"25 days left."
That was what displayed on the screen of my phone on February 11th, 25 days before my flight to South Korea with my boyfriend. It was a Monday, and I had to be absent from work just because I had a strong feeling that I should be in attendance at the Korean Embassy as I and my partner flip our passports open with our tourist visa. I knew it was going to be a life-changing event for us, and we couldn't afford to be denied - for the second time, as we were six months ago.
In June 2012, Cebu Pacific had a promo offering flights to Incheon and Busan at discounted rates. My boyfriend and I immediately booked a roundtrip flight from Manila-to-Busan-to-Manila. It was when we have booked completely when I suddenly remembered about the visa requirements. We weren't very knowledgeable then about how the application process works. We didn't even know that had we been approved when we applied the first time, we wouldn't have been able to make it either as the validitay of a tourist visa was just for 45 days, and was way too early for our planned flight. Well, it didn't make that much of a difference as we were denied for a tourist visa on that first attempt anyway. Just for reference, below were our credentials at the time:
MINE:
Occupation: Company Employee
Salary Range: Php 20,000-25,000
Company Tenure: 2+ years
Show Money: Php 25,000
Bank Tenure: 1 month
Previous Travel/s: Hong Kong
Reason/s for Rejection: "The documents you have submitted cannot be verified." and "You failed to prove the purpose of entry to Korea."
HIS:
Occupation: Company Employee
Salary Range: Php 20,000-25,000
Company Tenure: 2+ years
Show Money: Php 25,000
Bank Tenure: 1 month
Previous Travel/s: Hong Kong
Reason/s for Rejection: "The documents you have submitted cannot be verified." and "You failed to prove the purpose of entry to Korea."
So, six months later, we found ourselves right on the same exact spot where we were before - sitting on the front row of the first two columns of chairs, hands shaking as we turn to the pages of our passports. After a couple of seconds that seemed like eternity, both ky partner and I laid our eyes on a familiar piece of paper that looked similar to what we've seen six months ago. YES, WE WERE (FOR THE SECOND TIME IN A ROW), REJECTED.
DENIED VISA APPLICATION. Three simple words that hurt us bigtime. It felt like all our plans, efforts, and hopes PLUS the PHP 14,000+ we spent on our airfare WERE ALL PUT TO WASTE (which we cannot refund, by the way!) All these were scrapped for just a single reason: "You failed to prove the purpose of entry to Korea." "That was it?" Yeah, that WAS it. A four-day vacation was put to waste by the consul for that very simple reason. But what were we supposed to say? Lie about our purpose of entry when we jsut really wanted to visit Namsan Tower, Changdeokgung, Hanok Village, Dongdaemun, Cheong-gye-cheon, and other spots in Seoul that we've seen on their Korean novelas? Were we not supposed to have said we wanted to taste and experience Korean food and culture first-hand? Should we have lied and have given them a different purpose of entry for just a four-day visit? Wasn't an applicant who's been employed in a company for nearly three years with a salary range of Php 20,000-25,000 and a bank savings account containing Php 60,000+ not enough for JUST A FOUR-DAY VACATION?
This unforgettable event that my boyfriend and I have experienced led us to one common conclusion: If you are a visa applicant and luck favors upon you then you yield positive result REGARDLESS of how much you earn, or what your bank certificate says. But if you're unlucky that the consul staff who has your documents is paranoid enough to think that you'd be a "TNT" or an "II" in their country, THEN YOU'RE SCREWED.
Another lesson learned was no matter how many ideas people who "ot approved" post on their blogsites, consider them suggestions. NEVER let yourself be intimidated when someone tells you he's got Php 50,000 on his bank and he got aporoved while you only have Php 25,000 for a three-day visit.
Consider these:
Just because a person has only been employed for six months in his current company doesn't mean he will work in Korea illegally, and just because someone has been employed at his company for six years doesn't mean he won't go TNT.
Just because you think your credentials aren't good enough to prove that you are a qualified tourist in South Korea soesn't mean you will be denied, and just because you think your credentials are outstanding to support your own vacation doesn't mean you wilk get approved.
The equation is plain and simple:
Your credentials + Paranoid Consul = Denied Visa
Your credentials + God's time and grace = aapprived visa ^^
In less than three hours from when we left the embassy, my boyfriend and I found ourselves in one of Cebu Pacific's ticketing offices, booking another roundtrip flight for Hong Kong. Now, we're up to a longer vacation in another developed "country" as South Korea, yet, MORE WELCOMING enough to accomodate tourists that are more than willing to generate monet for their National Tourism.
Cheers!
