CFO Experience 2022

[brightfuture78 118]

I thought some of you might be interested in my testimony about what the current CFO experience is like for K-1 Visa Holders.  I've heard some strange stories about CFO representatives being intentionally difficult, invasive, stalling people's progress, etc. Thankfully, we didn't experience anything like this - the CFO representatives we interacted with were prompt, helpful, polite, and seemed to genuinely want to help us get our certificates ASAP.

 

I've heard that some people started the CFO process before actually receiving their visas - I found this to be technically possible. However, in our case, the first thing they requested was to be sent a copy of the visa in order to proceed (visa/passport of beneficiary, passport of petitioner). Maybe it depends on the representative you're assigned to, as far as that goes. In any case, no big deal - we waited a few days for her visa to arrive and submitted the requested documents.

 

Once that was emailed to the assigned CFO representative, they replied on the same day and provided their WhatsApp contact info, requesting my fiancé to contact them through that method in order to schedule a telecounseling session. I think my fiancé scheduled one for the next day. The telecounseling session lasted maybe 5-10 minutes, at most. There was some type of internet connection issue, so the CFO cut things short and decided they were satisfied with the discussion. They emailed a few more questions to my fiancé - basic stuff like my citizenship and residency. They also requested a few photos of us together. After that, they sent the link to complete the registration and submit payment. As soon as payment was submitted, the temporary certificate was auto-generated and emailed to us within seconds.

 

Next, we had to create a CFO account for my fiancé's daughter. We made the mistake of registering her for the same CFO program as my fiancé (GCP), when K-2s are actually supposed to registered for PDOS, citing the K-1 visa holder as the petitioner. This caused us to get stuck, as once you register, it won't let you go back and re-register that same person, even if you try to do it with a different email address. It tells you to wait 15 days before you can re-register. I sent an email to the assigned CFO representative explaining the error and they promptly replied, informing me that they deleted the registration and that we could proceed to register for the correct program.

 

Note that PDOS registration slots fill up pretty quickly - if you don't register between 7am - 9am Philippines time, you're probably going to need to wait until the next day - found this out the hard way.

 

After registering K-2 and emailing the prerequisite documents to the assigned representative, they replied pretty quickly (within 30 minutes). This particular CFO's preferred method of correspondence was strictly email. My fiancé's daughter is a minor, so CFO didn't request to speak to her. All they requested was copies of her visa & passport, passport of mother, and also my passport. I think the only questions that were asked were whether or not the beneficiary had previously received a CFO certificate and when did I originally migrate to the US (I didn't - was born here). Once those questions were answered, the CFO representative immediately sent the link to complete registration & payment. The whole ordeal from start to finish was done in less than an hour. It was almost shocking how accommodating the representative was.

 

Well, that's all - hope this is helpful to some people.

 

 

 

@Girandola

[Hank_ 9,174]

Nice write-up.  I'm sure it will be appreciated.   

 

I glad all went well for you, even with the    

 

~

Before the CCP virus BS the GCP seminars could be attended before receiving the visas, but that isn't possible today as you noted.  I like this new way over the old seminars, but I'm sure it won't stay this way when "normal" returns.

 

CFO can be a breeze, except if the person is timid or meek .. even with the online interview CFO can make things difficult.  

[Girandola 52]

2 hours ago, brightfuture78 said:

I thought some of you might be interested in my testimony about what the current CFO experience is like for K-1 Visa Holders.  I've heard some strange stories about CFO representatives being intentionally difficult, invasive, stalling people's progress, etc. Thankfully, we didn't experience anything like this - the CFO representatives we interacted with were prompt, helpful, polite, and seemed to genuinely want to help us get our certificates ASAP.

 

 

 

 

 

@Girandola

Thanks brightfuture! Our experience was very similar to yours. Hopefully, it is the new normal. Registered and sent screenshot of the Issued page as proof of impending visa, but they requested a copy of the actual visa before proceeding. Got the visa 2 days later and sent it along with the other requested documents (divorce decree and proof of relationship). Once those were sent, the counseling happened promptly later that day. We found the form they sent after that to be quite cumbersome. TIP: Be sure to follow the formats off to the side exactly. Otherwise it doesn't accept the inputted data. Once we made it through payment, the temporary was emailed quickly as you describe. Trying to get her out of Manila this Sunday. It will require her to get Antigen test and get her luggage from a friend in between flights in a 3 hour period. Wish us luck!

Edited February 10, 2022 by Girandola

[NoMansLand2020 298]

I got my fiancée's kids registered, but I wasn't sure what to put for the first question. 

 

It asks, "What is the registrant relationship to the petitioner?" 

 

There wasn't anything that fit. Options were brother, sister, grandparent, fiancée, step parent. 

 

I selected son/daughter because it was the only one that fit the best even though they are not technically my son and daughter. 

 

Hopefully it won't be an issue.