USA EMBASSY IN PHILIPPINES MANILA IS AMONG TOP 10 CONSULAR OFFICES IN THE WORLD AND 8 OUT OF 10 FILIPINO ARE GRANTED VISA TO VISIT USA AND 230,000 NON IMMIGRANT VISAS ARE LIKELY TO BE PROCESSED THIS YEAR July 19.2013 THE US Embassy in Manila said the Philippines is among its “top 10 consular offices in the world,” adding that many Filipinos are given visas to go to the United States, contrary to popular thinking. In an interview with the BusinessMirror, US consular officer Fausto DeGuzman said the embassy expects to process some “230,000 non-immigrant visas” from the Philippines this year. He also said the embassy processed 211,179 non-immigrant visa applications in calendar year (CY) 2012, and that “eight out of 10 applicants are approved for a visa. So the message here is there are plenty of qualified Filipinos to go to the United States. We want more tourists to go the United States.” DeGuzman spoke before Filipino tour operators and local media who attended a tourism briefing of the state of Utah on Tuesday, at the embassy’s Chancery Building along Roxas Boulevard. Some 169,000 Filipinos were issued non-immigrant visas in CY 2012, majority of which are B1/B2 visas that are used for general business (e.g., short meetings/conferences) and tourism (e.g., visiting relatives, tours) purposes. “[The US Embassy in Manila] is one of the largest visa-issuing embassies in the world,” he said. Data from the US State Department showed the Philippines ranked ninth among the top 10 countries issued the highest number of non-immigrant visas in fiscal year 2012, coming after Mexico (1.69 million), China (1.28 million), Brazil (1.05 million), India (582,093), Colombia (337,336), Argentina (261,110), Venezuela (228,207) and Russia (225,070). Israel (132,854) rounds off the top 10 list, ranking after the Philippines (198,683).The US Department of Commerce/Office of Travel and Tourism Industries projects a three-percent increase in Filipino tourists in the US to 182,000, from the 176,000 recorded in 2012. By 2018, the DOC/OTTI sees Filipino tourists reaching 200,000, or up 15 percent from the 2012 level. (See, “US gov’t tries to lure more Filipino tourists,” BusinessMirror, July 18, 2013.)
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 02:00:38 +0000
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