scorched

Western passport holders will never understand. To go anywhere with a third worlder passport like a Filipino one, you need your tax returns, certificate of employment, bank statements, marriage certificates, sometimes a recommendation from a citizen of the country you want to travel to, everything possible to prove that you have a job and a family at home and you're not planning to be an illegal immigrant, JUST to get hit with a rejection because the embassy didn't believe you had enough proof.

Americans and Western Europeans will never understand how insanely hard and bothersome it's to travel anywhere with a weak passport, let alone immigrate.

EU Advice to people who have friends in places with weak passports- go to your department of foreigners and ask for something that called Formal Letter of Invitation or something similar. It usually is called something similar and costs a few euro/whatever currency you have. It will not be more than a fancy coffee at Starbucks or such place.

Also true of America—I don’t know whether you can get one written for you at an agency, but you can just write and send a letter yourself! A formal letter of invitation can speed up the B-2 (tourism visa) process immensely, it’s helped get my Georgian friend to visit after having been rejected twice. You include a number of specific details and send it either to your friend/family directly, to the relevant consulate, or both. Here are good templates to follow:

the idea of the cavalry having a semi-armoured uniform plagued my mind 💔

Thai merchs are always so good 🥹

He's "Yes Ma'am"ning his way through it and I respect him for it