The United States Embassy in the Philippines on Monday said routine visa services will remain suspended because of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic as it continues to operate with reduced staffing.
In a statement, the US Embassy assured that as conditions surrounding the COVID-19 situation improve, it will add additional services, culminating eventually in a complete resumption of routine visa services.
The Embassy, however, said it cannot predict when the resumption of full visa services, or a specific category of visa classes, will occur.
On immigrant visas, the Embassy admitted it continues to have a significant backlog of all categories, saying that they are using a tiered approach to triage immigrant visa applications, based on the category of the immigrant visa, as they resume and expand processing.
While the Embassy is scheduling limited appointments within all four priority tiers every month, the following lists the main categories of immigrant visas in priority order:
- Tier One: Immediate relative intercountry adoption visas, age-out cases (cases where the applicant will soon no longer qualify due to their age), and certain Special Immigrant Visas (SQ and SI for Afghan and Iraqi nationals working with the U.S. government).
- Tier Two: Immediate relative visas; fiancé(e) visas; and returning resident visas.
- Tier Three: Family preference immigrant visas and SE Special Immigrant Visas for certain employees of the U.S. government abroad.
- Tier Four: All other immigrant visas, including employment preference and diversity visas.
Nonimmigrant Visa (NIV): The Embassy continues to prioritize travelers with travel needs, foreign diplomats, and certain mission-critical categories of travelers, such as those coming to assist with the U.S. response to the pandemic, followed by students and exchange visitors (F-1, M-1, and J-1) and temporary employment visas (H-1B, H-2B, and L nonimmigrants). Visa appointments and processing for B1/B2 (Business/Tourist) remain suspended, with the exception of interview waiver renewals.
For applicants who have paid the visa application processing fee and are still waiting to schedule a visa appointment, the Embassy will extend the validity of such payment (known as the MRV fee) until September 30, 2022. This is to allow all applicants who were unable to schedule a visa appointment as a result of the suspension of routine consular operations an opportunity to schedule and/or attend a visa appointment with the already paid fee.
- NIV Expedite Appointment Requests: Expedite requests for emergency travel may be submitted via our website at http://cdn.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-visaapply.asp. Please note that the applicant will need to book a regular appointment through our appointment system before requesting an expedited appointment through http://cdn.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-expeditedappointment.asp.
- NIV Interview Waiver: The interview waiver program has been extended. Information is available at https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/visa-updates/.
Visa Scheduling: After we resume visa processing, which will be confirmed on our website at https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/visa-updates, applicants can reschedule the first available visa interview appointment slot by phone at (+632) 7792-8988 or (+632) 8548-8223, or through our online appointment system at http://cdn.ustraveldocs.com/ph/. There is no fee to change an appointment. After routine visa processing resumes, if you have difficulties rescheduling a pending consular appointment, applicants may send an email to [email protected] for specific guidance.
Meanwhile, the public is advised to contact the Embassy for the following specific purposes:
Scheduling, case status, passport delivery, and other questions can be directed to [email protected].
Case-Specific Inquiry on an Immigrant Visa: https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/immigrant-visas/immigrant-visa-inquiry-form/
Case-Specific Inquiry on a Nonimmigrant Visa: https://ph.usembassy.gov/visas/nonimmigrant-visas/nonimmigrant-visa-inquiry-form/
For Seafarer concerns: [email protected]