US assures visa applicants in PH of smooth process
Published Jun 1, 2023 04:44 am
The process to apply for a US visa in the Philippines has become more convenient and efficient as the consular section of the US Embassy in Manila is making process improvements and addressing backlogs that were caused by Covid-19 restrictions.
The embassy on Thursday took the media on a tour of its consular section—the first time it was undertaken for the public—to give a glimpse of its operations and seek understanding on how the consular staff are working round the clock to allow Filipinos to pursue their American dream.
The embassy and the consulate took pride in the shortened turnaround time for Filipinos to secure a US visa, partly due to the improvement of visa appointment wait times.
"About a year ago, the wait time for visa interview was close to two years just to get an appointment... It is now four to five months," US Embassy in the Philippines Consul General Mark McGovern said in a press briefing.
"And we're trying to get that number down even lower. We're hoping to have it within two to three months by the end of the year of 2023," he added. And although the operations of the consular section are not full-blown yet due to the pandemic, improvements are already felt by the public. Interviews only take a couple of minutes and visa renewal can now be done without the need for another interview. "We have worked very hard to improve our efficiency, to make our process as smooth and easy as possible, and to make it as painless as possible to allow for as much capacity as we can handle for the Philippine public to apply for visas," McGovern said. According to the embassy, its consular section in the Philippines "is one of the largest in the world," with about 200 employees, including about 45 Americans, working for the department alone. "Extensive consular operations here reflect the common values, deep people-to-people ties and long historical relationship that bind the Philippines and the United States together," it added. In pushing for improvements on its consular services, McGovern noted the hardships previously experienced by applicants. "We're very much aware here at the US mission about how much the consular issues are in the Philippine public, especially when it comes down to access to US visas, access to immigrant visa to the United States, as well as the services we provide to the hundreds of thousands of Americans that visit or live in the Philippines," he said. Despite limitations caused by the pandemic, about 188,038 non-immigrant visa applications were processed by the embassy from October 2021 to September 2022. Meanwhile, a total of 21,654 immigrant visas were issued while 4,563 for fiancé(e) visas. Aside from ensuring smooth visa application transactions, the consular section is also taking steps to safeguard Filipinos from fraudulent activities. "We do have a fraud team here, we look at every single application, we have all sorts of fraud indicators, we try our best to make sure that people are being scammed in some way or not," McGovern said. "We understand that this is a big issue here in the Philippines... some people, they're desperate for different types of opportunities and they're willing to try everything to get close to those opportunities," he added. McGovern said they are screening all applicants, especially for employment visas, well and "a lot of times, we can tell if it's a company that is maybe one that we've heard of, that we know is employing fraud."
"And we're trying to get that number down even lower. We're hoping to have it within two to three months by the end of the year of 2023," he added. And although the operations of the consular section are not full-blown yet due to the pandemic, improvements are already felt by the public. Interviews only take a couple of minutes and visa renewal can now be done without the need for another interview. "We have worked very hard to improve our efficiency, to make our process as smooth and easy as possible, and to make it as painless as possible to allow for as much capacity as we can handle for the Philippine public to apply for visas," McGovern said. According to the embassy, its consular section in the Philippines "is one of the largest in the world," with about 200 employees, including about 45 Americans, working for the department alone. "Extensive consular operations here reflect the common values, deep people-to-people ties and long historical relationship that bind the Philippines and the United States together," it added. In pushing for improvements on its consular services, McGovern noted the hardships previously experienced by applicants. "We're very much aware here at the US mission about how much the consular issues are in the Philippine public, especially when it comes down to access to US visas, access to immigrant visa to the United States, as well as the services we provide to the hundreds of thousands of Americans that visit or live in the Philippines," he said. Despite limitations caused by the pandemic, about 188,038 non-immigrant visa applications were processed by the embassy from October 2021 to September 2022. Meanwhile, a total of 21,654 immigrant visas were issued while 4,563 for fiancé(e) visas. Aside from ensuring smooth visa application transactions, the consular section is also taking steps to safeguard Filipinos from fraudulent activities. "We do have a fraud team here, we look at every single application, we have all sorts of fraud indicators, we try our best to make sure that people are being scammed in some way or not," McGovern said. "We understand that this is a big issue here in the Philippines... some people, they're desperate for different types of opportunities and they're willing to try everything to get close to those opportunities," he added. McGovern said they are screening all applicants, especially for employment visas, well and "a lot of times, we can tell if it's a company that is maybe one that we've heard of, that we know is employing fraud."