Electronic Visa Application Form (EVAF)
Effective April 12, 2004, all applicants for non-immigrant visas at
U.S. Embassy Manila must use the Electronic Visa Application Form (EVAF).
The form and instructions are available at http://evisaforms.state.gov.
Applicants must complete the DS-156 visa application form online, print
the form and barcode page, complete the DS-157 form by hand, and bring
all of these papers to the Embassy for their interview. The online DS-156
form does not transmit any information to the U.S. Department of State
electronically. The printed barcode contains all of the application
information.
All applicants must follow these steps:
A. Pay the visa application fee
Payment will still be accepted at designated
branches of BPI or Citibank. The bank validates the visa fee payment
on the back of a DS-157 form.
B. Complete the DS-156 EVAF on the Internet at http://evisaforms.state.gov.
Please pay special attention to these areas:
1. To use the electronic visa application form, your Internet browser
must support 128-bit encryption and you should use either an ink-jet
or laser printer to print the completed application form. If you are
using Windows Internet Explorer, the minimum version that will work
with this site is version 5.0, with service pack 2. If you are using
Netscape, the minimum version that will work with this site is version
6.2. You must also have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your PC
in order to download and print the completed application form. The
minimum version that will work with this site is version 5. If you
do not have Adobe Acrobat, you may download a copy from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
2. Sections 1-5 of the DS-156 EVAF must contain
the correct name, passport number and issuance information, as shown
exactly in the applicant’s passport.
3. Section 2 should only include the city of issuance
for the passport. Do not select Philippines for place of issuance,
and do not include State/Province. Leave these two fields blank.
4. Sections 8-9 are only for other names or aliases
of the applicant. Do not type the words “NONE” or “N/A”
if there are no other names; simply leave this section blank.
5. Section 24 requires the address where the applicant
will stay in the United States.
6. Sections 30 and 31 must contain information about
each U.S. visa issued and each visa refused, including tourist and
other types of visas.
7. Section 38 must be completed personally
by the applicant, either on the computer or manually with
a pen.
8. Anyone who helps an applicant to complete a visa application must
also sign the application and include their name, address and relationship
to the applicant in Section 40.
9. Print the DS-156 EVAF and two-dimensional (2-D) barcode page.
10. Staple the DS-156 EVAF and 2-D barcode page to the DS-157 (where
the visa fee payment is validated).
C. Schedule an interview or drop box submission
1. Call 1-909-101-7878 (for PLDT and SMART LAND LINES; phones must
have NDD or IDD access)(The number will be available for GLOBE subscribers shortly.) to schedule an interview appointment
or arrange for document pickup for drop box cases. To know if you
would qualify for the drop box system, click
here.
Callers in the USA can also contact the Call Center at 1-888-877-9888. There is a fee assessed to callers by the call center for its services.
2. Provide the following information to the customer service representative.
The information must come from the biographic page
of the applicant’s passport.
a. Passport number (from current, valid passport)
b. Date of issuance and expiration
c. Complete name of the applicant including aliases
d. Date of birth
e. Caller’s name
f. Caller’s contact number
3. Write down the booking reference number before you end the call.
