Please visit the Federal Voting Assistance Program’s website, FVAP,gov, to learn how to register to vote or vote absentee in U.S. elections from abroad. Their site also has information about deadlines for upcoming U.S. elections.
Some states require that you return a mailed ballot. In these cases, voters may choose to ship their ballots to local U.S. election officials via an international shipping or courier service of your choice. Varying shipping speeds and delivery tracking ability may be available depending on the courier.
Voters returning a mailed ballot may instead choose to use the Embassy’s diplomatic mail service to do so. The U.S. Embassy in Manila or Consular Agency in Cebu are able accept your sealed, ready-to-mail ballot and send it forward to the U.S. in our diplomatic mail pouch. Your ballot would reach a U.S. mail sorting facility and would then be carried forward by the U.S. Postal Service to the election officials in your state.
It can take up to four weeks for election-related materials to reach their final destination in the United States. The U.S. Embassy cannot offer tracking updates nor delivery estimates of items shipped in the pouch.
Dropping your ballot off at the U.S. Embassy in Manila or Consular Agency in Cebu:
The U.S. Embassy Manila and Consular Agency in Cebu accept in-person drop-off of completed, signed, and sealed ballots. Be sure that your ballot is secured in the outer, postage-paid envelope, a printable document available through FVAP and the UOCAVA.
In Manila, the ballot box is located at the public entrance on 1201 Roxas Boulevard, and is accessible from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on U.S. or Philippine holidays. Voters in Manila may also choose to drop off completed ballots at the Veterans Affairs Regional Manila Office, 1501 Roxas Boulevard from 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Monday through Friday, except on U.S. or Philippine holidays).
If you live near our Consular Agency in Cebu, you may drop off during their open hours at our location in the Waterfront Hotel in Lahug, Cebu City. They will then forward your ballot to the U.S. Embassy in Manila for inclusion into the diplomatic mail pouch.
If neither location is convenient, you may mail your signed, completed ballot (in an external shipping envelope) to:
U.S. Embassy Manila
American Citizen Services Unit
1201 Roxas Boulevard
Manila, Philippines 1000
When mailing election-related materials to the United States, you will need two envelopes. Address the first (larger) envelope to the U.S. Embassy in Manila at the mailing address above. Address the second, smaller envelope to your local state election office, and enclose your voting form or ballot inside. The second (internal) envelope needs to be postage-paid or have sufficient U.S. postage affixed to be delivered to your local election office from the U.S. sorting facility where it will be mailed. FVAP, through UOCAVA, may also provide you with a printable, postage-paid label that you can affix to the outside of this envelope. Seal the second envelope, place it inside the first envelope, and mail the package to the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
For more details on voting from overseas, please visit https://www.fvap.gov/citizen-voter.