We have been travelling around Asia as a Brit-Filipina couple for many years, Julie is on her third passport, she has returned to the Philippines from Bangkok alone on a couple of occasions but has never departed the Philippines alone.

How difficult would it be for her to pass through Philippine immigration and fly to (say) Bangkok alone?

I ask this because flights from the UK to Bangkok are significantly cheaper than to Manila, and if we are visiting Thailand anyway it makes sense to meet there on occasion and make significant savings.

I am aware that mountains of paperwork and permits are required for Philippine OFW's, and that travel can be denied if the correct documentation is not held.

When we flew Manila to Phnom Penh via Singapore together last week she was given extensive checks. I had gone through first with no delay, I went straight through and I was standing behind the immigration official with a good view of his screen. There were two passport scans and two different photos of her on the screen, I could not read the displayed small text.

After maybe five minutes a large yellow status message came up saying "Downloading travel records" (or similar) and there was a long list which I guess were her previous departures from the Philippines.

About ten minutes into the process a large red status message declared "Checking Interpol Status".

Then I was called back to confirm the number of days we are travelling and when she would return.

Would she have been able to leave the Philippines on her own?

Any thoughts are most welcome.