Joe Kano

23 hours ago, Oregontripper said:

Thanks folks.

 

Might just be a time for patience - per usual - and await freedom to visit the Philippines,  our preference anyways.

 

 

Additionally, being locked up in a Manila hotel is of little interest... Fingers crossed.

 

Good Luck to all.

 

Patience is gonna be the key, I suspect they will open up in the next 6 months for tourism.  Partially due to Presidential Election in May 2020.

As of now the Philippines is the joke of the world in their handling of the pandemic, but don't worry now the Philippines is shifting to control mode, Elections are coming, they want the SHEEP controlled.

50 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

They used to be really inconsistent on that as well, but yes, there were times where they were ridiculously concerned on weight.  Around Christmas they would get more strict.  

 

It seems US carriers are more concerned on size than weight for carry on bags.

 

But in all honesty, Filipino travelers can get a bit ridiculous on the amount of items they bring on board. 

Yea, I didn't think about Filipino trying to do that, I thought it was because of my skin color

16 hours ago, flicks1998 said:

The above in bold still goes on, although it can be inconsistent, a traveler needs to be prepared for this.  Its not necessarily NAIA implementing it, but the airlines.  Cebu Pacific and PAL can be notoriously bad on this requirement.  If ANYONE who is not the traveler makes a payment (whether in miles or on a credit card) the traveler should have a copy of the credit card of the person who paid for the flight or a brief letter from the person who had the miles.  This has been inconsistently applied over the last 20 years, but it does come up and I have seen people denied check-in because they didnt have this information.  

Do you remember back when CebuPac would check your carryon luggage numerous times to see if it was overweight so tney could charge you more?

My nephew dragged one of them guys all the way onto the plane they were playing tug a war with his carry on, the pilot finally told the agent to let him board.

I was watching this guy, and it seems as if many places in Asia are still hard to enter 

Which Asian Countries Are Open For Travel and Future Plans for Opening - YouTube

15 hours ago, flicks1998 said:

The above in bold still goes on, although it can be inconsistent, a traveler needs to be prepared for this.  Its not necessarily NAIA implementing it, but the airlines.  Cebu Pacific and PAL can be notoriously bad on this requirement.  If ANYONE who is not the traveler makes a payment (whether in miles or on a credit card) the traveler should have a copy of the credit card of the person who paid for the flight or a brief letter from the person who had the miles.  This has been inconsistently applied over the last 20 years, but it does come up and I have seen people denied check-in because they didnt have this information.  

They were very strict on this around 2008 to 2010 time frame when flying out of Philippines on Philippines based carriers, US Carriers were not strict.

13 hours ago, RO_AH said:

I believe they have BI staff that manage their page. They try real hard to keep a good image for BI. They also have people that respond to PM's with accurate correct information.

Yes I have asked them a few question via DM and they were quick to respond and on point, I will say I was impressed and they provided excellent customer service

42 minutes ago, Karu4u said:

Seriously? Sounds weird but Okay. No idea about the rules. I always thought that we needed to be citizens of any of the countries. I'll check it out then

Very Serious.  Marriage can take place anywhere in the world and you are legally married any where in the world.

Philippines will allow a muslim man to have up to 3 wives, in that case I think the  USA will only recognize the first wife and I am sure it's the same in your country

43 minutes ago, Karu4u said:

I don't think so. We are at 89% vaccinated. Still not open for tourism outside EU/EES

I have been going to Mexico since June made 3 trips there, They were at 21% vaccine rate back in June.  They are fully open for tourism and never closed, no vaccine needed to enter, No quarantine, no covid test needed to enter, easy peasy.

They are very very similar to the Philippines except Mexico has much better tourist infrastructure in place and you can get a 5 star hotel for 3 star prices.

Lots of the world is open for tourism, and Asia is starting to open slowly and Philippines will join them.   Philippine has adopted the "I am afraid to open the door" and they have decided to curl up in the fetal position and lay in ball on the ground and hope covid goes away.   Soon they will have to realize they will have to deal with it and stop destroying their economy by shutting down.

14 minutes ago, Karu4u said:

I'm swedish citizen so that won't work. 

 

Why will that not work?  Philippines will recognize a US marriage certificate, or just about any country for that fact. It will get you visa to Philippines by being married to Philippines Citizen and satisfying the requirement of Bureau of Immigration rules.

10 hours ago, RO_AH said:

 But you need to remember that they hold the key so you need to kiss their rear or you are doomed.  I know that this really sucks but your easiest and fastest route will be to win the hearts of the people at CFO. It's sad that you got stuck with a consular that is such an (don't want to be filtered). Just remember the culture here in the Philippines. The CFO has ALL of the power and they expect to be treated that way and you must kiss up all the way. It does not matter if you were being  "arrogant" and "inpatient" or not. 

100% Agree here.  The Philippines is just a game to be played and the winners learn how to play the game.  Kiss up, promise the world and deliver nothing.  

1 hour ago, Karu4u said:

I asked. They are not originally from Manila so they don't seem to know that many who could help. 

 

Yeah, I want to go there but its impossible right now and most likely for another 2 to 3 years 

I think they will open up for tourism by this time next year.   

6 hours ago, Karu4u said:

All I did was ask why they ignore our msg when they promise to get back to is the next day. 

 

Online marriage is not legal in Sweden. 

Can't you get  Utah Online marriage done, that will let you get into the Philippines.  Once there then get married again if you decide you really want to be married and then your home country would recognize it.   Then you could do a visa petition.

23 minutes ago, Karu4u said:

She is 21 and I'm 38. 

 

What do you mean with "supervisor"?

That isn't an age gap at all.   I mean surely whomever you are dealing with has someone they report to, It seems as if you are being singled out.

I saw some mention they were calling out CFO on Facebook and getting positive results, this to me seem like a last choice

26 minutes ago, Karu4u said:

Okay I gonna clearfy all papers we submitted 

-----‐----------------

 

Copy of our passports 

 

Our birth certificate 

 

Pullout from our bank accounts 

 

My divorce papers 

 

Her proof of single ship 

 

Affidavit  - notarized by PH embassy in Sweden 

 

Invitation letter - signed 

 

I'm not married in Philippines - notarized 

 

I'm not abusive or an addict signed by ex-wife - notarized 

 

Criminal record - notarized 

 

Approval from her parents - notarized 

 

Plus the rest of the requirements on CFO list on their page. I don't remember them all but video chat pictures and chat logs and so on. 

It may be time to ask for a supervisor, sounds like you got someone with a chip on their shoulder.  

What is the age gap?  Even though that shouldn't be an issue my fiance was 20 when I first did CFO.  I know a guy who was 55 and his wife was 17 they got married in the Philippines with her parental consent. 

15 hours ago, RO_AH said:

To me it seems to show that the pressure is working. Every post that the BI makes gets flooded with complaints of keeping loved ones away who have not got married yet.

Is the person who does the Facebook post just someone they hired to post stuff?

Have you seen the US Embassy in Manila Facebook page, they have some idiot posting all their Facebook information, and I can promise you they are not american by the posts they always put out.

16 minutes ago, Karu4u said:

Last paper they asked for was a proof that I'm not married in Philippines. 

Which I'm not. So it was really easy to get. 

 

But that's not enough.  

 

We still haven't got got the answer but from reading everything here on other places they wont give her the CFO. 

 

Not a chance 

 

So, if she is 21 she needs to wait until she is 26 to be allowed out. According to my research. We don't want to wait 5 years ??? 

 

Because of covid I can't get to Philippines in probably another two to three years. 

 

We don't know what to do. She is crying none stop. 

 

 

Did you furnish a parental consent form for marriage?

2 hours ago, Karu4u said:

She has a visiting family member schengen visa. She hot granted in to Sweden because of marriage. But they seem not interested at all in what type of visa she has. 

Her counselor had already decided she was to young to marry. Ignoring Filipino law. She just stretched it all out and demanded more papers to with us. 

We want to try again but the thought of waiting several of weeks just to try again seems so irritating. 

We were so happy when she got her schengen Visa. We thought "finally" and now they put this in us. 

 

I have been researching Thailand now. 

We have to book hotel and roundabout ticket to get in. Which means its gonna be very very expensive. On top of all the expenses we already put out. 

 

I don't know how to fight this. Everything seems impossible. 

 

What type of paperwork are the asking now?  Can't you furnish it to satisfy them? Even if you have be clever about doing it?

8 minutes ago, Karu4u said:

She is fully vaxxed so I'll look into this Thailand option. Are you sure she can travel there without CFO? 

I am not sure of anything now of days with the covid going on in the Philippines, I offered it as a suggestion since under normal conditions one from Philippines could go to places like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Macau , etc without a visa.    Will she need a CFO to travel to Thailand? It seems as of now no, but that could change as of tomorrow.   My fiance at the time had traveled to all those places I listed above and never did CFO but that was a few years ago.  

5 minutes ago, Karu4u said:

Are they open without quarantine etc? 

Is that the only way?

I am not sure what places in Asia is open without quarantine, I heard Thailand was open or a few weeks away from being fully open.  That one you would have to do your due diligence on.

1 hour ago, Karu4u said:

My fiance is about to get denied by CFO. 

we have ALL documents needed. Even a notarized letter from my ex-wife that declares that I'm a good person and is not violent. We have a letter of approval from her parents to get married. Also notarized. 

Her counselor just kept on repeating "you are to you for marriage!!!" 

Refused to listen to my fiance and her sister. Totally ignored what they said. 

She is 21 btw. 

So we are going to make a new application with a different email as soon as she get her answer. 

So my question is; how fast can we make it? And how many times do we need? 

We have no more possible papers to add? 

I have not kept up with CFO lately, back before covid you could book at several different places in Philippines and do CFO and before that Manila offered two place one was St. Marys and the other one was PRISM this was around 2006 to 2010 time frame, if you had issue you just went to the ohter one and got your approval and stamp.

If she gets denied I guess it would be best to wait a couple of weeks and rebook using a different email address, last I heard CFO was online only.

1 hour ago, Karu4u said:

My fiance is about to get denied by CFO. 

we have ALL documents needed. Even a notarized letter from my ex-wife that declares that I'm a good person and is not violent. We have a letter of approval from her parents to get married. Also notarized. 

Her counselor just kept on repeating "you are to you for marriage!!!" 

Refused to listen to my fiance and her sister. Totally ignored what they said. 

She is 21 btw. 

So we are going to make a new application with a different email as soon as she get her answer. 

So my question is; how fast can we make it? And how many times do we need? 

We have no more possible papers to add? 

Have her just take a trip to Thailand or Cambodia or whatever city she can travel to without a visa and then book from there

30 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

What does "you are to you for marriage"  mean?

 

why do you think she will be denied?

 

document from ex wife has little or no value 

 

and making an application over and over will not succeed unless you overcome reason for a denial

 

rules for applying same as before (been together in last 2 years) and have all documents to support

Incorrect, you are lost, this is for CFO

11 hours ago, millefleur said:

Agree, this doesn't seem gray area at all to me. The "working" on a tourist visa usually means a.) doing work and getting paid in the US for said work here and b.) doing a job that takes away from an American's ability to do said job.

 

If she's just answering calls for her job in the UK as a backup person, I don't see that this scenario fits either of those concerns.

And this could be applied to anyone coming to the USA on a K1 and being employed by a non US company and getting paid in their home country.

38 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

They don't always provide accurate information .  

Exactly

34 minutes ago, RO_AH said:

That's correct but it was shortened for non vaccinated too. I could have just said that I was and roll the dice. But that could come back to bite you pretty hard. I arrived on the 9th at 5pm. I take test on 15th. If negative I will be free in the morning of the 16th. I was expecting 10 days so this is much better.

How long is your expected stay in the Philippines?