Originally posted by peterdavid@Sep 6 2005, 08:15 PM
It's both. You need to ring the courier to collect the visa, and pay them for the privilege (even if, like us, you lived a stone's throw from the Embassy in Makati), and then they get in touch and tell you when to go for your interview.
My wife called the Manila embassy yesterday, from the UK. She was told you have to phone them to make an appointment, then they give you a date to roll up personally and hand in your application. (13 weeks wait currently)

They will eyeball the paperwork there and then, and decide if you will be one of the lucky ones to be granted a visa that day. It may take two weeks to issue the visa. (course, 'two weeks' in the Philippines means 'less than a year&#39

If they want an official 'sit down' interview it can take many more weeks to wait for that.

'course, that was yesterday Today may be totally different :(