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Coming home to the Philippines this December
By Atty. Mike Templo

Part 1
If you are currently in the United States with an approved working visa but acquired it thru a change of status from another non-immigrant visa type such as a visitor or student visa, and you want to come home to the Philippines this December, you may want to know certain things.
Mail
If this is your first year working in the U.S., you are most probably renting out a room, apartment, or townhouse. And in most cases, you receive important mail such as letters from USCIS, bills, test results and certifications from educational institutions and testing facilities, to say the least. Therefore it is important that your mail is properly collected and stored while you are away. If your mail is slipped in a letter slot thru your door, make sure you place a basket to act as a receptacle so when you return from your trip, it is easy for you to go thru your mail. If you receive mail thru a mailbox in front of your place, then make sure to ask a friend or roommate to regularly check mail for you. In this case, also make sure to tell your friend or roommate not to open your mail.  I’m sure most people have experienced having their mail opened by a friend or roommate without their consent. You would not want to have to go thru this. Unknown to some people in the U.S., opening someone else’s mail is a Federal offense. Last point about mail, make sure that you are well aware of any deadlines while you are away—whether it be bill payments or deadlines in submitting documents to USCIS.
Pasalubong
Of course, every Filipino who comes home from working abroad will have at least one balikbayan box filled with pasalubong for family and friends.  The amount of pasalubong you bring is directly proportional to the length of time you were away and of course, the clothing sizes you choose for your kids will be off by one-to-two sizes up.  It is worthwhile to coordinate the pasalubongs your buy with your family back home.  And it may be also worthwhile for you not to tell your friends and roommates that you are going back to the Philippines this December.  Hard thing to do but unless its ok for you to bring home their padalas, then its better that you keep it mum.  I’ve heard of one person having to bring his friend’s padala to his friends parents back in the province--- and it was a car battery!
Eating and Drinking
If weight is an issue for you, you will have to let go this December.  Spending your vacation back in the Philippines will entail lots of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with family and friends.  And you will enjoy the taste of all the dishes you have long been craving for.  As with drinking, be careful not to shock your stomach with an overload of tubig poso and local alcoholic beverages.  Regardless of the fact that you grew up drinking these, you have to realize that you’ve been away for quite some time and you’re stomach may not have the same tolerance level.  There have been many cases of balikbayans experiencing stomach problems during their December vacation and you don’t want to ruin yours that way. 

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Part 2
This article is dedicated to being able to take a short vacation without jeopardizing your immigration status.
Scenario #1: You entered the United States on a visitor’s visa (“tourist visa” as it is more popularly known in the Philippines). Unlike most nurses who are hired from abroad or IT professionals who are transferred to the main company in the U.S. and enter the U.S. using the appropriate working visa, most people try to secure a visitor’s visa to be able to look for job opportunities in the U.S. Once a job offer has been secured, a NIW petition and change of status (COS) from visitor to working is filed.
Several problems arise in this kind of situation that you must be aware of. First, it is worth noting that a visitor’s visa holder violates the terms of the visa if his intention is to look for work while in the U.S. In addition, once you violate any of the terms of your visa, the visa issued to you is automatically revoked. Once you apply for your working visa stamp at a consulate or embassy abroad, the consular officer may take your intentions in issue especially when there is only a short period of time between your date of entry into the U.S. and the date you filed your NIW petition and COS. Such short period of time evidences that your real intention when you entered the U.S. was to look for work and not for pleasure or taking a vacation. To avoid being in this situation when you land a job offer, the best way is to return to the Philippines and have your papers processed from the U.S. Embassy in Manila. Of course, you’re going to have to use your persuasive powers on the U.S. Employer and convince him that it is worthwhile waiting for you while you have your immigration papers processed. If you are eligible for an H1B, an argument you can make is that there is such a thing as premium processing – which takes two weeks to get an answer from the USCIS and that the start of the working visa fiscal year is always October 1.
If you decide not to return home but instead process from inside the U.S., your next problem would be the quota issue if you are applying for an H1B. The quota for H1B visas issued every year is 65,000. The past two fiscal years had been lottery style- which meant that not all U.S. employers who filed working visa petitions on time were picked for processing. This was due to a huge number of petitions received by USCIS on the first day of filing H1B petitions were well beyond the quota limit! You can expect that the H1B for the 2010 fiscal year will be lottery style again. This means that there is a huge chance that you overstay and fall out of status if your petition is not picked. When this happens, there is a corresponding penalty and any petitions filed thereafter will be greatly affected it. So again, it’s a safer route to process in your country of origin. If you still decide to try your luck and process from within the U.S., then it would be safe to also file a request for an extension of stay.

Part 3 of this article will deal with the situation where you haven’t received your petition approval yet or your papers are incomplete and your December vacation is fast approaching

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Advice for vacationing OFWs

MANILA, Philippines—As the Christmas season is when overseas Filipino workers usually come home for a vacation, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has issued an advisory on the issuance of POEA travel exit clearances.
In the advisory, vacationing Filipinos are thus advised:

1. If you have just arrived, apply for your overseas employment certificate early either at the POEA main office or at the nearest POEA regional offices and extension units, or avail of the OEC delivery service, so that you avoid last-minute problems prior to their return flights.
2. If you are still abroad, you are encouraged to apply for your OEC at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) in the host country prior to coming home. Or, you may apply for your OEC at the POEA main or regional offices early prior to your return flights to your destination.
The POEA noted that the number of OEC applicants double during this season. The agency’s Balik-Manggagawa Processing Division gets about 2,000 such applications a day during this time of the year.
“Congestion and security are major concerns at the POEA premises. Complicating this situation is the number of OFW applicants who have immediate flights,” the POEA said explaining the advisory that seeks to decongest the agency.
The agency also said that regular processing of OECs has been discontinued at the NAIA Labor Assistance Center (LAC), except for weekend or emergency exit within five days from entry.
It reminded OFWs who have not yet registered with the POEA d to bring their contract and/or certificate of employment, and other proofs of employment in order to be documented and be issued an OEC.
The POEA also advises OFWs to regularly check its website for notices especially before they book their flights.

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