Consulate Review: Manila, Philippines
Review Topic: K1 Visa
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| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
July 4, 2013 |
| Embassy Review : |
We got approved...I think! Strange, I know...well, here is the experience in a nutshell.
First of all, some advice that you may not yet have seen:
1. If you have the US fiance(e) with you, he/she should bring his/her passport AND drivers license.
2. If you have the US fiance(e) with you, leave all prohibited materials with him/her (cell phones, electronics, cigarettes, etc.). A US Citizen is permitted to leave these at the entrance and pick them up when leaving.
3. If you DO NOT have your US fiance(e) with you, leave all prohibited materials at home (cell phone, electronics, cigarettes, lighters, etc.). There will be no where for you to leave them and retrieve them when you exit.
4. Fill out EVERY BOX OR LINE IN EVERY IMMIGRATION FORM, even if you have to write "N/A" or "NONE" or "SEE ATTACHMENT" a thousand times. Write it in with a pen after printing them if you have to. This is NOT what some of the example forms here on VJ indicates, where there are some items left blank (where it is obviously not applicable). The Manila USEM is very strict about this, though. They want ALL ITEMS COMPLETED.
5. Dress code: Most interviewees were dressed in nice, presentable, comfortable clothes. There were some that were there in casual clothes (jeans and t-shirt), especially where there were kids there as part of a family. I was the only male that I can remember wearing khaki pants. Most were wearing nice jeans. Most males (if not all) were wearing collared or button down shirts. I don't remember seeing any shorts, sandals, or flip flops, so I would NOT WEAR THEM. I suggest casual dress if at all possible since you are at the mercy of the people behind the windows, so it doesn't hurt to look nice. But you'll sweat your you-know-what off if you wear a suit or even a shirt and tie. No one at all was dressed like that. Casual dress is my suggestion, and jeans seemed to be perfectly acceptable. Just nothing too casual like shorts, sandals, or flip flops.
6. Try to have breakfast before getting to the Embassy if at all possible. There is a vendor inside the embassy walls, but not inside the building near the interview windows, and you cannot take food into that part of the embassy. If you are not already staying near the embassy, you can go to Blue Wave plaza (near MOA in Pasay) where there are a few good breakfast options. When you're done, you can make sure you have all of your documents, leave your prohibited materials in your car (if you have one), leave your car there at Blue Wave, and cross Roxas Blvd (carefully) to wait for a cab (there are many more cabs going that direction (towards the embassy) than on the side by Blue Wave (towards MOA and NAIA). It is a 5-10 minute cab ride, depending on traffic. Also about 100-120 pesos.
And now for the experience:
Appointment time was 7:30 AM on July 2, 2013. My fiancee and I were both staying in a nearby condo that I am leasing for the month of July (Sea Residences near MOA). We drove to Blue Wave around 6 AM to have breakfast, and from there we took a short cab ride to the Embassy.
We arrived at the embassy around 7:15 AM, and we fell into the fiancee visa line just outside the embassy door. There was a Filipina lady (fairly strict) checking people's immigration forms before entering to make sure they were full and complete. She warned everyone in the line that if there is even a single item blank on any of the forms, that would be reason to have to reschedule. We already got nervous because some of the items were blank on our forms (such as the charts for listing children where all we listed was "NONE" in the first box). The person in front of us was missing a form, and she was sent home. She was told that she had 1 hour to return with the form, otherwise she would have to reschedule. We were next in line, and the lady was nice to us. She stapled our immigration forms together and reminded us to fill in all of the blanks that we currently had, even if we just write "N/A" in all of them.
Then we entered the first embassy door. There are two separate entry doors (US citizens on the left and non US citizens on the right), both with security checkpoints. On the US Citizen side, you can leave small prohibited materials and pick them up when you exit. Just to be safe, we left both of our cell phones at home, but I had to leave 2 USB flash drives and two packs of cigarettes since we brought them by mistake. THIS IS ONLY ON THE US CITIZEN SIDE. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A US CITIZEN WITH YOU, YOU CANNOT LEAVE ANYTHING. They have little numbered compartments behind the security desk, so the materials that you leave should be safe. The US citizen would give them a spare ID (driver's license) that they can leave with the materials, and the security people will give you a numbered tag. Give them the numbered tag upon exit, and they will return your materials.
Once you get through this, your are now inside the embassy walls, but not really yet in the main building (this area is open to the outdoors). You will find an open area with many chairs and a couple of vendors. Fiancee visa interviewees will go to the far end to await further instructions. There are Filipina workers in this area too to give the instructions and answer some questions, but this is mainly where you can complete the blank items on your forms if you have any.
We had a TON of places where we had to write "N/A", "NONE", or "SEE ATTACHMENT". For example, we just wrote "SEE ATTACHMENT" once in a chart that wouldn't fit all information, but they seemed to want it witten EVERYWHERE there was a blank. Also in places where it says "if yes, please explain" we were writing "N/A". We were also confused about which forms we should sign and which ones we shouldn't (since some of them say to wait until you are in front of the consul). We figured we would just sign all of the forms in front of the consul (since it wouldn't take that much longer)...WRONG AGAIN. The Filipina workers insisted that missing signatures is a big no-no, so we just asked one of the workers in this area if we did everything right. She asked us to see a few of the answers on the forms, and then instructed my fiancee to complete certain items and sign the forms (even the DS-156K). At that point, when they are all completed properly, she takes the packet of forms...DS 156(x2), 156K, 157(x2), 230 (part 1)...and takes them inside to the people behind the windows.
We waited for our number to show on the sign (they pop up totally randomly). When it came up, we went inside the embassy building to the indicated window (although I think it is okay to go in as soon as the Filipina worker takes your forms). There is another security checkpoint inside this building, and there are many sections of seats. Fiance visa and immigrant visa applicants will go to the section immediately to the right, and throughout the morning you will work your way over all the way to the right. You will visit four windows in all, and they all proceed from left to right.
First set of windows: you will get called to this simply for digital fingerprints.
Second set of windows (scooting over to the right a little): Filipino pre-screener.
Third set of windows (scooting to the right a little more): Interview with the consul.
Fourth set of windows (all the way to the right): Final instructions.
There is a sign with the numbers being called in all areas, so you never need to worry about not seeing your number.
First window (fingerprints): easy, as that is self explanatory.
Second window (Filipino pre-screener): We heard horror stories about how strict the Filipino pre-screeners are, but ours was incredibly nice! (We may have gotten lucky because we got a look at some of the others that seemed like they might be a bit more strict than ours.) He first asked me how many times I have been to the Philippines, if it was my second visit or third visit. I said fifth visit, and he was shocked! He then asked us mainly for the financial records - specifically the I-134 and the latest tax return and W-2. I told him I had THREE years worth, as well as pay stubs, bank statements, and a letter from my employer...he said "WOW! That's OK I just need most recent tax return and W-2." Looked at it and saw that financial concerns were a total non-issue. He talked with my fiancee for a minute casually about work (because he has friends in her field as well), and then he passed the info to the next window.
Third window (interview with consul): This was so weird. It was an older guy. We were the last people to be interviewed before lunch. He asked me who I was in a slightly harsh tone, and I said that I was the fiance. He asked me for ID, so I showed him my passport. He went through the formalities of swearing us under oath, reading the protection from abuse rights to my fiance, and asked us just a couple of questions. He asked how long I was staying, and he also asked how many kids we are planning. That totally threw off my fiancee, so I just said "oh, maybe maximum of two." - and that's it. No more questions.He asked for no evidence at all. He said something strange thought...that there was a glitch in the computers and there would be a delay of a couple hours, we'll be called to the last window for instructions. No word about approved or denied or need further evidence or AP. We were totally confused at this point. My suspicion (after a few days now) is that he was joking (because we were the last to be interviewed and had waited a long time already) and he already had his mind mostly made up because we had such an obvious slam-dunk case that was well documented, which he probably saw from the initial I-129F petition and the Filipino pre-screener. Not to mention the pre-screener really liked us and may have tagged our file with "no worries on this one" (if they do that sort of thing). Couldn't really tell if he was joking, though. Amazing poker face.
Last window (final instructions): This Filipina woman again was nice to us. She said it seems you have everything in order and you will now wait to pick up your visa at 2GO. She handed us back the interview confirmation letter with a stamp on it. SHe kept her passport and visa photographs, so I assume it really was sent to visa processing. So everything seemed like a non issue at this point. We still weren't sure, though, so we asked the Filipina workers who were in charge of guiding people to the correct places if we were ok and approved and they said that we were.
So basically we are still only about 99 percent sure we are approved. We will feel better later when we get the visa back from 2GO at MOA. We are checking it often, but it has only been 2 days. Plus today is July 4th so I know the embassy is closed. Hopefully everything was so smooth that they saw no reason to make a fuss over anything, and it was all just formalities. I would feel much better if someone would just have said to us the word "approved"...but I certainly will take this over someone telling us the word "denied"! |
| Rating : |
Moderate |
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ver 5.0