CFO Manila Expeirience

[Dolly&Dan 11]

During my fiances medical she met a girl from her province. They became friends and have been keeping in contact because their interviews for K1 visa are both coming up mid October. My fiance is waiting for all our important docs to arrive via Fedex which is scheduled to arrive Mon Oct 8. She planned to attend CFO on Weds Oct 10 after she received all our docs. Her friend was attending her CFO seminar on Thurs Oct 4 because her interview is on the 11th. My fiance lives in Manila so she decided to go to the CFO with her friend. She planned just to go check it out , see how bad the lines were, get a idea of how early she needs to be there, and support her friend. The night before she called and told me that she would just try to do the seminar with the docs she has and if they asked for anything else she could just come back since its not hard for her because she lives in Manila.I didn't like the idea after reading all the bad experiences in the past but I could tell she really wanted to go try. Finally I agreed.

Oct 4 is on a Thursday so there is only a morning CFO Seminar with 30 slots available from 9 am to 12 pm. She arrived at 5:30 am because she wasn't worried if she didn't get a slot because she could just attend next week when she had all her docs. She was 7th inline at 5:30am. The class did not fill up and there were only 18 0ut of the 30 slots taken in the class.

She said the people at CFO were very nice and she had a good experience. This is what documents she was asked for to attend the seminar.

1. Appointment letter for her Interview at USEM.(Wanted anything proving she had interview to get visa)

2. Two (2) valid identification cards (IDs) with photograph and copy of each .(She used her passport and ID from NBI)

She completed forms and was never asked for any other documents.The CFO has wifi and she was able to message and call me on viber the entire time to the point that seminar starts. We continue chatting while she is waiting for seminar to start. Finally she tells me that the seminar will start and she will message me when its over. She starts the seminar but the messages never stop. She tells me that everyone is taking photos with there phones instead of taking notes so she can still chat with me and that the counselor doesn't seem to mind. She isn't messaging the whole time but is messaging, sending pics to me of things going on and the other girls in seminar. Its often enough that I'm telling her to pay attention so she doesn't get in trouble but she says it alright.She seems to be having a good time and I'm wondering if this is the same CFO I have read about.This goes on the entire seminar. Finally its time for her one on one counseling session.

The one on one counseling session took 10 minutes.The focus of the counselor during this session was on the fact that I was divorced twice and one was to a filipina. The counselor warned her its not a good idea and she needs to really think before marrying a man like me. My fiance tells her side of why she wants to marry me and the counselor says she believes her. The session is over in 10 minutes.

The dreaded Other documents as may be required by the counselors were a couple pictures. The counselor never asked for one single document from me or my fiance. The entire seminar the only things asked for were the pictures,appt letter and 2 Valid IDS with copies. My fiance said the CFO was very easy and a good experience and she didn't see any of the girls that day having any difficulty at all.

After the counseling session she waited for her certificate. The certificate was finally issued about 12:45 pm..She will just have to go by and get the sticker/stamp after getting her visa. This was only written to tell that not all experiences are bad at the CFO. If you saw the packet I sent for CFO in that Fedex package that will arrive Monday you would understand how nervous I was about the CFO. I strongly suggest you be prepared and bring all the required documents and suggested by others. Lastly even though the CFO experience was good I wish they would abolish it. My fiance said its useless and very elementary.

[Tahoma 2,291]

The CFO must have been reading VJ...and that's why they got rid of cranky PRISM and grumpy SMEF-COW.

Thanks for sharing your fiancée's CFO experience. I'm starting to like the new CFO-run seminar.

[neodragon0l 6]

Thank you so much the post. This is relieving since I won't be with my fiancee during the entire process. I really don't like the language of the requirements. Its vagueness gives too much power to CFO to decide whether they should give a sticker. I agree with you that CFO should be abolished. I really wouldn't know if the CFO actually has some success stories of preventing Filipinos from going and learning to find out that they dodge a bullet.

[Tintin and Mike 127]

Great tips, I'm always curious what's going on during the seminar.

Good luck!

[apple21 953]

They should lower the fee. The sticker and seminar is not worth 400 pesos.

[s&l_0419 0]

During my fiances medical she met a girl from her province. They became friends and have been keeping in contact because their interviews for K1 visa are both coming up mid October. My fiance is waiting for all our important docs to arrive via Fedex which is scheduled to arrive Mon Oct 8. She planned to attend CFO on Weds Oct 10 after she received all our docs. Her friend was attending her CFO seminar on Thurs Oct 4 because her interview is on the 11th. My fiance lives in Manila so she decided to go to the CFO with her friend. She planned just to go check it out , see how bad the lines were, get a idea of how early she needs to be there, and support her friend. The night before she called and told me that she would just try to do the seminar with the docs she has and if they asked for anything else she could just come back since its not hard for her because she lives in Manila.I didn't like the idea after reading all the bad experiences in the past but I could tell she really wanted to go try. Finally I agreed.

Oct 4 is on a Thursday so there is only a morning CFO Seminar with 30 slots available from 9 am to 12 pm. She arrived at 5:30 am because she wasn't worried if she didn't get a slot because she could just attend next week when she had all her docs. She was 7th inline at 5:30am. The class did not fill up and there were only 18 0ut of the 30 slots taken in the class.

She said the people at CFO were very nice and she had a good experience. This is what documents she was asked for to attend the seminar.

1. Appointment letter for her Interview at USEM.(Wanted anything proving she had interview to get visa)

2. Two (2) valid identification cards (IDs) with photograph and copy of each .(She used her passport and ID from NBI)

She completed forms and was never asked for any other documents.The CFO has wifi and she was able to message and call me on viber the entire time to the point that seminar starts. We continue chatting while she is waiting for seminar to start. Finally she tells me that the seminar will start and she will message me when its over. She starts the seminar but the messages never stop. She tells me that everyone is taking photos with there phones instead of taking notes so she can still chat with me and that the counselor doesn't seem to mind. She isn't messaging the whole time but is messaging, sending pics to me of things going on and the other girls in seminar. Its often enough that I'm telling her to pay attention so she doesn't get in trouble but she says it alright.She seems to be having a good time and I'm wondering if this is the same CFO I have read about.This goes on the entire seminar. Finally its time for her one on one counseling session.

The one on one counseling session took 10 minutes.The focus of the counselor during this session was on the fact that I was divorced twice and one was to a filipina. The counselor warned her its not a good idea and she needs to really think before marrying a man like me. My fiance tells her side of why she wants to marry me and the counselor says she believes her. The session is over in 10 minutes.

The dreaded Other documents as may be required by the counselors were a couple pictures. The counselor never asked for one single document from me or my fiance. The entire seminar the only things asked for were the pictures,appt letter and 2 Valid IDS with copies. My fiance said the CFO was very easy and a good experience and she didn't see any of the girls that day having any difficulty at all.

After the counseling session she waited for her certificate. The certificate was finally issued about 12:45 pm..She will just have to go by and get the sticker/stamp after getting her visa. This was only written to tell that not all experiences are bad at the CFO. If you saw the packet I sent for CFO in that Fedex package that will arrive Monday you would understand how nervous I was about the CFO. I strongly suggest you be prepared and bring all the required documents and suggested by others. Lastly even though the CFO experience was good I wish they would abolish it. My fiance said its useless and very elementary.

great! thanks for posting this CFO experience it's really a big help. I was totally clueless what's going on now with CFO & I've been searching for any recent experiences for weeks now since they closed their St. Mary's-CFO office. Finally this post answered my questions By the way, good to know there's wifi within the office so while waiting we can viber/ym our love one's to update them while killing time. Thanks again & good luck!

[Tahoma 2,291]

By the way, good to know there's wifi within the office so while waiting we can viber/ym our love one's to update them while killing time.

Yup...that sounds like a big improvement to me!

[graciee 1]

The CFO must have been reading VJ...and that's why they got rid of cranky PRISM and grumpy SMEF-COW.

Thanks for sharing your fiancée's CFO experience. I'm starting to like the new CFO-run seminar.

i had my seminar at PRISM last May 2012 and an representative from BDO bank discussed about planning life in the US and afterwards she's offering us to open a savings account with them! funny!

[graciee 1]

i had my seminar at PRISM last May 2012 and an representative from BDO bank discussed about planning life in the US and afterwards she's offering us to open a savings account with them! funny!

and oh we payed 300pesos for the GCC and 250pesos for the booklet.. but now 400pesos for the whole thing?

[X Factor 1,110]

Thanks for sharing