for beneficiaries in the philippines

[daisychain 0]

When I was in SLEC, I talked to a lot of Filipinas who had no idea that spouses of foreign nationals have to attend a seminar at CFO and that their passports have to be stamped. It's a requirement for all Filipinas married to foreigners intending to leave the country. They will be looking for that CFO stamp in the airport.

The seminar is held everyday and has three schedules (2 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon - if i remember correctly). After the seminar, they will hand you a certificate (if you haven't applied for a passport yet, don't lose that certificate. If you lose it, they can only issue you another one three months after and you won't be able to have your passport stamped until then). If you already have your passport and visa, you can come back, present your cert, and have you passport stamped.

If you haven't applied for a passport yet, you have to present your CFO cert at the DFA.

Hope that helps!

[CaNdiD wiTcH 0]

When I was in SLEC, I talked to a lot of Filipinas who had no idea that spouses of foreign nationals have to attend a seminar at CFO and that their passports have to be stamped. It's a requirement for all Filipinas married to foreigners intending to leave the country. They will be looking for that CFO stamp in the airport.

The seminar is held everyday and has three schedules (2 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon - if i remember correctly). After the seminar, they will hand you a certificate (if you haven't applied for a passport yet, don't lose that certificate. If you lose it, they can only issue you another one three months after and you won't be able to have your passport stamped until then). If you already have your passport and visa, you can come back, present your cert, and have you passport stamped.

If you haven't applied for a passport yet, you have to present your CFO cert at the DFA.

Hope that helps!

I wasn't aware of the CFO certificate requirement when I renewed my passport and updated my status.. The scenario? I attended the CFO seminar and went back to DFA to submit a copy of the certificate.

This post will surely guide many Filipinas.

[daisychain 0]

Yup. It's not even in the DFA website. Well actually it is but it's not listed in the basic requirements. I wasn't even aware of it til my sister-in-law said that her friend had to attend a seminar. I tried to verify it in the DFA website but found none. Eventually, I stumbled upon it after a few "clicks and turns".

I hope this would help a lot of Filipinas. You wouldn't want to be caught unaware at the DFA while applying for a passport. I lined up at 1 am at the DFA and it's such a hassle to be asked to come back because of a missing document. In my case, my birth certificate's place of birth read "greenhills, metro manila" instead of "greenhills, mandaluyong, metro manila" so i had to get a notarized affidavit attesting that i was born in mandaluyong. then i had to submit it at the mandaluyong city hall. for processing and for the issuance of the supplemental place of birth report. i picked it up after three days then dropped it off at NSO, then picked up my annotated birth certificate at NSO after a week. WAAH!!!! the day after picking it from NSO, i went back to the DFA to get my passport.

God bless everyone!