Colombia Club

[lucho562 0]

I'm thinking that this is an idea for a new topic, but I wanted input from the Colombia Club members first. I am the type of person who tends to think sequentially - at least it helps me keep things straight - and to that end, I would like to see a comprehensive listing of links to specific topics. For example, a lot of the same questions get asked over and over about "what's in packet 3?", "what's the timeline for process X?". If we could compile a list of those common questions with concise answers or links (preferably), I think it would be really helpful to newcomers. Current members could place a link to that list (as a topic link) in their 'signature'.

An example or start for such a topic page might be as follows:

US Embassy in Bogota - http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsmane.shtml

Immigrant Visas General Information (including K1 and K3) - http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsmane.shtml

Consular Section FAQ (the people who will handle the visa request) - http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwscivfrequen....shtml#currency

Interview Appointment Schedule (Bogota only) - http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwscappointmentlist.shtml

Visa Process for CR-1, K1, K3 - http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwschowtobeginvisaprocess.shtml

Packet 3 Contents for K3 - http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsck3k4instructions.shtml

Hello, I see that you have the link for packet 3 contents for k3. Do you happen to have k1 packet 3 link?

There are certainly other links to be included. Those with more experience here would know those better than me, but at least this list might be a start. Agree or disagree????

[Mike and Adriana 0]

Lucho:

There are basically three types of visas that are discussed in this thread: k-1, K-3, and IR-1/CR-1. K-2s are for children of K-1. K-4s are for the children of K-3s. We have done our best to separate the K-1/2 and K-3/4 stuff on this thread from a separate thread for IR-1/CR-1. If you see something about the IR-1/CR-1 visa on this thread, ignore it...it's likely not relevant.

As for your question, the packet 3 for K-1s and K-3 is the same - OF-169, DS-230, part I, list of stuff. The only difference between K-1s and K-3s that I can think of off the top of my head is that for the interview, K-1s need a DS-156K (K-3s don't because they are already married) and K-3s need a copy of the marriage license (K-1s don't because obviously they are not married yet). So, use the link to the packet 3 that is provided in this thread and you'll be in good shape.

Mike

Hello, I see that you have the link for packet 3 contents for k3. Do you happen to have k1 packet 3 link?

[parkpapa 0]

Bros/Sis's

Wendy and I just received our NOA2 last night. I will be here a lot more to learn from you all.

First, I'm going to gather I134 forms and documents that I need to send her. Then from there, i'm lost

Lucho - a question for you! :-) You mention here that you will send the I-134 and documents to her. Does that mean you will not be able to attend her interview? If not, then please be sure that she has plenty of documentation of your relationship (photos of you with her and her family, receipts for travel, meals, hotels, etc. that show you two have spent time together, etc. - more ideas are talked about in this thread). The reason is that with a fiancee visa, the odds of approval are very low for those unmarried Colombians that show up for the interview alone. Remember that her chances of being approved (and the two of you actually being together) are much greater if you can go to the interview with her. We want to see both of you succeed.

[parkpapa 0]

Please indulge me a moment as I would like to verify something... My wife lives far from Bogota (in Florencia) and the mail service is notoriously poor outside the major cities. Is it possible that she could fax or courier a notarized letter to either the embassy or to a friend in Bogota that would allow the friend (an attorney) to pick up her packet 4 for her? My concern, obviously, is that we want to be CERTAIN that we get packet 4 firmly in hand.

[lucho562 0]

Bros/Sis's

Wendy and I just received our NOA2 last night. I will be here a lot more to learn from you all.

First, I'm going to gather I134 forms and documents that I need to send her. Then from there, i'm lost

Lucho - a question for you! :-) You mention here that you will send the I-134 and documents to her. Does that mean you will not be able to attend her interview? If not, then please be sure that she has plenty of documentation of your relationship (photos of you with her and her family, receipts for travel, meals, hotels, etc. that show you two have spent time together, etc. - more ideas are talked about in this thread). The reason is that with a fiancee visa, the odds of approval are very low for those unmarried Colombians that show up for the interview alone. Remember that her chances of being approved (and the two of you actually being together) are much greater if you can go to the interview with her. We want to see both of you succeed.

I will attend the interview. However, I thought that the I-134 was part of packet 3 that was supposed to be sent before the interview??? I'm still learning this process. Please help me if i'm wrong.

[parkpapa 0]

Bros/Sis's

Wendy and I just received our NOA2 last night. I will be here a lot more to learn from you all.

First, I'm going to gather I134 forms and documents that I need to send her. Then from there, i'm lost

Lucho - a question for you! :-) You mention here that you will send the I-134 and documents to her. Does that mean you will not be able to attend her interview? If not, then please be sure that she has plenty of documentation of your relationship (photos of you with her and her family, receipts for travel, meals, hotels, etc. that show you two have spent time together, etc. - more ideas are talked about in this thread). The reason is that with a fiancee visa, the odds of approval are very low for those unmarried Colombians that show up for the interview alone. Remember that her chances of being approved (and the two of you actually being together) are much greater if you can go to the interview with her. We want to see both of you succeed.

I will attend the interview. However, I thought that the I-134 was part of packet 3 that was supposed to be sent before the interview??? I'm still learning this process. Please help me if i'm wrong.

You could bring the I-134 and supporting documentation with you when you got to the interview. However, it would be wise to send a set of the documents to her ahead of time. Always keep back-up copies of everything. I'm glad to hear you will be going with her. That will improve your chances greatly. Good luck!

[Mike and Adriana 0]

My wife lives in Bogota and the mail service was fine. But I understand your situation. From what I have read, it is possible to give a friend or relative permission to pick up packet 4. I would think this would be especially easy if your wife's friend is an attorney. I assume you would send the permission to the friend to present to the embassy....but this (the question) might be something you should e-mail to the embassy to be sure.

Please indulge me a moment as I would like to verify something... My wife lives far from Bogota (in Florencia) and the mail service is notoriously poor outside the major cities. Is it possible that she could fax or courier a notarized letter to either the embassy or to a friend in Bogota that would allow the friend (an attorney) to pick up her packet 4 for her? My concern, obviously, is that we want to be CERTAIN that we get packet 4 firmly in hand.

[parkpapa 0]

My wife lives in Bogota and the mail service was fine. But I understand your situation. From what I have read, it is possible to give a friend or relative permission to pick up packet 4. I would think this would be especially easy if your wife's friend is an attorney. I assume you would send the permission to the friend to present to the embassy....but this (the question) might be something you should e-mail to the embassy to be sure.

Please indulge me a moment as I would like to verify something... My wife lives far from Bogota (in Florencia) and the mail service is notoriously poor outside the major cities. Is it possible that she could fax or courier a notarized letter to either the embassy or to a friend in Bogota that would allow the friend (an attorney) to pick up her packet 4 for her? My concern, obviously, is that we want to be CERTAIN that we get packet 4 firmly in hand.

Thanks for the suggestion, Mike. Yeah, I know mail service is good in Bogota, but I have several friends in Bogota who have assured me and Lorena that there is almost no chance she would get an "official" looking letter where she lives. My daughter who is getting married in June, sent Lorena a wedding announcement back in February and it has never arrived.

[Jay1234 2]

If she can't go to Bogota it will take up to 30 days. But Catherine went two weeks early to Bogota (from Barranquilla) and got the Certificado de Migratorio in 3 days. To me it made more sense then worrying about the mail (though this goes against my earlier post saying we got everything no problem from the embassy in the mail)....Our interview is on the 7th, so we aren't across the finish line yet. I fly in on May 1st, I can't wait!!! Will post updates as I get them.

By the way, anyone have recommendations for hotels near the embassy?

Jay

[Mike and Adriana 0]

Lucho:

Trust me, packet 3 only requires the documents I listed. You can check out the link yourself. The requirements are very minimal...just enough to begin the interiew scheduling process.

The I-134 is something that you provide at the interview (along with the support documents). There are also many other things that you'll need to bring to the interview (some of which you have already provided with your I-129F petition and some things you will need to get like the DAS certificate, the medical exam, etc.). Packet 3 will provide you with a list of the things you'll need for the interview. Technically, you are not supposed to fax or e-mail packet 3 until you have gathered all of the documents you can....but I doubt anybody ever waits.

I will attend the interview. However, I thought that the I-134 was part of packet 3 that was supposed to be sent before the interview??? I'm still learning this process. Please help me if i'm wrong.

I understand the mail service is pretty bad outside of Bogota. I remember reading about one guy whose fiancee literally went to the Cartagena post office and went in the back and searched for her packet 4....and found it sitting there. Don't trust the mail if you have an alternative!

Thanks for the suggestion, Mike. Yeah, I know mail service is good in Bogota, but I have several friends in Bogota who have assured me and Lorena that there is almost no chance she would get an "official" looking letter where she lives. My daughter who is getting married in June, sent Lorena a wedding announcement back in February and it has never arrived.

[lucho562 0]

Lucho:

There are basically three types of visas that are discussed in this thread: k-1, K-3, and IR-1/CR-1. K-2s are for children of K-1. K-4s are for the children of K-3s. We have done our best to separate the K-1/2 and K-3/4 stuff on this thread from a separate thread for IR-1/CR-1. If you see something about the IR-1/CR-1 visa on this thread, ignore it...it's likely not relevant.

As for your question, the packet 3 for K-1s and K-3 is the same - OF-169, DS-230, part I, list of stuff. The only difference between K-1s and K-3s that I can think of off the top of my head is that for the interview, K-1s need a DS-156K (K-3s don't because they are already married) and K-3s need a copy of the marriage license (K-1s don't because obviously they are not married yet). So, use the link to the packet 3 that is provided in this thread and you'll be in good shape.

Mike

Hello, I see that you have the link for packet 3 contents for k3. Do you happen to have k1 packet 3 link?

Thank you so much. I know I should have done my studying on what to do once I received NOA2....but waiting for the NOA2 had my nerves to high.

[lucho562 0]

Mike,

Just to triple confirm. Packet 3 contents and forms should only be...

Cover Letter

DS-156 (filled out by benefeciary)

DS-230 Part 1 (filled out by benefeciary)

I-134 (filled out by me, the USC)

This is faxed and mailed to the embassy in Bogota, correct? Faxed and mailed once they received the approval from NVC?

I received an email notification and also checked online to confirm my NOA2. I was approved yesterday, and touched today. Most likely my application was mailed to NVC today.

http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsck3k4instructions.shtml

Edited April 29, 2007 by lucho562

[Mononoke28 135]

Mike,

Just to triple confirm. Packet 3 contents and forms should only be...

Cover Letter

DS-156 (filled out by benefeciary)

DS-230 Part 1 (filled out by benefeciary)

I-134 (filled out by me, the USC)

This is faxed and mailed to the embassy in Bogota, correct? Faxed and mailed once they received the approval from NVC?

I received an email notification and also checked online to confirm my NOA2. I was approved yesterday, and touched today. Most likely my application was mailed to NVC today.

http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsck3k4instructions.shtml

Nope. You need to read the instructions for K-1 visas (first bulleted link on the embassy web site) to see the documents that need to be sent back to the embassy.

There are 3 "pasos" that you need to read, they will tell you that these documents are a signed OF-169 (which is page 5 of the instructions) and DS-230 (Part I signed, since Part II unsigned will be taken to the embassy and signed in front of the CO). It doesn't say to send the biographical page of the passport and no, the I-134 only needs to be presented at the embassy the day of the interview.

So to recap, the documents that your fiancée will have to mail back to the US embassy in Bogotá so she can get packet 4 with the date of the interview are:

1. Cover letter

2. Signed OF-169

3. Signed DS-230 part I

[Mike and Adriana 0]

No.....that's not what I said. Not even close.

Cover letter (be sure to include your case number that you got from the NVC)

Copy of beneficiaries passport (biographical info) - send this, regardless of what others might say

DS-230, Part I

OF-169

These items are fax and/or mailed to the embassy.

DO NOT send this stuff to the embassy until you are almost CERTAIN that your petition has been received in Bogota. If you got your NOA2, then you might be lucky and they may have sent it to NVC right away. Other times there is a delay. So, do not do anything else until you have called the NVC and verified one 1) that they received the petition and 2) that it has been sent to the embassy. When you call, get the case number and the date on which the petition was sent by DHL to Bogota. It takes three business days for the petition to get to Bogota. Once it is there, give it about two more days before you fax the documents.

As I said before, the I-134 does NOT get submitted until the actual interview. The DS-156 is also provided at the actual interview (she will need to take this to the Banco Credito when she pays the $100 interview fee).

Please be sure to read this (and my previous post carefully)....because what you typed here is much different than what I wrote.

Mike,

Just to triple confirm. Packet 3 contents and forms should only be...

Cover Letter

DS-156 (filled out by benefeciary)

DS-230 Part 1 (filled out by benefeciary)

I-134 (filled out by me, the USC)

This is faxed and mailed to the embassy in Bogota, correct? Faxed and mailed once they received the approval from NVC?

I received an email notification and also checked online to confirm my NOA2. I was approved yesterday, and touched today. Most likely my application was mailed to NVC today.

http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsck3k4instructions.shtml

Edited April 29, 2007 by Mike and Adriana

[lucho562 0]

Thanks Mike y Mononoke!

I have everything except form OF-169. The embassy does not have it on their website. Does anyone have a blank form they can send me?

This is the k1, packet 3 forms. http://bogota.usembassy.gov/wwwsck1instructions.shtml