CFO Requirements for K1 Fiance VISA

[Kawika & Michelle 108]

Hi Folks,

 

Looking to try to get some clarification on what is needed from the CFO to allow my fiance to travel to the US once her K1 Fiancé VISA is approved. She has already gone through counseling & received a certificate from the CFO for completing the Overseas Filipino - CFO Online Registration System (OFCORS) for our trip to Costa Rica back in 2021. She initially reached out to her counselor once more to verify whether anything else needs to be done & she was told by her counselor that all she needed to do was to bring her VISA down to their office to get the sticker attached to it. We saw the notice that the CFO will forego stickers in favor of a digital certificate starting on May 1st. Since she will not receive her VISA until after May 1st, we have reached out once again to her counselor to see if she still needs or even will get a sticker for her VISA at this point or if she will receive a digital certificate instead. Her counselor has not yet responded.

 

My question is whether or not the certificate that she has is what is needed or if there is something else in addition that is required. I can't seem to access the CFO website directly from the US, so I can't seem to be able to verify this myself. A general Google search seems to indicate that she may also be required to acquire the Guidance & Counseling Certificate (GCC) as well as the CFO sticker (or digital certificate after May 1st). Can anyone shed some light on any of this?

 

Thanks!

 

Kawika

[Chancy 6,241]

2 minutes ago, Kawika said:

She has already gone through counseling & received a certificate from the CFO

 

Does her CFO certificate have a "Valid Until" date at the bottom?  If not, no further action required.  Her existing certificate will be valid for Philippine exit immigration with her K1 visa.

 

If her CFO certificate is expired, she just needs to get her CFO revalidated to get a new certificate.  No need for another counseling session -- https://cfo.gov.ph/re-issuance-revalidation-and-amendment-with-gcp/  (Link may be blocked when accessed from the US.  Should be accessible without issue from the Philippines.)

 

[Kawika & Michelle 108]

I hadn't even noticed it before but her certificate was issued on August 4th, 2021 & does have a valid until date of June 30th, 2022.

[Kawika & Michelle 108]

I was more concerned with whether what she had received was the equivalent of the "Guidance & Counseling Certificate (GCC)" or if that was something else. Whenever we get into deep discussions about marriage & her life here it doesn't seem like she has a clear vision of the rights she has here. It makes me wonder what that counseling session even involved. Also the certificate that I have access to right now was a temporary one that her counselor issued to us since our trip back in 2021 was happening before it could be delivered to her. I am not sure if the certificate she received from the CFO has an expiration date on it as well. She's asleep right now, so I can't verify anything with her just yet.

[Chancy 6,241]

54 minutes ago, Kawika said:

does have a valid until date of June 30th, 2022

 

Her CFO certificate is expired, so not valid for exit immigration at the airport.  Have your fiancee go through the revalidation process.

 

As for info on her rights in the US, the CFO counselor would not have talked about it if the session she attended was for visiting Costa Rica.  In any case, the US consulate typically hands out an IMBRA pamphlet to K1 visa applicants at the interview.  Also available for download here -- https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/imbra.html

 

[Kawika & Michelle 108]

Yep. I gave her the IMBRA for her to read (also available in Tagalog). And she woke up & we have been talking. As I stated, the copy I had was the temporary certificate (hence the expiration date). She was given the paper copy of the GCC that was delivered while we were in Costa Rica & it has no expiration date on it. Based on what her counselor told her, the certificate has no expiration however it is only valid for the person that she went through the counseling process for. In other words, the certificate is only valid if she uses it with me. If she was to choose to be with someone else in the US or another country, she would have to go through the counseling process all over again. A large part of that "counseling" process included a lot of background information on me & a lot of personal information on me & my personal situation.

[An D 27]

is it possible to schedule the cfo session before doing the visa interview? for example, if you just got DQ and awaiting medical/visa interview, is that too early to schedule it? i've seen some people say you can get the cfo stuff done before the visa is on hand, but nobody specified how you go about doing so. 

[Kawika & Michelle 108]

20 minutes ago, An D said:

is it possible to schedule the cfo session before doing the visa interview? for example, if you just got DQ and awaiting medical/visa interview, is that too early to schedule it? i've seen some people say you can get the cfo stuff done before the visa is on hand, but nobody specified how you go about doing so. 

 

schedule cfo session before visa interview - Philippines - VisaJourney

[Chancy 6,241]

1 hour ago, Kawika said:

She was given the paper copy of the GCC that was delivered while we were in Costa Rica & it has no expiration date on it.

 

As long as the paper certificate has no "Valid Until" date, she can use it for PH exit immigration.  No need to go through CFO revalidation.

 

[W199 335]

4 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

As long as the paper certificate has no "Valid Until" date, she can use it for PH exit immigration.  No need to go through CFO revalidation.

 

That's not what the CFO told us. My fiancee just got her CFO GCP to visit me in Canada while waiting for her K-1 VISA.

 

The CFO said that after getting the K-1 VISA she must go back into cfo website and do a "update registration" or something like that, with a copy of her K-1 visa in. But no need to redo the CFO GCP. session.   For this Canadian tourst gcp, e CFO counselor said all they needed for this was a scanned copy of our passports and tourist visa because they know the embassy is already going to validate all the other documents like cenomar and divorce certificate, so no need for them to 2nd guess them.  It was very easy. 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by W199

[RO_AH 1,659]

1 hour ago, W199 said:

 

The CFO said that after getting the K-1 VISA she must go back into cfo website and do a "update registration" or something like that, with a copy of her K-1 visa in. But no need to redo the CFO GCP. session.

Technically, maybe? Reality is BI checks the CFO certificate and decides if you can go or not. They will not stop her with a valid certificate that has not expired.

[W199 335]

1 minute ago, RO_AH said:

Technically, maybe? Reality is BI checks the CFO certificate and decides if you can go or not. They will not stop her with a valid certificate that has not expired.

The certificate has a digital QR code, and no expiration date   Don't they scan the QR code to validate the GCP and her destination?

[Chancy 6,241]

4 hours ago, W199 said:

The CFO said that after getting the K-1 VISA she must go back into cfo website and do a "update registration" or something like that, with a copy of her K-1 visa in.

 

For extra peace of mind, you may go through CFO revalidation after getting the K1 visa on hand.  You may or may not get the same certificate, maybe with updated issue date.  No need to repeat the counseling session.

 

[RO_AH 1,659]

4 hours ago, W199 said:

The certificate has a digital QR code, and no expiration date   Don't they scan the QR code to validate the GCP and her destination?

Have you tried scanning the code? It's just the number underneath the QR. If they scan the code it would only say that it matches the number on the certificate.

[ultrasoul 51]

@RO_AH My brother in law just completed the CFO seminar but now they want him to pay 30 php + 90-200 php shipping for the sticker even though the email cert with QR code should be free.

 

 Am I missing something here?

Edited April 19, 2023 by ultrasoul