The DCF (Direct Consular Filing)

The DCF is basically just a different way of filing for certain visas. Only some visas can be filed DCF, and there are guidelines to be met in order to do so. The most common DCF filing is for spousal visa.

For a spousal visa DCF filing, if the petitioner has lived in the Philippines for 6 months or longer and has proof to the effect, the petition can be filed directly to the Manila embassy, rather than being sent to the US. This cuts out the 5-6 month wait at the USCIS service center, as well as the month or so at the NVC. Basically, this turns a normal 10 month process into 3-4 months.

A DCF filing for spousal visa is very much like a standard stateside filing, with one exception. It is much faster. Certain other visas can be filed DCF, for instance adoption visas and widow visas, as well as derivative child visas. Most immigrant visas, however, need to be filed to the proper lockbox in the US. K1 fiancé visas cannot be filed DCF.

There are only a few agencies in the Philippine who do DCF filings, to the best of our knowledge we do more DCF filings than anyone else.

Thanks for reading!

Larry and Rony