Colombia Club

[TonyS 0]

Just arrived home from Bogota. The interview was easy and sucessful! Good luck to Dan today!

[Mononoke28 135]

Dra Maria COnsuelo Gonzalez 288-7629 or 245-9290

Dr. Jairo Rosa 215-1763 or 658-9366

Anexo D of Packet 4 includes the list of required vaccinations....age 18-64....Td, MMR, and Varicela.

Mike

Thanks Mike!! I told my husband which vacs he needs and then he started saying "well I thinkI had the TD one when I was like 5 and I already had varicela with dr.'s documents proving that I did, so maybe I won't need them... blah, blah, blah" So I said call the doctor so you know for sure and if they say get them all, then you get them all. I think he's scared and is avoiding getting them at all costs! Too bad, so sad.

[Mike and Adriana 0]

Glad to hear it. Yeah, I am sure he is not excited about getting a vaccination. I suspect that his TD is expired. I think it is good for 10 years. My wife had to get another. Also, some of the other vaccinations are done in stages, so he may or may not have completed the panel. He should have a vaccination card (this is what many Colombians have since they must get their vaccinations at the Red Cross or other similar organizations...and not at the doctor's office like we would here in the U.S.).

Good luck!

Mike

Thanks Mike!! I told my husband which vacs he needs and then he started saying "well I thinkI had the TD one when I was like 5 and I already had varicela with dr.'s documents proving that I did, so maybe I won't need them... blah, blah, blah" So I said call the doctor so you know for sure and if they say get them all, then you get them all. I think he's scared and is avoiding getting them at all costs! Too bad, so sad.

[KathyB 0]

Just arrived home from Bogota. The interview was easy and sucessful! Good luck to Dan today!

Fantastic! I am thrilled for both of you!

Kathy

[darolina1 0]

Just arrived home from Bogota. The interview was easy and sucessful! Good luck to Dan today!

That's great Tony! Congratulations! What questions did they ask you?

By the way, has anybody here ever taken "yahoo call history" as proof of communication?

Thanks!

[olafgypsy 0]

Hi Club Colombia! I'm fairly new here -- I just mailed in the I-129F petition for mi colombiano a week ago. I asked this question under the regional heading, but I thought I'd try it here, aiming specifically at people who have completed the K-1 process at the Bogota embassy:

How important do you think it is that the USC attend the interview at the embassy? What did YOU do, and how did it work out? I'm hoping that by collating everybody's responses, I can get a fairly good idea of the best thing to do.

[Mike and Adriana 0]

Hi:

One piece of advice...if you have a question about the process in Colombia, definitely post to this thread. There doesn't seem to be much action in the regional thread as it relates to COlombia. I bet most of us don't even bother to read that thread any more.

That said, I am going to respond to your question...even though my wife went through the K-3 process. I think it is fairly important to attend the embassy interview with the beneficiary, ESPECIALLY is you are going for a K-1. The embassy is on hig alert for visa frauds and K-3 visas are much more conducive to fraud that a K-3 or IR-1/CR-1 (because with these visas you actually have to get married!).

As I've posted before, I attended my wife's K-3 interview and we were successful. My wife was asked NO questions. I owe that to the fact that 1) we included proof of relationship in our I-129F filing and 2) I was there. I was the ONLY gringo anywhere in sight that day. We saw K-1s getting denied left and right that morning.

So, these are one guy's opinions based on one day's experience at the embassy.....but if you want to increase the odds...you need to go. Oh, and you said "Colombiano"...meaning that you are a woman and the beneficiary is a Colombian man? If so, I think it is almost critical that you attend the interview. Review Oskaryandrea's experiences earlier in this thread.

Good luck to you.

Mike

Hi Club Colombia! I'm fairly new here -- I just mailed in the I-129F petition for mi colombiano a week ago. I asked this question under the regional heading, but I thought I'd try it here, aiming specifically at people who have completed the K-1 process at the Bogota embassy:

How important do you think it is that the USC attend the interview at the embassy? What did YOU do, and how did it work out? I'm hoping that by collating everybody's responses, I can get a fairly good idea of the best thing to do.

[TonyS 0]

Just arrived home from Bogota. The interview was easy and sucessful! Good luck to Dan today!

Fantastic! I am thrilled for both of you!

Kathy

Thank you so much Kathy. I know you will be sucessful too .

[olafgypsy 0]

Hi:

One piece of advice...if you have a question about the process in Colombia, definitely post to this thread. There doesn't seem to be much action in the regional thread as it relates to COlombia. I bet most of us don't even bother to read that thread any more.

That said, I am going to respond to your question...even though my wife went through the K-3 process. I think it is fairly important to attend the embassy interview with the beneficiary, ESPECIALLY is you are going for a K-1. The embassy is on hig alert for visa frauds and K-3 visas are much more conducive to fraud that a K-3 or IR-1/CR-1 (because with these visas you actually have to get married!).

As I've posted before, I attended my wife's K-3 interview and we were successful. My wife was asked NO questions. I owe that to the fact that 1) we included proof of relationship in our I-129F filing and 2) I was there. I was the ONLY gringo anywhere in sight that day. We saw K-1s getting denied left and right that morning.

So, these are one guy's opinions based on one day's experience at the embassy.....but if you want to increase the odds...you need to go. Oh, and you said "Colombiano"...meaning that you are a woman and the beneficiary is a Colombian man? If so, I think it is almost critical that you attend the interview. Review Oskaryandrea's experiences earlier in this thread.

Good luck to you.

Mike

Wow -- I just read OskaryAndrea's story and I have to admit, I'm kind of in shock. And yes, to answer your question, the beneficiary is a Colombian man. I am surprised that it would make a difference: what's the logic there? There is very little age difference between us -- he is just one year older. We met two years ago when he was on an exchange visa in the states and have been together ever since.

I would definitely not *mind going to Bogota for the interview and getting to see my fiance that much sooner. But the truth is, I'm wondering what my presence would prove when we already have such copious evidence of a long-term relationship. Then again, so did Oskar and Andrea . . .

The whole thing just seems so ARBITRARY.

[Mike and Adriana 0]

Don't really know that there is any logic. As I said in previous posts, it seems as if there is a bit of discrimination in cases where the woman is older than the man...probably because that is not typical in a Colombian relationship. One year is not much of a difference...but the fact that the beneficiary is a man...makes me think the relationship will be looked at a little more closely. Not fair perhaps, but probably the way it is.

From what I can tell, the embassy seems to consider the attendance of the petition as a piece of evidence! So, even if you have a lot of other evidence, often being there (and displaying an engagement ring) can really help. If you can't be there, it might pay to (as others have done) provide your fiance with a letter explaining why you get be there (i.e., can't get away from work, can't afford the additional expense at this time, etc.).

Good luck,

Mike

PS - general observation...my perception had been (based on my experiences in Colombia and on this board) that the typical relationship was between an American man and a Colombian woman. Until recently, Andrea had been the exception, although she is Colombian. I have found it interesting to see recent posts by American women who are engaged to/married to Colombian men. I have read a lot about why American men have interest in Colombian women....I am interested if there are any particular reasons why American women have interest in Colombian men (or for the women, is it just the individual person...and not any traits that can be associated with a Colombiano).

Wow -- I just read OskaryAndrea's story and I have to admit, I'm kind of in shock. And yes, to answer your question, the beneficiary is a Colombian man. I am surprised that it would make a difference: what's the logic there? There is very little age difference between us -- he is just one year older. We met two years ago when he was on an exchange visa in the states and have been together ever since.

I would definitely not *mind going to Bogota for the interview and getting to see my fiance that much sooner. But the truth is, I'm wondering what my presence would prove when we already have such copious evidence of a long-term relationship. Then again, so did Oskar and Andrea . . .

The whole thing just seems so ARBITRARY.

[KathyB 0]

Hi olafgypsy and welcome!

Interesting observation Mike. Yes, when I first started reading the thread, I noticed all the information was skewed toward a Colombian fiancee. To answer you, for me, it was just the man, who happened to be Colombian. My brother and his girlfriend (who is Colombian) live in Bogota; last year I went to visit them. We spent some time in Armenia, and Francisco was our personal tour guide. I didn't realize then that I had met my future husband...I just knew I had met someone very special that day. (I remember laughing when we had to pay him. We all had such a good time together, I forgot that he wasn't part of our family!) He emailed me a few weeks after I was back in the United States, and I don't think we've missed a day since. I have since gone back to Colombia twice to see him and meet his family. So I hope that's enough (along with my cell phone bills, daily chats, letters, emails from my parents/siblings to him, photos, receipts from his visits to interent offices) to prove we have a bona fide relationship! (I too included proof of relationship in the 129F packet.) I don't have an engagement ring, because frankly that's an expense we don't need to incur just yet.

And, olafgypsy, I will attend the interview. We are scheduled for April 2. I have followed a mantra in this process of "nothing beats effort." And besides the obvious benefits of me going (more favorable impression by the consular officer as well as getting to see Francisco in just a few weeks), I don't want him to have to go through this very stressful time all by himself. I may as well be with him while he waits...I would be useless in Indianapolis during the interview anyway!

I have found this group to be very supportive and very willing to answer questions. So really, thanks to everyone for your encouragement and kindness!

Kathy

[TonyS 0]

Just arrived home from Bogota. The interview was easy and sucessful! Good luck to Dan today!

That's great Tony! Congratulations! What questions did they ask you?

By the way, has anybody here ever taken "yahoo call history" as proof of communication?

Thanks!

Well at the first window, she was asked:

1. What is your profession?

2. How did you meet your fiance?

3. When did you meet your fiance?

4. How long you did you live with you ex-husband? ( my fiancee is divorced )

5. When will you go to America?

At the CO window she was asked:

1. How did you meet? ( Don't worry those of you who met online or through a agency...doesn't matter )

2. When did you meet?

That was all! Did not ask to speak to me. But please read on. I will give my opinion in the thread below.

[TonyS 0]

Hi Club Colombia! I'm fairly new here -- I just mailed in the I-129F petition for mi colombiano a week ago. I asked this question under the regional heading, but I thought I'd try it here, aiming specifically at people who have completed the K-1 process at the Bogota embassy:

How important do you think it is that the USC attend the interview at the embassy? What did YOU do, and how did it work out? I'm hoping that by collating everybody's responses, I can get a fairly good idea of the best thing to do.

In my opinion, if you the time and money to attend the interview, then do it! I noticed that approval rate for Colombians there alone was about 50%. Now this may not be very accurate but just from my observations. There were about 5 couples there, including myself....we were all approved in 3-5 minutes. In general only about 3 questions were asked and only once was the USC asked to speak. He was asked one question, " How did they meet?" and was approved in 5 minutes l. I noticed that if the applicant was at the window for 10-15 minutes then most likely they were not getting approved. In my opinion, the success if for a couple of reasons. First of all, if you are going to take the time, money and effort to come to a interview that you are not required to attend, then mostly you are a real couple to the CO. Second of all, the USC that feels is very important to attend the interview, is most likely the kind of individual that researched the process and made sure everything was done correctly. Some of the girls that was not approved were sent away and asked to come back with more proof. One had boyfriend that had only been to Colombia once and she had just 7 emails. Another girl only had the dates of the emails and did not include the body of the messages.

So this is what I think and it has been said before in the Colombia Club.

1. If you can go for the interview then do it! Bogota is a big city plagued with the issues all big cities have but I had a blast and did not feel unsafe. I feel the experience brought us even closer together. We did some fun things and this helped us both relax in what can be a stressful situation.

2. More information is better than too little. I suggest 30-50 emails but if the CO feel good about you, then most likely they won't even look at them.

3. I suggest 10-30 pictures. They seem to be VERY INTERESTED IN PICTURES! We had about 25 and the CO looked at all of them.

4. Phone records, but again if the CO feels good about the couple then most likely he/she won't look at the records.

[HAL 9000 96]

I echo Tony and Mike's suggestions to be at the embassy.

Lucky me I got my girl a ring down there while we lived together for nearly two months. I think that is a double whammy of evidence in case they look at the extra evidence since filing the I-129f. Pics? Sure... the 25 from the I-129f, plus another 25 from this last trip. Lets see... you can't stage all the different ecosystems we have joint pics of in a couple of fraudulent days... Providencia and San Sandrés, Bucaramanga, Bogotá (a self respecting CO should recognize commercial sites in and around Bogotá), parts of rural Santander... FAMILY PICS with all of us posing together, friend pics in group... ETC. Hmmm... plane tix, ring receipt, hotel receipt, Decameron receipt, and etc.

Possibly a contact sheet listing emails in GMAIL going at a rate of about 4 messages a day since last year.

I think if the CO denies us it will be for evidence overkill... but again, that is grounds for a valid appeal since people read when they are officially directed to do so.

Then there's also the touchy-feely part of the waiting process. You can bet your bottom dollar that a happily engaged couple waiting for hours and hours won't be sitting reading books- especially if the future spouse has to probably fly back to the USA for work reasons the next day. At the minimun hugs, kisses, and good talk are in order there. God I miss her.

[Mononoke28 135]

So my husband calls the doctor this morning and they told him he has to get all 3 shots (TD, MMR & varicela), needless to say, he's not a happy camper. I don't know why I'm enjoying this so much.

Anyway if anyone is interested, the Red Cross of Cali told him that if he gets the TD and varicela shots with them, he can get the MMR for free. Just a little FYI for those of you who live close to Cali and need to have that done.