What to put as intended travel date?

Hi, need advice please! I want to travel on the 21st of April, 2016 and so I thought I should put this date on my application form. What date would they normally put on the the visa? My guess is it won't be this date. Given that one needs to get the CFO sticker on or after the date on the visa, I'm a bit confused as to what I should put as intended travel date. I hope my question made sense. I guess I need to make proper sense of the timeline. Thanks in advance!

The main problem is that pointless waste of time..the CFO!
So its no good you putting the 21st April for your date as the sticker won't be issued till after. In our case we put an earlier date..so if the visa is issued earlier that date is the one that counts. So if you put ..say the 21st of march..you might get lucky.

Or are you going to pay the extra fee for premium quicker service?

Thanks @bigmac! Read from another thread that you and your lady just lodged her visa application last month. How was the prep? I'm seriously overwhelmed! I think I have all of the supporting documents but one can never be sure.

Oh sorry, I missed your question. I haven't decided yet if I will. How much is it?

approx £400 extra for the 10 day premium service.

I would just put the date for the week before, so if get it then you be ok to travel on your date you want.

the prep took us--weeks beforehand. but then we were about to start last april--but had to wait another 8 months.

applied online--and paid--6th dec
documents in to VFS on 22nd dec
she got a message saying forwarded from VFS on the 28th dec.
no contact since--so 3 weeks now.

but i wouldnt be at all surprised if we are kept waiting for weeks now--so as to make the new premium 10 day service look good.

It's a lot of money, not sure if I want to shell out that much. Will need to talk to my lad, see what he thinks.

Crossing my fingers for you! Hopefully a positive result will be out soon.

Thanks @deanobeano! I moved it up three weeks ahead just to make sure I have more than enough time.

Is this for a fiancee visa or a spouse visa? If it is for a fiancée visa, the visa is valid for six months but if it is a spouse visa the visa is only valid for 30 days, meaning you have to leave The Philippines within 30 days of the visa date. Just bear that in mind for CFO sticker purposes.

Hi @Howerd, it's for a fiance` visa. Ok, got it. Thanks for the info!

so--when do you think you will submit the online app ?

Not sure why I got labelled 'dumb'

i dont think your dumb Howerd--so i gave you a friendly as compensation

Probably not intentional; your advice is valid. So I gave you an "agree"!

I'd probably do it this week @bigmac. I just need to make sure I have everything in order before I do so.

Good luck. Came here on a fiance visa and just picked a date i fancied.. lol.. losged application in May.. wrote october as my intended departure date.. got the visa in september... that was in 2009 though

Thanks @florgeW!