US Immigration from Philippines

Well here goes the story:

My vacation to the Philippines was supposed to be from October 9th through the 25th. The first part of the journey went as expected. A Delta flight from Atlanta to San Francisco. I had only been in San Fran once before coming home from the Philippines last year. I arrived around 9:30pm and found my gate first thing. I looked at the time and I seen that I had at least two hours before my flight takes off at 11:55pm. I was hungry so I searched for food. By the time I made it back to the gate, I read a message on the monitor concerning the weight of my personal bag and my carry on bag. 7kg for one and 2kg for the other. I bought my scale with me so I weighed each and one was 7kg and the other was 5kg. 10:30pm. I have an hour to lighten the load. I went to the bathroom and changed footwear and took a few things out of my bags. I was still overweight. I remember the message saying that it will cost $200.00 for being overweight. I thought screw it, Ill pay the fine. When I got back it was 10:50 and I read the message on the monitor again and it actually said that I could avoid the $200.00 fee by checking one of my bag. So I went up to the desk to check in one of my carry on bags and they told me that I could not board the plane. I asked them why and they told me that I did not check in so my seat was given to someone else. I could not believe it. I told them that I purchased this seat back in March and asked how they could sell a seat that was already purchased. On my last flight to the Philippines last year, I did not have to "check in" so I did not think that I had to do this here. The next flight to the Philippines would be tomorrow at the same time. With nowhere to stay and looking at my immediate future, I opted to catch a flight back to where I came from and think about what I should do next.

Bottom line is that I learned a lesson from this experience and that is to check in at the desk at the gate prior to doing any roaming around the airport. I will be heading back to the Philippines next month during the week of Thanksgiving. At least thats the plan.

Hello!

I am petitioning my parents. We got the Documentarily Qualified email from NVC on 9/20. Just want to see how long to expect for their interview to be scheduled. Has anybody here went through the process recently?

Thank you!

Hi All,

My fianc and I ended up having to schedule the medical exam 1 before the interview. I was just wondering if anyone else scheduled it a week out or so and if they had any problems in Manila. I saw a post from 2023 where they did not, but wanted to just check back in.

Hello! Are there any IR-5 applicants here who have not received their interview letter from the U.S. Embassy in Manila and were instructed to schedule their own interview? My parents were DQ d in June 2025. I called the embassy s hotline and spoke with several representatives, all of whom gave me the same instructions. I was able to schedule an interview, but I m just a bit worried they might ask for the interview letter at the VAC or during the medical appointments.

I have been trying to get a biometric appointment for F2B visa application in Manila, Philippines office but it always say No Slots Available. Is there anybody here have the same experience of having difficult time in securing biometric appointment?