Colombia Club Part II

[HAL 9000 96]

No papá... that's construction tape. LOL

I think a Club Colombia get-together would have been a great thing to plan for this Holiday season, but obviously picking a location is hard except those of you to be interviewing in Bogotá.

I'm just inviting Colombia Club members to our house, that makes the location a no-brainer.

Solar-heated swimming pool, Yamaha sound, Yeah!

Send me the save the date. LOL. I'll tace SoCal over the flurries I saw today.

[Ken y Leidys 20]

No papá... that's construction tape. LOL

I think a Club Colombia get-together would have been a great thing to plan for this Holiday season, but obviously picking a location is hard except those of you to be interviewing in Bogotá.

I'm just inviting Colombia Club members to our house, that makes the location a no-brainer.

Solar-heated swimming pool, Yamaha sound, Yeah!

Send me the save the date. LOL. I'll tace SoCal over the flurries I saw today.

C'mon down! Plus, my neighbors don't mind noise (before 11 p.m.).

QUICK QUESTION: Is it required to have a Social Security Card or number in order to get married? Leidys arrived almost 2 weeks ago, and we plan on getting married on December 28th. I have not seen this requirement anywhere, but I know in order to get AOS, it will be necessary. If anyone knows, I appreciate your input.

source: http://www.losangelesmarriagelicense.com/m...quirements.html

-Ken

[subguy812 1]

No papá... that's construction tape. LOL

I think a Club Colombia get-together would have been a great thing to plan for this Holiday season, but obviously picking a location is hard except those of you to be interviewing in Bogotá.

I'm just inviting Colombia Club members to our house, that makes the location a no-brainer.

Solar-heated swimming pool, Yamaha sound, Yeah!

Send me the save the date. LOL. I'll tace SoCal over the flurries I saw today.

C'mon down! Plus, my neighbors don't mind noise (before 11 p.m.).

QUICK QUESTION: Is it required to have a Social Security Card or number in order to get married? Leidys arrived almost 2 weeks ago, and we plan on getting married on December 28th. I have not seen this requirement anywhere, but I know in order to get AOS, it will be necessary. If anyone knows, I appreciate your input.

source: http://www.losangelesmarriagelicense.com/m...quirements.html

-Ken

Ken,

The marriage regulations may vary state to state in Florida for example:

Florida requires that you have picture ID such as a driver's license and your Social Security card or a valid passport number or I-94 card. You may be asked for a certified copy of your birth certificate. If you have been previously married, the date of your divorce or date of your spouse's death must be supplied. If the divorce or spouse's death occurred within the past 30 days, a certified copy of the divorce decree or death certificate is required. There is no waiting period for Florida residents who have both completed a state sanctioned marriage preparation course within the last 12 months. There is a three-day waiting period for Florida residents who have not taken the course.

This should give you at least an idea....notice we have a 3 day waiting period as if you were buying a gun..I assume guns and marriage can be equally dangerous I do not think it would be required, in fact I know many wait to get it after the marriage to not have to change names on the card after the marriage. You will find it is very important when trying to establish joint accounts so I would not wait on getting it!

Edited December 4, 2009 by subguy812

[subguy812 1]

Sorry I didn't see you had posted a link to LA...

[HAL 9000 96]

No papá... that's construction tape. LOL

I think a Club Colombia get-together would have been a great thing to plan for this Holiday season, but obviously picking a location is hard except those of you to be interviewing in Bogotá.

I'm just inviting Colombia Club members to our house, that makes the location a no-brainer.

Solar-heated swimming pool, Yamaha sound, Yeah!

Send me the save the date. LOL. I'll tace SoCal over the flurries I saw today.

C'mon down! Plus, my neighbors don't mind noise (before 11 p.m.).

QUICK QUESTION: Is it required to have a Social Security Card or number in order to get married? Leidys arrived almost 2 weeks ago, and we plan on getting married on December 28th. I have not seen this requirement anywhere, but I know in order to get AOS, it will be necessary. If anyone knows, I appreciate your input.

source: http://www.losangelesmarriagelicense.com/m...quirements.html

-Ken

At least in IL you don't need a Social for the ceremony. I looked at the LA site and it doesn't seem she'll need one either. Tell you what... I'll drink an extra Club Colombia on the 28th in Bucaramanga or Barichara (Google pics the place) in your honor.

[jpcanon 0]

So I am picking a date for January 8th to fly from B because right now as it standings any flights closer from the 8th are insanely expensive.

James and FlyingAllOver should have a VJ reunion at the Cortissoz Airport in Barranquilla, as both of you will fly out of BAQ the same day!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving- Ken, I hope Leidys enjoyed her first turkey day, and all the first Thanksgiving's that Club Colombia fiancee's experienced.

Today marks 7 months in AP for me, and am quite sure that nothing will happen this year, if ever, in my case. But, I just keep trying to forget about things- some days I want to write a scathing email to the embasy, and other times I want to plead with them! Oh well...

Joe

Joe -- I know the feeling of waiting and being alone. I wrote a 2,000 page post "Where Did She Go?" in the Off-Topic, and once the original question was answered, everyone just kept the thread rolling on. Try your best to hang in there, it must be painful. Leidys and I will be in the OC later this month at the Jewelry Exchange in Tustin to get her ring resized. We'll drop you a line, and hopefully visit with you when we are near you.

Hey Ken,

Cool- definately let me know! I live about 10 min. from the Jewelry Exchange place....

Joe

[Mononoke28 134]

Diana,

My mother had a couple of friends who claimed that they were also part of a case similar to what you just described. What they did was go to the US Embassy and file for political asylum with all the evidence they had and luckily they were granted asylum for 10 years. Now, that doesn't happen to many people since it's very difficult to prove the need for political asylum and just like with tourist visas, they get denied all the time.

Another route would be request a tourist visa and if they get approved, file for political asylum as soon as they get here. They can do this by hiring a lawyer. They will automatically get their EAD card while their process is pending until it is approved, but if it's not approved, they have to go back to Colombia. Again, it is key to keep all kinds of evidence they can get their hands on.

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do about it except maybe send them a letter of invitation and fill out an I-134 to show that you are willing to pay for their expenses while they visit the US.

Diana

Thats what I was affraid of. Most of the stuff that they currently have is recent. I mean couple of days old. All their old evidence and case is with those officers that have turned their backs on them. They dont have anything else since the information that was obtained during the investigation process was solely used by the police intelligence. If they had all their old evidence it would be a cake walk.

Looks like the original protection was never official or they shredded paperwork due to the implied threat. Asking for an audience with a government figurehead is hardly a threat after this kind of action is logged at the police... but at the minimum your relatives should have documentary proof they at least requested these things. They should also write down a document and have it notarized with the dates they contacted police officials and the like, in case documents miraculously reappear in the future.

I think that they could apply for asylum directly at the Embassy (and likely a B-1 visa with the declaration of refugee claim upon POE in the US...) with these self-produced documents at the minimum. As Diana mentioned in her reply... getting these applications approved is REALLY hard. But I know of at least one person that is here on such a visa and to my knowledge only received harassing phone calls.

I would not delay seeking assistance at the US Embassy.

I agree with Hal on this one in that it may be a very difficult approval to get from the US embassy but it's worth a try given their situation.

Diana

[bquillera30 0]

have a question guys ,my husband got his interview on the 10 th of this month and he went today to get his immigratorio ,do u guys think he will have in bogta on wensday ? its comming from bquilla

[lucho562 0]

No papá... that's construction tape. LOL

I think a Club Colombia get-together would have been a great thing to plan for this Holiday season, but obviously picking a location is hard except those of you to be interviewing in Bogotá.

I'm just inviting Colombia Club members to our house, that makes the location a no-brainer.

Solar-heated swimming pool, Yamaha sound, Yeah!

Send me the save the date. LOL. I'll tace SoCal over the flurries I saw today.

C'mon down! Plus, my neighbors don't mind noise (before 11 p.m.).

QUICK QUESTION: Is it required to have a Social Security Card or number in order to get married? Leidys arrived almost 2 weeks ago, and we plan on getting married on December 28th. I have not seen this requirement anywhere, but I know in order to get AOS, it will be necessary. If anyone knows, I appreciate your input.

source: http://www.losangelesmarriagelicense.com/m...quirements.html

-Ken

She does not need to have her social security # to get married.

[jlcro 0]

have a question guys ,my husband got his interview on the 10 th of this month and he went today to get his immigratorio ,do u guys think he will have in bogta on wensday ? its comming from bquilla

They (At the DAS) should have informed him when will it be ready. But two weeks ago someone who went to get the immigration record at the DAS posted (Colombianos en visa K1) that they informed her that due to high demand in december the certificates were taking two weeks to get delivered, and that there was no way to speed up the process.

So I think u should have your fiance call as soon as possible to get this info.

Diana,

My mother had a couple of friends who claimed that they were also part of a case similar to what you just described. What they did was go to the US Embassy and file for political asylum with all the evidence they had and luckily they were granted asylum for 10 years. Now, that doesn't happen to many people since it's very difficult to prove the need for political asylum and just like with tourist visas, they get denied all the time.

Another route would be request a tourist visa and if they get approved, file for political asylum as soon as they get here. They can do this by hiring a lawyer. They will automatically get their EAD card while their process is pending until it is approved, but if it's not approved, they have to go back to Colombia. Again, it is key to keep all kinds of evidence they can get their hands on.

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do about it except maybe send them a letter of invitation and fill out an I-134 to show that you are willing to pay for their expenses while they visit the US.

Diana

The main problem now with this, is that in the past a lot of people (some of them in a really bad situation, others just taking advantage of the country's issues) requested asylum in US.

In the past Colombians would buy flights to countries different from US, with transit through US, and when the plane landed in US, they jumped out of the plane and requested asylum.

Later on so many people was doing this that they abolished the benefit of transiting through US without a transit visa, now everyone going through US needs a transit visa. And if people is able to get there, they'll need really strong evidence to request for political asylum.

Here's an extract of the original news article.

Colombia’s Citizens Now Ineligible for U.S. Visa Transit Privilege

Effective April 2, 2001, citizens and nationals of Colombia will be ineligible for the Transit Without Visa program. Information on the change was published in the Federal Register today.

The interim rule is entitled, "Adding Colombia to the List of Countries Whose Citizens or Nationals are Ineligible for Transit Without Visa (TWOV) Privileges to the United States Under the TWOV Program." It revokes the privilege for Colombian citizens and nationals because of a steadily increasing number of abuses in which individuals refuse to leave the United States within the time limits established. The Department of State has also issued parallel regulations.

Between October 1, 2000, and March 22, 2001, approximately 1,100 Colombian citizens who boarded flights as "TWOV" passengers, supposedly in transit through Miami International Airport to a third country, refused to depart the United States within the time limits established. The number of Colombian citizens who used the privilege to come to the United States and refused to depart on time increased from 22 in October 2000, to 56 in November, 110 in December, 161 in January 2001, and 248 in February 2001. From March 1 to March 22, 506 Colombian citizens or nationals refused to depart the United States in a timely manner. This represents a substantial increase over the 29 such incidents that occurred in Fiscal Year 2000.

The escalating trend shows a clear abuse of this special program and has caused Colombia to be added to the list of countries whose citizens and nationals are ineligible for the program.

– INS –

www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/ColumbiasCitizen_033001.pdf

Of course this had a lot more consecuences than just in transit visas.

Edited December 5, 2009 by jlcro

[erika y josef 0]

Erika was approved for her K1 visa on Thursday, Dec. 4 ... Thanks to everyone who posts information on the site. There were no surprises at her interview and all the paperwork was correct by just following the advise here. A few notes for future filers ... Helm bank wanted the DS156 on one paper (front/back) versus the 2 downloaded pages from the internet ... we ended up copying one side onto one of the originals ... this form needs to be signed before submitting to the embassy and a photo should be attached. The embassy did not want the 3rd page from the internet with the barcode. The DS156K is the only one not signed. When submitting her folder with all the papers that were requested to the person behind the first set of windows (30-35 I think, she was actually at 31), Erika was asked a series of questions which were on a sheet of paper ... she actually thought that she would not receive her visa since the lady behind the window was stern and unbelieving of her answers. She checked yes and no when Erika gave her answers ... there were a few "no" checks. The final interview was at windows 2-6 at about 10:30 ... earlier than others who were waiting ahead of us possibly because her daughter was there also ... the man was quite pleasant and asked 3 questions, wanted to see our photos then gave her an OK after about 5 minutes without asking me anything. For us, the whole process went along smoothly ... and I read all the posts from both colombia club I & II. We did eat at Cabana del Sheriff but it was the day before. Thanks again for everyone who posts.

[arizreynolds 1]

Erika was approved for her K1 visa on Thursday, Dec. 4 ... Thanks to everyone who posts information on the site. There were no surprises at her interview and all the paperwork was correct by just following the advise here. A few notes for future filers ... Helm bank wanted the DS156 on one paper (front/back) versus the 2 downloaded pages from the internet ... we ended up copying one side onto one of the originals ... this form needs to be signed before submitting to the embassy and a photo should be attached. The embassy did not want the 3rd page from the internet with the barcode. The DS156K is the only one not signed. When submitting her folder with all the papers that were requested to the person behind the first set of windows (30-35 I think, she was actually at 31), Erika was asked a series of questions which were on a sheet of paper ... she actually thought that she would not receive her visa since the lady behind the window was stern and unbelieving of her answers. She checked yes and no when Erika gave her answers ... there were a few "no" checks. The final interview was at windows 2-6 at about 10:30 ... earlier than others who were waiting ahead of us possibly because her daughter was there also ... the man was quite pleasant and asked 3 questions, wanted to see our photos then gave her an OK after about 5 minutes without asking me anything. For us, the whole process went along smoothly ... and I read all the posts from both colombia club I & II. We did eat at Cabana del Sheriff but it was the day before. Thanks again for everyone who posts.

Congrats I am glad everything went smooth for you

[erika y josef 0]

One other comment. I read a few discussions about the vaccinations. We decided to wait for any vaccinations until after the medical exam in Bogota ... Erika ended up needing the varicella and MMR (2 shots) and her daughter needed varicella (1 shot) ... had them done 1 block away from the doctor's office where the doctor sent us and all three shots cost 233,000 COP.

[lucho562 0]

One other comment. I read a few discussions about the vaccinations. We decided to wait for any vaccinations until after the medical exam in Bogota ... Erika ended up needing the varicella and MMR (2 shots) and her daughter needed varicella (1 shot) ... had them done 1 block away from the doctor's office where the doctor sent us and all three shots cost 233,000 COP.

Ouch! 233K pesos is a lot, crooks! Congrats on the approval though!

[Ken y Leidys 20]

We did eat at Cabana del Sheriff but it was the day before. Thanks again for everyone who posts.

Congratulations on the Visa Approval!! What an adventure!