At least seven offices of the United States (US) Embassy will be closed from March 4 to 8 as their personnel move into new buildings. In an announcement on its Facebook page, the US Embassy said these offices will suspend public services from noon of March 4 (Friday) through March 8 (Tuesday). The embassy said the seven divisions will "move into new offices in the recently completed new building on the Embassy compound at 1201 Roxas Boulevard." "Services will resume during usual Embassy hours on Wednesday, March 9," the embassy said. Offices with services and/or operations that will be suspended on those days include:
Consular Section - American Citizen Services Consular Section - Immigrant Visa Services Consular Section - Non-Immigrant Visa Services Social Security Administration Department of Homeland Security - Citizenship and Immigration Services Public Affairs Section (Public Affairs Counselor and Press Offices ONLY) Protocol Office The embassy said the services of the US Department of Veterans Affairs at its Seafront compound in Pasay City will continue as usual and will not be affected by the move. During the move, all its e-mail and Internet service for “state.gov" addresses will be unavailable from 2:00 p.m. on March 4 until the early afternoon of Saturday, March 5, the embassy said. It added that telephone services, including the main embassy switchboard number 301-2000, will be down for a "very short while" on the afternoon of Friday, March 4. During those e-mail, internet, and phone service outages described above, Embassy offices may be contacted by telephone via the switchboard at the following landline numbers: 526-9819, 526-9820, 338-1702; and at the following cell phone numbers: 0918-948-6410, 0918-902-6517, 0918-948-6394, 0918-948-6350, and 0918-948-0013. Embassy employees will also continue to have telephone and texting service via their own mobile phones. New building The Embassy said the new office building has large indoor and outdoor waiting areas. "The number of service windows for passport and visa applications and other services has been expanded from 66 to 99. This will allow the public to have a more efficient, faster, and more pleasant experience in acquiring visas, passports, and other documents," it said. It added that the project represents a $130-million investment in the local economy, 2,000 jobs created, and six million safe work hours. "It is part of the U.S. Embassy’s commitment to investing in the Philippines and our long-term relationship and to providing user-friendly service to the people of the Philippines," it said. – VVP, GMA News 
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