Colombia Club

[Jay1234 2]

Just an update. We have our interview on May 7th, I leave for Bogota on May 1st!!!! It feels like we are almost there, I am pretty optimistic about things. The only thing we are missing is the Police Certificate from Aruba, but since neither of us are in Aruba, I retained an attorney there to get it for us, should have it in the next few days. Well...I will make sure that I post any updates and will post a detailed run down of the interview after we get back.

[Mononoke28 135]

Nice! Like you said, almost there. I wish you nothing but the best and let us know how it goes.

[parkpapa 0]

Just an update. We have our interview on May 7th, I leave for Bogota on May 1st!!!! It feels like we are almost there, I am pretty optimistic about things. The only thing we are missing is the Police Certificate from Aruba, but since neither of us are in Aruba, I retained an attorney there to get it for us, should have it in the next few days. Well...I will make sure that I post any updates and will post a detailed run down of the interview after we get back.

Best of luck Jay. We are getting close to the same point (I sure hope). Any pointers you can offer will be welcome.

[LEOFACE305 0]

Leo in the house here!

I have one question :on the form ds-156 there's a question regarding "have you ever apply for a visa" which in my girls case

she did apply for the turist Visa but got denied. SO my question on this one is: is it best for her to put "yes" and that it got denied, or could she put "no" instead?

thanks

[parkpapa 0]

Leo in the house here!

I have one question :on the form ds-156 there's a question regarding "have you ever apply for a visa" which in my girls case

she did apply for the turist Visa but got denied. SO my question on this one is: is it best for her to put "yes" and that it got denied, or could she put "no" instead?

thanks

Someone might disagree, but I can't imagine honesty (about something so trivial) being a bad thing. Tourist visas from Central and South America are darned near impossible for the average person to obtain. Our government knows this, so denial of a tourist visa is relatively meaningless. If she had been denied for a K-1 or K-3, that might be a different matter. I would answer the question honestly.

[LEOFACE305 0]

Leo in the house here!

I have one question :on the form ds-156 there's a question regarding "have you ever apply for a visa" which in my girls case

she did apply for the turist Visa but got denied. SO my question on this one is: is it best for her to put "yes" and that it got denied, or could she put "no" instead?

thanks

Someone might disagree, but I can't imagine honesty (about something so trivial) being a bad thing. Tourist visas from Central and South America are darned near impossible for the average person to obtain. Our government knows this, so denial of a tourist visa is relatively meaningless. If she had been denied for a K-1 or K-3, that might be a different matter. I would answer the question honestly.

thanks! on that info!

On anothere note for all of you that went to the website of the US Embassy in Colombia to check if you made it to the May list for the Visa Interview and notice that your not in the list, is better to call the visas services center at (202) 663-1225.

I went to the Website and saw the list but not our case number in it, so I called and Bingo! our interview date is on May 17th!

[TonyS 0]

Leo in the house here!

I have one question :on the form ds-156 there's a question regarding "have you ever apply for a visa" which in my girls case

she did apply for the turist Visa but got denied. SO my question on this one is: is it best for her to put "yes" and that it got denied, or could she put "no" instead?

thanks

Leo

It's no big deal. It common for denial of tourist visas for Colombians. My fiancee was denied a few years ago and it was not a problem. Just be honest.

Tony

[Mike and Adriana 0]

Ditto what Tony said. My wife tried two different times to get a tourist visa to the U.S. and was denied. We had absolutely no problem getting her and my step-daughter K-3 and K-4 visas. Don't sweat it. Just be honest. Failure to include something is a problem in itself....you'd feel horrible if she got denied for failing to disclose.

Mike

Leo in the house here!

I have one question :on the form ds-156 there's a question regarding "have you ever apply for a visa" which in my girls case

she did apply for the turist Visa but got denied. SO my question on this one is: is it best for her to put "yes" and that it got denied, or could she put "no" instead?

thanks

Leo

It's no big deal. It common for denial of tourist visas for Colombians. My fiancee was denied a few years ago and it was not a problem. Just be honest.

Tony

[parkpapa 0]

Just a quick update.... Our petition arrived at the NVC yesterday and should head for Bogota soon. Since my wife lives far from Bogota, and I know the regular mail service in the country is questionable at best, what are the odds that the embassy might send packet 3 through a messenger service? We are preparing to send in all the appropriate paperwork even without receipt of packet 3, but I'm just curious.

[HAL 9000 96]

Always tell the truth... if it doesn't come back to bite you when you are applying, chances are it could get you during AOS.

Full Speed Ahead Folks...

[HAL 9000 96]

Just a quick update.... Our petition arrived at the NVC yesterday and should head for Bogota soon. Since my wife lives far from Bogota, and I know the regular mail service in the country is questionable at best, what are the odds that the embassy might send packet 3 through a messenger service? We are preparing to send in all the appropriate paperwork even without receipt of packet 3, but I'm just curious.

Have her fax her Paperwork in... it will save you some time. My fiancee received a call the day after faxing her documents to clarify a spelling issue. During the course of the call her father's Spanish Nationality came up and the Embassy Rep was "pleasantly surprised" to hear that my fiancee has a right to Spanish Nationality should she want it... that which she also clarified she was not interested in obtaining.

[Mike and Adriana 0]

From everything I know and have read, the chances are ZERO. The embassy send it by Colombian mail....period. As such, use the short-cut method for packet 3. No reason to wait. Follow the instructions on this thread. Many of us have used it, without a problem. It works.

The bigger issue might be packet 4, which includes your "cita." Does she know anyone in Bogota that might be able to pick up a duplicate packet 4 if the original does not arrive?

Good luck

Mike

Just a quick update.... Our petition arrived at the NVC yesterday and should head for Bogota soon. Since my wife lives far from Bogota, and I know the regular mail service in the country is questionable at best, what are the odds that the embassy might send packet 3 through a messenger service? We are preparing to send in all the appropriate paperwork even without receipt of packet 3, but I'm just curious.

[parkpapa 0]

From everything I know and have read, the chances are ZERO. The embassy send it by Colombian mail....period. As such, use the short-cut method for packet 3. No reason to wait. Follow the instructions on this thread. Many of us have used it, without a problem. It works.

The bigger issue might be packet 4, which includes your "cita." Does she know anyone in Bogota that might be able to pick up a duplicate packet 4 if the original does not arrive?

Good luck

Mike

Yes, her best friend is an attorney in Bogota, so that might be a possibility. Thanks for the tip. Lorena is going to fax the paperwork in as well as send it by courier (Servientrega or somesuch?).

[parkpapa 0]

Has anyone had any success using the DHL shortcut? I've been following the information listed by Peter Miami and even with a one day shipping window the response is that there are too many shipments and I should narrow down the shipping information.

[Mononoke28 135]

I don't think there are a lot of shipped items from DHL to the embassy. I've played around with it based on the info other people have given here and the DHL site shows 1 to 2 items sent to the embassy within the dates you plug in.