Passport activity check!

ScabbyLeg

Hi all,
in a recent trip abroad I was left standing at passport control for 20 minutes while they figured out why I was already listed as being in their country.

This happened in the Philippines where everything is a bit chaotic, so it was probably just a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of something, considering the very unllikely odds that someone had cloned my passport AND travelled to the Philippines with it! I had never been there before so it couldn't have been an old listing in their system.

Anyhow, I was wondering if or how it's possible to have a check on one's passport carried out to see if there has been any unusual activity. Does anyone know how I can get this done? I don't live in Ireland so I can't just drop in to my local passport office... but I could do it next time I'm home (provided the thing doesn't get taken off me trying to travel there :pac:)

Maybe the easiest thing is to get a new passport, but well that's a bit of a hassle too...

Thanks

BuffyBot

The passport office doesn't keep any records of where your passport has or has not been. You can't "check" it's activity. Most likely it was just a random event.

RATM

From personal experience I'd say Filipino immigration aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the box.
OP was there a possibility that they were holding you up in the hope of being paid some sort of a bribe? They tried this on us at Zamboanga port, Id say its less likely in an airport than a sea port but still possible nonetheless.

There are pretty much two things that are endemic in the Philippines: Corruption and Catholicism.

robinph

Each country will suppoedly be keeping some kind of record of what passport number enter and leave their borders, but the issuing countries have no record of where their passport go to.

Just some feck up on the Phillines end, or they just did it for a laugh maybe.

ScabbyLeg

Thanks for the input. As you say RATM, it's all fairly chaotic over there. After being brought to a number of different desks and having already been asked if it was my first time in the Philippines (Yes!) some supervisor type guy said that I was already in the system. From my experience of the whole time I spent there, I could imagine that this 'system' consists of a shoebox full of scraps of paper.

Just as they realised that it was some mistake, the guy asked me if I was married (?? and I was travelling alone) and how old I was (it says that on the fcuking passport!), appeared to do some mental arithmetic and let me through a few minutes later.

Maybe they were looking for money, I hadn't thought of that. Or else, if my passport hadn't been cloned before, then it could well be now!

The whole experience was fairly bizarre, and the whole seemingly illogical way that they operate left me borderline paranoid the whole time I was there.

RATM

Haha, that would be Filipino immigration alright :pac:

I wouldn't worry too much about your passport being cloned, more likely a crim would want it stolen than copied.

Other than your entry problems did you have a good time there ?

I certainly did, a litre of rum and 200 smokes were only €4.50 on some of the islands, happy days;)

ScabbyLeg

Ah unfortunately I was there for work, and just for two days (a bit short when it took about 25hrs to get there!). I stayed in Makati City in Manila and really just had a couple of hours on both evenings to wander around, I really just made it to an area called the Green Belt which was fairly westernised, large green open areas, shopping centres, boutique type places and restaurants.

Manila is a huge city, with about 20m population, but being made aware of the extreme wealth divide, poverty, slums and general chaos of the whole place didn't leave me recommending the city as a holiday destination! From what I've seen of the surrounding islands and beaches though, it looks like paradise, a completely different world altogether.

RATM

Yeah Manila is a hole of a city, worst in Asia IMO. The pollution there is something else, when you see locals wearing face masks to filter the air you know things are seriously wrong.

The beauty of the Philippines is definitely the islands, as you say there are some places there that are pure paradise...