Philippine Consulate in California

California is the centre of the Filipino United States and the only state in the country with three Philippine offices: consulates general in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and an honorary consulate in San Diego. It is also one of only two states whose consular jurisdiction is drawn by county rather than by state line.

Philippine offices in California

Which consulate covers your county in California

California is split between two consulates general, and the line is drawn by county, not by region or by distance. This is the single most useful thing to check before booking anything: an appointment at the wrong consulate is a wasted appointment.

Counties	Consulate	Where
Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura	Consulate General in Los Angeles	3435 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 550, Los Angeles, CA 90010
The other 46 counties, from Alameda and Contra Costa up to Del Norte, Modoc and Siskiyou: including Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Fresno, Monterey and Tulare	Consulate General in San Francisco	447 Sutter Street, 6th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94108

The boundary runs further north than most people assume. Kern County, Bakersfield, is Los Angeles, while Tulare and Fresno, just up the valley, are San Francisco. San Luis Obispo is Los Angeles; Monterey is San Francisco.

How far the consulate is from your city

Driving distances to the consulate that covers each city, calculated at posted speed limits and without traffic:

City	Consulate	Distance	Journey
Oakland	San Francisco	10 miles	20 min by car
Long Beach	Los Angeles	26 miles	39 min by car
Vallejo	San Francisco	31 miles	44 min by car
San Jose	San Francisco	49 miles	1 h 1 min by car
Sacramento	San Francisco	86 miles	1 h 46 min by car
Bakersfield	Los Angeles	109 miles	2 h 10 min by car
San Diego	Los Angeles	125 miles	2 h 32 min by car
Fresno	San Francisco	186 miles	3 h 41 min by car

Three procedures that never reach a counter

The most frequent wasted journey in this system is for a document the consulate cannot produce. There are three of them:

The short version: PSA certificates are ordered online from Manila, apostilles on documents issued in California come from the state's own competent authority, since 15 May 2019 the consulate cannot authenticate them, and the NBI clearance travels by mail; only its fingerprint card needs a consular officer.

The procedures that genuinely need you at a window are the ones where a consular officer has to watch you do something: give fingerprints for a passport, swear the oath of allegiance, or sign a power of attorney.

Getting the county right matters more here than anywhere else in the country. An appointment booked at the wrong consulate is a wasted appointment, and both consulates are busy enough that a second one is not quick to come by.

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.