Erik and Glydyl

Greetings!
1. Ticket. 
2. Passport. 
3. CFO it used to be attached to the passport, but not sure now.
4. Philippine travel tax for P1,620.00 for economy and P2,700.00 if business class, Maybe paid online to avoid the hassle at the
airport. Travel Tax | Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (tieza.gov.ph)
5. May do 72 hours ahead Philippine Travel Information System (eTravel)
6. May even check in international flight ahead.
7. Maybe know ahead what to declare when arriving in the USA. 
Goodluck!
 
 
 

Tell her stop watching YouTube videos, Facebook groups etc. I don't know if I will catch flack for this but Filipinos love to go out of their way to find things to worry about.
 
The other thing that is real in the Philippines is they "they said" culture. You will hear the strangest things you can imagine and ask where they heard that from. The answer is...They said. Who is this "they"? You can't let a baby get a drop of rain on them but you can give them a bath. You can't eat watermelon after a c section or your wound will open up. I have really considered writing a book and calling it, they said.
Stick to these forums whee you will get accurate information.
 
Don't you let her pull you into this. You need to be the voice of reason.

The Philippines is famous for misinformation.  You will be fine.  The story probably originated with someone being "off-loaded," which sometimes happens when Filipinos attempt to leave on a tourist visa or work visa, but with insufficient documentation in the eyes of immigration.  I've read a few of those stories.  You won't have any issues like that with a K-1.  A friend just exited on a K-1 and didn't even mention the departure, so it was a non-event.  You can stop worrying about all the "what-ifs" now.  CFO is the last thing, and you've already done it.

Congratulations!
 
CFO should be fine with only copies of documents.   

WoW, that's even faster than what I was expecting. Thank you so much for sharing. CFO info is one of those things that rarely get any reviews or attention. Cebu, like Davao seems to have the same number of U.S. seminars per week. Looks like I will have to tell Gly she was right and I was wrong, lol. She loves when that happens, lol.

We just did CFO in Cebu on Monday.  Appointment slots were available every day.  2pm start time, finished at 4pm, with certificate already delivered by email.  It was shockingly efficient!  Only 4 people attended- 2 K1 and 2 CR1. I agree that you should probably check whichever one is most convenient before trying other locations.

From recent reports it seems like CFO has got beyond the total scheduling meltdown they were having last summer and appointments are now generally available in the immediate short term future at all locations once someone has the actual visa on hand.  I would probably agree with you that more seminars means more opportunities for appointments in Manila but I would make the decision based on which location is most convenient since I doubt there would be more than a few days difference either way.

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. 

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. 

Yes.

CFO has been undergone all kinds of wild changes this year but they seem to have somewhat emerged from the total meltdown they were having in like June and July. As far as I can tell, at this time there is no way you can find out when you could get an appointment before you actually have the visa on hand, but people who do have visas no longer seem to be having difficulties getting appointments in the reasonable short term future.  As far as I can tell they only do in-person GCP now.  The online option seems ended. Take your choice Manila, Cebu, or Davao whichever is most convenient.

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/

Her visa will be valid for 6 months from the day she went in, in November. So March departure should be fine.

As mentioned above, the appointment for Jan 22nd is only for the release of sputum test results and immunization.  No repeat x-ray.  Hope that SLEC doesn't call your fiancee before the 22nd.  No news = good news.
 
Don't forget to book the CFO GCP seminar after getting the passport with K1 visa.  No CFO certificate = no boarding the plane out of the PH.
 

If they told her to come back for her results January 22nd and they don't call her back any earlier than that, you can be pretty confident it's a negative result.  When someone tests positive, the results are usually known in the first month and they call them to come back immediately and start treatment.  The more time that passes with no news, the more likely everything is fine.

There should be no "new medical" and no new x-ray.  If everything goes according to plan she goes back, gets her negative test result and gets sent upstairs for immunizations.  Medical completed.  Ready for interview.

Well heres the latest update for Gly and me. She had her medical scheduled yesterday and has fallen victim to the infamous SLEC sputum testing so her interview slot should be available for the 21st if anyone wants to try and grab it. She was very upset as were the other girls in her group who also got flagged. I was able to make her feel better but I am also frustrated and annoyed at this point. She is in perfect health, She passed other TB tests in the past, she has no respiratory problems of any kind and they didn't even show her the chest x-rays where they, supposedly, saw something unusual. On top of that, they also are making her see a psychiatrist before her interview in 2 months because of a hairline scar on the inside of one of her arms from years ago when she was in her first year of highschool. We had to cancel her interview, rebook her flight home and pay for another airbnb because of the sputum testing going ONE day past the original date of her flight home. Now in 2 months we will have to do this all over again with flights and airbnbs and scheduling....sigh....so annoying. Looking back through previous threads, I see that SLEC has been falsely flagging people for sputum testing for YEARS now, I am amazed that noone has done anything to address this issue yet at the embassy.

Interview booked for January 23rd!

I am sorry to hear those news

Scan and email.  Manila only asks for the i134 from about 10% of the applicants.
 
If you want less divisive answers regarding Manila then visit the Philippines regional forum and ask questions there 

it's different for every embassy, I booked online with mine once case was ready but some have to wait for embassy to contact them and/or assign one

CASE READY! YAY!

CASE READY! YAY!

In Transit today WOOT!
 

In Transit today WOOT!