register for cfo / slec physical in advance of visa

[An D 27]

Just now, Chancy said:

 

I was able to have my CFO online session prior to getting my visa, but only after I pleaded with my counselor to proceed with the call.  Even so, she did not clear me to get a certificate that day.  I only got the digital certificate a few days after I submitted a scan of my visa after it was delivered.  So I didn't really save much time by registering for CFO early.  Back then, it was common to get a CFO schedule within 1 or 2 weeks of registration.

 

The workaround for this is to register for CFO as a tourist, maybe several months before getting to the consulate stage for a K1 or spouse visa.  No visa is required when registering for CFO if the applicant and their foreign partner have an upcoming trip to visit visa-free countries.

 

I can't even get a call scheduled of any kind. I sent all the requested documents to the counselor and received the following in response:

"Please email your visa in this email thread once it is available. Kindly note that you can only proceed with your registration with CFO upon completion of your requirements."

 

What does that mean? That once it's available and I send it, they will schedule me for another 2 or 3 months out? This is kind of ridiculous. I'm also not sure how much I can plead over email. The last thing I asked was how long it would take once I send them the visa but I haven't heard anything in response yet. 
 

[Chancy 6,241]

3 minutes ago, An D said:

I can't even get a call scheduled of any kind.

 

It was easier back in 2021 when I registered.  COVID travel restrictions were still in place, so I guess there weren't as many people traveling and registering for CFO as there are now.  It seems CFO has become more strict since then.  But even then, my counselor was very annoyed when she found out I still did not have my visa at the time of our online session.

 

[top_secret 2,421]

After all the rona lockdowns, travel bans and with all the recent renewed publicity of offloading cases in Filipino news media and social media, CFO seems to have morphed into something far beyond what it was originally.  A big percentage of would-be Filipino tourists are now afraid to go near an airport without a CFO certificate.  All of which is resulting in backlogs. Probably the difference between when Chancy went through in 2021 and now, is that then they were taking people in the order they applied, and now they seem to have have introduced a "triage" step.  It seems they are only accommodating people who are travel ready and planning to travel immediately.  Which sucks for planning but I suspect they are still taking people in the immediate short-term future if they actually have visa on hand.

 

My friend’s wife hasn't head back yet after submitting her documents minus the visa.  She submitted her DS-260 barcode page in lieu of a visa.  We'll see how that flies, but it sounds like she will be asked to come back when she has a visa.  Even if that is the case, by signing up now, she has established communication with her assigned counselor so hopefully it would just take an e-mail with a visa to get it prioritized and moved to the front.  Plus, although she did it by accident, it did let her book an in-person appointment in July AND online-only and at least so far there doesn’t seem to be any consequences from booking both so she does also have a confirmed appointment in Manila in July..

 

On doing Saint Luke's before one has an interview letter, they got first hand confirmation from someone who went through this week that they are indeed still accepting waivers and it was no problem to complete the medical without a scheduled interview other than the risk of it expiring.

[An D 27]

5 minutes ago, top_secret said:

After all the rona lockdowns, travel bans and with all the recent renewed publicity of offloading cases in Filipino news media and social media, CFO seems to have morphed into something far beyond what it was originally.  A big percentage of would-be Filipino tourists are now afraid to go near an airport without a CFO certificate.  All of which is resulting in backlogs. Probably the difference between when Chancy went through in 2021 and now, is that then they were taking people in the order they applied, and now they seem to have have introduced a "triage" step.  It seems they are only accommodating people who are travel ready and planning to travel immediately.  Which sucks for planning but I suspect they are still taking people in the immediate short-term future if they actually have visa on hand.

 

My friend’s wife hasn't head back yet after submitting her documents minus the visa.  She submitted her DS-260 barcode page in lieu of a visa.  We'll see how that flies, but it sounds like she will be asked to come back when she has a visa.  Even if that is the case, by signing up now, she has established communication with her assigned counselor so hopefully it would just take an e-mail with a visa to get it prioritized and moved to the front.  Plus, although she did it by accident, it did let her book an in-person appointment in July AND online-only and at least so far there doesn’t seem to be any consequences from booking both so she does also have a confirmed appointment in Manila in July..

 

On doing Saint Luke's before one has an interview letter, they got first hand confirmation from someone who went through this week that they are indeed still accepting waivers and it was no problem to complete the medical without a scheduled interview other than the risk of it expiring.

I sent to the counselor the email from NVC saying the case was DQ and waiting scheduling at the embassy. Would be interesting to see if your friend's wife is able to get further and actually get the counseling scheduled online. Afraid to schedule the medical only because it seems like visa interview scheduling is at a complete stand still even though the US Embassy won't acknowledge it. Who knows how long it will really take at this point. I had this idea in my head that once our case was DQ I would knock out the CFO and medical, but now it seems like doing either of those is either a massive hassle, not possible at all, or extremely risky. I feel like we should schedule an in-person CFO appointment just to have it there in case...

[top_secret 2,421]

On 5/18/2023 at 8:36 AM, top_secret said:

Plus, although she did it by accident, it did let her book an in-person appointment in July AND online-only and at least so far there doesn’t seem to be any consequences from booking both so she does also have a confirmed appointment in Manila in July.

 

OK,  well I have to walk that statement back.  So my friends wife submitted all her documents by e-mail to her counselor.  She didn't hear back for like a week, and then her counselor called her phone and yelled at her for signing up for both online and face to face.  (she had originally clicked the wrong signup link by mistake)  So now my friends wife is fearful of her CFO counselor based on the phone call.   Everything is up in the air anyway since the counselor only yelled at her for signing up for both online and face to face but did not lay out any path forward or requirements for actually completing CFO either now or later, online or in person.  My friends wife has decided that she would rather take a 14 hour bus ride each way to Manila and back for the face to face appointment in July rather than risking any further contact with her ill-tempered online counselor.  It has really blown up into something quite ridiculous.

 

She has an appointment at Saint Luke's in 2 weeks and is in contact with some others who had recent first hand experience getting their medical done without a scheduled interview by signing a waiver, so they are pretty confident that won't be a problem.

[GinoNiña 182]

Did you folks mail the I-134 affidavit of support form or sent it in email?