CFO telecounseling requirements

[geezerpl 1]

On 9/28/2021 at 1:07 AM, RO_AH said:

As I told you in PM and in another thread you are posting in. You should only worry about the 4 required documents. Don't concern yourself with things you may never need. If they ask you for other documents after the interview, that's when you start gathering them. My wife was never asked for any of their "additional documents that may be required". Keep it simple, the process is complicated enough without adding more complication.

From your experience here - are they any more strict when applying without a visa or is it a random thing ?

[geezerpl 1]

On 10/4/2021 at 10:09 PM, snydez99 said:

Does Philippine Immigration still charge a terminal/flight charge on Filipino's leaving the country? My wife & I went to Hong Kong for our honeymoon &

Thailand later & both times we needed to pay those fees for her. I think I heard these fee's aren't charged anymore? 

 

Thanks

It is due upon each departure

 

https://traveltax.tieza.gov.ph/ 

[geezerpl 1]

30 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

Its a good idea, the only problem is you never know who you will be assigned.  Its all kind of arbitrary.  I guess you ask for a certain counselor based on recommendation from another person, but my feeling is they just assign who is available.  The problem with the CFO counselors is there is no consistency.  We had a very easy counselor, while others have horrendous ones.  Its just the luck of the draw.  However, doing the CFO over the phone is much better than the old way of an in-class seminar.  There are many horror stories from those.

I know for a fact (my fiance has been talking to dozens of other Filipinas + I messaged CFO tech support):

1. It is possible to just email a particular counselor and ask to be processed "offline"

2. It is possible to change a hard-headed counselor for another one (either through a complaint or by re-registering with another email)

[Carpe Vinum 2,327]

15 minutes ago, geezerpl said:

I know for a fact (my fiance has been talking to dozens of other Filipinas + I messaged CFO tech support):

1. It is possible to just email a particular counselor and ask to be processed "offline"

2. It is possible to change a hard-headed counselor for another one (either through a complaint or by re-registering with another email)

Not to be snarky but if you know this why are you asking here? I've never heard or read on VJ that someone was allowed to pick their counselor. I'm sure if someone gets denied and you complain someone else (maybe a supervisor) will take a look at it. We did ours pre-covid so the process was much different. My wife enjoyed CFO and made friends that she still has to this day. Also, my wife did CFO 6 months before receiving her K1 visa in 2018/2019 and it was not an issue. I don't know what their stance is on that now.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Carpe Vinum

[Chancy 6,241]

56 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

The Philippines is the only or one of very few countries that actually charges its citizens to leave.

 

Wikipedia says there are around 40 countries that do, including Australia and Japan.  But most of those other countries include the departure tax into the airfare automatically, no exemption.  The Philippines doesn't because some citizens are entitled to discounts or exemptions.

 

[Chancy 6,241]

1 hour ago, flicks1998 said:

We had a very easy counselor

 

Same, though I did get questioned a lot about not having ROM.  Still no closure on that as my visa is still pending, so there might be a part 2 to our tele-counseling.  Even with all that, my counselor was polite, respectful, and professional throughout the call.  She also took the time to explain the purpose of the requirements and the counseling in general.  While I appreciate her effort, I honestly don't recall most of what she said now because I wanted to get the call over with, so she won't ask about my ROM again 😆  I do remember her saying that they've recently started getting strict with the ROM requirement.  I didn't ask why because I really didn't want her to dwell on the topic.  But I suspect it's due to all those Utah online marriages...

 

[flicks1998 1,044]

13 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Wikipedia says there are around 40 countries that do, including Australia and Japan.  But most of those other countries include the departure tax into the airfare automatically, no exemption.  The Philippines doesn't because some citizens are entitled to discounts or exemptions.

 

Is this the site you are referring too:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Departure_tax

 

If so, it looks like that wikipedia is incorrect.  For all of those countries, they list it as departure tax, they even include the "travel tax" for the Philippines but they dont list the departure tax.  The departure tax for NAIA is actually 750p for international departures which is buried in the price of a ticket.  Cebu and Clark have slightly different fees.  The Philippines has a departure tax (which everyone has to pay) and a travel tax (which it depends who pays.)  I can confirm for many of those other countries that it is indeed a departure tax and I had to pay this when leaving.  I still think the Philippines is one of the very few if only one to actually charge a travel tax on its citizens.

[Hank_ 9,174]

2 hours ago, geezerpl said:

 

... and when are all the CENOMARs / divorce papers are needed ?

Are Filipinas only allowed to leave the country to get married ?

For what type of visa?

 

Filipinos are allowed to travel to other countries ... of course the beer virus BS has put a kink in some of that

[RO_AH 1,659]

1 hour ago, geezerpl said:

From your experience here - are they any more strict when applying without a visa or is it a random thing ?

In almost all cases you need your visa before signing up for CFO

[Chancy 6,241]

13 minutes ago, RO_AH said:

In almost all cases you need your visa before signing up for CFO

 

I can confirm this.  I think I was just lucky that my counselor was nice.  But she implied that it's kinda pointless for me to have requested a session already since I won't finish the counseling anyway until I send my visa scan.  We might have a 2nd call.  Currently TBD.

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by Chancy

[geezerpl 1]

2 hours ago, RO_AH said:

In almost all cases you need your visa before signing up for CFO

Spent 6 hrs browsing this forum and seen dozen of cases when CFO GCC was done prior to getting the visa

[geezerpl 1]

3 hours ago, Hank_ said:

For what type of visa?

 

Filipinos are allowed to travel to other countries ... of course the beer virus BS has put a kink in some of that

In our case it is UK Partner visa (no prerequisite / no intent to get married) but CFO seems PUSHING FIlipinas towards marriage. They don't get it women are free to decide in Europe.

Their counselors MOST OFTEN ask for all the marriage papers regardless visa type (tourist, fiance, partner, marriage visitor)

[geezerpl 1]

3 hours ago, Carpe Vinum said:

Not to be snarky but if you know this why are you asking here? I've never heard or read on VJ that someone was allowed to pick their counselor. I'm sure if someone gets denied and you complain someone else (maybe a supervisor) will take a look at it. We did ours pre-covid so the process was much different. My wife enjoyed CFO and made friends that she still has to this day. Also, my wife did CFO 6 months before receiving her K1 visa in 2018/2019 and it was not an issue. I don't know what their stance is on that now.

Where did you see question in my post  ?

I have commented for others. And yes, looking for "friendly" counselors...

[Commish10 427]

19 hours ago, geezerpl said:

Spent 6 hrs browsing this forum and seen dozen of cases when CFO GCC was done prior to getting the visa

We registered right after her K1 interview. The counselor (online) said to send a pick of her issued visa and they will schedule a counseling date. 

[geezerpl 1]

11 minutes ago, Commish10 said:

We registered right after her K1 interview. The counselor (online) said to send a pick of her issued visa and they will schedule a counseling date. 

Did you have a friendly one ? If so pls share their email in PM.