New Readers: If you haven't already, read the last two updates first:
Why Costa Rica?
Where Is My Luna Now?
Dear Readers,
First and foremost, thank you for joining me on this journey, as I share the details of my travel abroad. For most of my life, I've been a very private person, sometimes in fact, not even sharing things with my closest friends or family. I guess you could say I've been a guarded individual, keeping many personal things close to my chest.
But all of that changed when I met my girlfriend Jesa (a.k.a. Luna) and started sharing my love poems and bits of our love story on social media.
Within that first year of dating, my social media following on Facebook jumped from 5,000 to 500K fans. I owe a lot of the credit to Jesa, my muse and inspiration. She set me in motion to accomplish my goals and dreams.
And we're now so close to turning our long distance relationship into a real physical romance.
But there's been a delay. A very long delay.
As of this update, as I sit here on a Friday night writing this, I've been in Costa Rica for 6 weeks. Alone. Without my sweet Luna.
What's the hold up? Why the delay?
If you remember from the last update, the immigration officer at the Manila airport gave Jesa a card with four requirements.
We've been working on that final and fourth item for nearly 5 weeks.
The last requirement, for Jesa to exit the Philippines, is to secure a counseling certificate from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO). The agency usually gets involved for Filipinos working overseas. But given our unique situation of never meeting in person, due to the pandemic, the immigration officer thought the CFO best equipped to look into our relationship and validate its authenticity.
Over the last several weeks, Jesa and I have been gathering different documents. Again, the CFO wanted the Affidavit of Support, which we already had. But in addition, they wanted a lot of extra documentation, including a police clearance letter from my local police in my hometown, and a notarized statement from the U.S. Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica, declaring that my civil status is currently single and that I've never been married.
The longest wait was for the police clearance letter, since the police department had to do a records search and then mail the letter to me. And mail moves much slower now during the pandemic. But luckily, I cut down on the time, by having a virtual address (thanks Earth Class Mail) where my mail is scanned and uploaded so I can read it while living abroad.
As of this update, I'm happy to say that we're one step closer. Jesa’s initial CFO counselor has escalated our case to the CFO head and another counselor, and Jesa is currently waiting to have a conference call with them.
When Jesa gets on the phone, I imagine she'll need to answer a lot of the same questions about our relationship, how we met, what our plans are, and why we want to get married.
What comes after the conference call, we have no idea.
Typically, the CFO requires a multi-hour seminar, now conducted over Zoom due to the pandemic, before they issue Filipinos the counseling certificate. Plus, you have to pay a fee to get the certificate. The one positive is that the CFO now issues temporary certificates that can printed online, which the immigration officers at the airport will accept until the original is mailed.
Even though I feel like they're giving our situation extra attention, I still imagine Jesa will need to go through the seminar. Which means, more waiting!
And as you know, from reading this newsletter, we've been waiting a very long time.
But don't worry. I plan to keep you in the loop as things progress. And I know one day, my bebe and I will be together. A day I've been dreaming about forever!
Yours truly,
— Alex
P.S. While you have a moment, I started a new website (abnt.ly). Check it out and let me know what you think!