CFO experience

[Emanuel+Lorraine 7]

Here are some samples to use as a guide:

Examples (from Quezon City):

Advice of Parents: http://www.quezoncity.gov.ph/images/stories/downloadables/forms/parentadvice.pdf

I was under the impression that the advice of parents is required for ages 21-25.

In the example above, the statement says: "...and aged twenty-one (21) and below twenty-five

(25) years..."

My fiancee is 25 now. Would she still need to get a statement of advice, or is that only for those UNDER 25 years of age?

Thanks..

[Hank_ 9,174]

Here is what info I have found:

** From the Family Code of the Philippines: it's 21-25 years old for advice and 18-21 years old for consent. (Some are posted on VJ that they were not asked for this, yet others have been asked, so be prepared)

Art. 14. In case either or both of the contracting parties, not having been emancipated by a previous marriage, are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, they shall, in addition to the requirements of the preceding articles, exhibit to the local civil registrar, the consent to their marriage of their father, mother, surviving parent or guardian, or persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned. Such consent shall be manifested in writing by the interested party, who personally appears before the proper local civil registrar, or in the form of an affidavit made in the presence of two witnesses and attested before any official authorized by law to administer oaths. The personal manifestation shall be recorded in both applications for marriage license, and the affidavit, if one is executed instead, shall be attached to said applications. (61a)

Art. 15. Any contracting party between the age of twenty-one and twenty-five shall be obliged to ask their parents or guardian for advice upon the intended marriage. If they do not obtain such advice, or if it be unfavorable, the marriage license shall not be issued till after three months following the completion of the publication of the application therefor.A sworn statement by the contracting parties to the effect that such advice has been sought,together with the written advice given, if any, shall be attached to the application for marriage license. Should the parents or guardian refuse to give any advice, this fact shall be stated in the sworn statement.

Edited January 31, 2013 by Hank_

[madison925 2]

Hey. Thank you.

[lierre 224]

Glad it worked out for you! It could have been worse apparently from some of the stories on here. Like you, we were fully prepared because of good folks at VJ, and thankfully, no complications. They DID ask for my (USC) passport bio page and my mother's maiden name. Nothing more off the wall though. CFO serves a just purpose, but it seriously is vague in preparing attendees, and it is a complete waste of a good day. There is no good reason why people have to show up at 3AM to get a slot, and then stay there for close to 12 straight hours. No efficiency whatsoever. In our case, it was a little over 11. Ridiculous! It was such a beautiful day too, but all I could think of was getting it over with.

My thoughts exactly.

Sadly, the words mediocre, half-assed and one big power trip comes to mind when I think of requirements my government sometimes requires. Especially this CFO thing. Because really... If you wanted to prevent trafficking and abuse, all you need is a seminar.

[madison925 2]

That article is for the Filipinos who's getting married in the Philippines. I don't know why CFO would require it, but let's give it to them though. Lol

[Hank_ 9,174]

Yes I understand that, I also know that CFO has asked for the documents related to that... not sure why but they have.

[We Are The Art 46]

Having completed our CFO "seminar" back in late November 2012 (Yes I,(The USC) attended with my fiancee') with very rare exception, I firmly believe 99% of the Manila staff is both extremely uninformed, and completely incompetent. While I have no doubt that there are at least some employees who are well intended, more professional, and better informed than most, the majority seem to have very little or no understanding of what the CFO program is actually intended to provide (by legal mandate) and often even deviate into ridiculous demands and lines of questioning that border on, or actually are, outright illegal. In reality, the CFO has zero authority to interfere with nor deny any visa which has already been legally determined and approved by an Embassy of another nation. The stated and legally mandated purpose of the CFO (as far as is related to fiancee' and spousal visas) is to be a "guidance and counseling session" aimed at familiarizing legal immigrants of their rights, cultural differences, marital expectations, and other general aspects of life in their respective new homes/countries. Basically, they are there to initially and briefly inform, prepare, and to some minor extent, "protect" Philippine immigrants. Sadly, what happens more often is that they not only fail in their own stated purpose, (Example: They never even asked my fiancee' for many of the required documents yet demanded and kept documents that were entirely unrelated and unnecessary for the purposes of the "seminar") they also routinely and ineptly venture into areas that are far beyond the scope of what is either purpose specific, or legal.

As is so often the case in the Philippines, what you have are a bunch of low payed, low skilled and very poorly trained people who mistakenly believe they have "power" over those they are actually meant to serve. I've seen this same mentality displayed by countless thousands of Philippino's. From simple sales counter clerks, to office workers, to waitresses, they suffer from delusions of grandeur and it seems the most powerless and unqualified of all, are the most likely to find some sort of twisted pleasure in attempting to exert their imaginary "power" over those whom are forced to deal with them in daily activities. In the case of the CFO employees, I personally believe at least some of them are simply jealous and spiteful of their fellow citizens whom have had the good fortune to be leaving the Philippine's in search of a better life and love. Their petty actions against those lucky few are born out of both frustration and spite, and they deliberately attempt to hamper and distress the attendee's as much as possible in order to make themselves "feel powerful" and/or "feel better" about their own pathetic and desperate lives. To a minor extent, I suppose that is human nature, it just seems to be all too common in the Philippines.

All in all, I do believe the CFO serves a worthwhile and somewhat important function for immigrants who are departing the Philippines; And while there are no doubt many contributing factors for this type of corruption and abuse, it's just a sad and frustrating fact that the typical government employee anywhere in the Philippines routinely inflicts this type of delusional behaivor on those whom they are employed to serve. I seriously doubt that will ever change.

[Hank_ 9,174]

So they let you actually attend the seminar? With such limited seating they let you in? So you took one of the limited seats thus someone who needed to attend could not?

I was at CFO with my wife, but I sat outside and waited, the guard would not allow me in.

[We Are The Art 46]

So they let you actually attend the seminar? With such limited seating they let you in? So you took one of the limited seats thus someone who needed to attend could not?

I was at CFO with my wife, but I sat outside and waited, the guard would not allow me in.

No Hank, I didn't go in with her. Except of course when the oh so competent interviewer demanded copies of MY divorce decree (another document they have no legal right to or need for) under threat of withholding her CFO stamp unless I complied. I too sat outside for over 12 hours along with about 100 other people.

Your insinuations in the form of a question is kinda petty, don't you think? What was that old song you previously mentioned? "Only fools rush in"?

Edited January 31, 2013 by We Are The Art

[Hank_ 9,174]

No Hank, I didn't go in with her. Except of course when the oh so competent interviewer demanded copies of MY divorce decree (another document they have no legal right to or need for) under threat of withholding her CFO stamp unless I complied. I too sat outside for over 12 hours along with about 100 other people.

Your insinuations in the form of a question is kinda petty, don't you think? What was that old song you previously mentioned? "Only fools rush in"?

Nothing petty about it, you made it sound like you attended the seminar "with rare exception" so I asked ...

Having completed our CFO "seminar" back in late November 2012 (Yes I,(The USC) attended with my fiancee') with very rare exception

As for CFO wanting a copy of your divorce decree that is well known that they ask to see that along with the bio page of your passport +++

Edited January 31, 2013 by Hank_

[Lhen & chris 0]

I got there at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, expecting I would be the 2nd or 3rd person there, but lo and behold, a line was already formed with over a dozen people! We stood waiting for two hours (I felt sorry for the pregnant woman in line with me) until the doors were opened. We were ushered in and the guard checked my papers (he looked for a photocopy of my passport, visa, one valid ID, NSO, and NBI). He took one valid ID and gave me a pink "CFO ID" to wear around my neck.

We sat down in front of some counters for two more hours until he announced that people with pink CFO ID's go to the 9th floor. We took the elevator to the 8th floor and then the stairs to the 9th floor. A nice old woman with glasses gave us forms to fill out (this is different from the online form) which asked for basic personal information about me and my fiance (birthdate, contact details, mother's maiden name, etc.) and a few ones like "What are your some of your concerns about living abroad" which had multiple choice answers like "Different culture", "Isolation/boredom/homesickness", etc. I was the first to pass my form, and the woman took my passport, my online registration form, and the papers that the guard downstairs checked for. She told me to wait and took other people's papers. After a while she called my name, took my picture, and told me to wait again.

After an hour, our counselor showed up holding our passports with the papers and called us one by one for the one-on-one interview. This is the tricky part because she can ask basically anything she wants from you. I was armed with everything - I already had the visa in my passport, all of my documents (NSO, NBI, CENOMAR, parent's advice - she didn't ask for this, which was weird because I am only 24), even my fiance's passport bio page! What she asked for was pictures of me and my fiance. Now this was the one thing I didn't bring because I was of the understanding that this was a SEMINAR, not an INTERVIEW. I could understand if this was required for those without the visa yet, but for Pete's sake, I had already passed my real interview with the US embassy proving our bona fide relationship and the visa was in my passport to prove it! I showed her photos on my iPhone, but she wanted hard copies (3 to be exact).

The seminar finished around 11:30 a.m. but I had to take a cab to Robinson's, have the photos printed at Netopia, and take a cab back to the CFO office. I finished around 2 p.m., dying from sleepiness and hunger (drama!). All in all, it was a bad experience, but I'm just glad it's over.

Hi! Is it ok to just pass a photocopy of cenomar? Or they need an original copy? Thanks

[Hank_ 9,174]

Copies are just fine.

CFO:

ALL exiting required to attend. There have been changes regarding CFO so for sure read through their website.

Update: Please check the schedule of the counseling session before proceeding to CFO because it is country-specific and the slots are limited only to 15 per session (two sessions per day) for Manila and 12 per session (only one session a day) for Cebu. It is on a first-come-first-serve basis.

CFO Online Registration Form: http://www.cfo.gov.ph/pdf/downloadable%20forms/registrationform.pdf Complete this and print a couple copies to bring to the CFO seminar, it will save you time.

http://www.philembassy.no/sites/default/files/downloads/new_gcp_flyer.pdf

http://www.cfo.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1348:fiancee-spouses-and-other-partners-of-foreign-nationals&catid=140

Required documents & "OTHER DOCUMENTS" they ask for at CFO: copies of; CENOMAR (CEMAR and marriage certificate if married), certified birth certificate, bio page of passport, visa page from passport, pictures together. From USC (copies of) - bio page of passport, birth certificate, divorce decree (if been married before) are the most common requests. The "other documents" clause can be ANYTHING with those nit-wits at CFO.

[raf.luv.leah 5]

Hi! Is it ok to just pass a photocopy of cenomar? Or they need an original copy? Thanks

Hi Lhen! Hank is right, a photocopy should be fine. I would bring the original just in case, but DO NOT SHOW THE ORIGINAL TO THEM UNLESS ASKED.

Good luck! May your CFO experience be better than mine!

[Artisan 138]

I was under the impression that the advice of parents is required for ages 21-25.

In the example above, the statement says: "...and aged twenty-one (21) and below twenty-five

(25) years..."

My fiancee is 25 now. Would she still need to get a statement of advice, or is that only for those UNDER 25 years of age?

Thanks..

Being 25 still requires parental advice. The wording is wonky and sometimes they don't ask for it when you apply for your marriage license. It's 18-21 for permission and 22-25 for advice.

[actob99 156]

Do I have to have the registrar officer sign it or the lawyer from the notary public is just right?

My wife now was 18 at the time of seminar and she had the same document signed by a notary at her local

City Hall. They did ask for it.

Her second trip was Back to the CFO was because she didn't bring her phone. They wanted a landline number for the states and 3 numbers of her neighbors in her province. CFO is a crock of shi) and it depends what flavor of the day it was for what they want. Maybe the get kickbacks from the taxi's outside..