Leyte. Anyhow, here's what we've learned from the processing of my husband's and son's immigration papers. After we secured the endorsement stamp on the passports from the Bureau of Quarantine Office the next stop is the Alien Registration Division, Bureau of Immigration Office in Intramuros, Manila. There were already hundreds lining up for their turn when we got there around 12 noon. We went directly to window 46 which is the Alien Registration counter. Requiring more copies of some of the documents, the agent directed us to a place where we could make copies and purchase folders for both of Michael and Judson's documents. Yes, we have to provide all those, unlike in the US where everything is taken care of wherever and whatever office you transact business. Not here in the Philippines, the government do not provide any of those. It is your responsibility to provide copies of whatever they require. So after everything was completed and the picture ID's taken, we end up paying for the following: ACR I-Card fee; Express Lane fee; ICR fee; A-Cert fee; Legal Research fee; Head tax (for adult) all came to a total of P10,222.00. Before you are issued an official receipt, the agent at window 46 gives you a print-out of the charges which you need to take to window 25. This is where you will pay. From the print-out we added all the charges and we came up with P6,000.00 but we were shocked when the cashier presented us with a total of P10,222.00. My advise to you is to look closely on the print-out from window 46, somehow there was a part that says there is an addition of 50% of a particular charge and that's what caught us by surprise. There was no explanation what that additional charge was for when I asked about it. Instead the cashier just shoved us his calculator with the amount through the window opening. We were told it will take about two weeks for the card to be available for pickup. And since we will not be staying in Manila that long we were advised to submit a letter requesting the office to send the cards to the Immigration Tacloban branch where we can pick up the ICR cards. We are finally done! Now on to the next task, that of finding a vehicle to drive down to Leyte. We'll keep you posted....thanks for following.