Colombia Club

[Bill y Bella 0]

I have a few minutes, I will give account of our POE in Houston. When we got there, late of course, there must have been well over 300 people in the visitors line and close to 100 in the US line. We went to the US line. I got pulled out and sent to an area for bad peole. LOL. Paola went to another area. I was in there for a little over an hour. When I came out, no Poala. I asked one of the Border Patrol people where she was. He said he did not know and did not have time to find out. I waited another hour and asked another guy, same response. I got the attention of another person and explained that I had no idea where my fiancee was and what was going on. He told me they had a bunch of people to process and the wait could be as much as 4 hours. GREAT!!!!!!!!!! We missed our flight. She was in there for a little over 3 hours. That was the bad part.

She was interviewed by the same gal that had talked to me about crimes I have never commited, turns out I am white, not black, never been in prison, do not have tattoo's all over my body and am basicly a good guy. When she asked Paola what my name was the lady said, oh yes, I know him, I just spoke with him about 2 hours ago. She then did the fingerprinting and said welcome to the US. That was it. Very easy and no problems. The problem was the airport was full of people, flights were being delayed and the Border Patrol employee's were a little on the grouchy side. We missed our flight, which created more problems. From the time we went to the airport to arrivasl at my house, with the time difference was exactly 24 hours. I am beat, Paola is sleeping LOL>LOL In the end we are home. I would not reccomend traveling on the weekeends if at all possible.

I want to welcome you back BUCK and congratulations. but I am a little confused by your comments "Not Black" this sounds like you are implying something. Can you please clarify for me. What do you mean???????

Why the huge red type? It is not exactly a good way to begin a calm conversation.

I cannot speak for Buck, but I can tell you how I interpreted his remarks. Buck's name matched with a known criminal who happened to be a black man with tatoos and a prison record. So Buck was questioned. During the questioning Buck pointed out (or they figured out for themselves) that he is not black, does not have tatoos and has never been in prison. So, clever people that they are, they concluded that Buck was not the bad guy.

I realize that everyone views the world through the prism of their own experience, but personally I don't think Buck meant to imply anything derogatory.

[lucho562 0]

Hi Lucho,

1. Do we have to fax the complete DS230 (part 1 and 2) or just part 1? signed or not signed?? the Embassy says: complete and sign...

2.Do we have to submit the complete DS230 (part1 and 2) the day of our interview again? or just part 2

Please confirm if this is the right DS 230 we have to fax (taken from Us Embassy web page, part 1 and 2):

http://bogota.usembassy.gov/root/pdfs/wwwfcds230en.pdf

Hi Yazz,

The DS230 is broken up in 2 parts, each part consists of 2 pages.

Part 1 = pages 1 and 2

Part 2 = pages 3 and 4

1. Fax only part 1 of the DS230 signed(pg 1 and 2)

2. The CO never asked us for our DS230 and I have never heard of a case where someone else was asked for it. However the wording in the packet 3 is tricky and I like to play it safe, so we took an unsigned DS230 part 1 to the interview but did not turn it in. We brought it along just incase the CO asked for it. (Notice that packet 4 makes no mention of it)

Just play it safe, take it with you but dont give it to them unless they ask for it. The following contradicting quotes from packet 3 creates a bit of confusion on wether to take the DS230 to the interview and wether to sign it. The first 2 quotes contradict the last 2 quotes.

Packet 3 quote

As soon as you have obtained ALL the documents that are required to process your

case, you must complete and sign Forms OF-169 and DS-230, as attached. Send these

forms to the Embassy to the following address:

Packet 3 quote

This letter will be sent to you by the Colombian national mail

system within 4 to 6 weeks after the Embassy has received the signed forms OF-169 and DS-

230.

Packet 3 quote

Fill out two (2) Forms DS-156 (Nonimmigrant Visa Application), one (1) Form DS-156K

(Nonimmigrant Fiancé(e) Visa Application) and one (1) Form DS-230 Part I (Application for

Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration – Biographic Data). You must answer all questions. If

your children are applying for a visa with you, each must completely fill out two (2) Forms DS-

156 and one (1) Form DS-230 Part I.

You must complete all the information requested in the above forms. Presenting

incomplete documentation will cause delays in your visa processing. Do not sign the

above forms until you are told to do so.

Packet 3 quote

Also attached: Form DS-230

(Completed but not signed)

Edited October 10, 2007 by lucho562

[Juan Carlos 0]

HELP COLOMBIA CLUB!!!!!

OK…I just got off the phone with Yenifer and she had some very important things to tell me. Four weeks ago she took a day off from school to gather the necessary documents for our interview…police cert, migratory cert, baptism cert and birth cert. We hope that our interview will come before the end of the year, which will make these documents at worst 3 months old. She was a little concerned that the document for baptism that she got needed to be notarized. Packet 3 asked for (fe de bautismo: Expedida recientemente y con Notas Marginales).

She went back to the office that she got the baptism cert from and the woman told her to come back when she has an interview date so that she can take out a new one and also bring it somewhere??? for the Notas Marginales and back to her office for something else…maybe another stamp or something??? . This is to supposedly satisfy the embassy’s criteria for this doc and anything else would not be acceptable

I didn’t think that any of these docs required a notorization (but I could be wrong) and I told Yenifer that I thought this might just be a ploy to get more money. She is all concerned about this and so am I because every day we get closer to our interview and we want to be prepared. We will do whatever is necessary…”PLEASE HELP”

Scott... I asked my wife about your "Notas Marginales". Nope, this doesn't seem mean you need to get it notarized. Happens everytime something happens in your "Catholic life" the Catholic Church writes it in your baptism certificate. So, when you get married, the church should add a note, something like "got married, xx/xx/07". Not only marriage, but maybe the catholic confirmation and other events throughout your religious life. If there is nothing to write, they should add a note saying "nothing to add, no events, etc". I guess USCIS could potentially use this document to verify you really got married through the Catholic Church (in case you stated so) or that you were / were not married before.

I would suggest your wife to go visit her local church, a priest or even better, the local "curia". My wife says it is not hard to get them to correct (in case there is a mistake) or add a note (in case it was missing) to the baptism certificate. In her estimate, any of these changes may take from one to three days (depending on your relationship with the local priest). I find it strange that the church is asking for the interview date to take action. I suggest she finds someone else to help her of try through the local priest. Knowing how things work in Colombia, I also suggest she goes to that aunt, granma or neighbor who spends day and night at church. They have a lot of influence.... (in my case, that person is my mother in law)

Hope this helps.

[Yazz 1]

Hi Lucho,

1. Do we have to fax the complete DS230 (part 1 and 2) or just part 1? signed or not signed?? the Embassy says: complete and sign...

2.Do we have to submit the complete DS230 (part1 and 2) the day of our interview again? or just part 2

Please confirm if this is the right DS 230 we have to fax (taken from Us Embassy web page, part 1 and 2):

http://bogota.usembassy.gov/root/pdfs/wwwfcds230en.pdf

Hi Yazz,

The DS230 is broken up in 2 parts, each part consists of 2 pages.

Part 1 = pages 1 and 2

Part 2 = pages 3 and 4

1. Fax only part 1 of the DS230 signed(pg 1 and 2)

2. The CO never asked us for our DS230 and I have never heard of a case where someone else was asked for it. However the wording in the packet 3 is tricky and I like to play it safe, so we took an unsigned DS230 part 1 to the interview but did not turn it in. We brought it along just incase the CO asked for it. (Notice that packet 4 makes no mention of it)

Just play it safe, take it with you but dont give it to them unless they ask for it. The following contradicting quotes from packet 3 creates a bit of confusion on wether to take the DS230 to the interview and wether to sign it. The first 2 quotes contradict the last 2 quotes.

Packet 3 quote

As soon as you have obtained ALL the documents that are required to process your

case, you must complete and sign Forms OF-169 and DS-230, as attached. Send these

forms to the Embassy to the following address:

Packet 3 quote

This letter will be sent to you by the Colombian national mail

system within 4 to 6 weeks after the Embassy has received the signed forms OF-169 and DS-

230.

Packet 3 quote

Fill out two (2) Forms DS-156 (Nonimmigrant Visa Application), one (1) Form DS-156K

(Nonimmigrant Fiancé(e) Visa Application) and one (1) Form DS-230 Part I (Application for

Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration – Biographic Data). You must answer all questions. If

your children are applying for a visa with you, each must completely fill out two (2) Forms DS-

156 and one (1) Form DS-230 Part I.

You must complete all the information requested in the above forms. Presenting

incomplete documentation will cause delays in your visa processing. Do not sign the

above forms until you are told to do so.

Packet 3 quote

Also attached: Form DS-230

(Completed but not signed)

Dear Lucho:

Thank you but thank you very much for your valuable response.. ! As you could see, the instructions are not completely

clear ..but now...I got it...

Regards

Yazz

[buck501 0]

I have a few minutes, I will give account of our POE in Houston. When we got there, late of course, there must have been well over 300 people in the visitors line and close to 100 in the US line. We went to the US line. I got pulled out and sent to an area for bad peole. LOL. Paola went to another area. I was in there for a little over an hour. When I came out, no Poala. I asked one of the Border Patrol people where she was. He said he did not know and did not have time to find out. I waited another hour and asked another guy, same response. I got the attention of another person and explained that I had no idea where my fiancee was and what was going on. He told me they had a bunch of people to process and the wait could be as much as 4 hours. GREAT!!!!!!!!!! We missed our flight. She was in there for a little over 3 hours. That was the bad part.

She was interviewed by the same gal that had talked to me about crimes I have never commited, turns out I am white, not black, never been in prison, do not have tattoo's all over my body and am basicly a good guy. When she asked Paola what my name was the lady said, oh yes, I know him, I just spoke with him about 2 hours ago. She then did the fingerprinting and said welcome to the US. That was it. Very easy and no problems. The problem was the airport was full of people, flights were being delayed and the Border Patrol employee's were a little on the grouchy side. We missed our flight, which created more problems. From the time we went to the airport to arrivasl at my house, with the time difference was exactly 24 hours. I am beat, Paola is sleeping LOL>LOL In the end we are home. I would not reccomend traveling on the weekeends if at all possible.

I want to welcome you back BUCK and congratulations. but I am a little confused by your comments "Not Black" this sounds like you are implying something. Can you please clarify for me. What do you mean???????

Why the huge red type? It is not exactly a good way to begin a calm conversation.

I cannot speak for Buck, but I can tell you how I interpreted his remarks. Buck's name matched with a known criminal who happened to be a black man with tatoos and a prison record. So Buck was questioned. During the questioning Buck pointed out (or they figured out for themselves) that he is not black, does not have tatoos and has never been in prison. So, clever people that they are, they concluded that Buck was not the bad guy.

I realize that everyone views the world through the prism of their own experience, but personally I don't think Buck meant to imply anything derogatory.

Bill, I read my post again. I can see what you mean. I only ment that they confused me with another person. Paola is a African Colombian, I am an caucasion american. I only thought it strange that they would pull me aside when they already know almost everything about you when you come thru the immigration line at the POE. It is the same with the interview in the US Embassy in Bogata. For the most part it is BS!!! If you have a criminal background, have been registerd with a "club" in another country or any thing else outside of the norm, they already know it. That s the reason that you want to be toatly honest on all docs submitted to the embassy for the visa. They want to catch you in a lie. The same with the immigration or border patrol in the US. They know EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry if my post was not clear. I am NOT a racist or predudice!!

[buck501 0]

I am starting a new thread on "Your new life in america" forum. I will call it "Colombia". I have, and am not reading much other then the Colombia Club thread here. All embassy's are different. We have the best thread on this site.

I do not want to clutter this thread with everyday stuff after the entry visa is complete. We have a thread on the AOS forum. Lets start one on the After your here forum. The name of it is...............................Your new life in America".

Please, post there. I want Paola to be happy here, I need advice. I want to meet others that have brought Colombians to the US. I want to know the joys and sorrows. I want to possible meet others in person. Paola has a few friends in the US. In Chicago and Florida. I am willing and able to send her to the other places if need be. I live in a very small town, not only is she the only Colombian here, but there are no other connections with Colombia then TV. Aside from that she is one of a very few black people. We are thre exacact same as you..................deeply in love and wanting a good and happy life.

People seem to participate on the visa forum and then dissapear after a time, that is totally understanable. Lets keep up the communication. We can help each other the same. I am sure that I am not the only one that wants or needs communication with others.

I hope to see many folks on the "Your new Life in America" forum, Colombia Club. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a GREAT day!!!!!!!!!

[Mononoke28 135]

Scott,

Yenifer doesn't have to tell anybody what the documents she's getting are for, all she needs to do is say she needs a certified copy of XX document, that's all. My husband went to get his baptismal certificate about 1 month before the interview and didn't tell them what it was for, they gave it to him without a problem. The marginal notes are just extra notes saying whether they have been married WITHIN the Catholic Church or not. In our case, we got married at a Notaría and so his baptismal certificate didn't have any notes on it. The embassy DOES ask for this document at the time of interview, so she has to get it. I also don't see a problem in using the one she has now, but that's just my own opinion.

Diana

[BYRON-LEIDY 0]

I sent Leidy to get her DAS cert. and her baptism cert. about 2 months ago....i hope its not going to be too outdated by the time the interview comes around whenever that is.....as for the migratorio, since we are seeing eachother in Panama next week i figure its better to wait after the trip...Any suggestions or opinions on all of this????

[Mononoke28 135]

Byron,

The Police Certificate is good for a year and I really don't see any problem with her Baptismal certificate being older than 6 months, that would just be them splitting hairs on each document.

Diana

[BYRON-LEIDY 0]

...Gracias Diana!!

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

I would like to add that another reason why the embassy asks for the baptismal certificate is to also verify if the beneficiary has been married before. If the beneficiary has never been married, the baptism certificate will reflect that. Same as if the beneficiary was married, the baptism cert. will also have that noted on it.

I found this posted by lucho a while back so just to play it safe and keep our minds at ease we will get a current birth cert and fe de bautismo: Expedida recientemente y con Notas Marginales. (inside of a month of our interview)

Thanks for the response Diana

Hey Buck...I think you started the new thread you talked about earlier by the same name as this one. The idea is awesome but the name shouldn't be the same as this one as it may confuse some of "us"

[santamartachicago 0]

I have a few minutes, I will give account of our POE in Houston. When we got there, late of course, there must have been well over 300 people in the visitors line and close to 100 in the US line. We went to the US line. I got pulled out and sent to an area for bad peole. LOL. Paola went to another area. I was in there for a little over an hour. When I came out, no Poala. I asked one of the Border Patrol people where she was. He said he did not know and did not have time to find out. I waited another hour and asked another guy, same response. I got the attention of another person and explained that I had no idea where my fiancee was and what was going on. He told me they had a bunch of people to process and the wait could be as much as 4 hours. GREAT!!!!!!!!!! We missed our flight. She was in there for a little over 3 hours. That was the bad part.

She was interviewed by the same gal that had talked to me about crimes I have never commited, turns out I am white, not black, never been in prison, do not have tattoo's all over my body and am basicly a good guy. When she asked Paola what my name was the lady said, oh yes, I know him, I just spoke with him about 2 hours ago. She then did the fingerprinting and said welcome to the US. That was it. Very easy and no problems. The problem was the airport was full of people, flights were being delayed and the Border Patrol employee's were a little on the grouchy side. We missed our flight, which created more problems. From the time we went to the airport to arrivasl at my house, with the time difference was exactly 24 hours. I am beat, Paola is sleeping LOL>LOL In the end we are home. I would not reccomend traveling on the weekeends if at all possible.

I want to welcome you back BUCK and congratulations. but I am a little confused by your comments "Not Black" this sounds like you are implying something. Can you please clarify for me. What do you mean???????

Why the huge red type? It is not exactly a good way to begin a calm conversation.

I cannot speak for Buck, but I can tell you how I interpreted his remarks. Buck's name matched with a known criminal who happened to be a black man with tatoos and a prison record. So Buck was questioned. During the questioning Buck pointed out (or they figured out for themselves) that he is not black, does not have tatoos and has never been in prison. So, clever people that they are, they concluded that Buck was not the bad guy.

I realize that everyone views the world through the prism of their own experience, but personally I don't think Buck meant to imply anything derogatory.

Bill, I read my post again. I can see what you mean. I only ment that they confused me with another person. Paola is a African Colombian, I am an caucasion american. I only thought it strange that they would pull me aside when they already know almost everything about you when you come thru the immigration line at the POE. It is the same with the interview in the US Embassy in Bogata. For the most part it is BS!!! If you have a criminal background, have been registerd with a "club" in another country or any thing else outside of the norm, they already know it. That s the reason that you want to be toatly honest on all docs submitted to the embassy for the visa. They want to catch you in a lie. The same with the immigration or border patrol in the US. They know EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry if my post was not clear. I am NOT a racist or predudice!!

Buck I sent you a personal message but I also wanted to post this message for clarification, and understanding for all the nice, helpful, and kind people on this site.[/color]

Hello Buck,

I want to first say that there was nothing meant by the red type other than to make sure I would get a response from you. I don't know you nor am I saying anything negative about you. I just wanted to be clear on what you typed. Different people see things totally different. You are embarking upon a new wonderful and beautiful life with your new wife of a different color, culture, and race.

I am asking you this question simply to bring to your attention how some things that are said with the utmost innocence can be taken out of context, misinterpreted, and misunderstood.

It is very important that you realize that America is probably the only country that hates some of its own based solely on color (most other place have political, or religious issues). As a Caucasian male in America you probably have not experienced much of this type of persecution against your own person, but I feel as a God fearing Christian, and a black man that I should at the very least lovingly reach out to make you aware of the sensitivity surround these issues. The Black, and Latino cultures endure these trials everyday some subtle and some not so subtle...some intentional and some unintentional. This not to take anything away from any other cultures that suffered travesties associated with persecution. God loves us all and made us all in his likeness.

I believe God has created all of us with love in our hearts, my feeling is that hatred and bigotry is a learned habits founded on misunderstanding and lack of knowledge; therefore, I just wanted to say I don't think you are a racist, or a bigot.

If you are interested I would love to be your friend because we can learn so much from others if we just take the time to truly listen to each other. I know we have many things in common one of the most important is the love we have in our hearts we are willing to share with beautiful Colombian women. See our hearts are very much the same.

My name is Eric (from Chicago) and my Fiancée’s name is Dayfenix (from Santa Marta, living in Bogota)

God Bless

Now lets get back to the business of dealing with the US Government, the Embassy and the folks standing between us and our loved ones

[buck501 0]

I would like to add that another reason why the embassy asks for the baptismal certificate is to also verify if the beneficiary has been married before. If the beneficiary has never been married, the baptism certificate will reflect that. Same as if the beneficiary was married, the baptism cert. will also have that noted on it.

I found this posted by lucho a while back so just to play it safe and keep our minds at ease we will get a current birth cert and fe de bautismo: Expedida recientemente y con Notas Marginales. (inside of a month of our interview)

Thanks for the response Diana

Hey Buck...I think you started the new thread you talked about earlier by the same name as this one. The idea is awesome but the name shouldn't be the same as this one as it may confuse some of "us"

Scott, your right. Does anyone know how to edit that to rename it?

Again the purpose for the thread is to try and keep this thread as clean as possible. Mike posted about this a while ago, and I have given it some thought and while I said I did not agree, I have thought about it and think a little differently now. It may help to keep this thread clean and on topic.

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

Packet 3 asked for (fe de bautismo: Expedida recientemente y con Notas Marginales).

Scott... I asked my wife about your "Notas Marginales". Nope, this doesn't seem mean you need to get it notarized. Happens everytime something happens in your "Catholic life" the Catholic Church writes it in your baptism certificate. So, when you get married, the church should add a note, something like "got married, xx/xx/07". Not only marriage, but maybe the catholic confirmation and other events throughout your religious life. If there is nothing to write, they should add a note saying "nothing to add, no events, etc". I guess USCIS could potentially use this document to verify you really got married through the Catholic Church (in case you stated so) or that you were / were not married before.

I would suggest your wife to go visit her local church, a priest or even better, the local "curia". My wife says it is not hard to get them to correct (in case there is a mistake) or add a note (in case it was missing) to the baptism certificate. In her estimate, any of these changes may take from one to three days (depending on your relationship with the local priest). I find it strange that the church is asking for the interview date to take action. I suggest she finds someone else to help her of try through the local priest. Knowing how things work in Colombia, I also suggest she goes to that aunt, granma or neighbor who spends day and night at church. They have a lot of influence.... (in my case, that person is my mother in law)

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the response Juan Carlos...this makes it clear as to what this document actually represents.

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

I couldn't edit last post fast enough and I wanted to add...

Just a FYI for everyone...this document (baptism certificate) can be given without the Notas Marginales which is what Yenifer first noticed and questioned. Make sure to have the document include Notas Marginales for the embassy just in case.