Colombia Club Part II

[Ken y Leidys 20]

Congrats on her arrival. My gal finally arrived last Saturday- we started the process in November of 2008 and she arrived July 3 2010- looooong journey!

Joe

Congratulations, Joe. You both waited a long time.

-Ken

[Mononoke28 135]

Congratulations Joe!!! Must feel great after having gone through the whole AP nightmare.

Diana

[bramirez04 2]

hi guys! our interview is next week! time flew!!! whoa! i am getting super excited/nervous. i think we have everything ready. all my fiancé has to do is pay the visa so hopefully everything goes well when he goes on friday to pay it. i am going to read the post before to see if i can find one naming all the things we need for the interview just so i can double check i have everything. thank you everyone for everything! we will hopefully have have great news next week!

[arizreynolds 1]

hi guys! our interview is next week! time flew!!! whoa! i am getting super excited/nervous. i think we have everything ready. all my fiancé has to do is pay the visa so hopefully everything goes well when he goes on friday to pay it. i am going to read the post before to see if i can find one naming all the things we need for the interview just so i can double check i have everything. thank you everyone for everything! we will hopefully have have great news next week!

good luck and i will keep my fingers crossed for you. do you know where you are staying at when you are there? ken mentioned a cheap apartment is walking distance to the embassy. we stayed there and it was very nice. the place is welovebogota.com

[bramirez04 2]

good luck and i will keep my fingers crossed for you. do you know where you are staying at when you are there? ken mentioned a cheap apartment is walking distance to the embassy. we stayed there and it was very nice. the place is welovebogota.com

hey arizreynols. thank you so much! i have family in Bogota so we are staying with them they are helping my fiance out since he will get there first than me, they will be taking him to the medical examens etc. since he has never been to Bogota and he is going to be alone for the first couple days we figured it would be better if we stayed with people that we knew would know where everything is at and of course to save money. thank you though we really apperciate Colombia Club's help!

[DanVanessaSiempre 0]

hi guys! our interview is next week! time flew!!! whoa! i am getting super excited/nervous. i think we have everything ready. all my fiancé has to do is pay the visa so hopefully everything goes well when he goes on friday to pay it. i am going to read the post before to see if i can find one naming all the things we need for the interview just so i can double check i have everything. thank you everyone for everything! we will hopefully have have great news next week!

Good luck! We are now less than 30 days away from the interview ourselves too so I know what you are going through. I think the best preparation is just to go with originals and/or copies of anything they could possibly ask you for. I just yesterday bought a multi-pocket folding accordian file to organize all of the forms, receipts, certificates, and other paperwork in, and I've decided to bring along the entire photo album of everything since our first visit together 18 months ago, since it's all in chronological order and the individual pages are all removable so we can take them out to pass through the document slot at the interview window.

[DanVanessaSiempre 0]

good luck and i will keep my fingers crossed for you. do you know where you are staying at when you are there? ken mentioned a cheap apartment is walking distance to the embassy. we stayed there and it was very nice. the place is welovebogota.com

We are also planning to stay at Martha's place from welovebogota.com after hearing good things about it from others here. Can you think of anything in particular, either good or bad, that we should know or be prepared for, other than what's already on their web site?

[arizreynolds 1]

We are also planning to stay at Martha's place from welovebogota.com after hearing good things about it from others here. Can you think of anything in particular, either good or bad, that we should know or be prepared for, other than what's already on their web site?

one thing is to get the master bedroom if you can. also across the street is a nice hambuger place and a couple of fast food diners not expensive and pretty good. there is a mall about 3 miles from the apartment which is nice and also has many restaurants there also plus its something to do durning the day. during the day we walked to the embassy and the neighborhood and it seemed nice during the day. i do not know about night though i am sure ken has some insight to that. enjoy yourself and good luck

[MattCali 0]

Hey guys, there doesn't seem to be much info about filing an I-130 petition for Colombia (DCF), so I wrote up a review on the DCF board. By the way, they do accept payments by credit card at the embassy.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/265238-dcf-bogota-colombia/

[Ken y Leidys 20]

We are also planning to stay at Martha's place from welovebogota.com after hearing good things about it from others here. Can you think of anything in particular, either good or bad, that we should know or be prepared for, other than what's already on their web site?

When Leidys and I stayed there in October '09, we were alone for the first two days (of five). By day 3, a couple occupied the smaller room (as we had the Master bedroom), and the husband had a cold. He coughed all over the kitchen, they would not wash the silverware or dishes, and were very sloppy people. It turned my stomach seeing this guy cough and sneeze uncontrollably all over the kitchen table. YUK!

You have to bring cash to pay for the Hotel/Apartment. You are better off to get that cash at an airport ATM or maybe carry it with you from your bank if you convert dollars to COP's in the United States. You can also get cash from an ATM - Plaza Salitre is one location nearby where ATMs are available, otherwise, you must walk past the Military Base in the opposite direction towards downtown to find a bank like I did (not adviseable).

The weather in Bogota is damp and cold, so be prepared with your best jammies. There is no heat in the apartment to speak of, so chances are, you will keep the windows closed the entire time you are there.

Good luck with your interview!!

Edited July 15, 2010 by Ken y Leidys

[Mononoke28 135]

We also rented the master bedroom for 10 days and never other guests in the apartment which was awesome. The good thing is each room has its own set of keys, so you can just lock it and no one else can get in. My husband and I went to the nearest Exito which is in the Salitre Mall, about 5-10 minute cab ride, and got frozen lasagnas, arepas, bread, cold cuts, etc for our meals. We also bought some food, including tamales from one of the stores across the street and kept them in the fridge. There is a ton of restaurants around, including the ones at the mall, and there is also a TGI Friday's nearby.

For cash I went to a bank at the Gran Estación mall which is about 15 minutes from the apartment, I chose to walk there but you can also take a cab and it'll get you there in less than 5 minutes.

Now as for the weather, I personally don't find Bogotá to be cold at all, their average temp is about 65ºF. The nights can be a bit chilly as it drops to like 50ºF something but nothing a blanket won't take care of. Now, I'm from Denver so that's my own personal opinion. My husband however is from Tuluá which is very, very hot so he was a sissy when it came to Bogotá's weather (that's changed since he's been in Denver). So, being the good wife that I am, I bought a small space heater for $19.99 at Home Depot to bring with me. Put it in my suitcase and we used it every night for my husband's sake. It made the room nice and toasty.

Diana

[bramirez04 2]

Hi All! i know i have read on here before that it does not matter if you buy a one way ticket or a roundtrip ticket. but i asked my lawyer today if i could buy my fiance a one way ticket because i found a great deal. and she told me no that it has to be roundtrip or else they won't let him leave Colombia??? can someone please tell me if this is true....thanks!

[DanVanessaSiempre 0]

Hi All! i know i have read on here before that it does not matter if you buy a one way ticket or a roundtrip ticket. but i asked my lawyer today if i could buy my fiance a one way ticket because i found a great deal. and she told me no that it has to be roundtrip or else they won't let him leave Colombia??? can someone please tell me if this is true....thanks!

Your lawyer is wrong. With a tourist or student or many other types of visas where you are required to return home after a certain time, that is true, but with a K-1 fiance visa, you do NOT have to buy a round trip unless you want to. Your Sweetie will be entering the USA already approved to marry you and STAY here, so a one way ticket is perfectly acceptable. If either of you is at all nervous or unsure of going through with the marriage, then a two-way ticket, with the return dated at 90 days after arrival, might be an understandable emergency provision to allow for, but you sound too in love with him to need that.

[jpcanon 0]

Congratulations Joe!!! Must feel great after having gone through the whole AP nightmare.

Diana

THANKS Diana, Ken, Arizreynolds, NArocks and Mark- (Mark good luck to you in a few days bro! Man, it has been a haul)!

If anyone has any AP questions, I may have some answers! ha

[Mononoke28 135]

THANKS Diana, Ken, Arizreynolds, NArocks and Mark- (Mark good luck to you in a few days bro! Man, it has been a haul)!

If anyone has any AP questions, I may have some answers! ha

It's kinda funny but not really because in all reality, I think you're the go-to man for the AP issues.

Diana