Subic Bay Freeport U.S Embassy Outreach - CRBA

[OnMyWay]

We went to the Olongapo City / Subic Bay Freeport Zone U.S. Embassy Outreach today, and like our previous experience, all went well.

For the first time, they had it at the newer Best Western hotel.  There was a large turnout and the room was full of people inquiring about SS, passports, citizenship, CRBA, VA, etc.

My best advice to anyone attending an outreach is to get there early and sign in on the signup sheets.  It will save you time in the long run.  The outreach official hours were 0800-1100.  I dropped my oldest daughter at school then went over by myself to sign in at 0735.  I was #15 on the CRBA signup sheet and the other sheets had even more.  Then I went back home to pickup the wife and babies, and we got back to the outreach about 0815.

Our first daughter Katy got her CRBA at an outreach in March of 2015. The same lady who screened us then was there today, and she remembered us, so that helped the process a bit.  If you have kids who already have a CRBA, bring it with you when applying for another.  It is not a requirement but she asked if we had it, and I did, so I'm sure it helped.

They had two ladies doing the CRBA screening and one guy doing the interviews, so the list went fairly quickly.  I think we saw the screener about 0845 and we were completely done about 0945.  So much better and cheaper than a long trip to the embassy in Manila!

Cost for CRBA is $100 and her passport was $105, to be paid in pesos.  Their exchange rate was 51, a bit high.

[OnMyWay]

I forgot to mention something that might interest some of the scoundrels here on the forum.  

PNP was present at the outreach.  There were a couple inside taking some pictures with their phones.  I didn't see them take any closeups, just pictures of the crowd and the room.  Then when we left there was a group of PNP just outside the main hotel entrance.

Perhaps they were looking for an individual or just scoping it out as a potential place to nail bad Americans.

They asked me if I knew a Fil-Am guy named Jake, and I said, no, never heard of him. 

[Jake]

7 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

They asked me if I knew a Fil-Am guy named Jake, and I said, no, never heard of him. 

Yep, that's me.  I reported myself in as CRAB -- Consular Report of After Birth.....he, he.