Applicants for the United States visa will start to see changes on the application process starting Saturday, Sept. 28.
The US Embassy in Manila will open its new Visa Application Center (VAC) at Parqal Building 8 on Diosdado Macapagal Ave. in Parañaque City to process biometrics of visa applicants and other requirements.
According to Rob Romanowski, visa chief of the Consular Section of the US Embassy, there are "three big changes that are happening with this new consular platform."
First, there is going to be a new website that US visa applicants will see.
"There'll be some extra security features that protect the kind of privacy for the visa applicant to be a little bit more user friendly, so just when they're making their appointment, they'll see some kind of different changes, in different look," Romanowski told reporters following a media tour of the new VAC.
Second, the VAC will now take photos and fingerprints of applicants, which were previously taken at the US embassy.
That means that applicants will need to schedule another appointment at the VAC before getting an appointment for an interview at the embassy.
The third change is that US citizens in the Philippines will now have a call center hotline for non-emergency concerns, including applying for a passport in Manila, among others.
"This is one way that will make our consul operations a little bit more efficient and we have the intent that, because of more efficiencies, we'll be able to, you know, just further meet ever growing concert demand here in the Philippines," Romanowski said.
On Sept. 6, the US Embassy in Manila first announced that it would launch its new VAC, which will process the biometrics of visa applicants.
Starting Sept. 28, immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants seeking interview appointments will be required to schedule a separate appointment at the new VAC.
Romanowski has two advices for those applying for the visa: don't lie and prove that you will return to the Philippines.