The United States renewed a warning Monday that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack under a 1951 treaty, after Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels off a contested shoal in the South China Sea.
Philippine diplomats summoned a Chinese Embassy official in Manila on Monday for a strongly worded protest following Sunday’s collisions off Second Thomas Shoal. No injuries were reported but the encounters damaged a Philippine coast guard ship and a wooden-hulled supply boat operated by navy personnel, officials said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called an emergency meeting with the defense secretary and other top military and security officials to discuss the latest hostilities in the disputed waters. The Philippines and other neighbors of China have resisted Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims over virtually the entire South China Sea, and some, like Manila, have sought U.S. military support as incidents multiply.
Yeah I don’t think in any way she should automatically be granted a permanent visa. It’s just frustrating because she checks all the boxes they are looking for.
She’s never committed a crime, has plenty of money to fund her trip here, owns property in the Phillipines, has elderly parents, siblings, pets, she cares for back home that rely on her. She’s demonstrated strong ties to her home nation with those things and her decade long service in the military. So she clearly has intention to come visit here and then go back home before her tourism visa expires.
When they deny you, you just get a sheet of paper with like 50 possible reasons you could have been denied without saying which one(s) it is, and there’s no appeal process, you just have to schedule another appointment, pay the US gov hundreds of dollars to apply again, and then wait another 9 months for an appointment to open up.