Required Documents for Visa Applications

When a beneficiary is eligible to apply for an immigrant or fiancé(e) visa (that is, the priority date becomes current and all the pre-processing requirements have been met), the National Visa Center (NVC) queues the beneficiary for a visa interview. The NVC will send the applicant a packet with the visa interview appointment date, information, the application forms and a list of required documents. It is important that visa applicants submit all documentary requirements to NVC so they are "documentarily qualified" for the visa interview, otherwise, they will be found ineligible for visa issuance and be asked to return to the Embassy for another appointment. The basic documents that an applicant must submit are:

1. PASSPORT: Each visa applicant must have a passport valid for at least six (6) months from the time of the visa issuance. Filipino citizens can apply for a passport at the Passport Division, Department of Foreign Affairs, Roxas Boulevard, Manila. The DFA phone number is (02) 737-1000.
   
   
2. DS-230 Parts I and II: Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Forms. These forms are sent to applicants along with their appointment letters. Each family member applying for an immigrant visa is required to complete these forms.
   
3. BIRTH CERTIFICATE: Each visa applicant must have a birth certificate issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on security paper. Copies are needed for principal applicants and derivative family members and petitioners who were born in the Philippines. You may call the NSO Information Center at (02) 737-1111 or visit their e-census webpage to inquire about how to secure a birth certificate. If the NSO does not have a copy of the birth certificate, you must obtain a statement about its unavailability from the NSO and a certified birth certificate from the local registrar in the town where you were born.
   
   
4. NBI CLEARANCE: Applicants aged 16 years and older must have a valid Record Clearance for Travel Abroad Purposes from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Clearances should be in the applicant’s current name, birth certificate name, maiden name, married name, and any aliases or nicknames ever used, including different spellings of all names ever used. An official letter of explanation from the NBI is required for any notation of “No criminal record”, "No pending criminal case” or “With derogatory record.” NBI is located along Taft Avenue in Manila. You may contact NBI at (632) 523-82-31 to 38. For immigration purposes, an NBI clearance is considered valid only for one year from the date it is issued.
   
   
5. POLICE CERTIFICATES: A police certificate is required from a country in which the applicant lived for more than one year (six months if you are applying for a K visa) after turning 16 years of age. As with NBI clearances, foreign police certificates should be obtained in any maiden names, married names, aliases or nicknames ever used while in the country in question, including different spellings of all names ever used. Information on how to secure police certificates from countries where these are available may be obtained by contacting U.S. Embassy Manila’s Immigrant Visa Branch or an Embassy/Consulate of the country from which the police certificate is required.
   
   The State Department's Visa Office offers online information on the availability of country documents (including police certificates) through its Country Document Finder. Click on the letter that begins the country name, select the country and scroll down to "Documents".
   
   
6. MARRIAGE RECORDS (if applicable): For Philippine marriages, the copy of the marriage certificate must be printed on National Statistics Office (NSO) security paper. If the marriage ended by divorce, annulment, disappearance or death of the spouse, legal and/or civil documentation must be presented attesting to the termination of the marriage (annulment decree, death certificate issued by NSO and printed on security paper, a foreign divorce decree, or foreign death certificate).
   
   
7. MILITARY RECORD: Applicants who have served in the military should present a certified copy of their military records.
   
   
8. SUPPORTING EVIDENCE OF IDENTITY AND/OR RELATIONSHIP: Applicants should be prepared to submit documents that further establish their identity and/or their relationship with the petitioner or the principal applicant. Six or more photographs with family members together, taken over a period of time, may help to establish the existence of a relationship. Personal correspondence, home telephone records, bank records, proof of joint property ownership and/or joint financial obligations, original baptismal records, medical records and adoption decrees are often useful.
   
   
9. EVIDENCE OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT
   

• Form I-864 Affidavit of Support (AOS): The I-864 AOS is required for visa applicants in the IR, F and certain E visa categories complete with copies of your sponsor’s latest U.S. Federal income tax return (ITR) and wage statements (Form W-2s). Please note that your petitioner must provide an Affidavit of Support, even if they do not meet the income requirements and even if a joint sponsor’s Affidavit of Support will be providing all of the actual financial support.

The I-864 AOS is NOW VALID INDEFINITELY ONCE IT HAS BEEN SIGNED (this is a change from the previous requirement of being valid for one year). In other words, applicants will no longer need to submit a new I-864 AOS or new tax forms due to long processing delays between the date of the signature of the I-864 AOS and the date of the interview.

Additionally, petitioners (or joint sponsors, if needed) filing an I-864 AOS are required to submit ONLY ONE YEAR'S TAX RETURN, THE MOST RECENT AVAILABLE AS OF THE DATE THE SUBMITTED I-864 AOS WAS SIGNED (this is a change from the previous requirement of submitting tax returns from the three most recent tax years).

The actual signed I-864 AOS must be an original copy. However, faxed copies of tax returns are acceptable. The tax return or copy should be signed.

• Form I-864EZ Affidavit of Support: A sponsor may use the shorter form I-864EZ in place of Form I-864 if all of the following applies:

- The sponsor is the visa petitioner (who filed the Form I-130 petition);
- There is no need for a joint sponsor or a Form I-864A;
- The affidavit of support is filed on behalf of only one intending immigrant;
- The sponsor is seeking to qualify based on the sponsor's own income alone (not on the basis of assets);
- All of the sponsor's income being counted on the AOS is shown on IRS Form W-2.

• Form I-134 Affidavit of Support: The I-134 Affidavit of Support is required for returning residents (SB-1), fiancé(e)s or spouses of U.S. citizens (K1, K3), children of K1 and K3 applicants, spouses and children of lawful permanent residents (LPRs), applicants with special immigrant status, and follow-to-join derivative family members of employment-based (E) applicants. A copy of the sponsor's most recent Federal income tax return (Form 1040) should accompany the I-134. Faxed copies of the ITR are acceptable.

10. VISA PHOTOGRAPHS: Two (2) colored photographs printed according to specifications, provided in the visa application packet.

11. Employment-based applicants require the following additional documents:

• Official Job Offer with the salary stated from the potential U.S. employer, issued less than one year prior to visa application
• Visa Screen Certificate (for nurses and physical therapists)
• Old and current professional identification cards

12. National Statistics Office Documents:

• Applicants whose visa eligibility is dependent upon their marital status (i.e. K-1, K-3, CR-1, IR-1, F-1 and F2-B categories) will normally need to have their documents verified through the National Statistics Office (NSO) before the U.S. Embassy in Manila can issue the visa.  Those with a delayed birth or death certificate or only local civil registrar copies of such documents may need to have their documents verified.
  
  
• In order to avoid unnecessary delay in the visa issuance process, the U.S. Embassy in Manila strongly encourages applicants in the categories mentioned above to pay the document verification fee prior to their immigrant visa interview.  Payment can be made through any Metrobank location.  The cost of the document verification is PhP 650 per applicant.  For specific instructions on how to pay the document verification fee, please click here.  If you are unable to pay for the document verification before your immigrant visa interview, you may be asked to pay the fee on the day of your interview.  Please note that if you pay on the day of your interview, there will be a delay of one to two weeks in the processing of your application.

13. Immigrant and “K” Visa Applicant Appointment Packets: You may download the appropriate appointment package by clicking here.

 

Any document not in English must be accompanied by an English translation. A competent translator must certify the translations.

Consular officers may require additional documentation to adjudicate your application.

Consular officers may ask to see originals of documents. The applicant may submit a photocopy of a document along with the visa application, but should bring the original document for the officer’s inspection.

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