Philippine Consulate in San Jose, CA
San Jose does not have its own Philippine consulate. It is served by the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, 49 miles away, about 1 h 1 min by road, and every appointment, passport and notarial act for San Jose residents happens there.
Where San Jose is served from
The reason is drawn on a county map, not a state one: California is split by county between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and San Jose sits in Santa Clara County, which belongs to San Francisco. A neighbour a county away may be served by the consulate in Los Angeles instead, the full split is on the California page.
49 miles and 1 h 1 min each way makes this a morning out of San Jose rather than a day off, provided the appointment is early and the paperwork is complete before you leave.
California also has a Philippine honorary consulate in San Diego. It does not replace the consulate, no passports, no oaths, no notarials, but it is a local first call, and honorary consulates are usually the first to announce outreach missions in their area.
Three procedures that skip the consulate entirely
Three of the most searched Philippine procedures in the United States are not consular procedures at all:
- PSA documents, the security-paper certificates everything else depends on, are ordered online and shipped internationally.
- Apostilles on American documents come from the issuing state’s competent authority. Since 15 May 2019 the consulate cannot authenticate them.
- NBI clearance: posted to Manila, returned by post. Do not send the application to a consulate, it will not be processed there.
What does require appearing in person is anything biometric or signed: a passport, the oath of allegiance and a special power of attorney signed before a consular officer.
philippineconsulates.us is an independent information guide to the Philippine consulates in the United States. We are not the Philippine Consulate General, the Philippine Embassy or any government agency. We do not book, sell or manage appointments: every consulate runs its own system. We check the details regularly, but they can change without notice, always confirm with the consulate before you travel.