SMEF COW is closed ..

[rhaichard]

's true!!

I hope and Rhaichard's [updated] passport is returned to her pronto ... to avoid she and her husband being required to reschedule their pre-booked flight date.

Good Luck, Rhaichard!

thanks Arthur Little ..

[Arjie]

... ah ... so they'll still be operating in Cebu? That's a relief, anyway. ... just wish they'd open up an office in Davao City, since there're surely bound to be enough folks from Mindanao to warrant it!

I agree what you said Terpe..I wish they'd open up an CFO Office in Davao,so that we don't have to travel to Manila for the Seminar.

[Trefor]

We (well Rose) did the CFO seminar thing in Manila yesterday. There were 4 people in the UK seminar and around 200 in the US seminar (or trying to get into it!). They combined UK and Italy and I think there were 9 in total in the room at the time. Be prepared with information such as your partner's job, mother-in-law's maiden name, where you met etc. They will ask you in a 1-1 session after the seminar to ensure they are satisfied with your case.

The US groups were a bit of a mess - 12 people only. Then number 13 hung around for a bit and left, then they expanded the number to 15, so no. 13 lost out and 3 other got in. Then a disabled chap turned up having travelled a long way, and they would not let him join (this is all second hand info from Rose, I went back to the hotel for some sleep once I knew she was 'in' LOL!).

After the seminar Rose had to hang around for a bit and then got her passport at 12:30 or so with the sticker etc. Check the sticker is correct it has your name on it. They put it inside on one of the blank passport pages.

When to arrive? hmm. We stayed in a hotel around the corner and got there at 5:30am. Registration starts at 7am for the UK group. When we got there we found around 100 people waiting already! Turned out 95% of them were for the US seminar. Many got turned away from that group. We actually dropped by and checked things out around 7pm the night before with the security guard. There were 3 ladies sitting there, we found out the next day they were the front of the America queue! By the way, there is no queue per country, just a big load of people waiting around the entrance steps, then a bit of a free-for-all to the registration desk when the doors open. People weren't pushing and shoving, but I'd suggest angling your way through as many people as possible.

In my opinion you cannot take a risk that a UK seminar will always have 4-5 people wanting to attend. Arrive early. VERY early.

Of course this was Manila, I'm not sure about the CFO in Cebu.

If anyone has any questions let me know, hopefully our experience will help others.