When my sister, Ate Apol, gave birth to her youngest child, Manoy, in April 2024 in UAE, the original plan was to return to the Philippines and leave Manoy under our care since her work responsibilities prevented her from fully supervising her newborn son. However, things were not as easy as expected. Throughout the process, we felt like we were on a roller coaster, experiencing excitement, disappointment, despair, and joy. This is a developing story.
Problem 1: Acquiring Manoy's Birth Certificate
Once Manoy's birth certificate is released, my sister can move on to familiar steps and return home. Although this sounds simple, as it's not her first time giving birth in UAE, there was an issue: the absence of her husband. In UAE, acquiring birth certificates must be done by the father. However, her husband returned to the Philippines with their daughter, Ashly, in November 2023. Before realizing that the father must handle the application, my sister had already made requests, which I and one of her superiors at work later intervened in, but all were rejected. The issue? We didn't carefully read the instructions provided on the website before initiating the application. Although there were remarks for every rejected request, they lacked clarity, and customer support responses were equally confusing. This led us to...
Problem 2: Providing Supporting Documents from the Father
Her husband, Kuya Bert, needed to provide a Special Power of Attorney granting my sister full authority to handle the process. When we submitted another request with it, it was rejected again without clear instructions on how to proceed. Later on we figured out that the Special Power of Attorney had to be Apostilled by the Department of Foreign Affairs and then attested by the UAE Embassy in the Philippines in Manila. Fortunately, LBC could handle this task, though it would take a couple of weeks to return to us, leading us to...
Problem 3: End of Maternity Leave
Manoy was born in the first week of April, and we only figured out what to do by mid-May. For my sister, who has to return to work in the first week of June, the original plan of returning home with Manoy is no longer considered. Instead, my mother and her daughter will visit her and hopefully take Manoy with them after their vacation. While this may sound like a good solution, it leads us to...
Problem 4: Getting a Travel Clearance
Since Ashly is a minor, a Travel Clearance from DSWD must be secured to allow my mother to take her to UAE. However, the DSWD couldn't provide a Travel Clearance because Ashly holds an active resident visa in UAE, and the accompanying adult is her grandmother. Instead, they gave us a printed copy of a Memorandum related to Administrative Order No. 12. Initially, there was relief, but the travel agency in UAE hired by my sister insisted that a Travel Clearance was mandatory since the minor is not accompanied by a parent. Despite explaining everything to the DSWD on our second visit, they maintained that a Travel Clearance wasn't necessary. Fortunately, the Philippine Immigration, UAE Embassy, and Philippine Airline all confirmed that the DSWD's decision was correct, providing real relief. However, this led to...
Problem 5: Ashly's Resident Visa May Be Nullified
There's a rule in UAE that if an expat stays abroad for more than 180 days, their resident visa will be automatically nullified, requiring either an extension (such as new entry permit) or an exemption. When my sister inquired about Ashly's resident visa status, it was still active. Given our past experiences, we decided to take action based on the rule. Applying for an exemption might be possible for Ashly since her Occupational Therapy concludes on June 5, though their flight is scheduled for June 4. This is already being handled between us and the therapy center. At this moment, I'm waiting for my request from the therapy center, which they assured will be provided, and that's it for now.
UPDATE: It’s currently 4:33 AM, and all three of us—Ate Apol, Kuya Bert, and I—are still awake. The therapy center was able to provide a copy of the Evaluation Report and Certificate of Enrollment, which Ate Apol already submitted to the office she visited yesterday morning. However, it returned feedback asking for additional documents that we've already sorted out. Now we have to wait for the result of the request, but I’m positive that it’ll get approved, and Ashly will be granted entry, God willing. If only the feedback had been sent earlier, we wouldn’t have to stay up this late. However, we’ve been working on this for a month now, and we cannot miss any opportunities at this point. Whenever there’s a glimmer of hope, we race towards it like bugs to a light.
UPDATE: IT'S APPROVED! THANK YOU SO MUCH OUR LORD AND OUR GOD! I am not worthy of Your grace but only say the word and my worries will be cast away.
 |
| Image grab at Forbes |
0 comment(s):
Post a Comment
Hello! Thanks for reading. :]