15 Jun Status of Processing at the U.S. Embassy Manila

By Atty. Chris Caday Lozano

We summed up below the status of visa processing at the U.S. Embassy Manila as of June 8, 2022.   Please note that the visas are categorized into different levels of priorities.  For immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, namely spouse, unmarried child below 21, are treated as first priority.  Fiancée of U. S. citizens are also include in the first priority.  Then the employment based that are current is next in priority.  The family based preferences, those first, second, third and fourth preferences comes next which is about more than one year delayed in processing due to pandemic and staffing shortages.  Below is the status as announced by U.S. Embassy.

“U.S. Embassy Manila is providing all routine visa services, though interview appointments for some visa classes remain limited in order to prioritize travelers with urgent needs and certain critical categories of visas. Due to a high volume of applicants and consular staffing shortages, wait-times for many visa classes are longer than the pre-pandemic norm.

Immigrant Visa (IV):  The Embassy is processing immigrant visas across all categories.  However, with significant backlogs in most categories, wait times for interviews are lengthy for all but immediate relatives (IR-1 through IR-5).  It is not possible to provide precise wait times as staffing  and local conditions affect capacity and scheduling. As of May 31, 2022, most IR visa cases being scheduled for interview were documentarily complete at the National Visa Center in March 2022. Most K visa cases being scheduled were documentarily complete in April 2022.  Most current employment-based cases being scheduled were documentarily complete in March 2022.  Most current family preference cases are approved expedite cases that were documentarily complete in January 2021.

Nonimmigrant Visa (NIV):  The Embassy prioritizes travelers with urgent (i.e., matter of life or death) travel needs and certain critical categories of travelers, such as students and exchange visitors (F-1, M-1, and J-1) and temporary employees (H-1B, H-2B, and L nonimmigrants). We are processing renewals of business/tourism (B1/B2) visas for applicants eligible to have their interview waived, offering biometrics only appointments for applicants who received their last visa prior to age 14, and interviewing a limited number of B1/B2 applicants each day. While we continue to expand our visa processing, please note that we have a significant backlog of cases so wait times are much longer than pre-pandemic times.

Many visa applicants paid a visa application fee and are still waiting to schedule an interview appointment.  The validity of your payment (known as the MRV fee) is extended until September 30, 2023, to allow all applicants who were unable to schedule an appointment the opportunity to do so. “

Please note that there are cases when the U. S. Embassy will require you to reschedule your appointment due to some medical issues or missed appointments.  The procedure is below.

• Appointment Scheduling: Applicants can schedule or 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://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/. There is no fee to change an appointment. If you have difficulties rescheduling a pending appointment, you may send an email to support-philippines@ustraveldocs.com for specific guidance.
  
• NIV Interview Waiver: The interview waiver program has been expanded to include those renewing for biometrics/fingerprints only , applicants ages below 14 and over 79 , F, M, and academic J visa applicants , and seafarer / airline crew visa reissuance.
  
• Expedited Appointment Requests: Expedite requests for emergency travel may be submitted via our website at http://www.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://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-expeditedappointment.asp .  Previous and/or current interview waiver applicants are not qualified to submit expedite requests.
  

Note: This is not a legal advice and presented for information purposes only.  If you have immigration problems the Law Offices of Crispin C. Lozano can help you find a solution before your problem gets worse which could lead to deportation and family separation. 

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Success Stories

For the month of May 2022, we received approvals from USCIS seven naturalization applications, three  Fiancée visa petition,  six removals of condition on residence and five adjustment of status applications.

Chris Caday Lozano, Esq. is an active member of the State Bar of California, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and San Francisco Trial Lawyers.  He practices immigration law, bankruptcy, personal injury  and income tax problems since June 1999.  His contact phone is 1-877-456-9266, email: info@CCLlaw.net  Website:  www.crispinlozanolaw.com/