dcf requirements

[elkfarmer 4]

I have a friend from USA, that is getting married in Colombia and will get a Cedula and a Hogar Visa good for two years. If he leaves Colombia for 180 days, the Colombian visa is void. My question is this. He has to be a resident in Colombia for six months, after the marriage, and obtaining residence status, to do DCF. Can he leave Colombia, and go back to USA, and work for 3-4 months and return, to do a DCF ? Or does he have to stay in Colombia the entire 6 months, to do the DCF ?

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

He has to be legally resident in Colombia for all of the 6 months prior to filling. That doesn't mean he cannot travel outside the country at all, but if he's gone for so long (more time than being in the counrty!), the embassy may not allow DCF; best check with the local embassy for their rules.

BTW, the 6 months have to be prior to filing, not prior to marriage; if he's been resident in Colombia for 6 months prior to the wedding, he can file immediately after the ceremony.

Edited April 9, 2009 by Penguin_ie

[Marina-Del 10]

As the previous poster said, you need to check with the embassy in Columbia as every embassy seems different on these rules. Some say that as long as you have residency at the time of applying it doesn't matter what status you had prior to filing as long as you were in the country 6 months (even if you were a tourist), others say you have to have residency for 6 months. So you need to check.

For example, right now I am a tourist in Brazil but once I get married and file my paperwork then I will have leave to remain (not quite permanent residency, but in the process). The consulate in Rio said that as long as I have leave to remain when I apply, that my 6 months could start when I entered the country as a tourist. But this could be different in your country. They also told me that if I leave the country, then my 6 months start over (as a tourist), but that if I leave the country once I have my leave to remain then I have to let them know before I go and for how long I will be gone so that they can make sure my 6 months does not start over (they said that I shouldn't leave for more than 1 month at a time). So a weekend trip to Argentina would be fine, but 3 months home, would not.

Email the consulate...but IMO, most likely, that much time away will make your friends 6 months start all the way over again.

[Ed+Cindy 1]

I have a friend from USA, that is getting married in Colombia and will get a Cedula and a Hogar Visa good for two years. If he leaves Colombia for 180 days, the Colombian visa is void. My question is this. He has to be a resident in Colombia for six months, after the marriage, and obtaining residence status, to do DCF. Can he leave Colombia, and go back to USA, and work for 3-4 months and return, to do a DCF ? Or does he have to stay in Colombia the entire 6 months, to do the DCF ?

Check with the embassy, but probably not going to work out.

I wanted to do the same for Auckland, but it ended up that I was away from New Zealand for a little too long (about 6-7 months away before I wanted to DCF). I lived in Auckland for 4+ years, but came back to the US the end of last summer. If I had tried to DCF sooner, it would have been ok, but as of a coupe weeks ago, when I asked the consulate, it was too long.