CFO PDOS - Before or After Visa?

[Hank_ 9,173]

I was at PRISM with my fiancee just a couple weeks back, no hear-say... was not a bad experience aside from I got very bored sitting out front. My fiancee had no horror stories to tell me.

We were there on a Wednesday, 45 minutes before the session started, fiancee just walked in, no line, no waiting... for sure no arriving 2 hours early.

Guard at PRISM was extremely friendly and very helpful with everyone. In fact I had fun shooting the sh!t with him.

No one in the seminar with my fiancee, nor my fiancee were asked to go out and make phone calls nor gather more documents.

As for parental issues, there are document requirements for certain ages that is stated clearly on the CFO website even, beyond that I have my doubts it happened.

As for age gap issues..... I think Amy and I have that one covered for sure...

I would say you need better reading material.

Hmmm... I was disappointed in the Mall of Asia, what can I say, I guess after being at the Mall of America it takes more to impress me.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Hank_Amy

[gretchen_darren 67]

well I guess I was just keeping with the Pinoy picture post... thanks for the update on PRISM. It helps to know these things. A lot of my research was done last Spring/Summer 2011. being that my wife and her family are devout Catholics, I decided to play to the strengths in the family versus going against the family. Sometimes you gain more ground when you let other people think it is their idea. All I know is Good Shepherd convent put the family at ease. It was easy on them since it was similar to being back in their hometown. It was not "upscale" like the airport, St. Luke's, US Embassy, or Hotel was. I am not sure what PRISM looked like, but I think having taken the to a convent for the CFO worked out wonderfully. For me, it made them feel re-assured. I chose SMEF-COW not for the convenience sake, but for those factors which are intangiable and have a better "pay-off" in the family harmony.

Maybe a lot of what I hear is cultural bias as well. Since unlike the USA, the Philippines is around 85% Catholic. For me, I could have said we are going to Prism, and that would have been fine. However, Gretchen has wanted to go to CFO in Cebu and I said wait until we all go to Manila together. I could have sent her, and her parents to cebu. It might have saved me money, and might not have. However, I think taking her parents to manila for a week, having their own hotel room, being with their daughter on the day she was approved at the embassy, and going through the CFO interview with her, was appropriate. At least for me, I think it was proper. I am not saying what is proper for everyone else. The family enjoyed SMEF-COW. Each person has their own preference likes and dislikes. It is up the OP and his fiance where she ultimately goes and when they do it. the only thing I know is, the plan I did worked out well. I was extremely lucky and blessed with a LOT of preplanning and factoring in Filipino lifestyle. I could have been the most massive trainwreck of all trainwrecks had something gone bad. Each person has their own ideas. you chose PRISM, we chose SMEF-COW. No one is better then other. I just chose my choice because of what I read in the past, but MAINLY because of the family being devout Catholics, sometimes making a family happy and getting peace is going the extra mile when you don't have to.

[AlohaBabes 5]

If you have time to have the seminar before the interview, better do it!! In my opinion better do it before the interview so that you will have a little practice or insight on what will happened on the actual interview at the embassy!! They will ask most likely same papers and evidences from you at the seminar.. They will ask same questions too, or much harder that the interview.. So by the time you will have the actual interview you know now what to expect and what to do.. Cheers!!! :dance:

God Bless us all!!!:innocent:

[TnJ 131]

If you have time to have the seminar before the interview, better do it!! In my opinion better do it before the interview so that you will have a little practice or insight on what will happened on the actual interview at the embassy!! They will ask most likely same papers and evidences from you at the seminar.. They will ask same questions too, or much harder that the interview.. So by the time you will have the actual interview you know now what to expect and what to do.. Cheers!!! :dance:

God Bless us all!!!:innocent:

That is actually very good logic that I hadn't thought about until now. Thanks for mentioning it the way you did. I just recently started figuring out how tough the seminar can actually be on some so I have been sorting through all the rationales for doing it one way or another. I think I will have a change of plans now.

[Shane and Lovely 22]

Lovely attended the PRISM seminar today,

In her words, "I'm done and no sweat! They interview me, they did not ask for our pictures or your birth cert. They just ask for your divorce paper, no more. But I insist to give your cert and show our pictures. hehehe The interviewer said I look so excited when I showed our pictures hehehe."

So sounds like all those horror stories about PRISM didn't have any affect here. Best advise I could give her. Just be yourself, smile, remain positive and upbeat and be comfortable. We were meant to be together. Nothing will stand in our way. I'm going to try to get her to remember all the questions and I will post later. All in all she said this was good preparation for the interview next week at the embassy. She feels even more confident now.

[Shane and Lovely 22]

Lovely said the only questions she asked about me were .... If I had children, Why I was divorced, When did we meet and how long I stayed, and my birthday and age. She said the whole conversation was more like an interested friend than a interview. They didn't ask her my mother's maiden name or ask for pictures. So Love told them anyway.... hahahahha .. That's my girl All in all she said it was super easy. Hope this helps someone else.

[AlohaBabes 5]

That is actually very good logic that I hadn't thought about until now. Thanks for mentioning it the way you did. I just recently started figuring out how tough the seminar can actually be on some so I have been sorting through all the rationales for doing it one way or another. I think I will have a change of plans now.

I actually just figure it out from reading previous post. So for me its better to attend the seminar before the actual interview.

Lovely said the only questions she asked about me were .... If I had children, Why I was divorced, When did we meet and how long I stayed, and my birthday and age. She said the whole conversation was more like an interested friend than a interview. They didn't ask her my mother's maiden name or ask for pictures. So Love told them anyway.... hahahahha .. That's my girl All in all she said it was super easy. Hope this helps someone else.

Thats a big help for us.. Thank you!! :-) If shes able to do it in the seminar, Im sure she can do it better in the interview at the Embassy too.. Good luck for her.. God bless :-)

[GLJ1322 5]

She is going to do the seminar a week before her embassy appointment. So I guess she'll just go the CFO after her visa arrives to get the stamp.

Good idea