# Did the way they do ECC change?



## SublationUSAF (May 29, 2014)

So I'm exiting the country July 29. I am on a 13a Probationary visa. We decided not to convert it because we will move to the USA for our daughter's education. 

I rode the motorcycle 4 hours to tacloban to get the ECC from the Immigration Bureau only to have him tell me that I just show my ACR card at the airport and pay a fee. 

He said I don't need an ECC that my ACR card is how I exit. 

It doesn't make any sense to me and I can't see anything on the IB website that says I don't need an ECC. 

What happens if I get to the Airport and I don't have it? Will I not be allowed to leave?


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

If you are leaving the Philippines for good on the 29th of Jul then you need to get an ECC-A in advance, if you are leaving temporarily you would get an ECC-B which you would get at the airport. Reference the Immigration site FAQ: Emigration Clearance Certificate (ECC)


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## SublationUSAF (May 29, 2014)

bidrod said:


> If you are leaving the Philippines for good on the 29th of Jul then you need to get an ECC-A in advance, if you are leaving temporarily you would get an ECC-B which you would get at the airport. Reference the Immigration site FAQ: Emigration Clearance Certificate (ECC)


I mean... how do they know you're not coming back? What is to stop you from just getting the ECC-B and then no returning? Would they deny entry the next time you come back? Or do they need to see a return ticket?

Edit: On a side note... I'm real happy the IB own employee turn me away telling me I didn't need to get it. I told him I was leaving for good and everything. And I rode 4 hours each way to Tacloban on my motorcycle.


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## 197649 (Jan 1, 2013)

On the 15th of May I went back to the US for my grandsons graduation. I showed them my ACR and Passport paid the fee and was done upon return same thing only I had the receipt from when I left just in case the rules changed while I was gone. But no issue there either. But I have a a 13a permanent


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## SublationUSAF (May 29, 2014)

They didn't ask for proof you were returning? 

LOL? How do they enforce people to get ECC-A?


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*Immigrant Card*



SublationUSAF said:


> They didn't ask for proof you were returning?
> 
> LOL? How do they enforce people to get ECC-A?


If you take your I-Card with you and leave for more than a year the fee's will add up big time, this happened to me, I left for 3 years, wasn't sure if I was coming back but I did and my fee's for my Permanent Resident Non-quota 13 Visa, came up to 14,000 pesos for simply taking my card with me. 

I found out much later (wasn't on a forum) that I should have left my I-Card with my wife and she has to take it in annually for check in (310 pesos), forget about your passport stamps and all that, they fine us.


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

SublationUSAF said:


> They didn't ask for proof you were returning?
> 
> LOL? How do they enforce people to get ECC-A?


Why would they care, I think the fees are the higher for the ECC-B than the ECC-A, since it includes the reentry permit etc.


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## SublationUSAF (May 29, 2014)

bidrod said:


> Why would they care, I think the fees are the higher for the ECC-B than the ECC-A, since it includes the reentry permit etc.


AHh... gotcha. 

I'm just trying to avoid going to Cebu. I don't want to go to Tacloban again. Their IB office is like 2 desks in a tiny building inside a slum. Clearly the people there don't know how to do anything other than extend a tourist visa and smell like a toilet.

I don't really understand why they just can't make it so that you buy the ECC-A at the airport like you do a B.


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