CFO in Philippines

[imdustin 0]

Does my fiance have to go do the CFO seminar? Are there any other sites to do this besides Manila and Cebu? Our problem is she lives in Iloilo and it would be a pain to fly to manila for medical and interview and then fly again for the cfo and then once more for the journey to the U.S. She can't stay in Manila if she has to go back home to recieve the visa. I just wish they just gave it once appoved instead of having to wait a couple of weeks...we can't afford her to stay in Manila that long and make multiple trips.

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated

[che234 1]

Sad to say but there's no other branch aside from Manila and Cebu when it comes to CFO.

In our case , i live in Surigao , northern part of mindanao. After my medical i went to CFO and attend the counseling bad to my surprised the lady who conducted the interview asked me few docs that i don't have that time so i have no choice but to come back later.

After my interview i went to CFO and give them the other docs they required from me in order to have the certificate and at last they accepted it and finally give me my cfo certificate.

I fly back home and wait for my visa..now that i already have my visa on hand i just need to go back to their main office in quirino and stamp the sticker to my passport and get the other sticker , then fly to states.

I stayed for 6 days during my medical and another 6 days during my interview.

So i advice you to do the same like what i did to save time. You don't have to stay that long in manila it's still your choice , counseling is just 1-2 hours.

Goodluck!

[bjmyrnajourney 1]

she can always have her visa in 2go branch in manila mall of asia, they said that its much quicker that way if she stay in manila and wait for the visa to be available for pick up and go directly to her seminar, i live in cebu so mine was pretty easy.hope it helps.

[Kevzil 2]

My advice is do the medical 5days before the interview so that she will have time to attend the CFO seminar while waiting for the interview day. She can get her CFO sticker and certificate by the time she's gonna leave Philippines and fly to US or:

Let her do the CFO seminar right after the interview, instead of going back to Iloilo right away have her stop over in Cebu, do the seminar and fly back to Ilo-ilo. There are so many cheap hotels near the CFO building compared to Manila, I am from Cebu so I know the place. When the visa arrives, go back to Cebu and leave Philippines from there.

It's all your decision thou.

[DouglasFiel 53]

My advice is do the medical 5days before the interview so that she will have time to attend the CFO seminar while waiting for the interview day. She can get her CFO sticker and certificate by the time she's gonna leave Philippines and fly to US or:

Let her do the CFO seminar right after the interview, instead of going back to Iloilo right away have her stop over in Cebu, do the seminar and fly back to Ilo-ilo. There are so many cheap hotels near the CFO building compared to Manila, I am from Cebu so I know the place. When the visa arrives, go back to Cebu and leave Philippines from there.

It's all your decision thou.

That,,, or,,, once you get passport in hand w/visa... Book ticket from Manila to USA,,, fly to Manila a couple of days before,,, attend Seminar at St Mary's (Same Day Stamp).... Fly to USA.

+++

Also,,, Note: She can have the visa delivered to a Hotel in Manila. That is what we did. Just need a letter that permits the front desk to accept delivery of the passport package.

So,,, we interviewed on Mon,,, got passport on Wednesday, attended st mary's CFO on Thursday, booked travel and left Manila on Monday.

regards,

Edited March 12, 2012 by DouglasFiel

[imdustin 0]

My advice is do the medical 5days before the interview so that she will have time to attend the CFO seminar while waiting for the interview day. She can get her CFO sticker and certificate by the time she's gonna leave Philippines and fly to US or:

Let her do the CFO seminar right after the interview, instead of going back to Iloilo right away have her stop over in Cebu, do the seminar and fly back to Ilo-ilo. There are so many cheap hotels near the CFO building compared to Manila, I am from Cebu so I know the place. When the visa arrives, go back to Cebu and leave Philippines from there.

It's all your decision thou.

Great advice....never thought of that....so we are going to do the round trip to Manila for the medical and interview and go back to Iloilo. When Visa arrives, book one way to Cebu with a day stay and then a one to LAX from there....should give her enough time to say her goodbyes while waiting for visa and then take everything with her to Cebu and than off to America....Thank you so much for your suggestion...it has put us at great ease

[Kevzil 2]

Great advice....never thought of that....so we are going to do the round trip to Manila for the medical and interview and go back to Iloilo. When Visa arrives, book one way to Cebu with a day stay and then a one to LAX from there....should give her enough time to say her goodbyes while waiting for visa and then take everything with her to Cebu and than off to America....Thank you so much for your suggestion...it has put us at great ease

Your welcome! Tell her to bring everything that she's gonna bring at the embassy interview cuz they're gonna ask the same papers and take note they so strict . I when I had my seminar I don't have my hubby's divorce paper cuz I gave it to the embassy and they insisted and also my hubby's tax return. It was such a burden knowing that my visa at that time was already approved. Papers that she needed that I remmber are her original BC (they'll take the photocopy thou but wanna see the original),orig. and photocopy of divorce paper if applicable, your 1040 or W2 photocopy is ok,photocopy of yours and her passport etc. Just bring everything cuz Ilo-ilo is heck far if she forgot something am telling you they will nt give her the sticker and the certificate. Ang oh! CFO building is right across San Carlos University Boys High, the signage is small thou so she better be looking at the side streets. She will get her certificate on the same building where they conduct seminar but she will get the sticker at at DFA building on the left side door not the DFA itself. It's right beside the DFA but they call it DFA building. All taxi drivers know where DFA is. Tell her not to forget to bring 2x2 colored pictures cuz they will ask for it. That's all I can remember so far. you can check out the website. Goodluck