The Philippine government now requires all outgoing emigrants to attend a Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar at the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. When you are given your visa at the US Embassy, there is included a leaflet including the schedule and requirements for the seminar. The seminar is conducted three times a day from Mondays to Fridays at 9:30am, 1pm, and 3pm. I decided to go immediately from claiming my visa at the US Embassy to the CFO, which is located at Citigold Towers, 1345 Quirino Ave cor. South Superhighway, Metro Manila. I think there were some "shuttles" that brought people from the Embassy to the CFO, but my mom drove me.
You are required to bring, to the seminar, your passport, a photocopy of your visa, a 2x2 photo, and a P100 registration fee. There is a xerox stand just two establishments away, should you forget to xerox your visa before you arrive at the CFO (P2/page, which is highway robbery, but at least it's convenient). You enter the building, enter the glass room to the left where they give you a form to fill up, you submit it and pay the registration fee, then you wait a while till you are called and told to proceed to a different floor. Fiancees and spouses of US citizens were asked to go to the fifth floor, where there were small conference rooms marked "US", "Australia", "Canada", "Japan", etc. Inside the "US" room, a lady oriented us regarding our status, reminded fiancees we needed to be married within 90 days of entry, and explained the general timeline before being able to obtain US citizenship. Issues such as adjusting to marital life, especially with a person of a different culture, the question of financial support for relatives in the Philippines, spouse abuse and self-petition if this happens, were brought up.
After this "counseling session", we joined the rest of the US immigrants in a larger conference room on the fourth floor. The head of the CFO outlined a "walk-through" of what we would go through at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as we left, at the port of entry, and details such as how much baggage we could bring, what size and weight, etc. She also included some advice about getting in touch with other Filipinos living in the US for moral support, obtaining a driver's license, and getting used to the food and the weather. She warned us to be careful with our passports, visa, and paperwork, since some criminal syndicates apparently stole these to sell under the table for as much as P200,000. An open forum followed and the floor opened to all questions. She advised that, upon marriage, Filipino fiancees should report their marriage to the Philippine Embassy, in person, so that the name in your passport can be changed. (Since the embassy is in Washington, D.C. and I'm in upstate NY with no plans to go there anytime soon, I wonder how I'll manage that.) She also encouraged everyone to leave photocopies of their paperwork with a relative in the Philippines, in case of emergencies. Lastly, she encouraged everyone to report to the CFO after a couple of months how they were doing.
Fiancees and spouses returned to the fifth floor to get our counseling certificates, then everyone returned to the first floor to await release of the passports, now with the CFO seal in them. They also gave out a small booklet with all kinds of useful advice regarding life in the US for the Filipino immigrant, and a plastic bag from AT&T which is just the right size for your chest film. All in all, about three hours.
The seminar is quite helpful, especially for those who have never travelled outside the Philippines before.