Visa and immigration policies change often, so it’s best to contact the respective embassy to confirm if these privileges still apply. Also, this post is for Philippine passport holders who plan to visit as tourists only.

When we were invited to speak at the world tourism Forum in Istanbul in early 2016, our excitement rapidly morphed into worry when we realized Filipinos are required to get a visa to enter Turkey. It wouldn’t have been a problem any other day, but we were traveling abroad and we didn’t have much more time to apply for one. but a quick online search revealed that e-Visas were available for Filipinos with a valid multiple-entry Japan visa. It saved us. The application took only minutes.

Sadly, Turkey no longer accepts Japan visa as a supporting document. (They limited it to US, UK, Schengen, and Ireland visas.) but it opened our eyes that this whole visa game is much more complicated than we previously thought. Some countries are simpler to visit if you have existing visas from other countries. For example, having a us visa on your Philippine passport will allow you to access numerous other countries. and that’s good news for Filipino travelers given that the Philippine passport isn’t all that powerful. At the school of passport privileges, the Philippines doesn’t sit at the table where popular kids like Germany, Singapore, South Korea or the us have their lunch.

Japan is a dream destination for numerous Filipinos. Over the past few years, visa policies have been unwinded and much more forgiving, allowing numerous to visit Japan easily. but your Japan visa is much more powerful than you think! It comes with numerous other perks. With a valid Japan visa, your Philippine passport will get a bit much more edge.

Here are some countries that you can visit much much more easily with a Japan visa!

WHAT’S covered IN THIS GUIDE?

Montenegro
Mexico
Georgia
More suggestions on YouTube ⬇️⬇️⬇️Related Posts:

Montenegro

I discovered this on my recent trip to Europe’s Balkan region. My Schengen visa wasn’t multiple entry, which narrowed down the countries that I could visit in the area. but then I found out that Montenegro grants entry to travelers of certain nationalities, including Filipinos, offered that they have a valid multiple entry Japan visa!

I emailed their Ministry of foreign Affairs to confirm and they replied with this:

According to the short article 7 of the Decree on Visa Regime, holders of valid foreign travel files including a valid Schengen visa, a valid visa of commonwealth of Australia, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Croatia, Japan, Canada, new Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, the united states of America and the united kingdom of great Britain and northern Ireland may enter, pass through the territory and stay in Montenegro up to 30 days, and not longer than the expiry of visa if the period of validity of the visa is less than 30 days.

A few days later, I was in Montenegro! I went to Kotor and Perast and they were so beautiful!

Mexico

If you have a valid multiple-entry Japan visa on your Philippine passport, you don’t need to apply for a Mexico visa for stays shorter than 180 days. I learned about this because we get invited to a lot of press trips to Mexico at the last minute and we kept on declining thinking we would need to apply for a Mexico visa, which can take days. but when we finally took the time to research, we found out that we didn’t actually need one if we have a valid Japan visa.

Photo by Fer Gregory
According to the Mexican Embassy:

With the purpose of facilitating and promoting travel to Mexico, effective may 2016 all those foreign nationals, regardless of their nationality, going to Mexico for tourism, company or transit are NOT required to obtain a Mexican visa IF they hold a valid (non-expired) Visa or permanent residence of any of this countries: united states of America, Canada, Japan, united kingdom or Schengen area (European Union).

Ting ting ting! Japan is there! but this seems to good to be true so I emailed the embassy of Mexico in Manila to be absolutely sure! Here’s what they said.

So yep, it’s confirmed. You can enter Mexico for tourism with a Japan visa.

Georgia

Normally, a visa can be obtained online using Georgia’s E-Visa service website. but recently, they have allowed Filipino citizens to enter the country if their passport has a valid visa from any of the member states of the Organisation for economic Co-operation and development (OECD), which include (among others) the US, the UK, Australia, South Korea, and (wait for it) Japan!

Ushguli village and Mt. Shkhara, Georgia. photo by creative travel Projects.
I evaluated it by making a synthetic application at Georgia’s E-Visa site and here’s what it said when I entered my Japan visa as a supporting document:

In case the text is too small for mobile readers, here’s what it says: holders of valid visa orresidence permit of the (Philippines) are exempted from visa requirements. You can enter Georgia without a visa for 90 days in any 180-day period. Please note that you should present relevant valid visa or residence permit along with your travel document/passport at the moment of crossing Georgian border.

2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ • 1️⃣ • 2️⃣6️⃣ (updated)
2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣7️⃣ • 6️⃣ • 2️⃣1️⃣ (up)

More suggestions on YouTube ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Related Posts:

12 Asian Destinations for FIRST-TIME SOLO BACKPACKERS

8 distinct hotel Experiences from around the world

Snapshot: winter season Sonata in NAMI ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA

Top 10 best and Worst travel moments of 2016

SAMPLE SEOUL schedule (with Costs)

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN: guide for First-timers

FUKUOKA airport to HAKATA station & TENJIN: By Bus, subway & Taxi

KYOTO DAY trip FROM OSAKA: A diy ITINERARY

despite all the unrelenting developments in Macau, the A-ma temple remains practically untouched.

The oldest temple in Macau,  the A-Ma temple was built in 1488 under the Ming Dynasty in honor of A-Ma (also called Mazu or Matsu), the goddess of the sea. It is believed that she helped fishermen and sailors to reach safety during a storm. Seafarers prayed to her to guide them during the journey.

The temple grounds are divided into six sections. The gate pavilion was the first to greet me and steal my attention. The granite gate is guarded by stone lions and crowned with a roofing system ridge (which looked like horns or a boat), where small animal statues sit. Passing through the gate, I climbed a concrete winding path on the slope of Barra Hill. Every now and then I stopped to admire the words painted on the boulders securely scattered around the site. It didn’t matter how intently I looked , I still failed to understand any of them for they were Chinese characters. I didn’t know it then, but these rocks tell poems and short tales. On top awaited the Hall of Guanyin, made entirely of bricks and topped with a flush gable.

The other structures include the Hall of Benevolence, built in 1488 with granite and bricks. Fronting it is the prayer Hall, which took shape in 1605. also known as the first palace of the holy Mountain, the prayer Hall was constructed in honor of Tian Hou. and then there’s the Zhengjiao Chanlin Pavilion, the most arresting in terms of design and overall appearance. It cradles a shrine also dedicated to Tian Hou and a retreat house. It boasts an ornate facade gate featuring intricately carved wall sculptures. The last structure is the Memorial Arch that towers near the front edge of the site.

A-Ma Temple, Macau
The upturned roofing system of the gate pavilion
View of Largo do Pagode da Barra from A-Ma Temple
Poems written on the rocks
The Memorial Arch and a stone lion guarding the temple
Most visitors come here to light joss sticks and say a prayer
Prayer cards
Spiral joss sticks
I wandered around the dark red houses and squeezed my way into the growing crowd at the site. many visitors had lit joss sticks in their hands and made stops at each pavilion to say a prayer. In one corner I stumbled upon spiral little things, which I could not figure out what exactly until someone lit one of it and the smell of incense floated in the air.

Before I left, I stood in the middle of Largo do Pagode da Barra for one last look at the temple. I stared at this ancient structure long enough to not remember how long. Its warm vibrance was an oddity in the cold grayness under the shadow of the Macau Tower sticking out in the background. located in the southeastern suggestion of the peninsula, it is a bit isolated, making it a tiny isle of silence in the bustling, wrecking ocean that is the city center. The land took its name from here when the Portuguese first beached. somehow this place remains to anchor the wildly ambitious city to the ground. and in this case, it is a good thing, a very good thing.

A-Ma Temple
Largo da Barra, Macau
Opening Hours: 7am-6pm

How to get there: Take Bus No. 6, 8, 9 or 28B

More suggestions on YouTube ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Related Posts:

SENADO SQUARE to ST. PAUL RUINS, MACAU: A diy walking trip

THE RUINS OF ST. PAUL’S, MACAU

4 Must-See hotel Attractions in Macau

Trappist Monastery in Jordan, Guimaras, Philippines

FUSHIMI INARI SHRINE: The Thousand Torii Gates of Kyoto, Japan

5 unwinding Parks and gardens to visit in MACAU

MACAU travel guide with budget schedule

HONG KONG TO MACAU BY FERRY or BUS (via Sea Bridge)

From the amazing Oasis town of Siwa, we negotiated a ride with a jeep motorist (that fit in our backpacker budget). us and our 2 Canadian friends were planning to cross the great Sand Sea to the next Oasis town of Bahariya. It took a day of bargaining a price, 6 hours driving and 8 military check stops to get there, but was worth it.

We were all exhausted after the journey and after the last 6 days of relaxing, swimming in freshwater springs and many bike rides through palm groves and farmland (I know, hard life we lead!), so we just hung around our hotel in the garden area reading and enjoying cups of tea and coffee.

We had some really informative chats with the owner of the hotel. He was very modern/westernized and spoke best English. He was talking to us about the revolution and how the prince took his farmland from him 10 years ago …just because he could. The owner had no say in it and could not protest. To do so would likely land him in prison or worse. just a couple of weeks ago (since the Revolution) he got a call from the military who not only returned the land to him, but gave him a few extra acres for his troubles. He was very emotional when telling us about how the Egyptian, Tunisian, Lybian and lots of other Arab countries have been treated by the ruling dictators over the last 40 years.

The beautiful grounds at our guesthouse in Bahariya, Egypt
We parted ways with our friends and Nick and I headed out into the desert on a one night safari. just us and our guide. this time was nothing like the camel safari we did in India, we were in a 4×4 land cruiser stocked with food, mattresses, blankets and even a table! We first went through the fantastic black desert where the sand transforms from golden coloured to black from the volcanic rock. We also saw Crystal mountain (mountains full of quartz) and a Bedouin village with a natural hot spring for swimming. It was like no other desert we have seen, the landscape changed from massive black sand dunes to golden sand then to blindingly white rock formations jutting out of the ground, in the shapes of rabbits, Sphinx, chicken and camels!

The sensational Black Desert in Bahariya, Egypt
The Goats On The road at the beautiful Black Desert, Bahariya, Egypt

Unreal formations in the White Desert, Bahariya, Egypt (see that tiny black speck on the ideal hand side? It’s Nick!)
This formation in the White Desert is indicated to be a chicken looking up at a tree…see it? Bahariya, Egypt
We made camp under the stars in the middle of the white desert for sunset. Our guide set up our camp for us, perfectly. He even had a wind screen so we wouldn’t be cold in the night. After the sun had set, we had a amazing BBQ chicken dinner (cooked ideal over the coals) complete with a vegetable stew, rice and bread, all took pleasure in under the stars…then the foxes showed up! I couldn’t believe it, there were 5 of them around the camp intending to scrounge up some chicken bones. around 6:00 in the morning our guide said he woke up and there were 2 foxes sleeping at my feet, just like a domesticated pet dog would…we were told there were cobras in the desert so maybe the foxes were protecting me.

Setting up our camp for the night in the White Desert, Bahariya, Egypt

Cooking fantastic chicken over the fire, White Desert, Bahariya, Egypt
The friendly fox of the desert! Bahariya, Egypt
Every opportunity we have to be out in the desert, we take. The desert is the most peaceful, tranquil place. The silence is deafening. The sound of a bird flying overhead sounds like an airplane and there’s no one around for miles and miles. but the best part is the star-gazing, there’s not a single light around (except for the campfire) making the stars appear so bright and numerous. For us, the desert is an oasis away from the hustle and bustle of the city life and rigors of independent travel. We always have the best experiences and memories that we will keep forever. hopefully there will be a lot more desert trips in the near future.

EGYPT travel BLOGS

budget BACKPACKING guide TO EGYPT

Like this Post? Pin it!

Disclaimer:Goats On The road is an Amazon associate and also an affiliate for some other retailers. This indicates we earn commissions if you click links on our blog and purchase from those retailers.