UPDATE: Passport Application

I will have to definitely put my foot down concerning my application for next week. I was going to go yesterday, but that got derailed. I was preparing last night to go this morning but that, also, was derailed. My twin brother E- had been struggling to finish all his requirements in school so that he could graduate this March, but because he has been sick I went and helped him. I haven't had that much sleep for the past two nights just helping him, but finally (unless he has some hidden requirements I don't know about and which I have to help him with) all is done. And I can post.


As I was preparing my own requirements for the application of my Passport, I hit upon a snag. Up until now, I had assumed that the next step in getting my passport was to visit the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pasay City and submit my fully accomplished form with three 3.5 cm x 4.5 cm colored photographs of me wearing decent attire, white background, blah-blah... Well, as I was reading the fine print at the back of the form, I found this (I.E.3.) as a requirement before I even step foot inside DFA premises:

For fiancées and spouses of foreign nationals
- Original and photocopy of Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) Guidance and Counseling Certificate of Attendance.

Oh, dear! I overlooked something! It isn't V-'s fault for not having told me (actually, it's nobody's fault but mine) that I needed to go get this before I apply for a passport. Even though V- isn't actually an Australian yet, she is a permanent resident there and, if I don't want to be caught up in a snafu, I would have to at least find out if I need this. And this has more requirements, like photographs, registration fees (arrrgggghh!) and all that again.

Another snag is that the DFA chose this time to change the format of their old application form into this new one. Arrrrrrrrrggggggggghh!!! My photos are pasted into my old one! I would now have to tear it off and accomplish the new one.


So, my schedule then for next week is to go to the CFO to attend the Guidance and Counseling seminar; I just hope that their schedule is still current (only way to find out is go there six hours early, like the way our Marriage counseling was done). Then try to go to the DFA and submit all my requirements. Then wait for V-'s package, then work on my VISA. It is all very stressful, but I would do all this just so I can hold my wife in my arms again. Now, all I have to do now is write down our "love story" (how, oh, how am I supposed to prevent myself from being unbearably and pathetically cheesy?).