another option is to check in for an overnight stay in one of the hotels nearby. that way you're not stressed trying to catch your time slot, you can leave your stuff in your room and walk over, and you can enjoy the rest of the day in the area.
Like he said. Check in at a piece of history, a historical landmark actually, the Luneta Hotel, and feel like an ilustrado.
Guys just a survey, is there anyone here recently got denied of a visa within the past year? I heard the chances of getting approved are pretty high especially even if you dont have much supporting docs and just bringing the mandatory requirements. I have an interview this April 21 and honestly, knowing the batting ave of getting their visas adds confidence before my interview.
As I posted earlier, backread the pinoyexchange forum http://m.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=557069&page=369 Everyone there posts their visa interview experiences including questions asked by the consul and they also post their financial/personal profile. And if they were denied or not.
i doubt that averages will have anything to do with your individual case. in fact, on the average, many more visa applications are approved rather than denied. i have friends in the embassy and the consulate (although i've never tapped them for private favors and never will) who tell me, over and over, that most applications get approved as long as they're truthful, and as long as the applicant has a legitimate reason for visiting the US and a strong reason to come home. of course consuls have great discretion, and if they discern that there's a great risk that the applicant will overstay in the US (which is the legal presumption on which they operate--that visa applicants will want to stay in the US if they could), then they can decide against the applicant, unfairly or not. if you're going there as a tourist or on business, just get your facts straight and respond to their questions with confidence. do some research on the places you'll be visiting, or on the business you'll be pursuing. consuls want to trip you up, to test the veracity of your claims. they even once asked arnel pineda to sing during his interview (for which the consul later got reprimanded) when he claimed that he was going to join journey.
While waiting for our interview late last year, we observed a number of applicants being told they could not be granted visas, and we also saw several walking away from the consular windows looking happy. Some were showing the various documents they brought with them, while others didn't seem to need to. Since you're not allowed to bring any gadgets into the embassy, the only recommendation I can make is, aside from all the documents you're bringing to support your visa application, bring a good book to read while you're waiting to be interviewed. It really helps kill the time while you're standing in the lines, and when you're just sitting waiting for an interview.
^Oh yes! - I forgot to mention that (a lot of people are not aware of this) - electronic devices are not allowed inside the embassy - mobile phones, ipads/tablets, radios, flash drives - anything that can be turned on/off. When me and my family went there for our Visa application, there was this old lady who was sent home because she had a cellphone with her.
I just got a new passport since the old one has expired. I have a couple of visas in the old one. Is it ok to rip out the visas from the old one and attach/paste it on the new passport?
Nope don't rip them out, just bring your old passport with the unexpired visa when you travel https://travel.state.gov/content/vi...y-asked-questions/about-visas-the-basics.html
sharing my experience. we applied as a family. during the interview, he consul talked to our boys, age 8 and 10, almost all of the interview, asking them where do they want to go (disney of course), never talked to my wife and asked me one question only (when do you plan to go). it was very casual.
^my daughter got her student's visa just recently after her tourist visa expired while she was in the States...it was her school that filed the application, processed and followed it up with Immigration...her visa is good for 9 months plus an additional 9 months... she was also told to apply for immigrant status during the pendency of her student's visa (around 12 months in) if she chose to and it would be approximately 2 years waiting time... OR, she can apply for fiancee's visa, or...hmmm, whichever comes earlier...
Heck, no! NEVER do anything to your passport like paste something on it. The only people who can do that are government officials. Otherwise you risk voiding your passport and being flagged for passport irregularities. I have a valid US visa on an old passport and just staple my old passport to the new one.
No No No... Passports and Visas should be unmolested. At immigration, they even ask you to remove any sleeve you might have put on to protect the passport.
So it's ok to staple both the old one and new one? My only concern is that the old passport is another thing to consider and other thing that I may lose. I'm a disaster when travelling. Stapling them together might actually help. Can you show me how you did it?
Just staple the back cover of the new passport to the front cover of the old passport. I've been doing that all these years because it's inevitable that your US Visa (if you got the 10 year visa) will outlast the expiration of your passport. Never had problems with this before in immigration.
^like he said. just staple them along the edges where you're not going to hit anything like a picture or something.
