Colombia Club

[Ken y Leidys 20]

Ken,

Here's a cleaned up copy of what we used. You just need to enter the correct names and document numbers, and enter them as if the father was writing the letter. He will also need to have this notarized. Your wife will need to present this letter to DAS at the airport, and she will need an updated letter each time she goes back to Colombia and then returns to the States. There is no such thing as a blanket letter that is good from now on - she will need a different one each time.

Hope this helps!

Bogotá, Junio 23 de 2008

PERMISO PARA SALIR DEL PAIS

XXXXX XXX XXXXX, mayor de edad, identificado con la cedula de ciudadanía numero 11’111.111 expedida en Bogotá, por medio del presente documento, concedo permiso a mis menores hijo XXXX XXXX XXXX identificada con Registro Civil No. 111111 de Bogotá y el Pasaporte No. RN 11111111, para que puede salir del país de American Airlines y entrar a los EE.UU. por (ciudad y estado aquí), en compañía de su madre XXXX XXX XXXX, identificada con la cedula de ciudadanía No. 11’111.111 de Bogotá. Este viaje se espera el 25 de junio de 2008, y este permiso y la autorización son efectivos de la fecha del viaje.

Cordialmente,

____________________________

XXXXX XXX XXXXX

CC 11’111.111 de Bogotá

Muchisimas Gracias, Amigo! Of course, this is a big help. I will make sure I keep this information in my file. Thanks again,

-Ken

Ken,

Be aware the "permission" document from the father is only valid for 60 days!!!! This nearly caused us a major problem in the Bogota airport. For whatever the reason, we cleared, I believe 3 checkpoints till we got to the final one at the gate area. Here the DAS person informed us that the document was no longer valid, and made Sandy go too a room and contact the father via phone! Eventually Sandy and her daughter where granted permission to travel. So play it safe, and have him notorize it closer to your expected travel date.

Also remember that depending on the circumstances, you may need a new document from the father each time you travel to Colombia.

This will be a bit tricky given the relationship between my fiancee and the father, but I will let her know this, so that she can prepare herself mentally.

As far as the interviews go, I am so happy to be part of this forum (and thread). My Immigration Lawyer isn't even aware that I received an NOA2, and I'm nearly 2 steps ahead of him with Packet 3 arriving in the mail soon.

[Mononoke28 135]

Hey guys I want to ask more questions to you all but can not seem to get an answer. My questions are two fold. My fiance and I have an interview July 29 in Bogota. first is she has two children do we pay for all three for the visa or just for my fiance since the children are under 16. Second probably more importante the ds-156 that the packet 4 says do not sign is that the ds-156K or the ds-156 that are brought to the bank to get the visa paid??? Seems I can not get answers to any questions lately. THanks for everyones helpl

Does anybody have any answers for Bruce? He's asked this question several times and I'm not very familiar with children and K2 visas.

Diana

[parkpapa 0]

Hey guys I want to ask more questions to you all but can not seem to get an answer. My questions are two fold. My fiance and I have an interview July 29 in Bogota. first is she has two children do we pay for all three for the visa or just for my fiance since the children are under 16. Second probably more importante the ds-156 that the packet 4 says do not sign is that the ds-156K or the ds-156 that are brought to the bank to get the visa paid??? Seems I can not get answers to any questions lately. THanks for everyones helpl

Does anybody have any answers for Bruce? He's asked this question several times and I'm not very familiar with children and K2 visas.

Diana

The gentleman pmed me with the same question and I answered him as best I could, though his original question to me was a bit different. As I recall, the reason you don't sign the ds-156 is because it has to be signed at the bank, rather than ahead of time.

As for paying for the visas, the children are included under the wife's K-3 visa, so you're not applying for three separate visas. However, when it comes to paying fees for the various applications, documents, etc., you do pay separate fees for each one in most cases. The USCIS site has all the fee information associated with each individual form. The only other bit of advice is, if you call USCIS for help on fees and documents, don't assume that what the person is telling you is completely accurate. Why? Because I think some of those folks on the phone system are temps or not directly involved in any of the actual process. Your best bet is to go by what's printed on the USCIS website. Copy web pages and print them out. Then if things get strange down the line, you have written documentation as to why you did something a certain way.

Hope this helps.

Charles

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

Hey guys I want to ask more questions to you all but can not seem to get an answer. My questions are two fold. My fiance and I have an interview July 29 in Bogota. first is she has two children do we pay for all three for the visa or just for my fiance since the children are under 16. Second probably more importante the ds-156 that the packet 4 says do not sign is that the ds-156K or the ds-156 that are brought to the bank to get the visa paid??? Seems I can not get answers to any questions lately. THanks for everyones helpl

Bigley,

You do not sign the DS-156K until they ask you to at the embassy...as far as the DS-156, that can be filled out completely, 2 copies for each person...1 for the bank and 1 for the embassy. If you are unsure about exactly how to fill out the DS-156 the people at the bank will help you with that...in fact if you take the time to fill them out and you make a mistake, they will have to be done all over again so my suggestion would be to wait you get to the bank to do it (it's very quick)

Not sure about paying for the children...maybe someone else has an answer on that one.

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

Current Status: Card production ordered.

Looks like we've ended another chapter of our journey!!!!

Thanks to all for all of your help and support. I would also like to say that if I had to do it all again...I wouldn't even hesitate

[bigley 0]

Hey guys I want to ask more questions to you all but can not seem to get an answer. My questions are two fold. My fiance and I have an interview July 29 in Bogota. first is she has two children do we pay for all three for the visa or just for my fiance since the children are under 16. Second probably more importante the ds-156 that the packet 4 says do not sign is that the ds-156K or the ds-156 that are brought to the bank to get the visa paid??? Seems I can not get answers to any questions lately. THanks for everyones helpl

Bigley,

You do not sign the DS-156K until they ask you to at the embassy...as far as the DS-156, that can be filled out completely, 2 copies for each person...1 for the bank and 1 for the embassy. If you are unsure about exactly how to fill out the DS-156 the people at the bank will help you with that...in fact if you take the time to fill them out and you make a mistake, they will have to be done all over again so my suggestion would be to wait you get to the bank to do it (it's very quick)

Not sure about paying for the children...maybe someone else has an answer on that one.

Thanks to all of you for your help. My lawyer (she has not been of much use to this point) has told me that we need to sign only the DS156K at the embassy. All other forms can be filled out in advance (DS156) so maybe she is finally right this time. My fiance has all the information we need for the interview so we should be fine there. I was initially assuming that only my fiance paid for the application fee ($131) as she is applying and the children were just benificiaries but seems I am getting conflicting information. I will look into the site a little more and hopefully will find out about the fees. I agree with others that this site has been a blessing to me and probably others. My lawyer has been next to useless and this site has provided us with the only real reliable information. And yes have not noticed many forum members being denied, lets hope we keep the streak going with our interview on July 29th. Wish us luck. Thanks again.

[Mononoke28 135]

Thanks to all of you for your help. My lawyer (she has not been of much use to this point) has told me that we need to sign only the DS156K at the embassy. All other forms can be filled out in advance (DS156) so maybe she is finally right this time. My fiance has all the information we need for the interview so we should be fine there. I was initially assuming that only my fiance paid for the application fee ($131) as she is applying and the children were just benificiaries but seems I am getting conflicting information. I will look into the site a little more and hopefully will find out about the fees. I agree with others that this site has been a blessing to me and probably others. My lawyer has been next to useless and this site has provided us with the only real reliable information. And yes have not noticed many forum members being denied, lets hope we keep the streak going with our interview on July 29th. Wish us luck. Thanks again.

Bruce,

I'm thinking that since each person, your fiancée and two children will be getting a visa, you will have to pay the $131 for each one. Another thing you could do is have your fiancée call the bank in Colombia and they should be able to tell her.

In any case, I'll ask your question in the Colombia K1 thread and see if anybody has an answer.

Diana

[Mononoke28 135]

Ok Bruce, here it is.

You have to pay $131 for each person regardless of age. So $131 for your fiancée, and $262 for the children. All of them will need to fill out form DS-156, one for each person (so total of 3 forms). You don't need the DS-156K for the children but they said to fill them out just in case they ask for it at the embassy.

Hope that helped.

Diana

[lucho562 0]

Current Status: Card production ordered.

Looks like we've ended another chapter of our journey!!!!

Thanks to all for all of your help and support. I would also like to say that if I had to do it all again...I wouldn't even hesitate

Congrats!!!! Now you can enjoy your marriage w/o all the hassle of paperwork and interviews.

[Ken y Leidys 20]

I lost contact w/Onelis 3 weeks ago. It's been driving me crazy, but thankfully Carl pointed me in the direction of a local businesswoman who can help out by visiting her home and discussing our case with Onelis.

Thread in "Off-Topic" - "Where did she go?"

Keeping my fingers crossed that this gets resolved quickly and we get back on-track w/our K-1 a.s.a.p.

-Ken

[WyoDusty 0]

I lost contact w/Onelis 3 weeks ago. It's been driving me crazy, but thankfully Carl pointed me in the direction of a local businesswoman who can help out by visiting her home and discussing our case with Onelis.

Thread in "Off-Topic" - "Where did she go?"

Keeping my fingers crossed that this gets resolved quickly and we get back on-track w/our K-1 a.s.a.p.

-Ken

Ken,

I hope you get good news soon, I know it is difficult having so much distance in a relationship. I think we all have some experience in that area.

Dennis

[Mononoke28 135]

Oh wow. Ken I hope things turn out ok and please keep us posted.

Diana

[Andres and Diana 0]

Congrats Scott!!

Im soo glad that everything has gone on without a hitch! Good Luck with all your endevors!

Quick question for all you guys...What kind of problems could arise if Andres applies for a Tourist Visa while his K1 is under Administrative Processing? Would there be a problem with him coming to the states and staying with me till it gets approved or until the tourist visa runs out? Has anyone had a tourist visa while undergoing the K1/K3 process?

Let me know...

Diana

[Mononoke28 135]

Diana,

Many people apply for tourist visas while their K1/K3 visas are being processed, there's nothing wrong that. BUT, this is all before their cases go to the embassy. Your case is unique in that you already had your interview at the embassy and are only waiting for approval. I don't think anything will happen if he goes to request a tourist visa but the embassy will probably see that his K1 visa is pending approval and if they do, they won't give him a tourist visa.

I personally think it's a waste of time and money but I also don't think he will get in trouble for trying.

Diana

[Ken y Leidys 20]

I lost contact w/Onelis 3 weeks ago. It's been driving me crazy, but thankfully Carl pointed me in the direction of a local businesswoman who can help out by visiting her home and discussing our case with Onelis.

Thread in "Off-Topic" - "Where did she go?"

Keeping my fingers crossed that this gets resolved quickly and we get back on-track w/our K-1 a.s.a.p.

-Ken

Ken,

I hope you get good news soon, I know it is difficult having so much distance in a relationship. I think we all have some experience in that area.

Dennis

Maria had to deal with a flooded street, causing her to ditch her plans in looking for Onelis. The word is out. Her Americano is looking for her. When the rains come, it causes havoc with the phone lines, causing the nearby Internet cafe's to all close. It must be a mess there right now. I'm looking at low-cost flights to Cartagena via Spirit Airways so I can just see her. This is driving me crazy. Maria plans to drive out tomorrow to find Onelis. I'm going on my 11 mi. bike ride now. It's the only thing that calms me down...