Philippines: New Visa Processing Center Established

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) recently established a Visa Processing Center (VPC), which has the authority to receive and review applications, and provide recommendations for approval. With the VPC, there is no more pre-evaluation stage and applications are reviewed as they are submitted. A No Contact policy is also now strictly implemented where applicants (or their representatives) may no longer personally inquire on the status of their applications. Previously, visa applications were filed with the BI and went through several review stages (i.e., BI evaluators, Visa and Permit Task Force, Legal Department) before finally approved through BI's Board of Commissioner (BOC) office.  Before the changes, applications were pre-evaluated during submission (e.g., missing requirements were flagged at the onset), and applicants could visit the BI office in person to ask about their applications' status. The creation of the VPC aims to streamline these visa application and evaluation processes.