Immigration Experience: How I Almost got Offloaded

This trip happened 5 years ago, so some of the information may already be outdated. What are written here is based on my personal experience.

October 2016. My trip to Morocco was off to a stressful start.

My experience with the Immigration Officer was not as smooth sailing as I was expecting it to be. I’ve been out of the country before so I thought they would be lenient with me.

But nope! I had to undergo a second screening by an intimidating Immigration Officer that asked me ridiculous questions.

In the Philippines, Immigration Officers are extra strict on young, single, solo travelling female Filipino. This is due to the prevalence of human trafficking and the usual victims are female Filipinos that are illegally recruited for inhumane work. Extra red flag if you are meeting your foreigner boyfriend in a country not frequently travelled by Filipinos (e.g. Morocco).

Immigration Officer: Why Morocco? It is not the usual travel destination for Filipinos.

I already forgot my exact answer to this question but I think I’ve said that we can stay in Morocco visa free for 90 days and that the trip was a late birthday gift.

Immigration Officer: Who is your companion?

My boyfriend.

Immigration Officer: Has he been to the Philippines? If you are travelling with your boyfriend, show me pictures of you together.

I was not able to show her anything because I don’t save our pictures on my phone and I don’t post our pictures together on Facebook.

I was panicking already because I had to ask my boyfriend to send me our pictures together and he was not replying! Boarding was about to start in less than one hour.

Good thing that after few minutes he was finally online and sent me some of our pictures together.

But the Immigration Officer was still not satisfied!

Get this… She asked me what university I graduated and asked for my university ID. Of course I didn’t have my old university ID with me! So I had to show her my graduation photos. :D

She finally stamped my passport and I was allowed entry to the boarding area. I had to run like crazy because the boarding has already started.

Stressful was an understatement!

While I was waiting for my turn to be screened, I witnessed a woman crying because the Immigration Officer did not allow her to board the plane.

The strictness of the Immigration Officers are understandable; they are only protecting people from being trafficked and preventing them from becoming TNT (illegal workers).

So my takeaway from that experience is, it’s better to be overprepared than to be offloaded. Bring all necessary documents, old university ID, and proof of your rootedness to the Philippines like certificate of employments, etc. If you’re meeting a boyfriend in a foreign land, save all your pictures together in your phone or bring other proof of your relationship.

As absurd as this may sound, I also bring my birth certificate sometimes. You will never know what document they will ask next! Lol

Another important tip is to always be honest, consistent and direct. Immigration officers are trained to detect lies. They know based on your answers if you are being truthful or not. If you are not doing illegal, then you don’t need to lie.

No need mag paligoy ligoy. Keep your answers short as possible.

There are tons of available blogs that list down comprehensive tips on how to avoid getting offloaded. Better check that out before facing the Immigration Officers. :D