Why do people choose the Philippines as the English learning Destination? — Visa Visa Visa!

Hello friends, this is Hayrettln. I am a Turkish student in 3D Academy. A bit of my background. I work as a food engineer in a multinational company in Istanbul. As you know, over the years the ability to use English language has become more and more important to the extent of becoming a necessary skills in the work force every day.

I have decided to improve my English knowing the reality. I’ve chosen 3D Academy in the Philippines as the destination for my English learning journey. Firstly, let’s look at why I choose Philippines as the start of my adventure. In this article I will try to convey what I have experienced in the 8 weeks English course. I spent a total of 10 weeks in Cebu City, 8 weeks at 3D Academy. Hence I guess I am in a good position to answer some of the questions that are currently occupying your mind.

Who are the Filipinos?

The origins of the Filipino are Austronesians, with Chinese, Spanish, American and Arabic presence. In the Philippines, both Filipino and English are official languages. The geographical structure of the Philippines which contains many different islands has made it difficult to establish a monolingual country, hence people communicate using English with each others from different islands mostly. The country has a lot of tropical plants. white beaches, rain forests, and other interesting places of nature. Known for its multi-cultural festivals, Cebu is very popular in the world as travel destination. The Sinulog Festival, held in January and featured with colorful dance shows, reminds me of the Rio Carnival all the time.

A screenshot of a local street in the Philippines

Why did I choose the Philippines?

I have done a bit of research when I decided to improve my English. The general history aside, what really attracted me was the comparatively cheaper prices for food, accommodation and services as compared to other countries.

The local markets in the Philippines with cheap food

Most importantly, compared to other countries like Canada, Malta, America, and UK, there’s no visa requirements to study in the Philippines. I applied for a Canadian and American visa prior to that but all failed. In the Philippines, it is very easy to get and extend a visa. For Turks, we do not need Visa to visit the Philippines for 30 days. When you arrive at the custom of the Philippines, the officer will give your passport a stamp with 30 days visit right in the Philippines after checking your return ticket. If you know that you will stay for longer than 30 days in the country, you can ask for 59 days visa at the custom or go to the immigration bureau to extend the Visa by paying USD $50.

Just arrived at the Philippines airport. A screenshot of their toilet “Comfort Room” is my first visit there

With the loose requirement for visa extension, you can stay in this country for up to a year even. If you plan to travel around different islands in the Philippines, I will recommend that you go to immigration offices in smaller cities instead of Manila. This is because the process of visa extension can last for as long as 2 weeks in Manila while it takes only 1 day with small regional offices. If you are studying in 3D Academy, you will not have to face such a problem because the school performs all your visa transactions for you.

My English learning journey in the 3D academy in Cebu ended successfully and happily. In my next post, I will explain in greater details of the Cebu City.

Thank you for reading.