Colombia Club

[Bill y Bella 0]

I have a question to throw out at you guys...Yenifer did a lot of preparation today gathering documents nessesary for our interview ( whenever that is )which I will list them all later with costs when I speak to her tonight.

She got to the office to obtain 3 copies (recommended for future use for AOS and EAD later in the states) of her birth cert and the guy there told her he could only give her 1 copy per day...sounds pretty stupid but that's the way it is. So she has to go 3 seperate days to get the 3 certs...My question is that she already has a copy dated Dec. 2005, will this be valid since the birth certs say right on them that they do not expire.

This will save her one trip to that office.

Thanks,

Scott

132 days since NOA1

1 copy a day? There is a new rule every day.

As long as you can get it translated I would think the 2005 registro would be OK in the states. We could not get a 2004 registro translated in Bogota. Cost me two weeks in filing the I-129F, put me right at the end of July and turned out not to be necessary after all that.

I would use one of the new ones with the embassy. Don't give them any chance to reject it. The certified original registros look like the worst photo copy you have ever seen, but they have the raised seal and the notary stamps on the back. Make sure she has the stamps on the back of her registros and the raised seals.

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

Baptism cert 2 copies @: 10 mil each

Police cert: 30 mil

Migratory cert: 37 mil (takes 2 -4 weeks to receive unless you travel to Bogota personally)

8 - 5cm x 5cm photos: 6 mil

Birth cert 3 copies: free (1 per day )

These are the costs for these docs in Barranquilla.

Edited September 13, 2007 by Scott n Yenifer

[LUISH 0]

Gracias Scott and Yenifer, the total amount of pictures, is 6, 2 for the 156, 2 for the medical /lab and 2 for the interview, that is something I forgot to mention. do not forget to bring to loose pictures to the interview.

Viviana picked up her passport yesterday and she is back in Barranquilla, getting her stuff ready to come here with me, can't wait...........lolololol.

[Mononoke28 135]

Baptism cert 2 copies @: 10 mil each

Police cert: 30 mil

Migratory cert: 37 mil (takes 2 -4 weeks to receive unless you travel to Bogota personally)

8 - 5cm x 5cm photos: 6 mil

Birth cert 3 copies: free (1 per day )

These are the costs for these docs in Barranquilla.

That is so weird, 1 Registro Civil per day? I guess it depends on the Notaría she was registered at. I know that at the one I was registered when I was born and the one we got married at we could ask for as many certified copies as we wanted but paid like $500 pesos for each, which is not even $.25US cents.

Also, Colombians are very touchy about older documents, no matter what they are. It's best to have fresh ones out of the press just in case, you know?

Diana

[parkpapa 0]

Thanks jpine....yeah i figured it shows a solid relationship traveling together.....Guess i better start looking for Panama flights..

Good idea Byron. I was going to meet my wife there last year and most likely I will visit in the future ( looking for a Latin America home for the future).I have heard some good things about Panama. I recommend checking with COPA Airlines. I took a couple of flights to Barranquilla with them. They were out of JFK with a short layover in Panama. I liked the airline. Also something you may want to check on. I believe you will need to send your novia about $500 to bring with her or she may have a difficult time with Panama's immigration. She may have to prove she is just visiting, even if she tell them that she is meeting you. There is some prejudice against Colombians in Panama as some people view them to be criminals, illegal aliens or prostitutes.

Tony, that's interesting that you guys are thinking of Panama also. Lorena and I have talked about moving there in four or five years. Panama seems to have benefits that both of us are looking for: relatively low costs for most everything (my retirement check would pretty much cover a very nice lifestyle), people speak both Spanish and English (more than in most countries), and it's close to Colombia (and not too far from the US).

[Bill y Bella 0]

parkpapa, what is the current status with your returned AOS package? Any help from your representatives? I have seen where some other people have had the same thing happen to them but it does not seem to be universal. My guess is that there are some contract employees who do not undertand the submittal deadline correctly.

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

That is so weird, 1 Registro Civil per day? I guess it depends on the Notaría she was registered at. I know that at the one I was registered when I was born and the one we got married at we could ask for as many certified copies as we wanted but paid like $500 pesos for each, which is not even $.25US cents.

Also, Colombians are very touchy about older documents, no matter what they are. It's best to have fresh ones out of the press just in case, you know?

Diana

Their rules are definately strange and they seem to change daily.

Diana...I have another concern that maybe you can answer...the birth certs that Yenifer has just aquired do not have a raised seal type stamp on them. Is that going to be in any way a problem? There are lots of the other official looking seals and stamps on the certs but nothing raised.

Thanks,

Scott

[TonyS 0]

Thanks jpine....yeah i figured it shows a solid relationship traveling together.....Guess i better start looking for Panama flights..

Good idea Byron. I was going to meet my wife there last year and most likely I will visit in the future ( looking for a Latin America home for the future).I have heard some good things about Panama. I recommend checking with COPA Airlines. I took a couple of flights to Barranquilla with them. They were out of JFK with a short layover in Panama. I liked the airline. Also something you may want to check on. I believe you will need to send your novia about $500 to bring with her or she may have a difficult time with Panama's immigration. She may have to prove she is just visiting, even if she tell them that she is meeting you. There is some prejudice against Colombians in Panama as some people view them to be criminals, illegal aliens or prostitutes.

Tony, that's interesting that you guys are thinking of Panama also. Lorena and I have talked about moving there in four or five years. Panama seems to have benefits that both of us are looking for: relatively low costs for most everything (my retirement check would pretty much cover a very nice lifestyle), people speak both Spanish and English (more than in most countries), and it's close to Colombia (and not too far from the US).

Yes I also believe foreign income is not taxed (retirement), dollar is the currency and no property tax for 15 years. But I believe one has to move relatively fast as the foreigners are driving the prices up. But I'm looking at other places Argentina, or some hidden jewel LOL.

[Bill y Bella 0]

That is so weird, 1 Registro Civil per day? I guess it depends on the Notaría she was registered at. I know that at the one I was registered when I was born and the one we got married at we could ask for as many certified copies as we wanted but paid like $500 pesos for each, which is not even $.25US cents.

Also, Colombians are very touchy about older documents, no matter what they are. It's best to have fresh ones out of the press just in case, you know?

Diana

Their rules are definately strange and they seem to change daily.

Diana...I have another concern that maybe you can answer...the birth certs that Yenifer has just aquired do not have a raised seal type stamp on them. Is that going to be in any way a problem? There are lots of the other official looking seals and stamps on the certs but nothing raised.

Thanks,

Scott

Scott, I know you addressed the question to Diana but I hope it is OK if I chime in again also. I figure that the more input you receive the better since documents seem to vary quite a bit in Colombia.

The birth certificates we received have a raised seal and colored stamps on the back. As I said before, they look like lousy photocopies; black and white on the front and color on the back. I did not realize the seal was raised until I felt it with my finger.

Since no two notaries in Colombia seem to be the same I don't know what is required to be considered an original. All I know is that without the raised seal I would conclude the ones we have are simply photocopies. I would be real nervous using what we have if it did not have the raised seal. But if your notary does not use one, what else can you do? Maybe Yenifer could call the notary and double check?

Did I understand you properly? That one copy of the birth certificate per day can be obtained for free? That just doesn't sound right. Notaries make their living from their document fees. Are you sure she is not getting a free photocopy? I have a hard time imagining a notary handing out free certified birth certificates.

Isn't it amazing how difficult the simplest things can be in Colombia sometimes?

[buck501 0]

When Paola got her B-Cert done, you could not read it. It was one of the most awful copies I have ever seen. They did notorize it though. We ende up having to have it re made, then thye marked her as a male instead of a female. She went back, the guy scratched it out with a pen and marked her as a female, put some kind of offical stamp on it, notorized it and that is what we submitted. No problems. Almost everthing in Colombia seems to be a hassel except getting a taxi. LOL>LOL>

[buck501 0]

I forgot......................We had to apply for a Certificate of Abandoment for her son as his father took off about 5min after finding out he was going to be a father and has not been seen or heard of since, that was 13 years ago. We obtained that with no propblem, no questions, piece of cake. You would think that would be hard to receive compared to a B-Cert. But no................go figure.

[Bill y Bella 0]

I forgot......................We had to apply for a Certificate of Abandoment for her son as his father took off about 5min after finding out he was going to be a father and has not been seen or heard of since, that was 13 years ago. We obtained that with no propblem, no questions, piece of cake. You would think that would be hard to receive compared to a B-Cert. But no................go figure.

Buck,

Bella has a similar situation although her son is younger so your comment is very interesting to me. The father is not on Bella's son's birth certificate which many people have told me is not out of the ordinary in Colombia. Also a DAS agent at the airport told me that there is no problem with a parent taking a child out of the country if there is only one parent on the birth certificate.

So I stopped worryng about that issue until 5 minutes ago when I read your post.

Who requires the COA? The embassy or DAS?

Why did you need it? Was the father on the birth certificate?

How and where did you obtain it?

Also, on the birth certificate you described, do you remember if the the was seal raised?

Thanks!

[Mononoke28 135]

Scott,

You don't have to have a raised seal on the Registro Civil, as long as you have some kind of stamp saying it's a certified copy (even though it may be blurry as hell), you're ok.

Diana

[lucho562 0]

Gracias Scott and Yenifer, the total amount of pictures, is 6, 2 for the 156, 2 for the medical /lab and 2 for the interview, that is something I forgot to mention. do not forget to bring to loose pictures to the interview.

This is very true. We too needed 6 photos in total. The instructions only say 4, which is wrong. All our photos were attached to their respective documents, yet the CO asked for 2 more. Luckily for us, Wendy had 2 extra.

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

Bill,

Yes free...can you beleive it?

Like Buck said the only thing that is consistant in Colombia is being able to grab a cab!!!

Thanks for the input Diana.

Edited September 13, 2007 by Scott n Yenifer