Canadian citizen in Manila, trying to get Filipina partner and our son home

[scylla]

Unfortunately your wife can't leave the country on a TRV/TRP. No Filipino allowed to leave the country as a tourist.

www.dfa.gov.ph/covid-19-advisories/26380-travel-advisory-outbound-travel-restrictions-by-philippine-government-on-filipino-travelers

We are in that situation ourselves, stuck in MNL now, BI wouldn't let my wife and son last Friday. Can't go to Canada, can't go home to Antique. We have written letters to BI, DFA and the CDN embassy trying for an exemption. I'll let you know if we make any progress.

Wow - that sucks and must be incredibly stressful. Good luck.

 

[bellaluna]

In the meantime, the Government of Canada has arranged special flights out of Manila to Vancouver/Toronto for stranded residents and citizens and their immediate family members--so I wonder if this can supersede the DFA missive posted earlier for your wife. @YVR-MNL
There seems to be no "full-time residence" qualifer, just a valid Canadian passport or PR card/document.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/Resp...UMjFaT1ZISjVST0g3VkpBTVhTMTU5VjlEQSQlQCN0PWcu

https://twitter.com/x/status/1247908307446026241

 

[canuck78]

In the meantime, the Government of Canada has arranged special flights out of Manila to Vancouver/Toronto for stranded residents and citizens and their immediate family members--so I wonder if this can supersede the DFA missive posted earlier for your wife. @YVR-MNL
There seems to be no "full-time residence" qualifer, just a valid Canadian passport or PR card/document.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/Resp...UMjFaT1ZISjVST0g3VkpBTVhTMTU5VjlEQSQlQCN0PWcu

https://twitter.com/x/status/1247908307446026241

Seems like there will be more demand than supply so there will likely be a selection criteria at some point like other flights. For example if you have been living somewhere for years it is much easier for you to remain somewhere versus someone on holiday.

 

[Canada2020eh]

Wow - that sucks and must be incredibly stressful. Good luck.

Thanks. We found a decent AirBnb so we will hang out here until something changes but are anxious to go somewhere whether Canada or back home here. Everything is locked down until the end of the month right now.

 

[Canada2020eh]

In the meantime, the Government of Canada has arranged special flights out of Manila to Vancouver/Toronto for stranded residents and citizens and their immediate family members--so I wonder if this can supersede the DFA missive posted earlier for your wife. @YVR-MNL
There seems to be no "full-time residence" qualifer, just a valid Canadian passport or PR card/document.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/Resp...UMjFaT1ZISjVST0g3VkpBTVhTMTU5VjlEQSQlQCN0PWcu

https://twitter.com/x/status/1247908307446026241

Unfortunately not right now, part of another post by the CDN embassy here says they have to also meet the PH immigration requirements in order to leave the country. We have appealed to the DFA and immigration here a few days ago. No response so far, today is the beginning of the Easter holidays so their skeleton crew of workers is probably reduced more. Not much of a chance catching the flights that are being put on for the 14th. There are still a couple options through Seoul and Tokyo if we did get the exemption. Fingers crossed.

 

[scylla]

Unfortunately not right now, part of another post by the CDN embassy here says they have to also meet the PH immigration requirements in order to leave the country. We have appealed to the DFA and immigration here a few days ago. No response so far, today is the beginning of the Easter holidays so their skeleton crew of workers is probably reduced more. Not much of a chance catching the flights that are being put on for the 14th. There are still a couple options through Seoul and Tokyo if we did get the exemption. Fingers crossed.

Good luck. Crappy situation.

 

[vensak]

The only country that is well prepared with this crisis is Taiwan. Not even Canada!

1. Taiwan is an island, which makes it easier.
2. Taiwan reacted very very selfishly as well (ban export of certaind PPE). If every country that does have large production would do that, then lot of countries are screwed.
3. Also they were just lucky, as it so happened China was punishing them just before this outbreak and not letting chinese to visit them.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

1. Taiwan is an island, which makes it easier.
2. Taiwan reacted very very selfishly as well (ban export of certaind PPE). If every country that does have large production would do that, then lot of countries are screwed.
3. Also they were just lucky, as it so happened China was punishing them just before this outbreak and not letting chinese to visit them.

Taiwan wasn't lucky; they learned from SARS, were prepared and paid attention. They began screening passengers from Wuhan in December and quarantining potential cases. They had a centralized epidemic team started in early January and the healthcare infrastructure in place to test, monitor and respond. They also had the co-operation of their citizens from the beginning, with virtually everyone paying attention to the warnings, tracking their own health, reporting any possible cases etc.

 

[vensak]

Taiwan wasn't lucky; they learned from SARS, were prepared and paid attention. They began screening passengers from Wuhan in December and quarantining potential cases. They had a centralized epidemic team started in early January and the healthcare infrastructure in place to test, monitor and respond. They also had the co-operation of their citizens from the beginning, with virtually everyone paying attention to the warnings, tracking their own health, reporting any possible cases etc.

Not really. Like everybody else Taiwan got alert only in mid of January. (yes there were some small local newspaper reports before, but they did not make it beyond that province border.). Normally they do get a decent amount of travelers from mainland China (mainly tourists), however there was some issue there and China was restricting any travels to Taiwan. The idea was to let them economically suffer, but unwanted side effect was to protect them from too much spread. Otherwise they would have been much worse hit than they were.

 

[scylla]

Not really. Like everybody else Taiwan got alert only in mid of January. (yes there were some small local newspaper reports before, but they did not make it beyond that province border.). Normally they do get a decent amount of travelers from mainland China (mainly tourists), however there was some issue there and China was restricting any travels to Taiwan. The idea was to let them economically suffer, but unwanted side effect was to protect them from too much spread. Otherwise they would have been much worse hit than they were.

100% agree with this. The travel ban (put in place for entirely different reasons) was a saving grace for them. We were in mainland China in November (just pre-COVID) and spoke with several people who were impacted and were having difficulty visiting relatives there. China basically doesn't think Taiwan is a separate country whereas Taiwan does. That's really the crux of the issue.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Not really. Like everybody else Taiwan got alert only in mid of January. (yes there were some small local newspaper reports before, but they did not make it beyond that province border.). Normally they do get a decent amount of travelers from mainland China (mainly tourists), however there was some issue there and China was restricting any travels to Taiwan. The idea was to let them economically suffer, but unwanted side effect was to protect them from too much spread. Otherwise they would have been much worse hit than they were.

They started screening incoming Wuhan passengers in December, so they were well aware before mid January and already getting their ducks in a row.

 

[canuck78]

Unfortunately not right now, part of another post by the CDN embassy here says they have to also meet the PH immigration requirements in order to leave the country. We have appealed to the DFA and immigration here a few days ago. No response so far, today is the beginning of the Easter holidays so their skeleton crew of workers is probably reduced more. Not much of a chance catching the flights that are being put on for the 14th. There are still a couple options through Seoul and Tokyo if we did get the exemption. Fingers crossed.

Would also keep monitoring situation in Canada because more conditions are being out on those who are arriving and where they can stay. The fact that your whole family may not qualify for health coverage may be another reason why you may fall to the bottom of the list. Many provinces have waived the cost of treatment of covid but obviously given the demand they are trying to limit those who don‘t qualify for healthcare from entering.

 

[Canada2020eh]

Would also keep monitoring situation in Canada because more conditions are being out on those who are arriving and where they can stay. The fact that your whole family may not qualify for health coverage may be another reason why you may fall to the bottom of the list. Many provinces have waived the cost of treatment of covid but obviously given the demand they are trying to limit those who don‘t qualify for healthcare from entering.

Thanks for that. I am closely monitoring developments here and there. we do have a plan for isolation if/when we arrive. Will keep monitoring the situation and make a decision whether to stay or go once the restrictions are lifted on this end.

 

[steaky]

1. Taiwan is an island, which makes it easier.
2. Taiwan reacted very very selfishly as well (ban export of certaind PPE). If every country that does have large production would do that, then lot of countries are screwed.
3. Also they were just lucky, as it so happened China was punishing them just before this outbreak and not letting chinese to visit them.

1) Australia and Japan is also islands. Why the situation differs?
2). Taiwan is not selfish. Do you support spreading the virus? Why don't you criticize the countries acted so slow to change its manufacturing lines to produce more PPE?

100% agree with this. The travel ban (put in place for entirely different reasons) was a saving grace for them. We were in mainland China in November (just pre-COVID) and spoke with several people who were impacted and were having difficulty visiting relatives there. China basically doesn't think Taiwan is a separate country whereas Taiwan does. That's really the crux of the issue.

100% disagree with this. I was in mainland China in January (returned just before the whole world know about the lockdown of Wuhan). While I was there, no one wear PPE.

 

[scylla]

100% disagree with this. I was in mainland China in January (returned just before the whole world know about the lockdown of Wuhan). While I was there, no one wear PPE.

My post had nothing to do with PPE. Not sure where you got that from. I was referring to China's travel ban to Taiwan that was put in place last summer. Pre-COVID, there was already a travel ban in place limiting travel from China to Taiwan.