⌛ Filipino Passport with Foreign Spouse - CFO

I have a question regarding your comment Teacher. My wife originally got her passport before we were married (I foolishly thought she could get a US tourist visa. She was denied before we were married and twice since we've been married.). She recently went to Cagayan do Oro where her passport was issued to get it amended to reflect her married name. She was told she needed to attend the seminar in Cebu before that could be done. Are you saying that in your wife's case she wasn't required to attend the seminar in order to amend her passport? Is there something I'm missing? Thanks

 

Four years ago my youngest daughter got a passport using an agent in Cebu. I got her an immigrant visa to the US and bought her a ticket online to get there. She flew to Manila in the middle of the night, where she was to clear immigration. Her flight out was at about 6 am and someone wanted to know if she had attended the lecture. They jerked her around for several hours before letting her depart at the last minute.

 

Poolbum........if it helps to explain, my wife was required to attend the seminar in Cebu before her passport was changed to married status.
( that was five years ago)
Be warned, that they are told all the terribly things that can happen to them if they choose to live abroad!!!!!!! and just from their husbands!!!!!!

 

Hi SteveB,
I had done my passport way back in 2004. Yes, your wife has to attend CFO counselling. The fee is not that expensive. The best way out of this...is that give them what they are asking for or she will be stuck. If anything or if really necessary tell your wife to buy those people a snack or what they call put extra money under the table. It might help and it might not. I had to do this when I was processing my passport and also my visa. I don't know what it is but some filipino seems to get excited also when they heard you have an american spouse.
Good Luck on this....if this is her first time to get a passport and is planning to get a visa too then they will be asking more documents. So get ready cos this is just a taste of a problem that you are experiencing.

Lucricia

 

She is lucky they let her leave at all. It is generally not too hard to get a passport without CFO, but it is very difficult to leave the country on an emigrant visa without CFO.

Larry

 

actually she didn't

It is all in who you know in the Philippines, I didn't even have to go to marriage seminar. I simply got married..but again it is all in who you know...that is not something I can't help you with...

 

I hate to point this out, but isn't that a double negative? So, In fact you can help with....

Just ribbing you Teacher.:D

 

Haha yes my wife went through the same sh*t even after being married for 8 years at that time BEWARE OF THE BLUE-EYED DEVILS HAHA
Bunch of wankers if you want my honest opinion thousands here dying to get there and the ones that deserve or have a right to go get discouraged

 

After 20 years living in this country, I have learn't that it is less stressful to just go with their requests and requirements. It is a bureaucracy , it is a pain in the a..s, but I now look at which is going to cause me the least amount of stress.

MY wife is a twin and for some reason she changed first names with her twin as well as slightly different spelling, and they then used the different names all through school. Means all the school documentation was wrong. Then we find out that dad used a slightly different name on both birth certificates (Why? they were done at the same time) so Deed Poll to Fix Dads name, fix one birth certificate, deed poll to fix my wife's name, change the birth certificate, then we could actually go to DFA. (The twin used the some of the documentation that made sense for her passport two years earlier, so I was stuck with fixing the other set of documentation)

This process took over a year. My alcohol intake increased dramatically and I literally stopped counting the cost. It actually became easier when I accepted that it had to happen and had to go with the flow. My alcohol intake reduced dramatically.

Point is, it needed to get done, that is their (Filipinos) way of doing it, it is their country so I figured I had to at least show respect for the process, even if I did not like/agree with it.

End of the day, new passport, no issue with the daughters passport, easy visas to Australia and all the records are now RIGHT for ever so we have a level of protection for the future in any further transactions, etc.

In these situations, I always picture how I would react if a foreigner came to my country and tried to short cut the system. It is our system, if they do not like it they can go away. I feel hypocritical if I try and do it here.

Moral of the story, shrug your shoulders, go with the pain and show your ability to accept the way it is and enjoy the process. You will see that a lot of Filipinos will show you a lot more respect if you show a willingness to accept their way of doing things, even if you do not like it.

Just my two pesos worth ..

 

Sorry! SteveB There is no way around it. I have been married some years and now My wife wants to change her name for the new passport, she has to go to Cebu for this seminar to be told What foreigners are all about, We have just returned from Spain after 6 years, I think she knows already BUT what HO! it is the way it is. It is a Personal Appearance thing so it is a Grin and Bear it thing. And To Boot. our Daughter has to attend the Day after for here Appearance. I wish you well on this but as I say, it is just the way it is.