Consulate Review: Manila, Philippines
Review Topic: General Review
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
August 17, 2012 |
| Embassy Review : |
Date of Interview: Originally August 9, 2012 but due to Habagat it was rescheduled to August 17, 2012
Time of Interview: 6:30 (arrived at 5:45am, finished at 8:30am)
Note: I have a two-year-old son in tow. I was not allowed to have another companion with me because my son looks like a 4-year-old boy =).
1. Queue outside US Embassy
- When we arrived the queue went up to the overpass which was like a block away from the entry gate. There were people who came as early as 4:00am (talk about early birds). And many of which were those who were cancelled last August 7-9 due to Habagat.
- At exactly 6:00am, the counter outside the gates opened. Here the line progressed. You need to prepare your passport and your appointment letter. It will help if you tuck your appointment letter on the biographic page of your passport. Here, you will be given a ziplock bag, mainly used to hold your passport. You have to put your passport inside the bag open with the biographic page showing. They will put a sticker on your passports. Since I have a child with me, he attached our appointment letter together, asked for my son's age and noted it down on the letter "with 2 y/o child" (I guess this is a priority note). We were not given 2GO forms because I registered our delivery address online through the US Embassy website.(This helps you know, no need to bother yourself with filling out forms inside the Embassy). You will then be instructed to enter the 3rd door.
2. Entrance Gate (3rd Door) -6:30am (yes the queue was long)
- As mentioned before, make sure you don't bring any food or water inside. Only baby formula is acceptable. Don't worry, there are 2 food stalls inside the waiting area, selling water, juices, coffee, cookies etc. The other one is the Sabrett stall (Hotdog stand)
-As we approached the 3rd gate, the security guards called on the ones with kids first, so we didn't waited that much here. Inside you will go through the 1st scanning machine like the ones in airports. Your bags will go through the machine while you go through the scanning door.
- After the first scan, you will line up at one of the windows to be given a number. Give your appointment letter, and a number will be stapled onto it, and you will be given a stub bearing the same number. We were given two numbers 5030 & 5031. NEVER LOSE THIS STUB, AND KEEP THE NUMBER IN YOUR HEAD AT ALL TIMES.
- You then head to the building proper. For immigrants, you go directly inside the building (for tourist & seafarers, they are asked to wait outside first, in the waiting area) where the second scan will happen. Here you just give out your bag to the guard for checking & go through the scanning door.
3. Inside - 6:45am
- The first thing you do is to drop off your appointment letter (with the number stapled to it) at window 39. But an Embassy attendant was kind enough to drop off our appointment letter for me because I have to run after my son who was running around (talk about hyperactive boys). Please don't forget to do this because halfway through, the attendants found out that some were still holding on to their appointment letters (mostly senior citizens) reason why their number is not being called.
- ALWAYS KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BOARD IN FRONT OF YOU. If your number flashes, go right up to the window indicated.
6:50am
- Our first call was to window 43. Basically, finger scanning area:4 left fingers together, then 4 right fingers together, then 2 thumbs together. You will be asked for your name & date of birth. For my son, she just asked to see him (so I have to carry my heavy boy) his name & date of birth, no finger scanning.
- I can see that my son is getting bored, he was running around & is not enjoying Cartoon Network ( better if it's tuned in to Disney Junior) so we went outside to buy Oreo (Php15.00) & Wilkins water (Php30.00). He was halfway through his last piece when our number flashed in the screen 5030 to Window 54.
7:30am
- This was with the Filipino pre-screener. She asked for our passports, and stapled it onto our file folder. She also gave us back our pictures, she said those were extra. Basic questions were asked:
-Who was our petitioner?
-How did we meet?
-When did he enter the US?
-How did he got his immigrant visa?
-When was he naturalized?
-When did we got married?
-Visits to other countries of 6 months or more?
-Asked to see a copy my husband's W2
-Asked to see family pictures
- I answered and showed everything she asked. For the dates, no need to be specific, month & year is enough. She then asked me to sign Part 2 of the DS-230 both for me & my son. She then asked me to wait for the consul officer to call our number & wished us Goodluck...=)
- It was only like 7:40am & the consul windows will only open by 8:00am as informed by the Embassy attendants but she said some opens before 8, so we were keeping our fingers crossed that hopefully they do since there were really a lot of people inside (for Immigrants). No more chairs, as in some were already standing.
7:55am
- Our number was called to Window 59. We were the first one to be called among the Immigrants. Our CO was the Chinese American guy, he was the first open to open his window ( we were lucky). He asked me to raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth. He didn't ask much but was more engrossed in inputing data in the computer. Questions he asked were:
-What state is your husband based?
-When did you got married?
-Did you apply for visas before?
-Asked for some wedding pictures & family photos
- He was very nice. Smiling at my son because when he was browsing through our pictures my son said "That's my Dada & me!"..He said "Yes (addressed my son by his name), I'm trying to help you out here to be with Daddy =). Thank you for being in a good mood today, you make my job so much easier." He also said "So, (my son's name) looks about 4 y/o?", I answered him "Oh no, he's only 2 years & 9months old" =) Then he said "Oh such a big boy, American size, indeed"..LOL...He really took his time to make us feel relaxed. He even said to my boy because he was getting naughty on the window table "(My son's name) I want this to be a positive experience for you.". Such a nice guy.
-In the end, he told me that he approved my visa, however he apologized as for my son, they just need to encode something in their system. But he said, "Don't worry, it's us who needs to do something. That's why I apologized. It won't take long but I cannot promise you the exact time.". I was not given any slip as well. He just informed me to wait for my number to be called in the 2GO counter. He said Congratulations and Welcome to America!.
8:15am
- Our name was called to Window 73 2GO counter. He informed me that my visa was approved today and that my son's visa was approved as well, they just need to complete some encoding in the system. "Maam approve naman may kulang lng silang naencode baka mauna lng ng konti visa mo, wag ka lang magtaka. Pero no worries kase approve naman kayo pareho. Sandali lang toh." That made me feel better and I think I saw someone post a review with the same scenario & I think same CO. She received her son's vsa a day after her visa arrived. So I am relieved...=)
- God's good time finally came for us! Goodluck to all those who are next in line.
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| Rating : |
Very Good |
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ver 5.0