Pre-arrival services? are they mandatory?

[AtribecalledQ]

Hello all! At the beginning of the week I received an email for a passport request which is for my spouse after about 10 months of processing. Hopefully in the next week she will be able to go to the visa application center in manila to submit her passport and required documents.

Now, I've been sent "Pre-arrival" emails which talk about these free services that give my wife access to information about Canada. For some reason they sent me 3 of these emails 3 months in a row, my question is are these services mandatory or is there some kind of seminar or anything she needs to do before she leaves the Philippines for Canada? I figured none of this stuff was necessary or mandatory as obviously I will teach her anything she needs to know about her new surroundings.

Any information would be great.

thank you!

 

[Neenvin]

Pdos for sure she will have to go for seminar because if she doesn't, she can't leave the country.
However, some people take guidance and counselling as well but I am not sure if it is mandatory.

 

[AtribecalledQ]

Thanks for the reply. When does she have to do this seminar and how long does it take?

 

[djein]

She has to do the seminar and it took my wife about 4 hours to complete it. The problem is the centers are all scattered throughout the Philippines so we had to fly to get to it. It is run by the Commission on Filipinos Oversea http://www.cfo.gov.ph/ and is 100% required or they won't let you leave the country. After you get your passport back from manila and they stamp it you then need to take the passport and do this seminar. They then stamp...the visa stamp. So you can only do this AFTER you get passport request and your visa back. You can do the seminar early and then go back for the stamp later.

 

[Neenvin]

She has to do the seminar and it took my wife about 4 hours to complete it. The problem is the centers are all scattered throughout the Philippines so we had to fly to get to it. It is run by the Commission on Filipinos Oversea http://www.cfo.gov.ph/ and is 100% required or they won't let you leave the country. After you get your passport back from manila and they stamp it you then need to take the passport and do this seminar. They then stamp...the visa stamp. So you can only do this AFTER you get passport request and your visa back. You can do the seminar early and then go back for the stamp later.

Did she only take PDOS and nothing else?

 

[AtribecalledQ]

So you can only do this AFTER you get passport request and your visa back. You can do the seminar early and then go back for the stamp later.

I looked at the site you linked. It sounds like it's a small venue and like it would be hard to get a reservation. Was that the case or just a simple click the date you want to attend and you got your spot?

Thanks for replying earlier bud.