Invitation Letter to Come to Singapore

I do not have the exact date as to when the Philippine Bureau of Immigration started to have the policy of asking Filipinos going to Singapore to present a notarized (with official red seal) Invitation Letter from the Philippine Embassy of Singapore.

There seems to be a lot of talks about the legality of this policy. One person shared his opinion about this in inquirer.net online portal entitled "Invitation Letter" has no legal basis.

One particular blogger in Singapore named Jel, even wrote a letter to Vice Consul of Philippine Embassy of Singapore and the reply is the following (quoted from his comment in his blog):

Please be informed that the Affidavit of Invitation, or the invitation letter, may be required by the Immigration officer at the airport in the Philippines to verify the traveler's status as a bonafide tourist. This requirement was reinstituted as a preventive measure against illegal recruitment and human trafficking, which has recently risen in incidence.

The sponsor or host in Singapore will need to execute the Affidavit of Invitation at the Embassy for the person in the Philippines being invited. This Affidavit, in the original, may be requested by the Philippine Bureau of Immigration upon the departure of the invitee from the Philippines.

This Affidavit of Invitation is not a guarantee that the invitee will be allowed to travel and enter Singapore.

In short, whether you have an Invitation Letter or not, the assurance of you being able to leave the country going to Singapore is not guaranteed.

The idea is you just have to prove that your stay in Singapore is just for pleasure as a tourist. Therefore you must have to convince the Immigration Officer (IO) with whatever proof that you can present including the money to support your holiday vacation.

Nevertheless, having the said Invitation Letter with you, gives you a little advantage in case the IO will resort to ask you to present it. This will be your last resort, so make sure you do all the smooth talks and be as confident as you can be. Take note that IOs in Singapore will not ask you to present this, only the IOs in the Philippines.

How to Apply for Invitation Letter

You just have to ask your relative or friends in Singapore to go to Philippine Embassy and submit an application for it.

What to Bring

1. - Original Passport of Relative/Friend in SG 
2. - Work Pass (EP/SP/etc) of Relative/Friend in SG 
3. - Pen (This will help speed up the process) 
4. - Some Coins (For photocopying) 
5. - Money (42.50 SGD for 1 invitation Letter) 
6. - Details of the person to invite (Name, Age, Passport Number) 

Steps in Applying

• 1. Register at the guard house and tell him that you will secure an Invitation Letter 
• 2. He will tell you which window to proceed (it was in Window 5 the last time I applied) 
• 3. Secure yourself a priority number 
• 4. When your number is called proceed to designated window (i.e. window 5) 
• 5. Tell the person in charge that you will be applying for an Invitation Letter for your Friend/Relative 
• 6. He/She will give you a form to fill out and will ask you to photocopy the Passport and Work Pass 
• 7. After filling out the form, queue back to the window (priority number is not required) 
• 8. Submit the duly accomplished form and the photocopied documents 
• 9. He/She will inspect the document and will tell you to go to the cashier for payment 
• 10. Present the document to the cashier and pay 42.50 
• 11. Go back again to the designated teller window and queue again for the submission (priority number is not required) 
• 12. Submit the receipt and the documents 
• 13. He/She will tell you to come back the next working day for releasing 
• 14. Come back on the date of releasing and (hopefully) you will have now the Invitation Letter

You will then send the original Invitation Letter to your Friend or Relative in the Philippines.

The Invitation Letter form looks like the picture below. I took a photo of it when I was securing one last March 2011.

That's it! Good luck, and hopefully this can help you or your friends/relatives to come to Singapore. God bless.

-karim

P.S. If you have not read my blog post about Finding Jobs in Singapore, please hit the link and read it.

Investment for OFW

Many of us OFWs are not very educated when it comes to Financial domain. That includes me, I had to experience the hardships of financial burdens just to be awaken and realize that I need to do something about it.

Here is a fact, 1 out of my 10 OFW friends doesn't know about Stock Market, how does it work and what opportunities it is offering.

Click Here to Know How a Maid is Investing in Philippine Stock Market.

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This is gonna be the first of the new kind of posts that I will be posting from now on. I felt like this blog needs to lighten up a bit so I think of sharing some bloopers to make you :D or at least :) ...

This is about the usual laugh trip that we have in the office with my fellow OFWs who are mostly coming from Luzon area of the country.

So the story goes like this:

Walang Natira (Nothing Left)

I can't believe it is already six months since my last post to this blog. I guess the life of being a father to my OFW (Overseas Filipino Wondrous) kid (Yes, my 1-year old son is with me abroad :) ) is making my life doubly busy after work and got me fully booked during the weekends.

Hopefully I could post more often now as I don't want to put this blog to the sideline and into the never never land.

Anyway, I was reading posts in facebook when I was reminded of the song from Gloc 9. For those of you who may not realized this, I am a music lover so some of my posts here are about music videos that we all OFWs can relate.

Simbang Gabi in Singapore 2010

Five Days before Christmas. Ninongs (Godfathers) and Ninangs (Godmothers) are trying to catch up buying gifts for their growing number of Inaanak while others are still worrying on the delayed, rumored, sensationalized or imagined Christmas bonus. Anxious Parents, working doubly hard to have something to prepare and share for the kids long-awaited gifts and noche buena. Kids singing Christmas carols on the streets and neighborhood. Vendors experiencing ramp up in sales. What else did I miss? It's so hard to capture everything that is happening back home, while we are working abroad trying to feel the spirit of Christmas in our home away from home.