#UAE2017 Series: How to Sponsor Your Family For the Holidays

On a previous post, I mentioned that I wanted to share how I went about preparing my family's documents for the Eid holidays here in the UAE - and here it is finally!

Sorry, it took so long - I had a lot of things happening up until yesterday like my CPB exam, getting denied for an SK visa (HUHUHU), month-end submissions, GOT7, etc. etc. that I didn't have enough time, emotions nor brain cells left over to do the list. BUT NOWWW, I'm ready! Let's get it on!

Okay, the first thing I did, as I mentioned previously, was that I purchased the 399aed sale flights from Cebu Pacific Air. It's a budget airline from the Philippines and you have to be really alert on their flash sales (usually midnight local PH time) and subscribe to their newsletter or follow this blog to be updated the minute that things get interesting. You have to be patient though, as the website lags from too much traffic during these times.

I bought the ticket in December '16 but I only prepared their documents in June, which was a only a month prior to their flight. On their end, the documents that they needed to prepare were the following to present to immigration officials:

1. Passport (at least 6 months' validity)
2. Original UAE visa (pink copy)
3. NSO Authenticated Marriage certificate (for my parents)
4. NSO Authenticated Birth certificates (for my brother and me as proof of relationship)
5. Flight tickets
6. Hotel vouchers
7. 9 Day Itinerary

My mom is already 60+ so my visa agent told me no need to process an Affidavit of Support for her and my father's an OFW as well, so the only problem left was my brother. My brother's 27 and unemployed so it's likely that the immigration officer will have a problem with that. Setting aside that he's a med student and he has already travelled abroad (Japan) last year, I sent him all the documents I could think of to ensure that he won't be offloaded, except of course, the controversial Affidavit of Support.

VOCAB:

Affidavit of Support - that thing you need to bypass Philippine immigration going to UAE if you're sponsored by a resident.

Here's what I prepared for them, which I sent via courier along with their visas:

1. Residence Visa
2. Emirates ID
3. Passport Copy
4. Salary Certificate (signed and stamped by HR)
5. Printout of my latest OEC and OWWA membership
6. Invitation Letter

I made sure each of them has copies of all my documents in case they were evaluated individually. Good thing was, the officers didn't even look at their papers, only the UAE visas and their passports and they were able to go through smoothly!

Really, if you know you know in your heart and mind that you're really just travelling, there's nothing to be afraid of. Like with my SK visa denial, I don't take it too much to heart because I know that I would be going there only to travel and fangirl sooo - their loss, not mine. CHAROT! #antagalngsourgraping #moveonalready

Dubai Sports World

I loooove it!

Happy, honeymooning parentals♥

I'll share our itinerary in another post (again), sa uulitin! ♥