Colombia Club

[Rainman3 0]

Greetings everyone,

Sandra had her visa approved today in Bogota. Everything went very well for her.

All she had to do was turn in her results from her medical exam on Friday. They looked them

over briefly and than informed her that she was approved. She did have to receive 3 more

vaccinations though on Friday. She was told that she should be receiving her visa in Medellin

on this Friday. I already have her a flight on Thursday June 5th but I may be moving that up to this

weekend after I know that she has her visa in hand. We are both so very happy right now.

Two trips to Bogota and 2 visits with Dr. Roa, a crapload of vaccinations, the request for additional

information after the first interview on April 18th and all the disappointment of not being able to

bring my Sandrita home with me in April. All of the frustration has left me for now and I am just

overjoyed at the prospect of at longlast being together.

Greg

Edited May 27, 2008 by Rainman3

[Mononoke28 134]

Diana,

Are the courses self-paced and do they have a specific start date? My wife would like to take it, but probably won't have time until she gets here. That won't be until probably about July.

Thanks,

CG

I'm not sure CG. I read it on Eltiempo.com a few months ago and my husband registered in January. He got all the stuff he needed last week and started taking the course and says it's really good. He's comparing it to the courses he's already taking here in Denver. From what I understand the course is at your own pace and they send it to you via their web site. Then last week I was listening to Caracol Radio and the SENA said that they were allowing more people to register after April 28th because of the high demand of requests.

I guess the whole thing started because the Colombian government wants to have more Colombians to be bilingual. It's worth a try and they can start studying in Colombia and continue here since it's all via the internet.

Diana

[HAL 9000 96]

Yeah my wife signed up this weekend. I hope she'll be able to apply the skills she learns in her hopeful new job soon...

[Mononoke28 134]

HELP IN BARRANQUILLA ... need a kind and benevolent host !!!!

hello all ... I write this out of desperation and in hopes a kind and benevolent soul(s) may come to our

aid.

we have been approved and have recieved our papers so my girls are legal to eneter the U.S. !!

But ... Junnell and Mari have returned to a hostile and potentialy harmfull BAQ. She is now staying in a chaotic

home of family that has 9 people living under one small roof and none are happy she is there.

however I am so very worried in regards to Maria's biological father. He is a potentialy violent person and has struck

my fiance several times in the past. My greatest fear is for my loves' safety !

at the time of this writting we are panicked that he is going to take Maria (the daughter) and never to be seen again.

he is a hypocrite and is only acting out of spite because he has already signed a notorized permission for Maria to

leave and has stated that " ... he doesn't care if she leaves" which we have saved on a phone message.

but our desperation is in the moment. I can't afford a hotel for the girls to hide out in as I am rapidly trying to

purchase departing tickets for the first avail flight which isn't until Tues.

are there any kind and benevolent souls that can help us in Barranquilla .. if only for a cpl of days ?

I know this is alot to ask but we have run out of possibilties.

Pls PM me and we can exchange details and continue in private. Blessings be on all.

Chris,

I hope things are better and that you can bring them soon to the US. I also wanted to remind you that the document the father signed has to be very recent or the DAS won't let María leave Colombia.

Hopefully they won't have any issues and they can get away from it all.

Diana

[KathyB 0]

Hi everyone,it's been quite awhile since I have posted and really happy to see how active this forum is! Francisco has been here a year now and happily, his children will be moving with us in 2 weeks! Francisco received his visa in April 2007; we requested interviews for his children in February 2008 and attended interviews with them at the end of March. Although we were very close to the year limit given for "follow to join" benefits, we had no trouble at all!

Now of course we are preparing for them to leave Colombia. Francisco is leaving next week for Colombia so he can fly to the US with them. We will have the papers from the mother, giving permission. Is there anything else we need to be prepared for when they leave?

Also, just to relieve some anxiety, is the DAS police certificate one of the documents that's sealed in the brown envelope? His son is afraid he lost it but I think the embassy would have either kept it in their records or passed it along in the envelope.

Kathy

[Mononoke28 134]

The embassy should've kept it and it should be in that brown envelope. My husband never got his back and there's no use for it anymore, so no need to worry.

Besides the signed authorization from the mother (make sure is recent), your husband shouldn't have any issues traveling with his sons.

Good luck!

Diana

[bigley 0]

Hey all my lawyer is giving me a hard time about filing the shortcut method. Our file is in Bogota since the 22nd and they sent the packet 3. Does anyone know if my fiance will receive notification? My lawyer again is useless.

She says she does not want to fax the information to the embassy because she does not want to make a mistake and slow down the process. She already screwed up earlier and caused a RFE. I need to send ds-2100, part 1 ds-230 and biographical page of passport right? If so I will do it myself but want to make sure.

[Andres and Diana 0]

ok you guys....

So this is the problem with the Visa...

Yes we are approved!

But no we are not getting the visa just yet...

It turns out that we are under administrative processing. When we were told at embassy about the glitch they said they couldn't issue the visa due to internal error. After asking everyone and their mothers possible!!!! We have been informed that it is administrative processing.

I am extreemly worried but confident that the wait wont be long. According to the Administrative processing forum the wait can be as follows:

1-3 months (lucky)

3-6 months (average)

6 months + (unlucky)

Has anyone in the Colombia form been placed under administrative processing?

Please let me know that we aren't the only ones with this horrific issue!

Keep us in your prayers you guys and pray for a speedy process. We want to be together so bad...and it is sooo unfair that we have to wait yet again even after given the ok to have our visa.

Pray for us....

Diana and Andres

Edited May 28, 2008 by Andres and Diana

[HAL 9000 96]

Darn I just hope this AP is over and done with sooner rather than later.

You may want to contact your Federal Rep/Senators in a month if the embassy is still dragging its toes on this one.

Suerte!

[Mononoke28 134]

That's too bad Diana and so unfair. I guess the NVC doesn't take care of that when it comes to K1/K3 visas. But I'm with maviwaro and you should contact your state representative to put pressure on them. Hopefully they'll take care of it fast.

Diana

[ColombianoGringo 0]

What exactly is administrative processing at the consulate level?

We have a potential problem that concerns me. We were married in San Andres on June 11 of last year. However, that was a holiday so the notario's office did not officially file the paperwork until the next day, so June 12 appears as the official marriage date and the idiots also put down June 12 as the ceremony date.

Before we filed our petitions with USCIS, I asked them about this and they told me to put down the correct date and include a letter explaining the discrepancy. I included an addendum explaining everything and we were approved with no RFE. However, I am concerned about some jerk at the embassy making this a problem. Has anyone experienced any issues like this in the past and what were the results?

Thanks,

CG

Edited May 28, 2008 by ColombianoGringo

[lucho562 0]

Sorry to hear about the AP Diana. I sure hope it's done with sooner than later.

What's going on Scott, Mavi, Diana??? Long time no chat. We're just living it up here in sunny Southern California. Wendy is studying english, and just enjoying being together.

Saludos

Edited May 28, 2008 by lucho562

[HAL 9000 96]

Hi everyone,it's been quite awhile since I have posted and really happy to see how active this forum is! Francisco has been here a year now and happily, his children will be moving with us in 2 weeks! Francisco received his visa in April 2007; we requested interviews for his children in February 2008 and attended interviews with them at the end of March. Although we were very close to the year limit given for "follow to join" benefits, we had no trouble at all!

Now of course we are preparing for them to leave Colombia. Francisco is leaving next week for Colombia so he can fly to the US with them. We will have the papers from the mother, giving permission. Is there anything else we need to be prepared for when they leave?

Also, just to relieve some anxiety, is the DAS police certificate one of the documents that's sealed in the brown envelope? His son is afraid he lost it but I think the embassy would have either kept it in their records or passed it along in the envelope.

Kathy

Kathy!

Well, I am not sure on the DAS document... to be honest I think that is not one of the big things they look at along the process since the kids will be going into AOS almost instantly upon arrival in Indy right? Matter of fact if they're done with the interviews then that DAS document won't really matter. To get them out will be the waiver from the mother... hopefully she will be able to secure a B visa in the future if she doesn't have one already unless you guys plan on *sarcastic sigh* sacrificing and traveling all together to Colombia so that the kids can see their mom.

Anyway... good news! Congrats! Now you get to play stepmom everyday.

Yeah Lucho... has Wendy gotten good employment? Mária está en esas... I'm really crossing my fingers that she gets offered a job she interviewed for yesterday.

[parkpapa 0]

What exactly is administrative processing at the consulate level?

We have a potential problem that concerns me. We were married in San Andres on June 11 of last year. However, that was a holiday so the notario's office did not officially file the paperwork until the next day, so June 12 appears as the official marriage date and the idiots also put down June 12 as the ceremony date.

Before we filed our petitions with USCIS, I asked them about this and they told me to put down the correct date and include a letter explaining the discrepancy. I included an addendum explaining everything and we were approved with no RFE. However, I am concerned about some jerk at the embassy making this a problem. Has anyone experienced any issues like this in the past and what were the results?

Thanks,

CG

CG, my wife and I were married "officially" by a notary in his office on a Friday. We had our wedding ceremony with family the following day (Saturday, when all government offices are closed) with the same notary presiding. Thusfar, we've had no problems with the dates. I would think the only date you need to be concerned with is the "official marriage date" that the Colombian government recognizes. The date you and your wife choose to celebrate is up to you. I don't think it will be a problem. Just keep good records and you should be fine.

Charles

[ColombianoGringo 0]

parkpapa,

The problem is that USCIS had us put June 11 on our forms and the marriage certificate says June 12. Hopefully they won't give us any grief about it.

I guess since we have everything else in order, I have to stress about something. Ha Ha.

Thanks,

CG

Edited May 28, 2008 by ColombianoGringo