More than sixty days from now, Mon and I will be going back to South Korea to experience winter there — on the condition that we get approved visas. So for this day, we just did our best to get all the basic requirements before lodging our application next week.
First, I obtained my bank certificate from the Bank of Philippine Islands in Gateway (Cubao) and they automatically deducted Php 100 from my account. While waiting for the certificate, I suddenly recalled the million-dollar question I intended to ask the bank but kept on forgetting about it. I was curious on the deduction they do upon withdrawal over the ATM, specifically whether they deduct over the number of times OR the amount of money you withdraw.
According to the bank manager, the limit was Php 20,000 for ATM withdrawal and they automatically impose fee if a person exceeds this amount. Similarly, they encourage people to go over-the-counter for withdrawal of Php 20,000 above. Consequently, they also impose fees for over-the-counter withdrawals less than Php 20,000. I learned something new today.
I also had a dental appointment earlier because my lower braces had to be finally removed. After five years, I’m no longer a metal mouth and I can finally smile with my teeth showing! (Well, I still wear retainers so I still have metal inside my oral cavity, but still.) Anyway, Dra. Cascante has been the only person I could think of when you say the word “dentist” since I knew her when I was still very little. She’s very jolly and lots of stories to tell and I never had an appointment with her without having fits of laughter. We share a lot of qualities too, like being headstrong and independent, so no wonder I like her so much. (Her clinic is located in the 15th floor of Wilshire Plaza in Annapolis, Greenhills — contact her through this telephone number +632-7210369).
As for the BIR Form 2316 and the Certificate of Employment, I almost had a problem yesterday because there was a minor glitch with these documents. Anyway, Mon and I already got these three core documents so we are all set to apply the following Tuesday. I asked my friend and comprehensive exam study partner Raisa over the holiday schedule next week because she is currently working in the Korean Embassy here in the Philippines. She confirmed that October 3, Wednesday, will be a holiday. We will be meeting her in the morning of Tuesday after we lodged our application because it has been a while since we last saw each other. Both of us are currently waiting for the results of our examinations due next month and we desperately hope to pass on our first take.
Back to the visa question, we are hoping to obtain another one again without any problem. Upon reading online, I found out that the Korean Embassy has been quite erratic with their approval lately. Aside from the core requirements of ITR/BIR Form 2316, COE and bank certificate, they now ask for additional documents such as payslips, utility bills, etc. Of course, given my usual paranoia, I will definitely bring ALL of the requirements they might ask for. Better be sure than sorry. We got our seats on sale earlier this year and we cannot lose money over that!
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