I do the work. YOU get the gal (or guy)! Click to CALL or EMAIL the VisaCoach
Fred Wahl (the VisaCoach) is an Immigration Consultant, not an attorneyEmbassy Name & Address
Embassy of the United States of America
Consular Section – Immigrant Visa Unit Manila Philippines
1201 Roxas Blvd., Ermita, Metro Manila 1000 Continue reading “US Consulate Manila Philippines”
Every year, Manila leads the world with the most fiancee visas; being more than three times as many as the next busiest consulate. Guangzhou, China.
We’ve been working together and sent in our winning “front loaded” petition. Now our efforts have been rewarded, USCIS approved, NVC is sending the case to Manila, and now its time to prepare for the final step, the consular interview.
Every year, Manila leads the world with the most fianc�e visas. This is great for interviewees, as the Department of State has commissioned efficiency experts to ensure that the process here is streamlined and works as smooth as possible.
About two weeks after NVC notifys you as the American Sponsor that the case has been forwarded to the Philippines, the case should arrive in Manila to be input into the Manila consulates database. The consulate then sends your fiancee an email or letter telling her she can proceed to prepare for her interview.
Manila no longer mails out a packet with instructions and forms. Instead the notice she gets provides her links where she should go to download forms and instruction sheets as needed, for her to follow in order to schedule the interview.
If she doesn’t get the notice, don’t worry, we can proceed anyway, I have already posted copies of what you need at your online Dashboard
Very important: You really must wait until the case is in Manila. Jumping ahead before the case is actively in the consulates database will only cause confusion, and does not speed processing. Give it a good two weeks from the date of the NVC letter. If in doubt call the consulate to confirm the case has well and truly arrived.
First: Your fiance registers at Travel Docs. This website has been set up to help her book her interview. The bad news is this website has been designed and is operated by the same company that designed the Obama care website. It is difficult to navigate, and worse, it was designed primarily for travelers applying for tourist visas. so Fiance visas seem to added as an afterthought and the online instructions don’t reflect the specific needs of a fiance visa applicant.
After registering, your fiance prints out a machine readable deposit slip, this she takes with her to a local branch of the Bank of the Philippines Islands, in order to pay the consulates $240 visa application fee.
8 hours later, she can return online where the consulates scheduling calendar should now be visible. Here she books her interview.
The calendar is updated in real time. if someone cancels, an opening pops up instantly. The consulate releases available time slots a few weeks at a time a few months in advance. If you don’t see any available time slots, return to the calendar every few days until an appointment time is available.
If having trouble using the online scheduling, I recommend telephoning the consulate’s Visa Information and Appointment Service to have an human operator do the booking.
The consulate emails her confirmation of her interview appointment time and date.
She should print out a copy of this page. She will show it for entry to the consulate on the interview day, as well as entry to St. Lukes for her medical.
About two weeks prior to her interview, your fianc�e should go to St. Luke’s Medical Centre, it’s about a block away from the embassy for a medical. The process takes two days, the first for testing and prodding, such as blood and urine tests and chest x-rays.
The second day for review of test results and vaccinations.
St. Lukes now provides online registration. She can save herself a little bit of time effort on the day, by going online to fill in her personal contact and medical history details online, prior to arriving at the clinic.
When she attends St. Luke’s, she brings with her the appointment notice, three visa photos, her vaccination records, enough dollars or Pesos to pay the $223 US Dollar fee, her passport, plus a photocopy of its info page. St. Lukes retains her passport and later forwards it together with her medical results to the consulate.
Before attending the interview fiance needs go online to the State Department’s CEAC website and there complete and submit form DS-160. I have already completed this online. Your fiance reviews her information is accurate and then clicks submit. After submission, she prints out the confirmation page, and adds that to her set of documents to take to the interview.
To the interview she takes the appointment email, two visa photos, her birth certificate issued by the National Statistics Office Philippines called NSO, Certificate of No Marriage if she has never been married also issued by the NSO or if she’s previously married then proof of anulment or death of spouse, Police Clearance issued by the National Bureau of Investigation Philippines, NBI, and if she’s lived at any other country besides the Philippines for more that six months at a time after she was 16 years old, a police certificate from that country.
She also brings the confirmation page from the DS-160, and the bank receipt showing she paid the visa fee. along with documents you send her about your financial eligibility, such as your affidavit of support, recent tax return, a letter from your employer confirming your job and compensation, three to six recent pay stubs and if you were previously married, proof of termination of your past marriages.
Finally, she should carry evidence of the bonafides of your relationship such as photos, letters, emails, phone bills, instant messaging messages, money transfers, plane tickets, and visa stamps.
In the final preparation for the interview, you should talk to each other refreshing your memorys on the timeline of your courtship and general knowledge about each other. I have prepared a list of 120 common interview questions. These should be practiced until your fiance is fluent and can answer each in a relaxed and confident manner.
On the day of her interview, she should arrive early and arrive at gate number two.
This is the entrance that faces the Bay View Park Hotel. She’ll pass security to get inside the embassy compound and later there’ll be another checkpoint where she surrenders cellphones and any electronics. Once inside the building, she turns in some of her documents, then is given a number just like a ticket at a delicatessen. Eventually, her number is called and she goes to another clerk for a pre-interview. This is where they check to see if she’s brought in all of her required documents.
Eventually, when her number is called again, she goes to a cubicle where she speaks with a consular officer. The officer may ask about her background, your background, the relationship, and what your future plans are. This is the moment when the efforts we made “front loading” your petition pay off. During his review of the case file, the consular officer should see so much convincing evidence that your relationship is genuine, and that the visa should be approved, that there should not be much left to talk about. Our expectation now is for a quick wrap up and to hear “Welcome to the USA”.
She gets a pink slip, and takes this downstairs, to a counter where she writes her preferred delivery address, where the “2 Go” courier service will deliver her passport with new fiance visa attached.
Depending on where she lives, she gets the passport in 1 to two weeks.
Sometimes there are typos on the visa. It is best not to book flights, chapels, etc until after the passport is received and the visa is verified to have been typed correctly.
This is Fred Wahl the Visa Coach
I do the work, you get the gal (or guy)
Call me.
By Fred Wahl
Currently making the rounds are rumors that the US Embassy located in Manila is closing in July 2019. This rumor is absolutely false. The US Embassy has no intention of closing or moving or curtailing any of its services.
When embarking on the path to deal with US immigration to bring your fiancee or spouse to the USA there is a lot of information on the Internet. Sadly there is a lot of mis-information too. There are rumors, out of date material, and sometimes deliberate lies and pranks.
And that really is why, why it’s good idea to work with an experienced guide who knows the facts and can certainly separate rumor from reality.
I am Fred Wahl the VisaCoach and I help you get through a confusing and frustrating Immigration process so you can have a happy life together in the USA with your foreign partner.
In this video I’ll talk to about the background on what’s REALLY going on. And by the end of this video you will know who is effected and who is not.
About two months ago I announced in one of my videos that the USCIS international offices scattered around the world, were going to close. USCIS has been reducing its overseas presence for many years, currently or at least when the notice was made they still had about 20 offices with about 70 American personnel plus local staff. Their work was to support the US Embassy where they were located in helping process applications that came from Americans and their dependents who were living in area that the US embassy served.
This kind of service was called Direct Consular Filing. What DCF means is that Americans and their dependents, who are living in the overseas country that the consulate served, if they were applying for immigration benefits, could for applications such as spouse and dependent visas, submit their applications directly, in person to a local USCIS office or the consulate, and this avoided expensive mailing and speeded processing times.
For example, for an American ex-pat living in the Philippines. If he or she had been granted an alien card by the Philippines government, and then had had lived in the Philippines for at lease six months, then he or she could file directly to the USCIS office in Manila, for his or her spouse or child. The American could make an appoointment, come in, show proof of the Alien card and over 6 months of residence, and then drop off the application.
In only a few short months, the USCIS staff would complete their review of the application, then pass it over to the consular staff at the Embassy. The Embassy staff would conduct the final interview.
This was a real boon to those applicants, because most applications are submitted in the USA, and take about a year and a half to be processed, before arriving in Manila for the interview. Instead the application filed using DCF, would take only a few months to get to the interview.
Twenty years ago when I applied to bring Joyce to the USA on a spouse visa, all US embassies and consulates offered direct consular filing. I was living as an expat in Hong Kong with Joyce, and I was able to file directly to the Hong Kong embassy on Garden Road, and we got our spouse visa in about 5 months.
As time went by, one by one, the various consulates and embassies stopped offering DCF. Finally only 23 locations still offered it. These were locations that ALSO has a USCIS office. Now these USCIS offices are closing. And with their closing, Direct Consular Filing, DCF will no longer be available.
But for most, the closing of the USCIS offices makes absolutely NO DIFFERENCE. Only a very few applications were eligible for DCF, the VAST majority all followed the standard route.
And by the way, while this process was available for spouses and dependents, it was never available for Fiance visa applications. Always Fiance visa applications had to be submitted in the USA, regardless of whether the American sponsor lived inside or outside the USA.
So the closing of the last USCIS international offices, will frankly have little to no effect, simply now regardless of where the American sponsor lives, when he applies to US immigration, he will have to submit his application to USCIS offices in the USA. No longer can he submit the application or drop it off at a local USCIS international office.
So what caused the rumor that the US Embassy in Manila is closing in July?
Well, basically people are misreading the headlines.
The news announcements, the headlines in the Philippines press all say something like. “USCIS Closes Manila Office”
Somehow people miss read that statement and changed it to the “US Embassy in Manila is closing”.
USCIS is closing its small office presence, is certainly not the same that the US Embassy is closing.
USCIS had some office space located within the US Embassy compound. There a half a dozen American USCIS personel and local Filipino supporting staff conducted USCIS business working on DCF applications. Now these few Americans are returning to the USA and will conduct their work in the USA.
The Filipino staff will probably be reassigned to job opportunities at the US Embassy itself. And some office space within the Embassy will temporily become vacant.
The embassy itself will continue to operate, business as usual. Interviewing visa applicants and processing their cases, also business as usual.
The last local DCF application was accepted by the Manila USCIS office on May 4. Then they stopped excepting any further DCF applications. Today they are wrapping up the last cases they have in the pipeline, and packing to move back to the USA.
The vast majority of applicants never were eligible for DCF, so for them there is absolutely no change. For the few, well, now they will be treated just like the rest of us.
The few applicants who were previously eligible to apply locally in the Philippines now must send their applications all the way to the USA, and then wait for them to eventually return to Manila where the interview will be held at the US Embassy that is open today, will be open tomorrow, will continue to be open in July, and will remain open as long as the USA and Philippines have diplomatic relations.
By Fred Wahl
the VisaCoach
If you have been keen to travel to the Philippines, now you can.
Spouses of Philippine citizens are now allowed in. No longer banned from travel due to Covid 19.
So if you are married to a Philippine citizen and ready to travel, now you can.
This really is great news.
To the great frustration of all, since Covid quarantine started, nobody except Philippine citizens have been allowed to enter the Philippines.
Until recently.
Starting in August 2021, after 15 months of Tight lockdown, the Philippines immigration service finally announced that they would start issuing visitor Visas to American citizens who are married to Philippine nationals.
This includes those who got online marriages and may not have even met in person yet.
For details on how to obtain an online marriage for $100
The visa now available to allow American spouses travel to the Philippines, is called a 9a temporary visitor visa.
To apply for it, reach out to the nearest Philippines consulate, fill in an application form, pay $30, and provide supporting documents and evidence.
Last week, I got calls from two of my clients who had successfully accomplished this. They were on their way to the Philippines.
And of course, immediately on return To the USA,from this honeymoon trip we will apply for their spouse visas.
Previously They had to put their plans to submit CR1 spouse visa applications on hold, because US immigration only approves spouse visa applications when there is proof that the couple has met in person, AFTER the wedding has taken place.
So not only are these couples on the way to their honeymoons, but are finally making progress to complete the necessary steps to have a Life together In the USA !!
For those who don’t know about online marriages, this is what they are and how an American can obtain one..
An officiant based in Utah can conduct a lawful marriage ceremony over a zoom conference.
This is called a “web conference” wedding. It is not a proxy wedding. As a proxy wedding means one of the couple is absent and someone else is standing in as a representative, a “proxy” at the ceremony.
At the “web conference” wedding everyone is present, bride, groom, officiant, and witnesses all via a Zoom video conference.
The result of this wedding is a binding and acceptable marriage certificate. And it does not mention that the ceremony took place online. It reads the same as any marriage certificate proving a lawful marriage has been entered into.
And this proof of marriage is totally acceptable to the Philippines and can be registered in the Philippines at the PSA, the Philippines statistics authority.
But for US immigration purposes, you are not quite there yet. US immigration requires this piece of paper proving a lawful ceremony has taken place, AND on top of that also requires proof that the couple spent time together in person after the ceremony.
Due to Covid this in person requirement has been very hard to satisfy.
Until now!
Here is how you you apply for your Philippines visa
Your marriage needs to be recognized by the Philippines government. If you married in the Philippines this should have followed as a matter of course. Obtain a certificate that confirms your marriage from the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA).
If you married outside the Philippines then register your foreign wedding certificate at PSA and wait on them to issue their corresponding certificate.
Do a google search on what Philippines Embassy or Consulate location is responsible for handling cases from the State where you reside and download from the consulate an application form for the 9a Temporary Visitor Visa. Fill it in.
Gather the documents and evidence needed for your application. Usually this includes your Passport, your PSA marriage certificate, proof of income, visa photo, and an invitation letter from your spouse. Unfortunately the application process is still in its early stages, and there is no uniform set of requirements yet. Each consulate appears to have slightly different requirements. So obtain the list of supporting documents that is needed from the consulate you will be working with and follow their individual procedures..
Send in your completed application package and include a self addressed prepaid return envelope.
Be patient.
Feedback so far is that it takes awhile for the consulate to process your application, And I have received multiple reports that the consulate’s seem to change the goal posts during the process asking for more materials than which were instructed to you at the start. Bear with it and eventually your visa will be on its way to you.
Once you receive the visa, Jump on a flight to the Philippines, and enjoy quality time with your spouse and her family in person. If you had married over the internet and this is your time to meet then also enjoy your honeymoon and collect and bring back proofs to apply for a CR1 spouse visa. Ideally you hired me and the VisaCoach staff to prepare your application.
This was Fred Wahl, The VisaCoach, here to personally guide you on this journey.
During the height of the Covid pandemic, th US Embassy in Manila curtailed their operations, shuttering their doors, and ceased visa processing.
This lasted about a year and a half. Cases destined for interviews in Manila, piled up, higher, higher, and higher. The State Department’s National visa center (NVC) which normally would hold onto a case for a very short time, before shipping it to Manila, instead held onto the cases,
Stockpiling them in New Hampshire. By the end of 2021 almost 18 months of pending cases awaiting to be shipped and eventually processed in Manila were stockpiled at NVC.
While closed, the US Embassy in Manila, promised that once quarantines were lifted, and travel to and from the Philippines was no longer restricted, it would import extra staff, open more desks and work diligently to clear the backlog.
US Embassy Manila has KEPT it’s promise !!
In February 2022 the Philippines reopened and tourists from around the world could the country again. They came for tourism, and to rekindle their in-person relationships with partners who they had endured enforced separation from during the Covid Pandemic.
The US Embassy, as promised, recruited more staff, more contractors, more officers capable of interviewing visa applicants. They have been working long hours. First interviews are scheduled at 6:30 am. progress to clear the backlog have been made. Hopefully within 6 to 12 months they will have caught up.
Philippines Spouse Visa Update
In late 2024, some Philippine spouse visa applicants were told that their cases had been “expedited” from the National Visa Center to the U.S. Embassy in Manila. This page explains what that unusual transfer meant, why it did not always produce an immediate interview, and how today’s slower processing environment changes the practical timeline.
Updated July 2026
The unusually fast USCIS approvals discussed in the December 2024 video should not be used to estimate a new case today. Recent USCIS historical data reports a 12.9-month median for immediate-relative Form I-130 cases through May 31, 2026. In July 2026, the Department of State’s interview scheduling tool showed Manila scheduling many immediate-relative cases that became documentarily complete in January 2026.
For practical planning, many couples should expect the full Philippine spouse visa process to take about 18 months or longer, depending on the USCIS service center, document preparation, NVC review, Manila interview capacity, medical results, and any additional processing.
The 2024 notice described as an “expedite” was mainly an administrative transfer of backlogged cases from NVC to Manila. It did not necessarily mean that USCIS had expedited the petition, that the embassy had reserved an interview date, or that the visa would be issued quickly.
Video Explanation
NVC Expedites Spouse Visa Cases to Manila
I am Fred Wahl the VisaCoach.
I personally work with you preparing for you the forms and documents needed
to bring your loved ones home to the USA, Unlike those common second rate services
that abandon you once your application has been submitted I remain with you providing
support throughout this complicated immigration journey.
Today's topic is: NVC Expedites Spouse Visa Cases to Manila
The normal process for a spouse visa is that one's case is first submitted to USCIS.
This means United States citizenship and immigration service.
USCIS reviewers process a spouse case and once satisfied, forward it to the State Department's National Visa center (NVC).
The US sponsor then submits to NVC his or her financial documents, and the spouses civil documents and police clearances. NVC reviews these and when satisfied that the applicants documents are complete,
they advise the applicants they are "documentarily qualified".
Soon after NVC staff directly contacts the US consulate in the spouse's country to schedule the interview.
Once the appointments confirmed, NVC transfers the cases to the foreign consulate while at the same time sending the couple an email advising them of the time and date for their consulate interview.
This is how the process should work.
But for spouse visas for Filipino beneficiaries, this system has broken down this year.
Earlier this year, I announced that USCIS had hired new staff, and due to the addition of new staff
they had been processing fianc's Visa cases much more quickly than usual.
During 2023 USCIS had taken about 15 months to process a fianc' visa case,
whereas with the influx of new staff many cases were approved by USCIS five times faster than previously, many in only three months!
That was good news for the applicants who had applied for fianc' visas.
But, that good news, had unintended consequences.
The speed at which USCIS pushed out cases that later ended up at consulates for their interviews
virtually a year earlier than originally planned, created a log jam.
Three times as many cases were now chasing the limited available interview appointment times.
A consulate that was staffed to conduct X number of cases a month,
suddenly was faced with three times as many applicants asking for interviews.
And until additional manpower could be recruited and transferred from the USA,
the backlog of those waiting for interviews kept piling up.
This was especially felt at the US Embassy in Manila.
This embassy is the busiest of all the US Embassies in the world.
Suddenly, with a much larger than usual influx of cases needing interviews, the consulates appointment calendar was overwhelmed.
Applicants who normally had to wait only a few months to get an appointment date. Now we're waiting half a year and longer.
Now let's return to NVC. Clerks of NVC reached out to the consulate in Manila asking for dates for interviews.
Instead of being given dates, they were put on hold.
Next month the clerks now with twice as many cases on hold reached out to Manilla again to schedule the interviews and again were put on hold, rinse and repeat.
Finally, after 6 to 9 months of cases that should have departed NVC, still just piling up at NVC, awaiting an appointment date.
NVC gave up trying to coordinate with the Embassy to book appointments directly.
NVC has given up, and has decided to kick the problem over to Manila. They have cleared their pile of hundreds of backlogged cases by transferring them to the Embassy in the Philippines without waiting any longer to schedule the interview for the applicants.
Once the cases have been shipped out, NVC have emailed each couple advising them of the good news "their cases have been expedited".
I view this as good and bad news. The bad news is the State Department's internal communications have failed.
Routine coordination between NVC and the consulate has broken down. This is a professional management issue I hope they find a way to resolve going forward.
The good news is that for each spouse visa applicant there now is activity on the their case.
Yes, now the client is going to be battling with a scrum of other applicants all struggling to score a limited appointment time.
But at least the different type of frustration of simply having to wait and being helpless is over.
For most hearing from NVC that one's case has been shipped to, "expedited", to Manila is good news,
Though hearing from NVC that one has a confirmed interview date would've been better news.
In the meantime, Visacoach is working with our Filipino spouse visa clients, to prepare for their interviews
to bring their partners home to the USA
This was Fred Wahl, The VisaCoach,
here to personally guide you on this journey.
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Process Overview
The U.S. citizen or permanent resident files the family petition. USCIS reviews the relationship evidence and decides whether to approve the petition.
After approval, USCIS sends the petition to the National Visa Center. NVC creates the case and issues instructions for fees, Form DS-260, financial evidence, and civil documents.
NVC reviews the submitted documents. When the required items are accepted, the case becomes “documentarily complete,” sometimes called documentarily qualified.
NVC coordinates with the U.S. Embassy in Manila and generally assigns available appointments in documentarily complete order. The appointment letter gives the interview date and time.
The 2024 Backlog
During 2024, a surge of cases reached overseas posts faster than expected. Manila already handled a very large immigrant visa workload, and interview capacity did not immediately expand to match the increased volume. Some documentarily complete spouse visa cases remained at NVC for many months while waiting for interview capacity.
NVC then transferred some backlogged cases to the U.S. Embassy in Manila without first providing the applicants a confirmed interview date. Couples sometimes received messages describing this transfer as an expedite.
The case had moved out of the NVC backlog and was physically or electronically assigned to the interviewing post. That represented progress after a long period of inactivity.
Transfer to Manila did not create new interview capacity. Applicants could still wait for an appointment, and an “expedited” transfer was not the same as receiving an interview letter.
Important Distinction
This is the situation discussed in the video: NVC moved a backlog of cases to Manila. It did not necessarily guarantee priority treatment or an immediate appointment.
A genuine request to accelerate a visa case is considered case by case. Department of State guidance generally reserves NVC expedite treatment for urgent circumstances, such as a documented life-or-death medical emergency, and the embassy must be able to accommodate the request.
Most spouse visa cases are scheduled through the ordinary NVC process based on documentary completion, visa availability where applicable, and the interview capacity provided by the embassy.
Prepare While You Wait
Frequently Asked Questions
No. A transfer or expedite notice may indicate that the case moved to Manila, but it does not necessarily include a confirmed interview appointment. The appointment letter is the controlling notice for the interview date and time.
Every case differs. Current planning should account for USCIS processing that can take about a year, NVC document review, and a separate wait for Manila interview capacity. Around 18 months or longer is a more realistic planning range than the unusually fast timelines described during parts of 2024.
Normally, NVC schedules documentarily complete immigrant visa cases using appointment capacity provided by the embassy. Applicants should follow the specific written instructions issued for their case rather than assuming they can self-schedule.
Ordinary delay alone generally does not establish an emergency. Expedite requests should be supported by strong documentation and circumstances that meet the government’s criteria. Unsupported requests can create false expectations.
Related Guidance
Understand the full CR-1 and IR-1 process from petition filing through entry to the United States.
Follow the major USCIS, NVC, and consular steps in the correct order.
Build persuasive relationship evidence before USCIS review and the consular interview.
Learn how incomplete forms, weak evidence, and inconsistent answers can cause delays or denials.
Personal Guidance
Fred Wahl works personally with couples preparing the forms, evidence, NVC documents, and interview strategy needed to bring a husband or wife home to the United States.
