CFO confusion and annoyance!

Sorry, I'm flustered and shattered at 2am.

In the midst of having a conversation with the gf who is trying to undergo the CFO seminar in Clark.

They are refusing because she does not have a document to show legal capacity that I am single and free to marry. I have tried explaining that the British Embassy cannot give me this because I am not in the Philippines, and I intend to marry OUTSIDE of the Philippines.

They don't seem to be taking any notice of this.

Please can someone confirm that I have not missed something here?

I intend to send her to Manila where they will hopefully play ball a bit nicer.

I cannot take any more of this stress.

Have you ever been married?

Never married!

The CFO is entitled to require to see proof that you're free to marry before issuing its vignette.

What on earth am I supposed to show them, bear in mind this is being processed whilst I'm outside the Philippines?

Your fiancée can apply to the PSA for a Cenomar in your name which they should accept. Failing that, your local Registrar can, I believe, issue a similar certificate but you may need to have it authenticated at the British Embassy, which they might decline to do. Why not get married locally?

cfo in clarke ?

Yes:

Cant she just go on “holiday” to HK or Singapore... fly on from there?

She'll probably still need a CFO to leave the country anyway.

Surely CENOMARs can still be procured from a Registry Office here in the UK... then couriered out to PI ?

Google it ?

Some useful links on this link for CFO Clark contact


http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/616996-cfo-clark-pampanga/

We had no problems with the CFO at Manila, I believe others have had hassle elsewhere especially in Cebu.
I was advised in the UK that a document called a "certificate of no impediment" the equivalent of a Philippine cenomar could be obtained from your local registrar of Births Deaths and Marriage to prove your single status, this could be sent to your wife by DHL which is fast and reliable.
Something else you might find useful is the CFO Facebook page, you can message them and they do reply typically 24 hours later. Emailing them is a waste of time
Hope that helps.

In hindsight, I should have given this much more consideration. However, I like the idea of a trial run of 4 or 5 months together in a new country (for her) before getting married. If I could start it all over again, I may well have just married locally and dealt with the fallout of a failed transition to British life later.

Miss R has been abroad several times with minimal hassle, so I did think about booking a "holiday" to Kuala Lumpur. I was just fearful that the big bloody visa in her passport would be questioned.

Honestly, I had never heard of "Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage" in the UK before. I've certainly not read about fellas sat in the UK having to send such stuff to their Filipina partner.

Miss R has enquired about procuring my CENOMAR from a local office in the Philippines. They refused on account of me not being a Filipino (which I fully expected).

The registry office in the UK requires a 28 day notice period which will not work as I am flying to the Philippines next week! Instead, I am popping over to the British Embassy on 14th May for them to notarise an affidavit of marital status. A bit of a faff, but so be it.

I have a suspicion that the CFO Clark is making things up as they go along. Miss R has sat through the seminar and all that jazz, but they say they will only give her the actual CFO certificate on/after the date her visa is valid (14th May!). I'm fairly certain that the CFO in Manila would have given her the certificate on the day of appointment and not bothered with my own marital status.

The cfo sticker will only be given out on the day the visa is valid from and not before regardless of location

Well I'll be damned!

I thought people were getting their CFO as soon as the visa was granted. Didn't realise at all that they were waiting until the actual start date of the visa. Seems a bit draconian, but there we are!

You've simply made lots of rods for your own back (and have been making lots of presumptions) by not researching properly the correct procedures.

All the officials must be wrong or out to get you ?

Sorry, but it's not rocket science.

Yes, possibly under researched in some areas and some assumptions.

However, I would be interested to know how many guys making the application from the UK have had to send some notarised document to confirm their single status just to get the CFO certificate. CFO was meant to be the easy bit. If it has been a common requirement, I'm not so proud that I won't hold my hands up and admit I'm an idiot!

Hopefully somebody on here who has gone through the process recently will be able to assist... or somebody on another forum, of which there are I believe, quite a few.

I will never give advice unless I know it to be correct ... and can provide a link, showing it to be so. Always consult the appropriate government websites and help lines first, would be my suggestion. Rules and requirements can change from week to week.

Can she not change the cfo location?

We never had any problem with cfo cebu. My husband was never married as well. I just argued that home office will not grant the fiance visa if my husband was ‘still married’. Then when they asked if i have any proof of the fact that he was never married, i said no- just stating that i spoke to his family and friends (a few times as i managed to visit the uk three different times before we applied for the visa) and confirmed that he has never married etc and that was it.

That is the only solution i can think of right now. Ph has a weird way of doing stuff and if the process is dependent on a person implementing it, then change the person you deal with (by changing the office).

For example, my hometown is 3 hrs away from davao city. If i had the patience to deal with govt employee in my city who wants to feel important by delaying and wasting my day, i could do that (or insist they serve or moan or report them to someone higher up who i know thru connections etc). But i dont, so i travel to davao city to get the efficient service i want. I know there are arguments against this (we need to complain and say something to change stuff etc), but sometimes i just want that simple document and not be stressed with the process.