What to Expect during the U.S. Visa Interview

Getting a U.S. visa can be quite intimidating especially with President Trump's America-first policy and stricter immigration rules.  The online process is rather easy.  It's the interview process that makes it a little complicated.  Expect to stay in the embassy for two to three hours waiting in line even with an appointment.  It's better to have a heavy meal before going and wear comfortable shoes as you will be standing in line a lot.  It is also best to have someone drive you there or commute because it's hard to find a parking space.

The first step is to fall in line outside the embassy according to your time of appointment.  Next, your bags will go through an X-ray machine and you'll go through a metal detector just like in the airport.  Do take note that electronic devices including mobile phones are not allowed inside.  You will then be directed to a queue with seats.  Here you'll be allowed to buy food or eat any food you have with you.  They will direct people to go in the building row by row according to the appointment time.  Once inside the building, they will check your bags and you'll have to pass through a metal detector again.  This time, food is not allowed to be brought in.  There are three steps inside the building.  The first is pre-screening where you need to present your current passport and one 2x2 picture showing the entire face including ears and forehead.  The second step is fingerprint scanning.  The last step is the interview.  This is where you will take a long time standing in line.  There is no room to go into for an interview.  It's simply standing in line to wait for your turn to talk to the visa adjudicator behind a clear glass window.  For this reason, other people in queue can hear what you and the adjudicator are saying.

Common questions include:

• How many times you've been to the U.S.?
• Where else have you traveled so far?
• What do you do for a living?
• How many children do you have?
• Where in the U.S. do you plan to go?
• Do you have any relatives in the U.S.?
• Who is going to pay for your travel?

There's no need to bring any documents.  They just ask you questions and then decide if you're approved or denied right there and then.  If you are approved, they will retain your passport and have it delivered to you after a week.  What's important is your honesty and that you show your intent to come back home because all applicants are considered wanting to immigrate to the U.S. unless proven otherwise.

Good luck on your interview!

Thoughts on New Zealand Tourist Visa

Plane ticket first or visa first?  With the plane tickets being booked fast since it was nearing December, I didn't want to stress out about whether I should get a visa first or a plane ticket first.  I decided to have a travel agency take care of my visa application since I had the misconception that I only had to pay a reservation fee and they could reserve a flight for me while waiting for my visa to be approved.  That way, I wouldn't have to worry about the flights being fully booked while applying for a visa and I wouldn't suffer a loss in case my visa was denied.

It was only when my visa was granted that I realized the travel agency did not really reserve a ticket for me while waiting for my visa.  They had a hard time booking a return flight for me after the visa was granted.  Luckily, they were able to find one.  I could've saved money if I had applied for the visa myself since it could be done online through the RealMe website affiliated with Immigration Online and it only took a few days to be granted.

Because a travel agency took care of my application, I went with the paper route and filled up Form 1017 which I submitted to my travel agent along with the requirements listed on the form.  It was pretty much straightforward from there.

What's really important is to show evidence that you intend to return and not stay in New Zealand to live.  If you're willing to take the risk, if the plane ticket is rebookable, and if your travel dates are flexible, you can purchase a plane ticket first as evidence of your intent to return.

How I got my Australian Tourist Visa

Browsing through the Australian Immigration website, I was a bit intimidated to try and get a tourist visa on my own.  There was so much information to absorb and clicking on a link would lead to so many other links that it was pretty confusing.  Still, the visa fee alone was so expensive that I decided to give it a try instead of having a travel agency do it for me.

Here's what I did:

1.  Identified the type of visa to apply for using Visa Finder.  For Filipino tourists, the correct visa type is the Visitor Subclass 600.

2.  Registered an account with ImmiAccount.  Only one account is needed if you are applying for a family or as a group.  Create a group under "Manage Groups" and you would only need to input the group code for your other family members' applications.

3.  Filled up the online application form.  This could be a long process especially if you're applying for several people.  There were so many questions.  Some of the questions were a bit confusing too, like:

• Does the applicant have a national ID?  We don't have that in the Philippines so I answered "no".
• Has the applicant been known under a previous name?  If you changed your surname because of marriage, this should be "yes" and provide the reason as marriage.  You will need to support this with a marriage certificate from NSO.  
  
• Does the applicant have any members of their family unit not traveling to Australia who are not Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents?  If your entire family is going with you to Australia, choose "no".  Otherwise, if someone in the family is not going and he/she is not Australian, choose "yes".  By "family unit" it means immediate family.

In the Authorized Recipient Section, choose "no" since you are applying for a visa for yourself and not authorizing anybody else to do so.  Do not check the box "The applicant does not agree to electronic communication."  Leave it blank.  Checking this box would mean you don't want to receive email messages regarding your application status and you won't get notified if your visa is granted.

For minors, put the school I.D. number under the Other Identity Documents section.

4. Attached scanned documents to my application.

There is a limit of 5 MB or 60 files that can be submitted so it's important to keep the file size low.  For pictures in JPEG format and PDF files, the required resolution is 96 dpi.  Other file types are accepted.  Check them out here.

When naming your files, do not put space.  Guidelines on attaching documents can be found here.

The documents I scanned and submitted are the following:

• Colored photocopy of current and expired passport bio page with notarization as "certified true copy".  You don't need to include the expired passport if it has no visas from other countries or arrival/departure stamps.
• Colored photocopy of all passport pages with arrival/departure stamps and visas with notarization as "certified true copy".  I photocopied them myself and got them notarized for 10 pesos a page.
• Original affidavit of support for children.  I attached this under "Assets" on my child's application.
• Latest credit card statement
• Original bank certificate
• Original certification of enrollment from school for child
• Original school I.D. for child
• Original NSO birth certificate
• Original NSO marriage certificate
• Letter of invitation from relatives which they emailed to me
• Relatives' citizenship certificate which they scanned emailed to me
• Relatives' passport which they scanned and emailed emailed to me
• Land title
• Original latest income tax return
• Original latest business permit for proof of business ownership
• Original business registration for proof of business ownership

You can include other documents like car registration, stock certificates, contract to sell under Assets, etc.

If you are employed, you have to submit evidence of employment instead like a certificate of employment, payslips, letter from your employer indicating your intention to return, etc.

For minors, attach parent's bank certificate as evidence of financial capability.

A 45 x 35 mm picture was listed as a requirement but there was nowhere to attach this to in my application so I did not submit this anymore.

Don't worry if you don't have all the requirements yet.  You can save your application and go back within 30 days.  Your application won't be final until you've submitted everything.

5. Paid for my application online for AU$ 135 plus credit card surcharge of AU$1.32.  Other payment options include using debit card and Paypal.

That's it for the application process.  It took only one day for my visa to be granted and that was indeed a pleasant surprise since I thought it would take 30 days as indicated on their website.  No appearance was needed either.  I don't know if that is the case for everybody.  I just know I prayed about it and I got it the next day =).

       

Taiwan Visa

October 16, 2017 latest update - Filipinos can now enter Taiwan visa free for a 14-day tourist stay staring November 1, 2017 to July 31, 2018 for a nine-month trial period according to this article from Abs-Cbn News.

Just late last year, Taiwan announced that Philippine passport holders who have been issued entry visas to Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, any of the Schengen countries, the United Kingdom, or the United States may apply for visa exemption providing they have round-trip tickets and have never been employed as a blue-collar worker in Taiwan.  This is really good news and explains the reason why there is renewed interest for Filipinos to visit Taiwan starting last year.  Application for visa exemption can be done here.

For people who need visas (first-time applicants), here are the requirements:

• Fill up the application form on this website and print it from there.  Chinese name can be handwritten after printing.
• Original passport with six months validity
• Two passport-sized photos with white background
• Original NSO birth certificate issued within a year of application date
• Original NSO marriage certificate issued within a year of application date
• Original bank certificate
• Photocopy of income tax return

Additional requirements:

• Naturalization documents if Philippine citizenship was acquired through naturalization
• Original Certificate of employment if employed
• Photocopy of DTI or SEC registration and photocopy of mayor's permit for businessmen
• Photocopy of front and back of school ID for students
• Affidavit of support for minors even if traveling with parent

Bring all your documents to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines at 41F, Tower 1, RCBC Plaza , 6819 Ayala Avenue, Makati City.

Japanese Visa Requirements

Compared with China, Japan is stricter when it comes to requirements.  All documents submitted should be printed on A4-size paper.  Tourist visa applications need to be coursed through accredited agencies listed here.  NSO documents should have been acquired within a year of the date of application.  You can see the date of your NSO documents under the bar code like this.

Here are the requirements for a tourist visa:

• Accomplished application form printed on A4 paper
• Original passport with six months validity
• Two 4.5 cm x 4.5 cm colored picture with white background pasted on application form
• Photocopy of latest income tax return
• Original bank certificate
• Original NSO birth certificate issued within a year from application
• Original NSO marriage certificate issued within a year from application
• Authorization letter for travel agency personnel to file your application and pick up your passport
• Itinerary in Japan

Additional requirements for those who are employed are:

• Original Certificate of Employment
• Approved leave of absence

Additional requirements for businessmen:

• Photocopy of business registration from SEC or DTI
• Photocopy of business permit (mayor's permit)

Additional requirements for students:

• Original letter of guarantee.  The parent just needs to sign beside the word "Seal" and the travel agency will take care of it.
• Photocopy of school I.D.
• Original Certificate of enrollment from school

If you need further information, visit the website of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines.  It took a week before my visa was granted.

How I got my Chinese Visa

As an adult, this was my first time to get a visa on my own.  I generally avoided traveling to countries which required visas since I didn't want the hassle.  But then, with a Philippine passport, let's face it, we are not granted visa-free entry to a lot of the popular tourist destinations out there.  I decided to start with China and I found it was easiest to get a Chinese Visa compared to others (because this is a late post and I've gotten a few other visas from other countries as I'm writing this).

You don't need to go to a travel agent.  The Chinese embassy is located in Makati at 2nd & 3rd Floor, The World Center, 330 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue.  Parking can be quite difficult so I suggest to go there early.

Bring the following for tourist visa application (category L) for first-time applicants:

• Original passport that is valid for at least another six months with at least one blank page for the visa.
• Itinerary telling them how you're going to spend your time in China
• Photocopy of plane ticket
• Photocopy of hotel reservation if any
• Original bank certificate
• Photocopy of BIR-stamped income tax return
• Photocopy of business permit if you are a business owner or original certificate of employment if you're employed (with details about salary and length of employment)
• Photocopy of professional ID or student ID
• 2 pictures 33 x 48 mm taken within the last six months
• Application form which can be downloaded here

They will tell you when to go back to get your visa.  I got mine in four days.  When you go back, that's when you will pay Php 1400 for a single entry visa.

These were the requirements I submitted for a first-time applicant.  It's different for those who have already held Chinese visas before.  I didn't have to submit a letter of invitation since I wasn't visiting anybody in China.  If you are, however, a photocopy of that person's Chinese ID and passport with Chinese residence permit is needed along with the letter of invitation.