Fiance Visa Philippines Manila Interview
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
