The United States’ Embassy in the Philippines has announced that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office in Manila will be closing come July 5, Friday.
In a statement posted on Facebook on Monday, the U.S. Embassy said that the USCIS office in Manila is no longer accepting new applications and petitions and that starting this week, those who were previously assisted by the immigration office must follow new filing instructions found on the USCIS website.
In a longer statement found on its website, the USCIS said that its upcoming closure in the Philippine capital will be permanent. The last day it accepted applications and petitions was on May 31 and it started to redirect petitions for alien relatives (Form I-130) to the USCIS Lockbox as early as May 14.
The I-130 is the form used by citizens or lawful permanent residents of the U.S. who want to establish their relationship with alien relatives who wish to immigrate to the U.S. It is the first step for those who want to help their relatives legally move to the U.S.
According to the USCIS, the U.S. Embassy in Manila will assume responsibility for some services their Manila office previously provided those living in the Philippines and other places like New Guinea, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Wallis, Futuna, New Caledonia, Pitcairn Island, Overseas French territories of French Polynesia, and most island nations in the Pacific region that are not covered by the other field offices in the Asia/Pacific District.
The statement also provided information on the new filing instructions for services to be offered by the U.S. Embassy in Manila, including:
Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant (for Widow(er) petitions only)
Form I-131A, Application for Travel Document (Carrier Documentation)
Form I-407, Record of Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status
Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition
Form N-400, Application for Naturalization
Filipino World War II Veterans Parole (FWVP) Program
According to the Migration Policy Institute, the U.S. has the most number of Filipinos abroad. As of 2016, more than 1.9 million Filipinos lived in the U.S., which is roughly 4 percent of the country’s 44 million immigrants.
