What's with the Manila office?

[roomonfire23]

Looking at the various spreadsheets it looks like Manila is falling behind a lot of the other offices in terms of spousal sponsorship processing times. Does anyone have any info on what's going on with them? They used to be one of the faster offices...

 

[Steph C]

yes.. it used to be 6 month processing, (about 2 years ago) then 9 months, (last year) and now it's up to a year based on data from 2012. Looking at the spreadsheet they are processing applications up to 5 times slower then they were at the beginning of 2012.
In the past year they have closed a few visa offices around asia and moved processing to Manila. Like Japan and Korea. So they are handling additional volume and some big file shuffling. Now people's medicals are expiring before they can get visas. Manila seems to take 3 months to process new medicals. It takes them a long time to open and process their mail. I would bet that the data at the end of this year will show waiting times closer to those of Singapore.

 

[Iay]

yes.. it used to be 6 month processing, (about 2 years ago) then 9 months, (last year) and now it's up to a year based on data from 2012. Looking at the spreadsheet they are processing applications up to 5 times slower then they were at the beginning of 2012.
In the past year they have closed a few visa offices around asia and moved processing to Manila. Like Japan and Korea. So they are handling additional volume and some big file shuffling. Now people's medicals are expiring before they can get visas. Manila seems to take 3 months to process new medicals. It takes them a long time to open and process their mail. I would bet that the data at the end of this year will show waiting times closer to those of Singapore.

OH please no I cant wait for another 2 years to be with my husband!!!!
Gosh, I hope they add more Visa Officers in Manila.
Is putting up a petition a good idea?

 

[Steph C]

OH please no I cant wait for another 2 years to be with my husband!!!!
Gosh, I hope they add more Visa Officers in Manila.
Is putting up a petition a good idea?

I want to go to Makati and hand out Tim Horton's.

 

[gsize]

OH please no I cant wait for another 2 years to be with my husband!!!!
Gosh, I hope they add more Visa Officers in Manila.
Is putting up a petition a good idea?

good lcuk with that. They are cutting back everywhere ! ???

 

[Polgas]

I want to go to Makati and hand out Tim Horton's.

That's a very good idea!

 

[Iay]

good lcuk with that. They are cutting back everywhere ! ???

:-X :-X :-X

I guess we have no choice but to wait.

 

[roomonfire23]

Thanks for your reply Steph. On what information are you basing your Singapore estimate on?

 

[Steph C]

Thanks for your reply Steph. On what information are you basing your Singapore estimate on?

It's not very scientific. I was thinking of this spreadsheet that everybody is using to compare data:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtCLbbZupkY_dHJRT2R1alhXS2xaUzFTcHZsTUhVbHc#gid=0

 

[rjessome]

Manila has now taken over processing of spousal sponsorships from Japan (2012) and South Korea (2013). However, they have not increased their staff. More work means more time needed.

 

[Polgas]

Manila has now taken over processing of spousal sponsorships from Japan (2012) and South Korea (2013). However, they have not increased their staff. More work means more time needed.

 

[rairaiken]

i think they also work on weekends now. and even on holidays (base on the emails we get from them).

 

[Iay]

i think they also work on weekends now. and even on holidays (base on the emails we get from them).

Good to hear that.
What did it exactly say?