OMG, Why did they do this to us?

[TexPamp 0]

Thursday Sweetie printed out all the forms (DS156, 156K and 157) in preperation of her interview and on Friday she took all to the BPI Loyola in Quezon City with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.

On her way back she stopped at a 7-11 for a little snack and a drink all the while sending me Yahoo Messages from her cell phone. I hop into bed as it was late for me and I have to wake early and no sooner does my head hit the pillow I get the DINGY noise on my computer and laptop (I have 2 YM IDs and we use both) So I hop out of bed happy as can be. You see, ever since Sweetie went to live with her mother We aren't actually ONLINE with cam, only YM-SMS lately so to see her on cam is a real treat these days.

Blah, Blah, Blah, we talk about this and that, Yada, Yada, Yada, I loved it.

Then we get down to business and talk VISA business. Sweetie tells me DS157 is validated but blank. What do you mean blank. She tells me Yes, blank but Validated. #######? Why would they validate a blank DS157 and why was DS157 blank when we were both online the night (day) before and she printed all fine. Well we had some miscommunication and it lead to a big confusion whether DS157 was printed blank or filled up, when, where, why and it became very frustrating with our misunderstanding.

In the end it turns out that Sweetie printed the DS156, 156K and 157 just fine BUT when she got to BPI Loyola the person assisting her GAVE HER A BLANK DS157, VALIDATED IT AND HANDED IT BACK TO SWEETIE AND TELLS HER TO FILL UP THE FORM WITH HER INFORMATION.

Why in the world did they do this to us? We decided on 2 options, just fill up the validated DS157 and go with that OR go back to BPI Loyola and see if they will vailidate the proper DS157 that Sweetie printed on Thursday.

I am so frustrated at this point I would prefer Sweetie just hand write on the blank DS157 and run with that. I hate to see her run all over the country side and city for THEIR mistake BUT I am also a bit ####### about this VISA business that I would like to have everything perfect BUT like I said, Sweetie is doing all this by herself. Now bless her precious heart and contrary to my suggestion she is going back to BPI Loyola today (Saturday) to see if they will validate the printed DS157 and correct their mistake.

But before she heads out, does anyone see any problem with her hand writing her information on the validated DS157? I would appreciate any and all suggestions and input.

Thank You

TexPamp

[Passing.star 0]

There's really no problem with handwritten DS forms as long as she write it neatly and correctly. My DS were handwritten before and everything went smoothly.

[Dakine 26]

Banks rarely accept your filled in DS 157 and give you a blank one stamped paid.

Have her fill it in by hand or typewriter [still have them in PI] and make a copy.

[vichygurl 1]

The bank really will give the blank validated form and she needs to fill this up. What happen to mine is same thing.. I have no idea that there are infos in that form at the back coz I brought with me a DS157 form fully filled up from the downdable forms here in VJs. Would you believed that I filled the informations inside the USEM while waiting for the line to get a number? but then it would be so easy coz I already have the infos in my fully accomplished form the one that I printed up in the net so no worries..she just need to transfer the infos from the form she has to the form the bank has given her (the one that is validated) and that is what she is going to submit in the USEM officer who will ask for it.

Good luck!

p.s. don't worry about hand written thing. Thats ok!

vida

[dbears 1]

As others have mentioned it won't be a problem. BPI will not validate a prefilled DS157 form, they will just give you a blank form but no worries, the DS 157 is easy to fill up coz it only has few questions unlike the DS156. Just tell her to use black ballpen when filling up the machine validated form.

She should submit 1 prefilled DS157 and 1machine validated (hand filled) form from the bank. I have read others here (applicants from few months back) who submitted 2 prefilled DS157 and 1 machine validated blank DS157 form but I don't know if it is still ok to submit 3copies of DS157.

Good luck and God bless.

[I luv my chappara 0]

As others have mentioned it won't be a problem. BPI will not validate a prefilled DS157 form, they will just give you a blank form but no worries, the DS 157 is easy to fill up coz it only has few questions unlike the DS156. Just tell her to use black ballpen when filling up the machine validated form.

She should submit 1 prefilled DS157 and 1machine validated (hand filled) form from the bank. I have read others here (applicants from few months back) who submitted 2 prefilled DS157 and 1 machine validated blank DS157 form but I don't know if it is still ok to submit 3copies of DS157.

Good luck and God bless.

i had blank ds 157 too, coz im lazy, i just stapled the blank ds 157 to the one that I printed already,, no problem with it..

Edited July 11, 2008 by I luv my chappara

[ez2007 1]

I saw one applicant submitted 3 DS 157 (2 sheets printed online and 1 blank with bank validation). The guy inside the booth accepted the 3 DS 157. There are 2 people inside the booth who are assigned to get the DS Forms and to give the applicant his/her priority number.

Just to be on the safe side, have the blank DS 157 filled up 'coz I also saw several applicants being told by the lady inside the booth to come back on the line after completely filling up the blank DS 157 and had to return to the line several times 'coz that lady had sharp eyes (like an eagle).

Good luck. .

[chris-lei 1]

When I paid my visa fee at BPI, I was asking the teller if she can validate my payment on my prefilled ds157 form. But the lady teller didnt get my ds 157 form. Instead, she used the ds157 from the bank. As I am an ####### person also, I looked for a typewriter (it took me a day to get one!) and typed the entries. Dont worry about handwriting the entries, the clerk at USEM will accept it.

On my interview, I had (3) ds157 forms. They got 1 copy of my computer print out ds157 and the typewritten one.

Dont sweat out much on small details like these. Everything will be fine! God bless!

[mrsartis 10]

HI there,

hmm its always like that when you pay for the visa application.. they would give you the DS-157 with no thing onit but the 7validation at the back.. you can type your details there but its also ok, if it is stapled with the other two DS-157 that was printed over the Internet..

youa re almost there.. Good Luck!

[envy_me 18]

i had blank ds 157 too, coz im lazy, i just stapled the blank ds 157 to the one that I printed already,, no problem with it..

me too.. i did same thing..

[TexPamp 0]

Thank you all for your responses WE feel much better now.

Either I did not read thouroghly enough or it is simply not mentioned in the guides but this one really snuck up on us.

Thank you all

TexPamp

[timcass_12 5]

I didn't have a problem asking the teller to validate the pre-filled out copy of my DS 157 when I paid my visa fee last May and she did it without any hesitations B) I guess that it's the only BPI branch that accepts filled-out DS 157 for validation because my former officemate also paid her visa fee in there and she also gave the teller her filled out form.

To all Makati resident applicants in here or if you're just within the vicinity, I suggest you pay your visa fee/DS 157 form at MSC-6750. That's the office building in between Makati Shangri-la and Glorietta.

Edited July 13, 2008 by timcass_12

[shes 0]

I saw one applicant submitted 3 DS 157 (2 sheets printed online and 1 blank with bank validation). The guy inside the booth accepted the 3 DS 157. There are 2 people inside the booth who are assigned to get the DS Forms and to give the applicant his/her priority number.

Just to be on the safe side, have the blank DS 157 filled up 'coz I also saw several applicants being told by the lady inside the booth to come back on the line after completely filling up the blank DS 157 and had to return to the line several times 'coz that lady had sharp eyes (like an eagle).

Good luck. .

3 DS-157??? what? i thought the embassy is asking for 2 - as stated on this website : http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwfk1en.pdf

and on my understanding, il have to just submit 1 filled on the net DS 157 and another 1 "validated" DS 157 with hand written answers

ano ba talaga?