RapidVisa Blog

Please be reminded that even though nonimmigrant visa fees are valid for one calendar year, options to schedule an appointment are limited.  The U.S. Embassy in Manila schedules hundreds of thousands of nonimmigrant visa appointments each year, and we must accommodate requests both for new appointments and for those applicants who need to reschedule their appointments for whatever reason.  Applicants are only allowed to reschedule twice (not including the initial appointment) without penalty.  If the second rescheduling attempt is canceled, an applicant will only be allowed to reschedule a new date after a waiting period of 90 days.  Please plan your visa application accordingly to avoid problems securing an interview appointment. http://manila.usembassy.gov/nonimmigrant-visa.html#8...

Once your visa is approved, 2Go will either deliver your passport to the location you specified when you scheduled your appointment, or hold your passport at a 2Go office for you to retrieve. There are no extra fees associated with either aspect of this service - the cost for 2Go to deliver or hold your passport is included in the visa application fee. If you chose to collect your passport/visa at the courier office you will need to visit a 2Go office during normal business hours. To find the 2Go office nearest to you, use this link to find it: http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-loc-passportcollection.asp Supporting Documents To collect your passport you must present your original (not a photocopy) government-issued photo ID. We recommend you also bring a printed copy of your appointment letter. Acceptable IDs are:

Driver's License Civil Service ID Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)...

For Philippine Customers you need to make sure that before going to St. Luke's for your medical examination, you should bring all the required documents. Regular Immigrants and K-Visa Applicants a. Valid passport b. Photocopy of Passport Biographic/Data Page, the page in the passport that contains the applicant's photo and information c. 3 pieces recent 2x2 visa photos (2 for submission to the U.S. Embassy, 1 for clinic file) The US Embassy requires you to bring the 2x2 photos for your visa issuance. We regret not to release the medical report until such time that you can provide this requirement. d. Appointment letter from the Embassy or Instruction letter from the National Visa Center (NVC), if available, e. 2 photocopies of your Appointment Letter/ Instruction Letter f. Applicants are also required to provide the name, address and contact number of their petitioner in the U.S.A. Minors (17 years old and below) must be accompanied by their parent or by a legal guardian who has thorough knowledge...

To petition your fiancé to come to the U.S. in order to get married, the United States citizen must file a K-1 Fiancé Visa petition with the USCIS. This is done by completing the I-129F petition package and mailing the completed I-129F petition package along with supporting documents and a check to the Department of Homeland Security in the amount of $340.

New Applications Please have all your original documents and IDs photocopied before going to DFA on your appointment date. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS Personal appearance Confirmed appointment Birth Certificate (BC) in Security Paper (SECPA) issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) or Certified True Copy (CTC) of BC issued by the Local Civil Registrar (LCR) and duly authenticated by NSO. Transcribed Birth Certificate from the LCR is required when entries in NSO Birth Certificate are blurred or unreadable. (Report of Birth duly authenticated by NSO if born abroad) No need to submit a passport size photo Valid picture IDs and supporting documents to prove identity (Please refer to List of Acceptable IDs and List of Supporting Documents) NSO Birth Certificate Birth Certificate (BC) in Security Paper (SECPA) issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) or Certified True Copy (CTC) of BC issued by the Local Civil Registrar duly authenticated by NSO depending on the NSO signatory. In Case...

If you have friends, family or a loved one living in the Philippines you will probably find it necessary to send mail or packages to them. There are few things that you will need to know and consider before sending mail and packages to the Philippines.

Like any other international shipments made outside the U.S., shipping a package to the Philippines may make it subject to Philippine Customs examination. You will want to check whether duties and taxes will need to be paid. And you may be required to fill out customs forms to list the contents and value of your shipment.

There's one mandated functions of the NBI is to act as national clearing house of criminal records and other information for use of all prosecuting and law enforcement entities in the Philippines, of identification records of all persons without criminal convictions. For a long time, the NBI clearance used the paper and ink method in the clearance application. Overtime, it shifted to the new clearance system known as the NBI Biometric Clearance System. It started on July 04, 2011 and continuously expands its operation by opening numerous satellite clearance centers nationwide. Presently, there 63 opening clearance centers nationwide, 16 of them are from regional and 22 from district offices, 11 are from Local Government Units and the rest are located at Malls, in Robinsons, Ever Gotesco, and at Duty Free Philippines. The following guidelines must be observed by the applicants: 1. Applicants are advised to observe proper dress code: shorts, sando, and slippers are not allowed. 2. Applicant should bring...

What is a CENOMAR? It is a certification issued by the NSO stating that a person has not contracted any marriage. Also called a certificate of No Record of Marriage or Certificate of Singleness. A Certificate of No Marriage Record (CENOMAR)  from the National Statistics Office (NSO) is simply what its name implies.

In legal definitions for interpersonal status, a single person is someone who has never been married. A person who was previously married and was divorced or widowed is usually considered an "unmarried" person. If a marriage is annulled, however, or it is found to have been void ab initio (i.e. not valid in law to start with), and assuming the person was not married previously, that individual is single, rather than unmarried.

When requesting for a CENOMAR, the interested party shall provide the following information to facilitate verification and issuance of certification.

CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage) 

Complete name of the person Complete name of the...

A Birth Certificate from the National Statistics Office (NSO) is a vital record that establishes the birth of a child. It is an official form that gives details on the time and place of a person's birth, and his or her name, sex, mother's name and (usually) father's name. The word "birth certificate" can refer to either the original document or a certified true copy of or representation of the original record of birth document. The birth certificate is issued shortly after an individual's birth, after the mother's physician files the required forms with the appropriate government agency, usually the local civil registrar's office. The official birth certificate is stored at LCR where records are archived at the NSO. The birth certificate is used to authenticate one's identity and nationality, and assist with obtaining government-issued identity documents, such as a passport or driver's license. Holding a birth certificate makes it easier to prove citizenship in nations where citizenship depends upon location...

Majority of foreign citizens come from the United States of America. The largest number of foreign citizens in the country came from the United States of America (29,959 persons). The next largest numbers came from China (28,750 persons), Japan (11,583 persons), and India (8,963 persons). Foreign citizens in the country reaches nearly 200 thousand

Based on the 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH), the number of foreign citizens in the country was 177,368 as of May 2010. They comprised 0.2 percent of the total household population.

Three in ten foreign citizens (31.1 %) were residing in National Capital Region (NCR) at the time of the census. Those residing in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao made up 22.3 percent of the total foreign citizens. Region III had 9.0 percent, Region IVA had 8.4 percent, and Region VII had 6.0 percent of...

This article is part 3 of a 5-part series and will cover the entry and exit requirements for U.S. citizens visiting the Philippines as a tourist. This article looks at the requirements for extending your stay, in the Philippines, beyond 59 days.

All applicants for nonimmigrant visas are advised to arrive at the Embassy gates at least an hour before their scheduled appointments and to be inside the Embassy at least 15 minutes before their appointments. You need to make sure that all necessary documents are available on the day of the interview to avoid any inconvenience or delay of your appointment. Although all applicants should plan to arrive early, we understand that sometimes unexpected events do occur.  A one-hour grace period may be granted to the applicant, depending on the circumstances. Applicants are only allowed to reschedule their appointments twice through the call center (not including the initial appointment) without penalty. If the second rescheduled appointment is canceled, an applicant will only be allowed to reschedule after a waiting period of 90 days. Please note that same-day and next-day expedited appointments...

If your stay will take you beyond the initial 21 days, you can visit a local immigration office and apply for an extension of 38 days taking your total stay, in the Philippines, to 59 days. This extension is not a visa and is referred to as a visa waiver. 

This article will cover the entry and exit requirements for U.S. citizens visiting the Philippines as a tourist. This article covers quite a bit of information so it has been written in a five-part series with the first part covering the initial requirements to enter and exit the Philippines without extending or requiring a waiver.

Holders of valid visas in expired passports need not apply for a new visa.  US visas are valid through the expiry date printed on the visa regardless of the passport’s expiry date.  Simply travel with both passports when entering the United States.

Source: http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwhni25.html#06

​A civil wedding, in the Philippines, may be the quickest and easiest way to marry in the Philippines as there are fewer requirements than a church wedding. This article provides an overview of the process and steps required for a civil wedding.

Once the U.S. citizen has obtained the Affidavit In Lieu of Certificate of Legal Capacity to Marry from the U.S. Embassy, he or she is ready to start the process to apply for the marriage license. The license is a requirement for either a civil or church wedding in the Philippines.

Any foreigner who wishes to marry in the Philippines is required by the Philippine Government to obtain from his/her Embassy a “Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage” before filing an application for a marriage license.

For U.S. citizens wanting to marry in the Philippines, there a few things that he or she needs to be aware of. This is not a complicated process but it can be very time consuming and may the requirements may be different than you are used to. This blog article will provide an overview of the process and lay it out in a manner that makes it easier to follow and understand.

St. Luke’s Medical Center Extension Clinic (SLEC) now offers online registration for those applying for a U.S. Immigrant Visa. This online service is to aid in the registration process and is expected to reduce registration time by having most of the applicant's information ready upon arrival at the registration area.

FOR NON IMMIGRANT AND IMMIGRANT VISA HOLDERS FROM THE PHILIPPINES.

As Filipinos going abroad as fiancé(e)s, spouses or other partners of foreign nationals, you are required to attend the CFO's guidance and counseling session in order to secure the Guidance and Counseling Certificate (GCC) and the CFO sticker.

Source: http://cfo.gov.ph/ (Commission on Filipinos Overseas)

Bank Payment Process Change: Review the new instructions for paying at the bank. Starting September 1, 2012, it will be necessary to bring the printed deposit slip to the bank for payment. The bank will not process your visa fee without the correct deposit slip.   Source: http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-paymentinfo.asp...

An exceptionally good video series by the US Consular Office in Manila.  This is a great resource for information on how the visa process works at the embassy!
Have questions about tourist visas? This might have your answers. The consular dispels a lot of myths & provides great insights to the inner working of the consular office.

 
My name was misspelled on my birth certificate. How do I request a police certificate from Hong Kong? Kuwait? Libya? & more...   ...Information from the US Embassy in Manila

Holiday Schedule for the Manila Embassy  The Immigrant Visa inquiry line 301-2000, extensions 5184 and 5185 will not be accessible on the following days: 

• Wednesday, December 21, 2011 from 12:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.;

• Friday, December 23 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.; 

• Monday, December 26 from 7:30 to 4:30 p.m.; and

• Friday, December 30 from 7:30 to 4:30 p.m. 

During these periods, please contact the Call Center at (632) 982-5555 or (632) 908-8930. Alternatively, written inquiries may be sent to IVManilaReplies@state.gov. 



...

For the next few weeks the RapidVisa will be pulling double duty! When we finish answering your questions on the phone or via email, we get busy trolling the streets of Manila for the location of our NEW PHILIPPINES OFFICE. 

A quick explanation of the different types of family-based immigration petitions. K-1 Fiancee Visa, CR-1 Spousal, IR-1 Spousal, & K-3 Spousal visas explained.

The National Visa Center (NVC) assigns each immigrant petition a case number. The NVC case number has three letters followed by ten numbers. The three letters are an abbreviation for the overseas embassy or consulate that will process the immigrant visa case (for example, JAK for Jakarta, MNL for Manila).

All visa applicants, regardless of age, need to complete a medical examination at the St. Luke’s Medical Center Extension Clinic (SLMCEC) before the visa interview. Applicants are advised to have their medical examinations done at least one week before their interview appointment at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

If you are a U.S. citizen and plan on getting married in the Philippines, here are the things you need to know.

One of the requirements for the K-1 Fiancée visa from the Philippines is the Certificate of No Marriage, often called the CENOMAR or Certificate of Singleness.

The CENOMAR is obtained from the Philippines National Statistics Office, or NSO.  It is taken to the embassy interview and is not mailed to the USCIS with the initial K-1 petition.

You can obtain the CENOMAR online here.

 

Find a list of NSO office locations here.

All applicants for a K-1 Fiancée Visa, K-3 Spousal Visa or CR1 Spousal Visa from the Philippines will need an NBI clearance.   The NBI is the Philippine version of our FBI, and stands for National Bureau of Investigations. The image below is a sample of the NBI Clearance.

Philippine-born immigrant visa applicants 16 years and over are required to furnish certificates issued by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).  The green NBI certificate annotated for travel abroad is the correct certificate.  Other colors are for local use only.

Death certificates can be obtained on security paper (preferred method) from the NSO or at www.ecensus.com.ph. 

Certified copies can be obtained from local civil registrars.  As in the cases of birth and marriage, certificates of deaths occurring since 1946 are obtainable from the National Census and Statistics Office. Death certificates before 1946 are maintained at the National Archives Division, National Library Building at T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila. Issuance of a death certificate takes approximately five working days for which there is a fee of 115 Pesos in person or 200 Pesos by mail.

When attending the Embassy Interview for the K-1 Fiancée Visa, K-3 Spousal Visa or CR1 Visa, the applicant is requried to bring their birth certificate. Applicants may obtain birth certificates at any NSO branch for a small fee.  Relatives in the Philippines may obtain these documents.  The NSO can also provide an index of all children born to an applicant. Birth certificates can also be ordered on the website www.ecensus.com.ph.   The site accepts credit cards issued in the U.S., Japan, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong.  There is a flat fee for each document of $20.  The fee includes shipping by courier to the delivery address abroad.