Is Pre Departure Orientation Seminar in Manila a must?

[DaRoq 36]

Have you heard the idiom: "(You) can't fight city hall"? Well, it applies here.

Out of curiousity, can anybody confirm whether or not Immigration at NAIA actually checks for the sticker?

[Robb&Ann 101]

I left the Philippines last July 23.. upon checking in my baggage, the officer already checked my passport.. looking for the visa and the sticker.. since I am with my fiancé, the officer looked at his passport too together with my passport. (maybe it was the immigration officer because he also asked if i have bagoong in my bag or any other foods.. then when a lady (of Hawaiian airlines) weighed our baggage, she looked for my visa packet..

[Dustin and Janen 86]

Have you heard the idiom: "(You) can't fight city hall"? Well, it applies here.

Out of curiousity, can anybody confirm whether or not Immigration at NAIA actually checks for the sticker?

I don't want to find out!

I've heard someone say they knew someone (sounds legit haha) that got to the US without sticker and the US Immigrations was upset about it. I can't remember the topic, but it was on here somewhere. They were trying to claim that CFO was actually a US requirement and not a Philippines Gov requirement (not true, since it's required for exit to all countries).

[Hank_ 9,174]

Have you heard the idiom: "(You) can't fight city hall"? Well, it applies here.

Out of curiousity, can anybody confirm whether or not Immigration at NAIA actually checks for the sticker?

YUP!! They look for it and have turned people away until they attended CFO and acquired the sticker.

There was a gal at CFO the morning my wife was there, she had been turned away at NAIA because she did not have the CFO sticker.

[mrsSpitze 9]

A friend of mine forgot to attend CFO/PDOS and was turned down at the airport.

Waste of ticket and of time.

This was back in 2009.

[rlogan 2,036]

This is one of the times people stupider than you figured out how to squeeze money out of you and force you to kiss their rear end by withholding something you need in order to immigrate.

For those of us who have some dignity, self-respect, and intelligence enough to actually read about the place we are moving to for the rest of our lives - just endure it knowing that these gassbags are full of envy so they're going to tell you about all the horrible things that will happen to you by immigrating and try to ask questions to trip you up. My wife had to call me in order to ask my Mother's Maiden name. Wow, that sure provides an amazing degree of protection for those poor Filipinas all marching off to be beaten by their husbands, doesn't it?

This is a Philippine requirement. But one thing you should not mistake: the ghastly bureacracy you face on the American side of this is not something that you have to go through in order to finally taste the legendary freedom in the USA. This is PRECICELY what the USA has become. If you try to run your own business, develop property, introduce a patented life-saving medicine or whatever - it is going to be exactly the same kind of idiotic counterproductive bureacracy punishing the law-abiding people while tens of millions of illegal aliens run around freely and tens of thousands of illegal drug pushers are selling in plain view on streetcorners or obvious crack houses, etc. all over the country. Unlike Philippines, all of your communications, web browsing history, etc. is tracked by the government and even joking on facebook is dangerous for how it can result in you being arrested.

Child protective services raided our home for teaching our children to walk "too early". This was for us following peer-reviewed published literature in early child development journals, produced by the best researchers in the world, and discussions with our own pediatrician. They couldn't take us to court for such an idiotic accusation, but they can raid your home and terrorize you. So don't be naiive in thinking that the USA is some citadel of freedom on a hill. What you are going through right now is a very good demonstration of what it is like here, and your experiences at the Social Security office, the Department of Motor Vehicles, etc. can be just as bad or worse than you are going through now. It was for us at both DMV and Social Security. The SS office claimed she wasn't entitled to a SS number, then filed her papers wrong three times, lost it, then tried to have us commit a felony by changing her I-94 stamp. They actually told us to do that!

[Hank_ 9,174]

... someone got up on the wrong side of the snow bank.

[aralnaej24 1]

We got our MNL Case Number last Friday! Our lawyer said that our package will be received by the USEM some time next week. I hope the appointment letter won't take too long to arrive. I might have my medical on August 20th and interview on August 28th. I haven't made any appointments yet cus I'm still working on getting my NBI clearance, police clearance and trying to be healthier. I have a chest cold and I want to be 100% fit during my medical exam. I'm worried about the X-ray part cus of the blogs I've read haha. I'm a non-smoker though and I just need to take supplements to get rid of this cold, more fruits and cardio hehe. I'm nervous excited! Thank you btw to all those who shared their K1-Visa experience with us. I learned a lot!

[scottgema 6]

Thats somee bullllllll shhhhhhhh

You gotta attend cfo 2 times?/? WE already did it once and it was a pain....

I'm confused why you are saying you would need to go twice

You go for the seminar and then for you sticker if you attend the CFO class before you have your visa in hand.

Also it's only like p400 not $40 USD.

Gema just did her class a little while ago and her I yet view is on the 12th of August .

[Robb&Ann 101]

you will only attend the GCP once. unless your petitioner is now new then you would need to attend again. but if the petitioner is still the same when u first attended the gcp, then no need to attend again. f u didn't have the visa in hand yet when u attended the gcp then u would need to go back to cfo to register.

the fee is only P400 for the counseling and registration