CFO CEBU

Many of you mightn't heard of them but this is one requirement the Bureau of Immigration will ask you once you leave out of the country or renewal of passport when changing into your husband's last name.

CFO (Commission on Filipinos Overseas) conducts seminars: GCP (Guidance and Counseling Program) and PDOS (Pre-Departure Registration and Orientation Seminar).

What's the difference between the two?
Well, based from what I've learnt during the seminar, which was conducted by Ms. Lucille Ronda, that GCP is a pre-departure requirement for Filipino spouses and other partners of foreign nationals or Filipinos (who are now citizens of other countries) for the issuance of passport or renewal to married name. PDOS, on the other hand, is also a pre-departure requirement for (1) Filipinos leaving the country as a family-based emigrants (petitioned by family members or husband who is still a Filipino citizen (2) Independent/ Employment-based (Migration application approval based on profession/qualification)

Attendance of CFO's PDOS in Cebu is a walk-in first come, first serve basis. Attendees are advised to be at the CFO Office two hours before the scheduled session, 10:00 AM. Emigrant children 12 years and below have to be registered by a parent and are not required to attend the PDOS. For requirements, kindly call CFO Cebu Office (032) 255-5253 or 0908-896-4984 or visit their website at http://www.cfo.gov.ph/

The seminar which I attended is called the GCP. Attendance to the said program is done thru their GCP Online Appointment System. Clients without an appointment will not be allowed to attend. Emigrant children under 12 years old who are still using Philippine passport and are issued emigrant visa, have to be registered by a parent and are thus, not required to come personally for the registration. The following requirements to bring with you during the registration are as follows:

1. Original and Photocopy of passport and (emigrant) visa page
2. Immigrant Data Summary  (IDS - Do not detach from the envelope) if bound for the US
3. (2) Valid government IDs
4. Duly accomplished registration form

REGISTRATION FORM

5. PHP400 registration fee

NOTE: Numbers 2 and 4 are only needed when you already have your visa. Always bring your original documents and only submit the ones photocopied. Never submit the original copies.

First, go to their GCP Online Appointment System. 

Wait for an email confirmation a minute after you registered then click on Confirm E-mail.

You will be prompt to this page and fill in the boxes with the appropriate answers. Pick a date for your seminar. Take your time for we can't afford to make mistakes. Then, click continue.

Take note on this part, you have to upload your 1x1 or 2x2 inches ID taken within the last 3 months. 

You may or may not print this page as long as you have a saved copy on your mobile device.

SAMPLE OF GCP CEBU ONLINE APPOINTMENT

I immediately texted the CFO Cebu's number to confirm what time will I need to be at the office. The GCP seminar's schedules are all in the afternoon and attendees should be there two hours before the session. However, when I received this PDF Form online with my information, if you notice below, it says be at 8:00 AM for the registration procedure. According to the reply I got, I need to be there at 8:00 AM to give allotment on the three page form which I need to fill out. 

I got there half past 8 in the morning. We climbed the stairs up to the 4th floor. We were asked to fall in line for the reviewing of requirements. I submitted a soft copy of GCP Online appointment together with my reference number, photocopies of 2 valid government IDs,  photocopy of passport, and photocopy of Report of Marriage. 

There were 4 cubicles and only the first and last ones were used. I was called second and had my picture taken. The teller from the window 1 instructed me to wait for my name to be called again while I filled out a two page form. Just as I was done when they called my name for the fee. We were divided according to country of destination. US and CANADA bound were joined in one room and had our PDOS Seminar at 10:00 AM. The PDOS seminar ended at 12:30 PM. The facilitator only gave us an hour for lunch and were asked to immediately return for our one-on-one interview. During the interview I was asked basic questions such how did my husband and I meet? Etc. I was also asked to provide our pictures. Good thing I had my mobile phone. Everyone else brought their photo album with them. The interviewer asked me for my husband's birth certificate. Take note, if I wasn't able to show her the document she was asking, she'd probably put my GCP certificate on hold. Like seriously, there were a few in my batch that was put on hold and were asked to come back once they have the complete requirements she asked. So be ready. 

After the interview, they presented a video about the human trafficking, how to apply for citizenship, the offices of the Philippine Embassy/Consulate in the US, etc. The facilitator asked us questions regarding the presentation then again she said for those who weren't able to answer, their GCP Certificate will be put on hold. Luckily, I was able to answer her question. It was already 7 in the evening when the seminar ended. I can now renew my passport using my husband's last name using the GCP certificate. Once my visa is available, I can come back for my CFO Sticker at CFO Cebu Office. CFO Sticker is what the Bureau of Immigrant will ask you to show in case you leave out of the country. 

Advisory on Marriage | PSA

For those of you who are planning to get married (especially if you're Filipino) must secure a CENOMAR or proof of singleness from PSA. 

The counterpart of CENOMAR is the AOM (Advisory on Marriage).  It is necessary to obtain an AOM most especially for those applying for spouse or fiancé(e) visa. The AOM shows how many times you got married and whom you were married to. Once marriage is registered or reported, you will be able to get the Advisory on Marriage. 

How to obtain AOM is very easy. Just visit the nearest PSA office and fill out a green form for CENOMAR. However, if there's no record of marriage reported, you'll receive the certificate of no marriage. I went to PSA Cebu to request two copies of our Advisory on Marriage which costs Php195 per copy. Why two copies? So my husband and I can have extra copy. :D

There are a lot of ways one can request for PSA documents such Birth Certificate, Death Certificate, Marriage Certificate and CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage). 

One way to request is to visit PSA Office at the earliest time possible. For most people who want it done it one day, they start to fall in line as early as 4:00 am so one can get a priority number. Fee for getting Birth Certificate, Death Certificate, Marriage Certificate is Php140 and CENOMAR is Php195. 

For color coded application forms: White Form - Birth Certificate, Yellow Form - Death Certificate, Pink Form - Marriage Certificate and Green Form - CENOMAR/ AOM

The alternative way which I consider the easiest way is through E-census site. Fee for getting PSA Documents is a little expensive compared to first option. However, it saves you from waking up early and falling in line under the heat of the sun. For Birth Certificate, Death Certificate, Marriage Certificate will cost you Php315 per copy and CENOMAR/AOM will cost you Php415 per copy. Your documents will be delivered right at your doorstep in 3-5 working days within Metro Cebu and 4-9 working days in provinces within the Philippines. 

DFA CEBU | Passport

I would like to share to my avid readers (if there are any hahaha) how I applied for my 4 year old son's passport. Children 7 years and below need not to line up to get numbers as they are given priority. 

DFA Cebu is located at 4th Flr of Pacific Mall in Mandaue. Contact numbers: (032)  520-6551, (032)  520-6193 and email address: dfacebu@yahoo.com. You will know when you're there once you see a long line outside since the mall doesn't open yet until 8:00 or 9:00 am. 

Primary requirements asked from DFA Cebu for my 4 year old son were as follows:

1. Personal appearance
2. Original copy of PSA Birth Certificate with receipt
3. Original and photocopy of valid passport of the person traveling with the minor. 

Other requirements are found HERE. Remember to photocopy all the original documents. There are photocopy machines on the 4th floor in case you weren't able to produce one. 

Around 5:00 or 6:00 am, the security guard roamed around to hand in forms to be filled out by the applicant. Mind you most applicants already lined up since 3:00 am.

At 7:00 am, the guard started giving out priority numbers to the applicants in queue and told to be back before 10:00 am to start the  application. So once the mall opens, go directly to 4th floor.

Fortunately, I got the very first spot. The guard on the 4th floor started calling out names based on their numbers and forms submitted. I was asked to enter first since I got the first number and proceeded to window 1 for verification of documents. Not too long, my son and I moved to the other side for my payment: Php950 for regular processing which usually takes 2-3 months (based on experience) and Php1,200 for express processing for 7 working days according to DFA Website. Once payment was made, we hastily transferred to the other side where the pictures are taken. Piece of advice: wear something decent, no wearing of jewelries during the picture taking and you're good to go. Just call the numbers to follow up for your passport releasing as there may be some delays.

Authenticated Report of Marriage in SECPA

I went to PSA Cebu to inquire on how to request a copy of our authenticated Report of Marriage and they gave me a piece of a paper containing the step by step process for manual processing of request for issuance of security paper (SECPA)

To be honest, I didn't follow the steps. What I did was I sent a message first to the email address provided. When I received Ms. Orcilla's reply, she transferred me to Ms. Edith Mallillin (ec.mallillin@oca.dfa.gov.ph) to handle my queries. Not long, I got Ms.Mallillin's reply informing that they already forwarded our authenticated Report of Marriage to PSA together with the Dispatch number, Reference number and Transmittal date.

Since I am from Cebu, I coordinated with PSA Cebu by sending an email (psa07.cebu@gmail.com) and referred them Ms. Mallillin's message containing the following information. 

When PSA Cebu acknowledged the following information needed to request an authenticated Report of Marriage in SECPA, my husband and I went to the nearest Serbilis outlet to request a copy of our Report of Marriage in SECPA. Report of Marriage costs Php140. Without the Dispatch number, Reference number and Transmittal date, Report of Marriage from PSA will take about a month long to process. 

Report of Marriage | Philippine Embassy - NEW ZEALAND

Planning to get married abroad? Think twice. *chuckles* I could only imagine the hassle my husband and I went through just to get our Report of Marriage. So what is Report of Marriage?

Report of Marriage is a requirement for Filipino overseas who have contracted a marriage abroad whether to a fellow Filipino or a foreign spouse. You should report your marriage within a year or it will be considered as late registration. 

If you read my previous posts, you should know by now that I am a Filipino even though I married abroad. Before I can use my husband's last name, I have to report our marriage to the Philippine Embassy/Consulate where the marriage took place. (Take note that a married woman has the option but not obliged to use husband's last name under Civil code Article 370)

This is a sample form of the Report of Marriage

It is very important to report your marriage specially if you want to renew your passport using your husband's last name. According to PSA Cebu representative that there are only few cases where Filipinos who married abroad reported their marriage in the Philippine Embassy/Consulate having jurisdiction over the locality where the wedding took place. 

To report our marriage, we coordinated with Philippine Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand through Ms. Maribel Garcia (marybel.garcia@philembassy.org.nz) one of the Mobile Consular Team in Wellington. 

Here are the following requirements for the Report of Marriage in Philippine Embassy - New Zealand: REPORT OF MARRIAGE REQUIREMENTS | PHILIPPINE EMBASSY NEW ZEALAND In their site they only wrote 3 copies but in our case, they asked us for 4 copies. 

We paid NZ $37.50 (US $25) plus NZ $5.00 for bank processing charge. He added up US $5.00 so the total payment amounted to USD $30.00 in the form of a Cashier's Check. REQUIREMENTS FOR DELAYED REGISTRATION OF REPORT OF MARRIAGE CLICK HERE

We finally received our Report of Marriage this year, April 2016. However, that doesn't end there. Please click here to know the steps on how we got our Report of Marriage in SECPA

TIMELINE:

1. Our Report of Marriage was shipped in late January, 2016. 
2. It was received by the Philippine Embassy in New Zealand on February 3, 2016.
3. I emailed the Philippine Embassy before the package arrived. However, I received no reply at first. 
4. Their first reply was in early March, 2016. They claimed that my payment in USD couldn’t be accepted, because the bank fee to process it would be too high. I argued their claim using the Schedule of Fees on their own website including the instructions for sending payments in USD. They claimed that according to the bank, my payment would take 1-2 months to process. 
5. The Philippine Embassy finally processed our Report of Marriage on March 30 and mailed it back to us. Additional copies were forwarded to the DFA Manila and PSA.
6. We received our Report of Marriage from the Philippine Embassy on April 4, 2016.
7. We requested our PSA Authenticated Report of Marriage printed in SECPA on May 30.
8. We received our PSA Authenticated Report of Marriage printed in SECPA 1 week later on on June 6.

Police Clearance | CEBU

This is actually my first time to get a police clearance. For those first timers like me, no need to worry. Here are the easy steps on how to apply for police clearance. 

Did you know that you can already apply for police clearance online? It was posted on their website on the 26th of May 2016 that applicants can already fill out a form through their site to get an access number. Take note on the reference number as you will have to present it together with your requirements. No need to print it as long as you have it noted or saved. There are also police interns ready to help you with your online application at their office in case you weren't able to apply online. You just have to pay Php30. 

Primary requirements in getting police clearance are photocopy of the following: 

1. PSA Birth Certificate/ Baptismal Certificate/ Valid ID
2. Latest Cedula
3. BARANGAY CLEARANCE

Cebu City Police Office is located at the back of White Gold Club in A. Soriano Street along SM City Cebu. 

After your online application, you may now proceed to Step 2 (cashier). Present all your requirements and pay for certain amount. In my case, I was asked to pay about Php125 for Spousal Visa. I don't know if there's a different fee for any purpose of getting a police clearance. 

On the third step, you will be asked to pay another Php65 for photo capture and biometric. Wait for your name to be called for the releasing of police clearance. Police clearance is valid only for three months. 

NBI Clearance | CEBU

Getting a valid ID can be much of a hassle. If you could only imagine waking up early, for some they wake up at 4:00 in the morning, the long queue, plus the not so cooperative weather. One of the supporting documents primarily asked from establishments like DFA is the NBI Clearance. This is what I have observed since technology is fast approaching why not make use of it? If not all then most things are easily acquired online. By filling out a form online, one saves time for both you, as the customer and the staff.

For those who don't know that NBI Capitol Branch is not operating as of this moment due to renovation that will take 3 months or more according to a reliable source. It is best that you go directly to NBI Banawa in Paseo Arcenas next to Rustan's.

First, you need to sign up at NBI Site and enter the applicant's correct details. Once you're already done filling out all the necessary information then you can now apply for clearance found on the right side of the screen. You will be asked for a valid ID number, such UMID, BIR, PhilHealth, etc. Next, you will be prompt to another screen which will give you the option to choose which NBI branch are you going to apply, the time and date of your availability, and the mode of payment. For the mode of payment you have 4 choices. In my case, I opted to pay it at Bayad Center such LBC for I find it convenient. Lastly, take note on the reference number and present it to any Bayad Center with your valid ID.

By the time of your selected appointment, you will only have to line up for the picture taking and bio-metrics. NBI Clearance is released immediately after those two steps are done. For those who have namesake HIT will be asked to returned after 8-10 working days. 

DFA Authentication | WWWExpress

This is a personal experience in which I want to share to all the readers out there. For those who want to have their documents authenticated by DFA, you may opt to go to DFA Manila to process the documents in person or you can go to a trusted agency to process red ribbon from DFA. First, let me give you the definition and importance of DFA Authentication. 

DFA Authentication or known as Red Ribbon attest to the genuineness of the signature appearing on the attached certification for the purpose of identifying a specific document and giving credence to the official acts of the notary public or certifying officer thereon for use, if and when required, as instrument of evidence in foreign countries. You may rest assured that for whatever purpose it may serve you, it is unquestionable that your document is valid. 

WWWExpress offers authentication service authorized by DFA under DHL. They're located at Door 1, Borromeo Arcade, F. Ramos Street, Cebu City.  You may contact them for your personal inquiries at 410-7561, 268-7138

I have to mention that I am from Cebu and would cost me not just money but as well as time if I still have to go to DFA Manila to authenticate my documents. It would be possible though if I have relatives who can help me with it. 

The very first thing I did, was to inquire through landline the requirements for red ribbon, fees, and exact location of the agency before trying their service out. Here's the contact number: 2687086 from WWWExpress main branch in Cebu. 

As soon as I'm equipped with all the information needed, I rushed to their branch in F. Ramos and started my application. They asked me for the all original copies of the documents needed for DFA authentication except for LCR. 

According to the female representative who received my call, to authenticate PSA Birth Certificate, one needs to enclose the original PSA Birth Certificate (within the last 6 months) together with a photocopy of LCR (Local Civil Registrar). Each document costs Php500 and the succeeding amounts to Php150. They have two branches in Cebu and the other one is right at Borromeo Arcade, F. Ramos St., across Diplomat hotel. She also emphasized that in order for the agency to process the documents you must secure SPA (Special Power of Attorney).

*Note: LCR is only needed when you want to authenticate your PSA Birth Certificate from DFA. PSA is formerly known as NSO.

I have a total of 3 original documents which costed me Php800. Since I didn't have an SPA they charged me an extra Php150. They will let you sign it in 4 copies with your complete name, complete address, and complete date. The process takes 10-15 working days and you have the option to have it delivered to your doorstep with no extra cost. Remember, you're the only one who can receive the package and not anyone from your family if you opt for door to door delivery. In my case since I'm not always at home, I chose pick up from their branch.