PDOS

[CFS 14]

Hello,

 

As previously mentioned, my spouse is applying for a CR-1 Visa. I literally just learned about the PDOS requirement. 

 

Could someone who has gone through this recently provide an explanation of how to sign up and what the wait time for a seminar is? I tried looking for this on Google and it is not straightforward at all. The closest I got was a site saying that "the # of visitors had been exceeded for the day."

 

Thank you!

Edited September 14, 2023 by CFS

[Scott-Ilyn 81]

I would choose the online class if you have a good Internet connection and a decent laptop. Goto cfo.gov.ph and choose the correct seminar. The trick is to sign up immediately after they open. If they open at 8am, start trying at 759am. Click click click. Once you fill out their form and send copies of the documents via email, they will schedule a date / time for you. You will also get someone assigned to you.  There wasn't a huge wait time for us (scheduled the next week). Also, I don't think you can sign up without a visa. Once your wife attends, they will send her a certificate in her email. Good luck. 

[IWander 589]

6 hours ago, CFS said:

Hello,

 

As previously mentioned, my spouse is applying for a CR-1 Visa. I literally just learned about the PDOS requirement. 

 

Could someone who has gone through this recently provide an explanation of how to sign up and what the wait time for a seminar is? I tried looking for this on Google and it is not straightforward at all. The closest I got was a site saying that "the # of visitors had been exceeded for the day."

 

Thank you!

If you are a USC then it is not PDOS but GCP is the seminar she needs to complete 

Edited September 14, 2023 by IWander

[CFS 14]

2 hours ago, Scott-Ilyn said:

I would choose the online class if you have a good Internet connection and a decent laptop. Goto cfo.gov.ph and choose the correct seminar. The trick is to sign up immediately after they open. If they open at 8am, start trying at 759am. Click click click. Once you fill out their form and send copies of the documents via email, they will schedule a date / time for you. You will also get someone assigned to you.  There wasn't a huge wait time for us (scheduled the next week). Also, I don't think you can sign up without a visa. Once your wife attends, they will send her a certificate in her email. Good luck. 

 

Thank you!! I dug into a little more and have a bit more clarity, but we still have the following open questions:

1. We're going for a CR1 visa. Does this mean my spouse would only need to attend the CGP or have to attend both?
2. Is it OK to go to the CGP without either a passport/visa (just to complete the session and the interview)? The passport is currently at the Embassy as we wait for a final decision on the visa
3. If you complete the session without the passport/visa, how do you come back to get the CFO stamp on your passport (once you do have the visa)?
4. Our marriage is not recognized by the Philippines but is recognized abroad. We got married in Australia. Accordingly, what do we bring in lieu of the Registration of Marriage? I just called the US Embassy and they said that they cannot issue us a Registration of Marriage document

 

Any insights would be appreciated - thanks!

[nelmagriffin 148]

Greetings!

If you look at CFO's FB, (so it is faster, go to all their photos and you can see the announcement dated Sept 3, 2023.) An announcement that they will no longer allow anyone that will take GCP without the visa.

Goodluck!

Edited September 14, 2023 by nelmagriffin

[CFS 14]

1 hour ago, nelmagriffin said:

Greetings!

If you look at CFO's FB, (so it is faster, go to all their photos and you can see the announcement dated Sept 3, 2023.) An announcement that they will no longer allow anyone that will take GCP without the visa.

Goodluck!

 

Thank you for sharing this - it is *extremely* helpful!! 

[top_secret 2,421]

2 hours ago, CFS said:

1. We're going for a CR1 visa. Does this mean my spouse would only need to attend the CGP or have to attend both?

 

GCP only

 

3 hours ago, CFS said:

• Is it OK to go to the CGP without either a passport/visa (just to complete the session and the interview)? The passport is currently at the Embassy as we wait for a final decision on the visa
• If you complete the session without the passport/visa, how do you come back to get the CFO stamp on your passport (once you do have the visa)?

 

They no longer accept anyone without an actual visa in their passport.

 

3 hours ago, CFS said:

4. Our marriage is not recognized by the Philippines but is recognized abroad. We got married in Australia. Accordingly, what do we bring in lieu of the Registration of Marriage? I just called the US Embassy and they said that they cannot issue us a Registration of Marriage document

 

 

CFO is going to give her trouble about the lack of a Report of Marriage.  CFO a Philippine Government agency and the Philippine government says a Filipino citizen married overseas is required to register the marriage with Philippine Embassy or Consulate that has consular jurisdiction over wherever the marriage took place.  For an Australian Marriage it woud be the https://philembassy.org.au/consular/civil-registry/report-of-marriage or one of the Philippine Consulates in Australia depending where you got married in Australia.  CFO is going to try to enforce that.  The US Embassy has nothing to do with it.

 

If the passport is in the US Embassy now, waiting for a visa then obviously she would not have a Report of Marriage completed in time for CFO in which case the best she can do is go in what she has, maybe beg and plead a bit and promise she is working on it with Philippine Embassy in Australia... but they said it's going to take 6 months and her flight is next week.....  It would be up to the CFO counselor how much trouble they will give her over the issue but usually people in that situation do make it through anyways. There are some couples who could never register a marriage with the Philippine government like same sex or if they have a valid overseas divorce that is recognized by the US but not the Philippines and they still make it through CFO.  But yea. CFO is going to raise the issue of no Report of Marriage.
 

[CFS 14]

1 hour ago, top_secret said:

 

GCP only

 

 

They no longer accept anyone without an actual visa in their passport.

 

 

 

CFO is going to give her trouble about the lack of a Report of Marriage.  CFO a Philippine Government agency and the Philippine government says a Filipino citizen married overseas is required to register the marriage with Philippine Embassy or Consulate that has consular jurisdiction over wherever the marriage took place.  For an Australian Marriage it woud be the https://philembassy.org.au/consular/civil-registry/report-of-marriage or one of the Philippine Consulates in Australia depending where you got married in Australia.  CFO is going to try to enforce that.  The US Embassy has nothing to do with it.

 

If the passport is in the US Embassy now, waiting for a visa then obviously she would not have a Report of Marriage completed in time for CFO in which case the best she can do is go in what she has, maybe beg and plead a bit and promise she is working on it with Philippine Embassy in Australia... but they said it's going to take 6 months and her flight is next week.....  It would be up to the CFO counselor how much trouble they will give her over the issue but usually people in that situation do make it through anyways. There are some couples who could never register a marriage with the Philippine government like same sex or if they have a valid overseas divorce that is recognized by the US but not the Philippines and they still make it through CFO.  But yea. CFO is going to raise the issue of no Report of Marriage.
 

Thank you! Yes, we're in a same sex marriage. So, should we worry about not having a Report of Marriage (since the Embassy cannot issue it in our case)?

Edited September 14, 2023 by CFS

[top_secret 2,421]

49 minutes ago, CFS said:

Thank you! Yes, we're in a same sex marriage. So, should we worry about not having a Report of Marriage (since the Embassy cannot issue it in our case)

 Well in that case it's impossible for you to file a report of marriage so you got your explanation for CFO.  Similar cases I heard of went trough CFO trouble free. 

[CFS 14]

6 minutes ago, top_secret said:

 Well in that case it's impossible for you to file a report of marriage so you got your explanation for CFO.  Similar cases I heard of went trough CFO trouble free. 

Thanks! This is very reassuring to hear. We will be calling the CFO to confirm this too. I would think it makes sense to bring our Australian marriage certificate as the "best possible next thing"...thoughts welcome. 

 

On that note:

• Has anyone had luck reaching them via phone? Also, their website seems to be completely down (is this normal?)
• I scheduled an appointment with them and now it's likely I may need to re-schedule it. Is there a way to do this online?

 

Thanks again for all the help!

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by CFS

[top_secret 2,421]

42 minutes ago, CFS said:

Thanks! This is very reassuring to hear. We will be calling the CFO to confirm this too. I would think it makes sense to bring our Australian marriage certificate as the "best possible next thing"...thoughts welcome. 

 

On that note:

• Has anyone had luck reaching them via phone? Also, their website seems to be completely down (is this normal?)
• I scheduled an appointment with them and now it's likely I may need to re-schedule it. Is there a way to do this online?

 

 

I guess from CFO's perspective, if the Philippine Government doesn't recognize your marriage, how could they possibly complain that you did not file a Report of Marriage? I think it's a non issue. They would probably want to see some relationship evidence for a holder of an immigrant visa with an overseas partner and I bet a marriage certificate would work great for that.

 

As far as I know you dont stand much chance on the phone.  CFO changes all the rules like every other week but the screen captures from the recent post below are the most current rules I've seen.  Which says you have to e-mail them to cancel an existing appointment and schedule a new one online once you have the actual visa.

 

If the website is completely down (403 Forbidden error) it is probably because they geo-block US IP addresses so you have to access it from the Philippines or use a vpn to appear like you are in some non-US country.

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/807795-please-clear-up-my-confusion-is-the-k-1-visa-an-immigrant-or-a-non-immigrant-visa/

[CFS 14]

23 hours ago, top_secret said:

 

I guess from CFO's perspective, if the Philippine Government doesn't recognize your marriage, how could they possibly complain that you did not file a Report of Marriage? I think it's a non issue. They would probably want to see some relationship evidence for a holder of an immigrant visa with an overseas partner and I bet a marriage certificate would work great for that.

 

As far as I know you dont stand much chance on the phone.  CFO changes all the rules like every other week but the screen captures from the recent post below are the most current rules I've seen.  Which says you have to e-mail them to cancel an existing appointment and schedule a new one online once you have the actual visa.

 

If the website is completely down (403 Forbidden error) it is probably because they geo-block US IP addresses so you have to access it from the Philippines or use a vpn to appear like you are in some non-US country.

 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/807795-please-clear-up-my-confusion-is-the-k-1-visa-an-immigrant-or-a-non-immigrant-visa/

 

Thank you!

 

Has anyone successfully re-scheduled their GCP appointment? I e-mailed them and am getting the feeling everything's going into a black box....and, like @top_secret mentioned, trying to reach them via phone is futile. 

[Scott-Ilyn 81]

On 9/14/2023 at 8:30 AM, CFS said:

We're going for a CR1 visa. Does this mean my spouse would only need to attend the CGP or have to attend both?

I went through the k1 visa in a different country (HK).  So, I'm not 100% sure but I think she will only need the GCP seminar.  You may be required to attend as well? Again not sure.  

 

On 9/14/2023 at 8:30 AM, CFS said:

Is it OK to go to the CGP without either a passport/visa (just to complete the session and the interview)? The passport is currently at the Embassy as we wait for a final decision on the visa

We had to have the visa before we were allowed to register for a seminar.

 

On 9/14/2023 at 8:30 AM, CFS said:

If you complete the session without the passport/visa, how do you come back to get the CFO stamp on your passport (once you do have the visa)?

I don't think they will allow you to complete the seminar without a visa.  However, once you have a visa and complete the seminar, they will send you a certificate via email that you can present to immigration at the airport

 

On 9/14/2023 at 8:30 AM, CFS said:

Our marriage is not recognized by the Philippines but is recognized abroad. We got married in Australia. Accordingly, what do we bring in lieu of the Registration of Marriage? I just called the US Embassy and they said that they cannot issue us a Registration of Marriage document

Good question.  I'm not sure how to handle your situation.  I'm sure others may have an opinion.

[top_secret 2,421]

On 9/15/2023 at 1:17 PM, CFS said:

Has anyone successfully re-scheduled their GCP appointment? I e-mailed them and am getting the feeling everything's going into a black box....and, like @top_secret mentioned, trying to reach them via phone is futile. 

 

I think lately CFO is playing a game of totally ignoring anyone who does not have a visa on hand.  I tend to believe any e-mail that does not have a scan of a visa attached goes straight in the trash.  I think they will be much more responsive once you have a visa.

[CFS 14]

15 hours ago, top_secret said:

 

I think lately CFO is playing a game of totally ignoring anyone who does not have a visa on hand.  I tend to believe any e-mail that does not have a scan of a visa attached goes straight in the trash.  I think they will be much more responsive once you have a visa.

Thank you! They have been responsive the past 2 days...but I think it's a game of chance. For reference in case it's helpful - I e-mailed info@cfo.gov.ph and was eventually re-directed to someone who works at the CFO.