why is the CFAI so unreasonable?

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ubermensch

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My passport is with the UK home office. I have offered every possible alternative to identify myself for the exam. They will not budge even though the situation is completely out of my control. Their ethical standards are always touting the virtue of being reasonable so I can understand their complete blindess to my situation.
Their suggestion: tell your embassy to issue a temporary/emergency passport for you. They want an embassy to change its national policies for their exam? The embassy has told me they can only provide me with a national identity card and cannot issue a temp passport because it neither lost or stolen but with the UK home office.
I almost broke my phone, it is so frustrating!!!!!!!!
 
My sympathies.
If you are sitting the exam shortly then I think you may be out of options other than continuing to harass the CFAI. Otherwise, you could pay the premium for an appointment with the homeoffice. Expensive, but would allow you to sit.
 
you’re the same guy that sent his passport away for a month for the visa right?
like most of us said in the other thread, CFAI doesn’t budge on their rules.
 
im just venting my frustration at how unreasonable theyre being! ive been speaking to them constantly over the past couple of days trying to make them see some reason
 
so you mean there is no way of getting your passport before saturday? this is a nightmare
 
“Hey, CFAI, why are you doing this to me?”
“Because screw you. That’s why.”
This is generally the explanation.
 
I’m not a fan of the CFAI at all. I would actually prefer not to put CFA after my name. Paying them fees is like extortion.
 
if you prefer not use the CFA, just don’t use it. And then you won’t even have to pay the dues anyway
Make sense yea?
 
No, company forces you to use it. its a requirement.
its not my money, but i sure as hell don’t like the fact they’re getting paid.
 
To be fair, 144,900 candidates sat for last June’s exam. I can’t even imagine the amount of b*tching and complaining and requests they get for special treatment with a group that large. Ask any college professor with a class of 30 and they’ll tell you they get inordinate amounts of requests for special treatment and accommodations. At the end of the day, if they are to offer an unbiased exam to that many candidates around the globe, it must have a set of universal rules that are adhered to strictly. No exceptions. That’s why the inflexibility.
 
Having many candidates isn’t really a good reason for denying reasonable accommodation. The specific rule also matters. Most people here probably think that CFAI’s passport rule is unreasonable to begin with. If the OP was, for instance, requesting to take the test with rainbow crayons, he would probably receive little support.
 
Well the passport rule came into being as a response to increasing international candidate presence, they needed a standardized form of identification that had fairly universal requirements and official weight. The rule is clear from the beginning. Why would you sign up for the CFA if you weren’t sure you could meet the ID requirements? Look, I feel for the OP, but every year they get bombarded with requests for this reasonable accommodation and that reasonable accommodation. When it adds up to 145 thousand it becomes one large unreasonable accommodation. So in a sense, yes, I do believe having a ton of candidates is a just reason for denying ANY accommodation strictly based on resources and logistics. It’s like anything in life. As the group size becomes larger, the rules become increasingly legalistic and suffocating as a necessary size effect. I don’t like it, but I can understand where it comes from. This is pretty much the #1 reason I avoid large groups when possible.
 
But that’s like saying we should not have any handicapped ramps for large cities. After all, as population size increases, I’m sure there will be more reasonable requests for handicapped access.
Plus, it’s not like CFAI is operating with a fixed test administration budget. The last I checked, I had to pay like $500 for each exam. As the CFA candidate pool increases, CFAI’s resources also increase. Presumably, part of this money goes to hiring more exam supervisors and candidate service agents. It’s not like there is one guy running the operation out of the goodness of his heart.
 
I don’t really understand why they changed their ID policy at the first place, if they still allow national ID card, cases like this won’t happen. I think it’s a bit unreasonable not to grant a waiver here if you could produce evidence and legitimate reasons why you don’t have your passport with you.
 
Why is this an issue coming up a week before the exam?
Was it unclear to you that you had to have a passport to sit when you registered?
Were you uncertain if you could have your passport come exam day when you registered?
This is on you man - they made it clear out of the gate what you needed. Your situation may make it impossible for you to have your passport, but in that case you shouldn’t have wasted the time getting prepared for an exam you won’t be able to attend.
 
ohai wrote:But that’s like saying we should not have any handicapped ramps for large cities. After all, as population size increases, I’m sure there will be more reasonable requests for handicapped access.
Plus, it’s not like CFAI is operating with a fixed test administration budget. The last I checked, I had to pay like $500 for each exam. As the CFA candidate pool increases, CFAI’s resources also increase. Presumably, part of this money goes to hiring more exam supervisors and candidate service agents. It’s not like there is one guy running the operation out of the goodness of his heart.
I mean, to some extent I agree with you, I do wonder where some of the money goes. But I’m sure books aren’t cheap (lets not get into the books discussion) so that uses up quite a bit of the $500. Cities have a vastly larger budget and resources to use.
 
like blackswan said, the passport is for standardization. in a lot of countries passports are the only means of reliable identification. everything else could be forged rather easily. that’s not to say passports are not forgeable. they are much more difficult to forge
 
How “unfair” the whole passport requirement is: is another argument in itself.
The simple matter at hand is that the rules at exam sign-up were crystal clear. If you choose to run the chance at breaking them, that’s a choice you made and the risk you run.
 
To answer your second question: no, I was fully expecting to have my passport for the exam. I knew the requirement. What I didn’t know was that I would get a new job suddenly which would require me to send my passport BY LAW to get my visa reissued. I have offered them every alternative. A letter from my embassy, my nationality id card a letter from the home office, even a passport copy but nothings good enough for them.
 
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