# Courier service and delivery of documents to the US Embassy



## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

A learning lesson I'd like to pass on in case you are required to mail off your US passport or send important documents to Social Security to the US Embassy, so if you live outside any major city and some larger cities also won't ship documents:

If you live outside of Manila/major city, forget it, very few if any courier services will ship your important documents, actually I'm not aware of any service because once they notice the shipping address "US Embassy" forget it and you'll regret leaving your documents with them if they some how miss this and you'll be notified later to pick them up. 

So expats planning on retiring to the Provincial area's or other remote islands, I hope your taking notes. 

Example we live 83 km/51 miles from Manila and not a single courier service that I'm aware of will ship documents to the US Embassy and we have an LBC branch right outside our Municipality located on the National Highway so just 4.2 km/2.6 miles. I thought I could ship conveniently right from our Municipality because we have a newly opened LBC... well that's what I get for thinking.

I have a short timeline to get things done by Jan 06 and it's the holidays, so I decieded to use another carrier the next day and didn't want our documents stuck or delayed so I performed a research and used Air21, I used them before with my US Passport, door - door service, the nearest walk in branch in our region is located at the Waltermart grocery store complex, 2nd floor in Sta Rosa Laguna, so 46 km/29 miles from us and they close at 10 pm. 

Travel time from our area, Pila Laguna - Sta Rosa Laguna 29 miles/46 km by public transportation which includes the trike, bus, express jeepney each way (no direct bus ) was 3.5 hours I kid you not, the major slow up is always the bottleneck traffic in Los Banos Laguna by the University and also the express Jeepney service out of Calamba Laguna, they need to have at least 10 riders to make ends meet so that's timeline to Sta Rosa Laguna from Pila Laguna, so next time I'll leave at 5 am instead of 8 am.

I had some concerns as to whether this Air21 branch in Sta Rosa could mail documents (the way things work or don't work here) on my first time to use this branch located inside the Waltermart mall, it's a tiny office but nope... all went perfectly well, they accepted the documents the office is modernized, computers, printers, tracking and this all got handled in minutes, they also have their own specialized plastic packaging, cost was 265 pesos. I think FedEx also works in conjunction with Air21.

To be fair, LBC, posted online that you can send documents from Manila or possibly their branches with a heavy expat population? I haven't been able to utilize them yet.


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## Zep (Jun 8, 2017)

I have used Air21 before and it works well. They even come to my house here in the sticks and pickup the the letters/docs. They bring the envelope(s).


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

Zep said:


> I have used Air21 before and it works well. They even come to my house here in the sticks and pickup the the letters/docs. They bring the envelope(s).


Zep, how do you contact Air21 in order to pick up and deliver door - door? 

I was able to use Air21 once before but only from the US Embassy in Manila they have their own service for US Passports and it's door to door, it worked well, I guess you could say I live in the sticks also, it sure feels like at times even though it's crowded as hell in our area of Laguna.


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## magsasaja (Jan 31, 2014)

Would the Air 21 in San Pablo not be closer for you? I know there is a direct jeep between Santa Cruz and San Pablo, so it must pass Pila. 
Hopefully you will get some wheels soon as things won’t seem so far away. I think Pila to San Pablo would be only 30mins on a good day.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

magsasaja said:


> Would the Air 21 in San Pablo not be closer for you? I know there is a direct jeep between Santa Cruz and San Pablo, so it must pass Pila.
> Hopefully you will get some wheels soon as things won’t seem so far away. I think Pila to San Pablo would be only 30mins on a good day.


Thank you for the information Mags, and for sure San Pablo is close.

Does Air21 have a walk in office in San Pablo? There's also an Air21 in Sta Cruz Laguna but not a walk in and more like a locked storage spot for the courier drivers only, I found that out the hard way several year's ago.

The other issue is that some areas and couriers won't handle passports and documents. 

When I used the Air21 courier service through the US Embassy to renew my passport in 2016, the Air21 office they used for door to door service was surprisingly out of Sta Rosa Laguna.


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## magsasaja (Jan 31, 2014)

Yes they have a walk in office in San Pablo.
As you explained only certain companies will deal with Embassy documents. 
Us brits have to send our passports to the UK to be renewed and we can only use one company.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

magsasaja said:


> Yes they have a walk in office in San Pablo.
> As you explained only certain companies will deal with Embassy documents.
> Us brits have to send our passports to the UK to be renewed and we can only use one company.


What courier business do the UK citizens have to use Magsasaja? many read these forums and this could helpful if they make the Philippines a final stop from Britain, I also will make another Useful Links for expats and add this courier issue.


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## magsasaja (Jan 31, 2014)

M.C.A. said:


> What courier business do the UK citizens have to use Magsasaja? many read these forums and this could helpful if they make the Philippines a final stop from Britain, I also will make another Useful Links for expats and add this courier issue.


It was either DHL or FEDEX but I'm really not sure which one.

Was looking at something earlier on and i noticed LBC is the carrier for US visa applications. Strange they wouldn't deliver your documents?
Consular Update: LBC is the New Courier for Visa Applications, February 9, 2022 - U.S. Embassy in the Philippines (usembassy.gov) 

By U.S. EMBASSY MANILA
2 MINUTE READ
FEBRUARY 9, 2022

The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines transitioned its document delivery services from 2GO Express to LBC. LBC has Premium Drop-off / Pick-up services for visa applicants in all 99 branches  across the country for Php 440.00. Pick-up / Drop-off of Philippine passports and documents at the LBC’s Mall of Asia branch remains free of charge.
Please contact LBC via email at [email protected] or their hotline at (+632) 8858-5999 regarding your passport or document delivery status.


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

In 2019 I renewed my Passport using Air 21 both ways to & from Manila. I physically walked in to their office about 4 Kms from my house to send the documents and Air 21 delivered to my door the new Passport when it was completed. If I remember correctly, the renewal directions specifically state to use Air 21 & even state the price of the service.

Fred


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## Zep (Jun 8, 2017)

M.C.A. said:


> Zep, how do you contact Air21 in order to pick up and deliver door - door?


Well looks like I only used them for passport renewals both times. And I think that can be arranged from the passport renewal website.

They do offer door to door Nationwide per their website: Sulight AIR21 - Sagot ko Padala Mo!
But not sure how you set that up other than calling the Manila number.


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## Quezon Expat (3 mo ago)

In November wife got another visitor visa from US Embassy Manila. They used LBC


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

magsasaja said:


> It was either DHL or FEDEX but I'm really not sure which one.
> 
> Was looking at something earlier on and i noticed LBC is the carrier for US visa applications. Strange they wouldn't deliver your documents?
> Consular Update: LBC is the New Courier for Visa Applications, February 9, 2022 - U.S. Embassy in the Philippines (usembassy.gov)
> ...


I also read this article previously and was somewhat dismayed by being shot down an and asked to try another LBC office.

There's also an LBC link that tells you not to hand off your documents outside of Manila and that the offices that will handle passports are only located in and around Manila.

Air21 works in conjunction with FedEx. But in my region I tried to find an office but they were more like storage rooms so I used the Air21 contact number only (correct Zep) at the US Embassy and all went well including tracking numbers with my passport renewal.


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## freebiefan (Nov 11, 2020)

I wouldnt use LBC for anything. 
Tried sending an envelope to London with LBC ....they hummed and hawed on their pc for 10 minutes and then said " is that London Canada ?... 
I replied "no its the other one, the more well known one"... They replied " Sir we cant find it" I replied Thanks and went to DHL.


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## Lunkan (Aug 28, 2020)

freebiefan said:


> I wouldnt use LBC for anything.
> Tried sending an envelope to London with LBC ....they hummed and hawed on their pc for 10 minutes and then said " is that London Canada ?...
> I replied "no its the other one, the more well known one"... They replied " Sir we cant find it" I replied Thanks and went to DHL.


 But they didnt thought it was London, USA!   
For foreigners living in Phils with kids in school age, its scary how common it is Filipinos believe European *countries* as Sweden and even Greece are parts of USA... 
And almost no Filipino cant count even the simplest percent, not even many teachers!!! 
Perhaps they are to occupied in school, exersice to some of the common performances  I DONT mean showing knowledge performances but such as Sweden have ONE time per year in Elementary school at the last day, while Phils even have beauty contests for small kids  
In one school teacher told parents to small kids to do the education assignments *themselves* 🤣 NOT guiding the kids, because the kids were long time occupied with exersise to such performance!!!


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

freebiefan said:


> I wouldnt use LBC for anything.
> Tried sending an envelope to London with LBC ....they hummed and hawed on their pc for 10 minutes and then said " is that London Canada ?...
> I replied "no its the other one, the more well known one"... They replied " Sir we cant find it" I replied Thanks and went to DHL.


I heard this before and it might have been from you Freebiefan. So was this LBC courier in a larger city or a provincial area?

Another note is that some of the workers have fake High School degrees, it's a requirement now to have at least a minimum of a High School degree but like every requirement and red tape bureaucratic response it slows nobody down from obtaining a job. The LBC spot in our Municipality, they have limited English.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

Another big surprise for me is that certain courier offices are open until 10 pm. I used Air21 in the Walmart complex or mall in Sta Rosa Laguna. The local courier services in our area close at 5 pm and like I mentioned previously most won't handle passports or important documents.

My travel timeline is 6hrs back and forth from this complex, I've had to travel2 times now within a month.


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