Cant get a slot for Manila interview

[Erik and Glydyl 26]

This is the dumbest system Ive ever seen. You make people wait a year and a half to be together and then they have to play roulette for a damn interview slot? So now we have to take turns clicking through every 20 mins until something opens up? Do we have to go through this for the medical and cfo appointments too or are they easier?

[Mello3 35]

Cfo is going to be worse. My lady had to hire someone to do the appointment for us.

[Jason and May 79]

CR1/IR1 cannot schedule interviews on their own unless their case is expedited, so there have been people waiting upwards of 7 months for an interview, and there's really no light at the end of the tunnel. October, USEM issued 33 CR1 and 151 IR1 visas. Which seems to indicate most of us will be waiting quite a long time for an interview. "At least 2 years" from petition to "visa in hand" seems to be pretty accurate at the moment. 

I have heard K1s are processing quite a bit faster, though, obviously. So, there's that.

[Erik and Glydyl 26]

I am so sorry for you both. I hope we dont have so much trouble for cfo. What city are you scheduling in? How long did it take?

 

[Erik and Glydyl 26]

On 12/10/2023 at 4:10 AM, Mello3 said:

Cfo is going to be worse. My lady had to hire someone to do the appointment for us.

Her interview is scheduled for January 30th and I'm going to book her flight for Mar 1st. I hope thats enough time for CFO

[top_secret 2,392]

It seems the CFO rona era madness has settled down a bit and they are getting back to normalish.  Such as that ever was. CFO has simplified the appointment process.  Basically you fill a form online and they handle it by e-mail.  For added confusion they also still have the old system too where you had to sign up at 7:00AM exactly on Mondays through Thursday.  So older advice may work but is not the easy way.  They will ignore you if you do not have an actual visa so don't waste your time trying to be prepared or to get a head start.  They are generally more or less responsive once someone actually has a visa and imminent travel plans.

 

https://manila.cfo.gov.ph/GCP-Manila-Appointment/

[Mello3 35]

On 12/12/2023 at 11:46 AM, Erik and Glydyl said:

Her interview is scheduled for January 30th and I'm going to book her flight for Mar 1st. I hope thats enough time for CFO

As it turned out it definitely is...my interview was dec 5th and our CFO intervieew was over and done with by dec 20, she was on a plane here on Dec 22. You will be fine my friend

 

Good luck to you both. 

[Mello3 35]

On 12/12/2023 at 11:44 AM, Erik and Glydyl said:

I am so sorry for you both. I hope we dont have so much trouble for cfo. What city are you scheduling in? How long did it take?

 

in retrospect our process went pretty smoothly. I was extremely upset that we didnt get to fly back together because she was truly new to travel but she flew a week after I did and I videoed everything on the way back including the immigration officers lol they laughed because they could hear I was narrating for her and nobody complained. She did fine and arrived without a problem.