Colombia Club

[OjosAzules 0]

Wow! I go away for the weekend and all sorts of topics were covered! This board is turning out to be better than "lost"....you have to DVR a few days worth and then catch up.

Just to summarize what's happened over the past few days-

Buck gets invite to pick up appointment letter

Tony scares the public with tales of horror

Bill (y Bella) freaks out

Lucho hires waitress at mexican restaurant for legal counsel,

Dre makes it through immigration with hubby on arm

Bill finally gets 40 winks

Jediknight turns philosopher

Parkpapa shows his fatalist side...maybe not fatalist...apocolyptic? open for discussion. We could start a board on his comments regarding the certain death of colombian travelers.

Bill finds "Bogota adjucators guide to uncovering marriage based fraud" and posts questions."

Bogota changes the test

Lucho starts drinking

Buck calls him out on it

WELL! quite a weekend indeed!

A couple of stats to add some fuel to fire that all of you already (admirably) put out.

I love travelling around Colombia by bus, just like Diana, but yes it is dangerous. But not THAT dangerous. It's in the top 5 per capita (number 5 actually) of deaths in non-collision bus accidents (like falling off cliffs) but it's still only 1.2 deaths per million people. Lower than Iceland, barbados, and hungary...and about 1/10th the death rate of Ecuador.

Plane Travel in Colombia is actually pretty good relative to other countries. Colombia is 16th Per Capita, with 1.1 deaths per million people. The US is #1 in totals as you may expect, but it's also #11 Per Capita, more dangerous than colombia which you might not have expected.

What does this all mean? Well between the crashes and kidnappings (I have more on this in more detail than you could ever want) you might take the view that you shouldn't travel at all in Colombia and it's just plain dangerous. Well, here's a competing view....standing still is probably the most dangerous thing you can do. Colombia ranks #1 in deaths by earthquakes by hundreds of times other countries and (per capita as well at 18x more than the number 2). You may remember a few years ago the entire city of Armenia in the coffee district fell and hundreds died. Many places in Santander state have daily tremors. I have travelled many parts of colombia by car, plane and bus and on foot....and I have felt scared many times, some of it justified, some of it probably not. But when your lying on your back in your hotel room looking at the cracks in the plaster, you realize you have no greater control standing still than you do when you're moving.

[lucho562 0]

I also got married and filed for AOS....However that wasnt me for legal council nor the drinking well (only on fridays)

Also,

Diana translates Lucho's wifes birth certificate for a million bucks.

Edited July 30, 2007 by lucho562

[Mononoke28 135]

Hey i'm serious! It's like a rush. Kind of like climbing Mt. Everest...although I have never done that. It feels good to go to battle Wendy and I hand in hand and to come out victorious. Diana, you'll soon find out about the rush. Any news or guesses when your interview will be??

I'm hoping the NVC completes our case either this week or next. Then they send it to Bogotá and that's when I'll know the date of the interview. I'm hoping for a mid-late September interview.

And no, this whole waiting aroung makes me too nervous to enjoy this whole thing. We'll see what I'll say after the interview. Stay tuned.

Diana

[TonyS 0]

Well for the record, I really love to travel by bus....but I also love to being a jetsetter!

[OjosAzules 0]

On one 14 hour bus ride through the Andes, From Quimbaya to Bucaramanga, I was trying to pay attention to the movie but kept looking out the window at the wheels that were dangerously close to the edge of the mountain road. "just watch the movie", silvia said as she saw me sweating and constantly shifting my eyes from window to driver. If we go off the cliff, you'll at least want to know how the movie ends. At that moment, I knew I found I found my wife

Lucho, glad you got the aos out before the deadline. I think it was worth it.

[lucho562 0]

Well for the record, I really love to travel by bus....but I also love to being a jetsetter!

Only bus I ride is a chiva, vallenato group and all you can drink ron

[OjosAzules 0]

Well for the record, I really love to travel by bus....but I also love to being a jetsetter!

Only bus I ride is a chiva, vallenato group and all you can drink ron

Now we're talking!

[buck501 0]

GREAT!! Now I have to worry about earthquakes. Just when I thought I was getting a good handle on everything, this has to come up. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I rode the Chiva bus once. It was very dangerous, I was pretty sure I was going to die the next day. Me, not a big drinker and when I do it is beer. DO NOT give rum to a beer drinker!!

On the positive side, I was the only one on the bus that did not speak spanish. Evidently as the night went on I became very fluent in spanish. LOL>LOL.

Thanks for the humorous update

[Mononoke28 135]

Oh man! That brought back memories. Last December my husband and I took a chiva ride all over Medellín and it was awesome. We were all drinking aguardiente and ron and singing the old "guasca" songs they were playing. Good times. B)

[parkpapa 0]

BOGOTA INTERVIEW QUESTIONS / PREGUNTAS DE ENTREVISTA EN BOGOTA

Created 7/29/07 By Bill y Bella

With Contributions From Buck01 & OskaryAndrea

Maintained By The Members of The Colombia Club!

Please Add Any Questions You Were Asked In An Interview That Are Not On The List!

• For simplicity the questions assume a female beneficiary / Para la simplicidad las preguntas asumen una beneficiaria femenina.
  
• If you are bilingual, please help by entering / correcting some Spanish translations after the questions and/or instructions in English.
  
• To contribute new questions or translations, reply to the most recent post of the questions and then edit the quote.
  
• Enter new questions in the appropriate section using either English or Spanish. (Or both if you are able).
  
• To assign a number to a new question, preface it with [ * ] without any spaces.
  
• Questions in the Spousal Visa Questions section should only apply to married couples. Questions that could be asked to both fiances and spouses should be placed in the Fiance & Spousal Visa Questions section.
  
• If both beneficiary & petitioner are attending the interview, both should be prepared to answer All questions.
  
• It is possible that you will be asked the same questions at different times and your answers compared, so be prepared!
  
• It is suggested that both beneficiary and petitioner answer all questions and then compare answers and eliminate discrepancies.
  

Fiancé & Spousal Visa Questions (Questions that could apply to either category)

Questions They May Ask The Beneficiary About Herself:

1. When is your birthday? Cuando es su cumpleanos?
   
2. How old are you? Cuanto anos tiene?
   
3. What is your phone number? At your home? Your cellular?
   
4. What are your hobbies and interests?
   
5. What do you do for fun?
   
6. What is your favorite food?
   
7. What color do you like best?
   
8. What kind of music do you like?
   
9. What brand of car do you drive?
   
10. What is your shoe size?
    
11. What is your pant size?
    
12. What is your shirt size?
    
13. What is your favorite movie?
    
14. What is your favorite tv show?
    
15. Do you have any brothers and sisters?
    
16. What do you do for a living?
    
17. Do you speak and understand his language?
    
18. When did you arrive in Bogota for your interview appointment?
    
19. When did you get a divorce?
    
20. Do you have any children?
    
21. How many children do you have and what are their ages?
    
22. Have you ever applied for a traveling visa?
    
23. To where?
    
24. Have you ever applied for an immigrant visa?
    
25. To where?
    
26. To what countries have you travelled?
    
27. When did you go there?
    
28. For how long?
    
29. How did you get there?
    
30. Are you a member of a terrorist organization?
    
31. Aren't you afraid to go alone to the US?
    
32. Have you ever been to the US?
    
33. Do you have any family in the US?
    
34. Why do you want to go to the US?
    
35. Why do / did you want to marry him?
    
36. Are you happy to be leaving your country?
    
37. When are you going to leave?
    
38. How do you feel about leaving your family?
    
39. Will you be sad when you leave Colombia?
    
40. When will you leave for the US?
    
41. To which city are you going?
    
42. Are you happy?
    
43. Does anyone object to you taking your child out of Colombia?
    
44. How does your family feel about you marrying an American?
    
45. What do your parents think about this?
    
46. What kind of profession do you want?
    
47. What subjects have you studied in school?
    
48. Do you want to study in the US?
    
49. What is your plan for what you will do in the US?
    
50. What are your hobbies and interests?
    
51. What is your religious background?
    
52. Did you fill out these forms yourself?
    
53. Who helped you fill the visa application forms?
    
54. Why did you decide to print out all these emails?
    
55. Have you been married before?
    
56. What is your ex-husband's name?
    
57. Why did your first marriage not work out?
    
58. Do you have an engagement ring?
    
59. Do you have the receipt for the engagement ring?
    

Questions They May Ask The Beneficiary About Her Fiancé / Spouse:

1. What is his name? Please write it.
   
2. What is his nickname?
   
3. What is his address? Please write it.
   
4. What is his phone number?
   
5. What is his cell phone number?
   
6. What is his email address?
   
7. How old is he?
   
8. When is his birthday?
   
9. Where was he born?
   
10. Where did he grow up?
    
11. Where does he live now?
    
12. What does he do for a living?
    
13. What does he do at work?
    
14. What did he do in the past for a living and for how long?
    
15. What is his job title?
    
16. What is his salary (income)?
    
17. Did he go to university (college)?
    
18. What did he study?
    
19. What is his degree?
    
20. Do you talk about his degree?
    
21. What is his religious background?
    
22. What is his religion now?
    
23. Does he speak or understand your language?
    
24. What is the color of his eyes?
    
25. What is the color of his hair?
    
26. Are his parents alive?
    
27. What are their names?
    
28. Where do his parents live?
    
29. What do his parents do (for a living)?
    
30. Does he have any brothers or sisters?
    
31. What are their names?
    
32. What are their ages?
    
33. Where do they live?
    
34. Does he have any children?
    
35. What are their names?
    
36. What are their ages?
    
37. Where do they live?
    
38. Do you know that he was married before? (Possible trick question)
    
39. What is his ex-wife's name?
    
40. When did he get a divorce?
    
41. Does his divorce this matter to you?
    
42. Why did his first marriage end?
    
43. Is he here today?
    
44. Why or Why not?
    
45. When did he arrive in Bogota for the interview appointment?
    
46. What have you done since he arrived?
    
47. How long will he stay?
    
48. What will the two of you do this weekend?
    
49. Where are the two of you staying in Bogota?
    
50. What are the sleeping arrangements?
    
51. Have you met his family?
    
52. Who have you met in his family?
    
53. When and where did you meet his family?
    
54. Why have you not met his family?
    
55. Has he met your family?
    
56. Who has he met in your family?
    
57. When and where did he meet your family?
    
58. Why has he not met your family?
    
59. What are his hobbies and interests?
    
60. What does your he do for fun?
    
61. What is his favorite food?
    
62. What color does he like best?
    
63. What kind of music does he like?
    
64. What brand of car does he drive?
    
65. What is his shoe size?
    
66. What is his pant size?
    
67. What is his shirt size?
    
68. What is your favorite movie?
    
69. What is your favorite tv show?
    
70. What is the favorite gift he gave you?
    
71. When was the first time he told you that he loved you?
    
72. When did he give you the first kiss?
    
73. What first attracted you to him?
    
74. Please tell me something about him.
    
75. Are you willing to marry him?
    
76. Why do you want to go to the USA to marry him?
    
77. Why do you want to marry him?
    
78. How do you know he is the right man for you?
    
79. What do you love about him?
    
80. Which character/quality/nature do you like best about him?
    
81. What do you and he have in common?
    
82. How long have you known him?
    
83. Do you know that he is x years older / younger than you?
    
84. Why does the age difference not bother you?
    

Questions They May Ask About Meeting, Visits & The Proposal:

1. Where and when did you first meet him?
   
2. How did you first meet him?
   
3. How do you know each other?
   
4. Describe the first time you met in person.
   
5. How often have you met?
   
6. Who made the first move?
   
7. When did he propose?
   
8. Where did he propose?
   
9. How did he propose?
   
10. How long have you been corresponding with him?
    
11. When is the last time you saw him?
    
12. How many times has he visited you?
    
13. What are the dates of his visits?
    
14. What did you do when he visited?
    
15. When did he come the last time? When did he leave?
    
16. Why did he come to Colombia the first time?
    
17. Where did you visit when he was here?
    
18. Have you taken any pictures of your visits together?
    

Spousal Visa Questions (Questions that can only apply if you are married)

1. Describe the wedding ceremony.
   
2. When was it?
   
3. Where was it?
   
4. Who attended the wedding?
   
5. Who performed the wedding ceremony?
   
6. What did you do after the ceremony?
   
7. Do you have wedding rings?
   
8. Do you have the receipt for the wedding rings?
   
9. Tell me about the preparations for the wedding?
   
10. Did you have a cake at the wedding?
    
11. What kind of cake did you have at the wedding?
    
12. What did you eat for dinner on the day of your wedding?
    
13. Where did you stay on your wedding night?
    
14. What did you do the next day?
    
15. What side of the bed does he sleep on?
    

This is my attempt to give back to the Visa Journey and Colombia Club community that has helped me so much. I hope it can be useful in your interview preparations.

Bill

¡BUENA SUERTE!

Two questions the CO asked me were what I did for a living (and the associated question of how I got so much time off from work to visit Colombia), and why I came to Colombia in the first place. I got the impression that he either was fishing to see if I had shopped for a wife or had shopped for something less legal. In any case, he accepted my answers.

[parkpapa 0]

Quote: I urge you to attend the interview if at all possible and to enjoy Bogota, its a beautiful city full of things to see and do.

Oh I am going alright. I made that decision right off the bat. I arrive on the 15th, her interview is on the 17th and we will leave Bogota on the 24th. I wanted to have time to correct something or if the visa printer has problems. We should have plenty of time to see Bogota. I need to do some research to find some places to go.

Buck, in general, as an American, you want stick to the northern parts of the city and visit the center of the city in the daytime unless with your Colombian SO. Avoid the southern part of the city, avoid taxis that are already occupied, and be as vigilent as you would be in any large US city. There are plenty of wonderful and interesting things to see in Bogota - and the people are a lot more courteous than what you'll find in this country on a daily basis.

[paisita411 0]

LUCHO......eppppa papa!!!! I'm with you on that...and keep the Guaro pouring....

Parkpapa...do I have to review the reply to button again? WHY did you copy all of the questions in your answer...LOL.

OjosAzules....I fell out laughing with that DVR post...you're right, one day away from this group and they get married and knocked up...you missed Byron's baby news...he got his fiance pregnant...or was that last week?

You guys are the best....

Dre

[lucho562 0]

Yo Byron, you're MIA.

[Bill y Bella 0]

Quote: I urge you to attend the interview if at all possible and to enjoy Bogota, its a beautiful city full of things to see and do.

Oh I am going alright. I made that decision right off the bat. I arrive on the 15th, her interview is on the 17th and we will leave Bogota on the 24th. I wanted to have time to correct something or if the visa printer has problems. We should have plenty of time to see Bogota. I need to do some research to find some places to go.

Buck, in general, as an American, you want stick to the northern parts of the city and visit the center of the city in the daytime unless with your Colombian SO. Avoid the southern part of the city, avoid taxis that are already occupied, and be as vigilent as you would be in any large US city. There are plenty of wonderful and interesting things to see in Bogota - and the people are a lot more courteous than what you'll find in this country on a daily basis.

Buck,

parkpapa is right, the people in Bogota are extremely polite and pleasant. I didn't appreciate quite how nice they were until I came back to the US and realized how surly we are by comparison. I worry a little that the Colombianas will have a difficult time adjusting to that.

I am certain you have already read everything there is to read about Bogota. But let me tell you some things that I read that turned out to be untrue.

• They do not steal the manhole covers every night and sell them back to the city because stolen ones cost the city less than new ones. I thought that was hilarious when I heard it and told all my friends. I called it welfare, Colombia style. But I've been there 4 times and still have not seen a missing manhole cover.
  
• You will not be kidnapped or taken for a tour of Bogota ATMs if you hail a taxi on the street. I think that was happening at one point, but they seem to have eliminated the problem. I also would not get into an occupied taxi but to tell the truth I never felt the need. There are lots of taxis on the streets and the prices are reasonable, regulated and posted in the vehicles. However, if the taxi stops to pick up additional riders, start yelling like hell. I have never seen them do that and would be very suspicious if a driver tried it.
  

While I am on the subject of taxis, you might want to prepare yourself because they drive like crazy people. Driving for blocks at a time in the lane for oncoming traffic, high speed left hand turns from the far right lane and general weaving in and out of traffic at very high speed tends to make it difficult to relax. And don't bother looking for the seat belts. There aren't any.

Every building in Bogota has two addresses, one new and one old. If you need to go somewhere, try to determine in advance if you have an old or new address. It can save a lot of wandering around in the taxi. By the way, there are no street signs on the corners. With only a few exceptions they do not exist. The addresses with the street name(s) are on the front of the buildings and that is what you go by.

If you take the buses in Bogota you are braver than I am. I could not begin to figure out that system but the locals seem to know what is going on and simply flag down the bus they want. Some of the buses on the street look to be privately owned and very old. The TransMilenio (is that spelled right?) on the other hand is a modern above ground subway that seemed fairly straightforward. But when we rode 1/2 an hour in one direction, changed trains and rode 1/2 hour back to the station where we started, stopped to take on more passengers and then continued on to our destination I thought that we had really goofed up. However to this day Bella insists that was the only way to reach our destination. I'm just a dumb tourist, so what do I know?

In Bogota I feel as safe or safer than I feel in a large city in the US. With that said, every residence has bars on the windows, some have razor wire along the tops of the garden walls and vigilantes patrol the streets. The druggists and all the products in a phamacy are behind bars, even in the nice neighborhoods. All the evidence points to rampant crime, but I have just not seen any of it.

I think I read that you rented an apartment from Colombia Services. We stayed in their 3 bedroom apartment on Calle 22F in Modelia on my first trip. The apartment was OK and the neighborhood good to fair. I was a little nervous on the street at night in that neighborhood, but it was also my first time in the city. My only real complaint was that the kitchen was not well equipped at all.

Well that is enough travel tips from the guy who probably knows less about Colombia than most of the other people here.

I'll be in Bogota 8/11 - 8/17. Maybe our paths will cross, but unfortunately not at the embassy. It will be quite a while before I get to go there.

Chao!

[BYRON-LEIDY 0]

WASSUP!!!!!!!!!! LOL...Hope everybody's doing good!!!!!!!!!! I got so caught up with reading , calling IRS for tax transcripts, taking notes, thinking of baby names ....etc..so much stuff!!!!!!!!..that i forgot that this Colombia club is like New York...Never sleeps or takes a day off!!!!!!!!!!! Just want to send a big hello to everybody!!!! I'm trying to be as prepared as possible for what lies ahead for me!!!!!!!!!!! my e mail is bh2074@yahoo......dont hesitate to drop hellos or to tell me if they have the magic shortcut to cut this process!!!!LOL.....take care everybody!!!!!!!!!! and dre you seem so happy, im so happy for you girl...Lucho..Siga la rumba!!!!!!!!!!!! Drink a bottle of antioqueno for me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!