Colombia Club

[ColombianoGringo 0]

faith11 and agentes,

First off, congratulations to both of you on your visa approvals.

If you don't mind, I have a few questions. Do you have a current list for Packets 3 and 4 for K-3 at Bogota? Could you point me towards the one you used? Our case will hopefully be headed towards NVC soon, but we want to be ready with everything well before the interview.

Also, beside picture captions and intimate details, what were the other interview questions about?

Thanks for your help. After 8 months of waiting in the USCIS backlog, we are itching to get things moving as quickly as we can with any shortcuts. Our anniversary is June 10. I seriously doubt we will get an interview before that, but it would be nice.

[Bill y Bella 0]

Congratulations!

I will just dive in here with our interview experience....

Another thing: She was given back the Migratory Certificate from DAS. They told her they didn't need it, but my wife has never been out of the country. I wouldn't bank on them not needing it. Absolutely. You must obtain the migratorio even if it says that the beneficiary has never been out of the country.

All in all, I like the embassy. I wasn't there for the interview, but I was talking/emailing with the embassy during this entire process and they were great to me/us the whole time. We know they need to test the authenticity of these relationships, so my wife nor I are bothered by anything. Quite honestly, I wish other businesses gave me the type of service that I got from the embassy. My wife says they were very friendly in person too. This is kind of long, but I hope it helps someone. You must have been dealing with a different Bogota embassy than I was. Communicating with them was almost impossible for me and when I did talk to them they gave me bad information.

[Bill y Bella 0]

Here is a link to an immigration story everyone should read. Make sure that you have a discussion with the beneficiary about this article and tell him/her to report any inappropriate actions or requests immediately.

The thought of government officials taking advantage of vulnerable people just makes me furious.

[motu 6]

Here is a link to an immigration story everyone should read. Make sure that you have a discussion with the beneficiary about this article and tell him/her to report any inappropriate actions or requests immediately.

The thought of government officials taking advantage of vulnerable people just makes me furious.

That story is after the woman arrived in USA and has nothing to do with the US staff in Bogota. I guess you had a bad experience in Bogota but hundreds of others didn't. My fiancee also had a very easy time with the staff in Bogota as did some of her friends that have come after her. Do not equate a terrible person in the New York office with the US embassy staff in Bogota they do not deserve this. For most people, my understanding from talking to them has been - its very stressful to go through the process - don't put more stress on the people by saying things like you are saying. If you have a specific incidence that happened to you - tell us so others can learn from it and watch out for that. Most people that are rejected in Bogota have 1) Incomplete paperwork; and 2) Insufficient Financial support. Once they can overcome those they are approved. Unless you have criminal background etc. - few are rejected for the K1 or K3 in Bogota. Good Luck to all of you

[Bill y Bella 0]

Here is a link to an immigration story everyone should read. Make sure that you have a discussion with the beneficiary about this article and tell him/her to report any inappropriate actions or requests immediately.

The thought of government officials taking advantage of vulnerable people just makes me furious.

That story is after the woman arrived in USA and has nothing to do with the US staff in Bogota. I guess you had a bad experience in Bogota but hundreds of others didn't. My fiancee also had a very easy time with the staff in Bogota as did some of her friends that have come after her. Do not equate a terrible person in the New York office with the US embassy staff in Bogota they do not deserve this. For most people, my understanding from talking to them has been - its very stressful to go through the process - don't put more stress on the people by saying things like you are saying. If you have a specific incidence that happened to you - tell us so others can learn from it and watch out for that. Most people that are rejected in Bogota have 1) Incomplete paperwork; and 2) Insufficient Financial support. Once they can overcome those they are approved. Unless you have criminal background etc. - few are rejected for the K1 or K3 in Bogota. Good Luck to all of you

Wait just a minute. There is no connection between my two posts. The fact that one follows the other is mere coincidence. I came here (one of my VJ homes) to provide what I thought was some valuable information to other members but before I posted the link to the New York Times article I replied to Agentes with congratulations. In addition, I posted agreement on one point and on another stated that my experience in trying to communicate with the embassy prior to the interview was not the same as his. In no way did I intend to use the second post as evidence of problems in the Bogota embassy.

In general I did not have a bad experience with the Bogota embassy other than the difficulty in communicating with them. Out of my 4 emails they replied to only 1 and I found it extremely difficult to get through to the embassy on the phone during the measely 2 hours per week they make themselves available.

With that said, I still believe the information in the article that I posted is important for everyone to know. If there are some bad immigration officials who will take advantage of vulnerable people in this process, than everyone needs to be aware. If this could happen in New York it could happen in Miami, Bogota, London, Montreal or anywhere in the process. Once I became aware of the article I felt obligated to encourage other people going through the process to be careful. Prior to reading the article it never occurred to me to have a discussion about unscrupulous immigration officials with Bella but you can bet we will have one now.

Yes, you are correct there is no connection between the staff in the Bogota embassy and the article. I never meant to imply that there was. If I inadvertently did so I apologize. However, the fact that the victim described in the article is colombiana, should help everyone in this forum realize that this is not something that can only happen to someone else. Everyone should be careful throughout the entire process from beginning to end.

The immigration process does not end when the visa is approved at the embassy. Yes, that is the focus of this forum but hopefully everyone here will soon be on to the next step and dealing with immigration officials in the US. If there are some immigration officals in the system who try to take advantage of vulnerable people (and the article pointed out there are more complaints than they have manpower to investigate) don't you think it is important that everyone knows this sooner rather than later? In addition, there are many people who monitor this forum who have already received their visas and are in the midst of the AOS process. I would feel terrible if one of them were victimized in the same way as the woman in the article so of course I wanted to make sure they were aware.

If you have been reading this forum you would know that I have always made a sincere effort to help others through the process just as many here have helped me. I have spent a great deal of time trying to provide whatever assistance I could to others with detailed posts of my experiences or by replying to many questions sent to me via pm. Frankly, I am insulted to now be lectured about how to provide assistance and to be accused of making the process more stressful than it already is. I just don't think that I deserve that.

Edited March 21, 2008 by Bill y Bella

[Mononoke28 135]

Congratulations Colombianogringo! About time!!! Geez.

And to address the previous post, the only issue I had with the US Embassy in Bogotá were the first ladies you have to deal with. The were the biggest and most condescending women I have ever dealt with. They try to bite people's heads off if they don't have what they want or need and they still do it even when you are 100% ready. Other than that, I have no other complaints.

Diana

[Ken y Leidys 20]

Congratulations Colombianogringo! About time!!! Geez.

And to address the previous post, the only issue I had with the US Embassy in Bogotá were the first ladies you have to deal with. The were the biggest and most condescending women I have ever dealt with. They try to bite people's heads off if they don't have what they want or need and they still do it even when you are 100% ready. Other than that, I have no other complaints.

Diana

Thanks for this info, Diana. I've been trying to prep my fiance with everything she will encounter based upon what I have been reading here. Everyone here is a big help, and I hope things start to move more quickly. NOA 1 received in January, and nothing else as of yet. My trip to Barranquilla is tomorrow, and this will be great. I just wish I could have my Colombianita come home w/me...

[ColombianoGringo 0]

Thanks Diana. 236 days! The sad thing is that since our NOA1 there had been zero activity. The only touches were when I called on the RFE line. It looks like they approved our case in one day. Of course, our packages were flawless and loaded to hilt with pics and evidence. Now I'm looking forward to being able to move this thing forward.

[Ken y Leidys 20]

Thanks Diana. 236 days! The sad thing is that since our NOA1 there had been zero activity. The only touches were when I called on the RFE line. It looks like they approved our case in one day. Of course, our packages were flawless and loaded to hilt with pics and evidence. Now I'm looking forward to being able to move this thing forward.

I read here in the 'Guides' section that if a case moves too slowly, you could contact your Congress-person and they could prepare a formal inquiry as to why your case is moving so slowly. Perhaps, you should look into this. Because, your case is moving really slowly IMO. Who is your elected official there in Texas??? Get on the phone.

[ColombianoGringo 0]

One of my best friends works in the US House and looked into this for me. In fact, he used to be legislative director for the house member for my district.

The sad truth is that they can really do very little to expedite your case unless it is well beyond the current published USCIS processing times. Our case was technically within that timeframe.

We are now approved and hopefully things won't be so slow at NVC. It seems like K-3s are moving pretty quickly after approval.

[Agentes 0]

ColombianoGringo,

Thanks, we are happy we have finally gotten past the interview. For Packets 3 and 4 I am not sure where to begin except that basically what we used was a combination of what is on the embassy's website along with the info we got here. It may or may not help, but I did a post on our Packet 3. It should still be right here under my profile. Yeah, there were some minor discrepancies, but they all worked out in between Packet 3 and 4. Quite frankly in our case I think I was just being overly cautious; which is a good thing, but it was getting the best of me.

My wife went alone; and I explained my reasoning a few posts up, so I won't go into that again but if you are interested it is just a couple of pages back. I quizzed her on the questions and the details and the questions were the basics with a couple of tests thrown in there.

The basic questions:

How do you know your husband? (Internet Website - Never brought up IMBRA stuff)

How many times has he come to visit?

You are divorced? (I feel that was a test)

Has your husband ever been married? (Test)

Your husband has never been married?(Tested again)

Are you sure your husband has never been married? (More testing)

How long have you been married?

What does your husband do for a living?

<Asked for evidence> Focused on pictures and the pictures were actually ones that I submitted with my original application.

You must have been dealing with a different Bogota embassy than I was. Communicating with them was almost impossible for me and when I did talk to them they gave me bad information.

Yeah I had good communications with the embassy. I was surprised at the service I received because I did read other's posts, but I actually really liked their style. There was something that conflicted. It didn't turn out to be anything major since it was after the fact, but they were always nice, quick, and straight forward with me. I really liked that, and I would definitely give them a good rating on their customer service.

[CamyCar 0]

WOW!!!!!! Congrats to Faith and Argentes. I have been traveling alot and not been in cnnecton with the goings on here. Lot's of exciting news!!!

Paola is leaving this Monday the 17th to return to Colombia for a month. We had the DNA test done, called for another interview date for her son. It is Monday March 31!!! Paola is going down to attend the intewrview with her son and bring him back to the US.

I am a bit worried that she will have problems re-entering the US, given all the hassels that can come up. She has her travel doc's and everything else needed to re-enter the US. There should not be a problem. I am going to miss her badly while she is gone. She will return on April 22.

Hi Buck,

I am glad that Paola will be finalizing the issue with her son. This must have been emotionally distressing for her. Carina and I have started to worry about her 19 year old son also because of your experience. We have our interview on the 31st as well, so I hope that we will run into Paola.

Best of Luck,

Cameorn

Cameorn, They will be there!!!!!!! I will tell her to be on the look ouy for a fellow VJ'er.

Great Buck,

And I will keep an eye out for them as well. It would be fun to visit with someone else from VJ. I know that Osita will be there for her interview also and we will try to meet with her for dinner prior to. I have papers due and my final exam on the 31st also. I have no idea what my condition will be like on this day. Probably the same look as the fish in the blender!!

Cameron

[faith11 0]

Thanks everyone for your best wishes.

Colombianogringo l sent you a PM.

God bless you.

[marly 0]

ya casi tengo mi cita en la embajada para la visa k1 :rolleyes:que sustoooo

[Bill y Bella 0]

I am preparing my list of documents Bella and the kids need to leave Colombia and enter the US. Here is what I have so far:

Airline tickets

Passports with visas

Sealed packages that were delivered with the visas

Birth certificates

Is there anything else? We don't need a father's permission for the kids to leave Colombia because there is no father on the birth certificates. Do we need that huge chest X-ray? If we don't need it for POE, is it needed later?

Thanks!