RE: CFO SEMINAR
If you are planning to use your married name in your passport you will need to attend first the seminar for you to secure the CFO certificate which is a requirement for changing status/name in our passport. Then you will go back in their office for the cfo sticker once your visa is already issued.
Now if you are waiting for PPR or you just submitted your passport to CEM it is better to wait for you passport to have a visa stamped on it so that you wont need to go back to their office just for the cfo sticker. But if you have the luxury of time you can attend the seminar and just go back again when your visa is stamped.
In my personal experince i attended the seminar prior to application of our file because we wanted to use my married name althroughout our application. So fo me to change my status and name in my passport i have to secure the cfo certificate because its a dfa requirement. So when the time comes that i have my visa with me(hopefully soon
) i need to go back to cfo and present the certificate that i already attended their seminar to be able to secure the cfo sticker which is mandatory for all immigrants.
Hope this helps..