Offloading At The Airport Woes, At It Again? Tips on How To Avoid It

Since it’s travel season and summer, people are taking advantage to cure their wanderlust pills. Lately though, my for you pages on socmeds are being flooded with news and stories about our fellow Pinoys getting offloaded at our airport. 

I may not have experienced it, but for the traveler who saved or worked hard just to buy those plane tickets, it’s absolute disappointment (worse, trauma). One has already planned those trips way ahead, along with the excitement and anticipation and then pooooof —- just going to end up being denied by the immigration. While on the other side of the coin, our immigration has to do their job to ensure potential illegal aliens or human trafficking isn’t tolerated. They may not be my cup of tea at times, but their job ain’t easy too. 




There might be a lot of blog posts or articles about this already, so I will just share my cents worth, in the best way I know how.

The Basics: Common Important Docs for Each Traveler

To simplify this a bit, these are the common documents that must be ready prior to immigration counter: passport, boarding pass, immigration departure card, hotel reservation and visa if necessary (depending on the country of destination). 

Now, this is where I will need to break them down a bit.

a) Passport - Make sure that your departure and arrival dates aren’t leading to 6 months before expiry date. Since most of us book tickets ahead of time, do your diligent check of the expiry. And if you still have enough time, have your passport renewed early on. Otherwise, renew first before booking a flight. 

Kid you not I had an office mate before who ended up going to work on the day of her flight because she was denied (with her luggage at the office). She was denied cause her passport had 5 months left before expiry.

And also, if your passport is fake, which is like cmon guys? DFA is somewhat accessible already. There are even satellite offices so why resort to fake? Better not.

b) Boarding Pass - Aside from this, have a printout of your online booking for the airlines ready. For this, usually it’s those who only have one way online bookings that get offloaded. The expectation, unless you are a legit OFW, is you will return to your home country and won’t potentially lead to be an illegal alien. I haven’t tried cross country or long term travels yet. If you have plans of doing such, try to check known travel bloggers who might have done it successfully.

c) Departure Card - Before you enter the immigration area, there’s a section at the airport where you can get the departure cards that you need to fill up. It includes your basic personal details and important travel deets. As what we always hear nowadays, consistency is key. Therefore, make sure your response to the form will be what you’ll respond during the interview at the counter.

d) Visa - not all countries can be visited without visas. Have this prepped in advance and bring it upon your travel. An approved visa doesn’t totally guarantee you can surpass the offload challenge though. In case you get asked relating to this, make sure you are consistent with your answers, especially if you are sponsored by either a partner, family member, friend or an organization.

e) Hotel Reservation or Place To Stay - Print out the reservation of where you will be staying (eg hotel, hostel, airbnb). If you will be staying in a friend or family member’s place, make sure you provide the exact address. However, if it’s a first overseas travel and you can somehow shell out a few bucks, better book for a place to stay. Itinerary could possibly asked especially if you’re leaving for the first time. It doesn’t have to be very detailed, but at least a list of places you plan to visit per day will be fine.

credits: Asia News Network website


Aside from these four items, there are a few that needs to be prepared as proof for one specific reason — proof that you can support your travels and have the purpose to go back. I know it s***s being part of a 3rd world nation that you need to prove well that you can. Unfortunately, we’ll have to deal with it and just comply. So for now, here’s what you should prepare:

For Employees

> company ID or certificate of employment

For Entrepreneurs / Freelancers

> Business Registration Certificate
> ITR (income tax return)
> Certification from clients as proof of business

For Traveling with Sponsor

> Affidavit of support from the inviter —- Make sure to have it notarized and details should be indicated well.  

A few more final reminders: There are also instances you might be asked of additional government ID’s to support your approval (UMID, NBI Certificate etc). If it’s your first time travel, it will be safer to bring one too.

During the Q&A with the immigration, just answer them properly and consistently with your information. Some officers would twist their questions to see if they can catch if you ain’t a legit traveler. Concentrate during the Q&A. 

True to life, in my first out of country trip, it was kinda nerve wracking cause just like any traveler, all I wanted was to pass the immigration and head off to the departure gate. However in the next trips, the immigration hurdles were at least somewhat smoother (except for the long queues that I still find to be mehhhh). I don’t believe it’s because of sheer damn luck. It’s a matter of compliance and clear intentions and convictions that you’re really up for traveling.

Have you had any cray experiences at the immigration? Hope my basics would help. Share to your friends and family for their future overseas travels. 



Comments