Will the Philippines immigration officer ask for money as "tips"?

Matthew Lee

In the normal operations of entry and exit immigration you will not be asked or expected to pay any bribes.

They don’t work that way. If they want to extract some illegal cash they will create a special reason. For example just a few years ago they would slip a single bullet into your luggage as it passed through the x ray machine. Then the officer would magically discover it and off you go in hand cuffs. Money was of course the solution to get on your flight. They did this by accident to one very elderly woman who was flying to get medical treatment. The woman did not even own a firearm and it was clearly a setup. Several officers lost their job and I have not heard of this scam being used for several years now.

You don’t want to give them a reason to detain you.

Bribes are usually extracted higher up in the ranks and don’t involve the lowely people working the counters. Unless you’re a contractor or supplier to the government department or agency it’s very unlikely you will ever need to pay a bribe.

If you do need some special service done then there are professional bribers who you would use as a middleman. These are called “fixers” in the Philippines and it’s best to pay bribes through them and not by yourself. They know the going rates and know who to use and will make all the arrangements for you. Very often it’s much cheaper to use fixers than through regular government channels