Colombia Club Part III

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

$60US ?? That seems expensive. Which of the four doctors? We're probably going to get taken out behind the woodshed when it comes to vaccines, as my fiance doesn't have a lot of proof of them, even though she knows she's had most of them.

$60 is expensive for influenza - the pharmacies in my town were advertising it for $10-$15 for those not getting them at work for free.. My wife had no vaccine card so she had the other three shots in Medellin at the red cross. The prices seemed a tad high there as well - I imagine to get them all at the time of the examination will run around $200..

I don't know which Doctor she chose but it was a woman doctor and I think there is only one woman doctor (at least there was when she called, this was before they went to four doctors) so it should not be too difficult to figure out

Edited November 5, 2011 by OnMyWayID

[married2paisita 1]

Uff! Just got off the phone and the medical is now done.. There was no waiting at the lab and she cruised right through (finished at around 9:30am). No complaints about the lab - she said the doctor at the examination in the afternoon was off-putting but that could be my bad Spanish interpretation (though I am not sure how else you can interpret "mujer muy muy extraña!"). There was one vaccination she missed in Medellin (influenza) which I thought would be the case but she already had three shots that day so I did not want to bring it up.. She was charged $60.00 for the influenza shot.

Nice. Was she able to get the results the same day?

[OnMyWayID 1,489]

Nice. Was she able to get the results the same day?

Yip.. She took a plane to Bogota early in the morning, went straight to the lab.. then had a six hour wait for the appointment at the doctor, then went straight to the airport and flew back home.. all done.

[Ready to do it 101]

I posted this in the main forum and didn't get much of a response. I procrastinated on filling out this I-134. I leave for the airport to go to Colombia for the interview in 4 hours. Can anyone answer any of these questions? Thanks...

Questions on I-134

Question 9- I have previously submitted affidavit of support for the following person. If none, state "None"

I "think" I submitted an affidavit of support that was valid for about 3 years back in the late 1990's for my now ex-wife... thus it was over 10 years ago, and my ex-wife is now a US citizen (just recently this year). So do I still list her or do I write "None."

Question 10- I have submitted a Visa Petition to US Citizenship and Immigration services on behalf of the following person(s). If none state "None."

Haven't we all submitted visa petitions for our current fiance (or Wife if CR1)... so do we list our finace's name here?

Also, my ex-wife was illegal in the US when we married in mid 1990's. We went through the process, and she is now a US Citizen. Did I submit a Visa petition, even though she was already here? If so, do I write her name on line 10?

Question 11- I intend, correct? What do you write for the exact nature?

Supporting evidence...

A. I got a letter from my banker where I have my personal checking account. I had him put the date it was opened and the present balance... About $25k. I failed to tell him to put the total amount deposited for the past year. Could that be a problem?

B. and C. Last year (2010) I was W-2 from Jan-Sept... made over $80k in 9 months. I also started my own company for which I showed a very small profit. I have my tax transcript from last year. This year I have made about $80k from Jan-Sept in my company, however... I get paid in distributions. I have my accountant working on an income statement showing that I have personally made $80k this year. I have gone back to the company I worked for last year, effective Oct 1. I have two W-2 paystubs showing wages paid. I also have a letter from my employer stating that my start date was Oct 1, 2011, my compensation is a $2k salary/month plus a substantial bonus (as it was last year where I made $80k in W-2 wages in 9 months last year). Again, I failed to read the instructions and I failed to have my employer put that the position is permanent. Is this going to be a problem?

So I have 2 paystubs showing $2k/month salary that started 1 month ago (which is the same employer I worked for from Dec 2008-Sept 2010 where I made close to $10k/month, last years tax transcript showing how much I made last year, my W-2 from last year showing $80k for 9 months, a income statement from my CPA showing what the company made and showing my share is $80k from Jan-Sept 2011, which I have paid myself through distributions, a letter from my employer that does not say whether the position is permanant or temporary, and a letter from my bank which does not say how much my deposits are for the year (it only says the date I opened the account... roughly 10 years ago, and my current balance of roughly $25k).

Assuming I do not count my ex-wife (though I don't even see anywhere on the I-134 where it asks how many I support)... it's myself, my child, and my fiance, so 3 in my future household. 125% of poverty level is about $23k. I shouldn't have a problem, right? My plane leaves today, and I don't think I can get a new letter from my employer before I leave. I just failed to read the instructions of exactly what it asked for in the letters from my banker and employer.

Thoughts?

[married2paisita 1]

Yip.. She took a plane to Bogota early in the morning, went straight to the lab.. then had a six hour wait for the appointment at the doctor, then went straight to the airport and flew back home.. all done.

Smooth. I'll pass that on. Thanks

[Brandon&Diana 1]

Greetings fellow Colombian club members.

I have a question and I'm looking for help from someone who has been through what I have been through or someone who has knowledge of this type of situation.

Little background about my situation. I applied for a K-1 visa in November 2010. Everything was smooth and we had our interview July 29, 2011. There was an error on the baptismal certificate and after my fiancee got that corrected, we were issued the visa for her and her son. When we started our K-1 visa journey, I also hired a lawyer in Medellin to handle the custody situation to allow my fiancee's son to leave the country as the father would not allow it. The attorney that I hired is listed on the US Embassy's website and he came recommended through other people I know. We started this process in November 2010 also. I was told it would take 5-6 months to get a court date and get permission from the judge to allow my fiancee's son to come to the US without the father's permission. I have since found out that our attorney really did not "start" moving forward with our case until April 2011. He has done everything he can up to this point and the father has not answered the notices nor his government appointed lawyer. La Oficina de Juzgados has contacted the father's lawyer and he said that he would answer the notices when he communicates with the father (which means never because he is avoiding all of this). My lawyer has told me that all of this should be finished before February as my fiancee's visa and her sons visa expire February 10. If our permission is not granted from the judge prior to the visas expiring, my fiancee will travel to the US and give me power of attorney to go and obtain her son at a later date. I have spoken with another lawyer regarding the visa expiring. He told us that we need to let her sons visa expire before we can get an extension. Has anyone experienced this before? If we cannot get the permission for the son to leave before his visa expires, do I have to file for another visa for her son and wait 5-8 months just like the original k-1 process? I talked to 2 different lawyers and I got conflicting information so I am not sure what to believe. I have tried researching this on the internet but I cannot find an answer. I offered the dad a good sum of money for permission to leave but he said that no amount of money will change his mind. I tried explaining that I can provide for him very well here in the US but he doesn't care. I can see his side also but I am not compassionate because he makes no effort to see his son except every couple of weeks when it is convenient to him and I provide for his son 100x more than he does. I don't consider 30.000 pesos every month "providing for your son". He has a good paying job and makes good money (much more than the average Colombian). My fiancee is going to call the Embassy on Tuesday (monday es un festivo jajaja) and explain the situation and see if they can help us. I figured I would give VJ a shot to see if someone else had this experience. Sorry for the long rant. Thanks for your help. Cuidate!

Brandon

[married2paisita 1]

Greetings fellow Colombian club members.

I have a question and I'm looking for help from someone who has been through what I have been through or someone who has knowledge of this type of situation.

Little background about my situation. I applied for a K-1 visa in November 2010. Everything was smooth and we had our interview July 29, 2011. There was an error on the baptismal certificate and after my fiancee got that corrected, we were issued the visa for her and her son. When we started our K-1 visa journey, I also hired a lawyer in Medellin to handle the custody situation to allow my fiancee's son to leave the country as the father would not allow it. The attorney that I hired is listed on the US Embassy's website and he came recommended through other people I know. We started this process in November 2010 also. I was told it would take 5-6 months to get a court date and get permission from the judge to allow my fiancee's son to come to the US without the father's permission. I have since found out that our attorney really did not "start" moving forward with our case until April 2011. He has done everything he can up to this point and the father has not answered the notices nor his government appointed lawyer. La Oficina de Juzgados has contacted the father's lawyer and he said that he would answer the notices when he communicates with the father (which means never because he is avoiding all of this). My lawyer has told me that all of this should be finished before February as my fiancee's visa and her sons visa expire February 10. If our permission is not granted from the judge prior to the visas expiring, my fiancee will travel to the US and give me power of attorney to go and obtain her son at a later date. I have spoken with another lawyer regarding the visa expiring. He told us that we need to let her sons visa expire before we can get an extension. Has anyone experienced this before? If we cannot get the permission for the son to leave before his visa expires, do I have to file for another visa for her son and wait 5-8 months just like the original k-1 process? I talked to 2 different lawyers and I got conflicting information so I am not sure what to believe. I have tried researching this on the internet but I cannot find an answer. I offered the dad a good sum of money for permission to leave but he said that no amount of money will change his mind. I tried explaining that I can provide for him very well here in the US but he doesn't care. I can see his side also but I am not compassionate because he makes no effort to see his son except every couple of weeks when it is convenient to him and I provide for his son 100x more than he does. I don't consider 30.000 pesos every month "providing for your son". He has a good paying job and makes good money (much more than the average Colombian). My fiancee is going to call the Embassy on Tuesday (monday es un festivo jajaja) and explain the situation and see if they can help us. I figured I would give VJ a shot to see if someone else had this experience. Sorry for the long rant. Thanks for your help. Cuidate!

Brandon

Did you email the embassy in Bogota? This sounds like something they would be able to answer officially.

[Mononoke28 135]

Greetings fellow Colombian club members.

I have a question and I'm looking for help from someone who has been through what I have been through or someone who has knowledge of this type of situation.

Little background about my situation. I applied for a K-1 visa in November 2010. Everything was smooth and we had our interview July 29, 2011. There was an error on the baptismal certificate and after my fiancee got that corrected, we were issued the visa for her and her son. When we started our K-1 visa journey, I also hired a lawyer in Medellin to handle the custody situation to allow my fiancee's son to leave the country as the father would not allow it. The attorney that I hired is listed on the US Embassy's website and he came recommended through other people I know. We started this process in November 2010 also. I was told it would take 5-6 months to get a court date and get permission from the judge to allow my fiancee's son to come to the US without the father's permission. I have since found out that our attorney really did not "start" moving forward with our case until April 2011. He has done everything he can up to this point and the father has not answered the notices nor his government appointed lawyer. La Oficina de Juzgados has contacted the father's lawyer and he said that he would answer the notices when he communicates with the father (which means never because he is avoiding all of this). My lawyer has told me that all of this should be finished before February as my fiancee's visa and her sons visa expire February 10. If our permission is not granted from the judge prior to the visas expiring, my fiancee will travel to the US and give me power of attorney to go and obtain her son at a later date. I have spoken with another lawyer regarding the visa expiring. He told us that we need to let her sons visa expire before we can get an extension. Has anyone experienced this before? If we cannot get the permission for the son to leave before his visa expires, do I have to file for another visa for her son and wait 5-8 months just like the original k-1 process? I talked to 2 different lawyers and I got conflicting information so I am not sure what to believe. I have tried researching this on the internet but I cannot find an answer. I offered the dad a good sum of money for permission to leave but he said that no amount of money will change his mind. I tried explaining that I can provide for him very well here in the US but he doesn't care. I can see his side also but I am not compassionate because he makes no effort to see his son except every couple of weeks when it is convenient to him and I provide for his son 100x more than he does. I don't consider 30.000 pesos every month "providing for your son". He has a good paying job and makes good money (much more than the average Colombian). My fiancee is going to call the Embassy on Tuesday (monday es un festivo jajaja) and explain the situation and see if they can help us. I figured I would give VJ a shot to see if someone else had this experience. Sorry for the long rant. Thanks for your help. Cuidate!

Brandon

Brandon,

Both, your fiancée and her son have six months to use their visas to enter the US, you can try contacting the US embassy to see if they can extend their visas but as I understand it, this is something that is very difficult to obtain unless you have extremely valid reasons. If they agree to do so, you may have to pay another visa fee for the extensions.

If they do not approve your request, you have a few choices. Your fiancée can travel to the US, get married within the 90 days and file for her Adjustment of Status. In the meantime you can cancel her son's K2 visa with the embassy and file an I-130 for him as his stepfather and that way he can enter the US with a CR2 visa and you won't have to file for his Adjustment of Status. This can take between 6-12 months.

Another option would be for you to cancel both visas with the embassy and start from scratch after the custody ordeal has been resolved.

Or, you can cancel both visas, get married in Colombia and file for them for CR1 and CR2 visas as your spouse and stepchild. Once they arrive in the US, they won't have to file for Adjustment of Status and it will give you another 6-12 to have the custody issue resolved.

Diana

Edited November 7, 2011 by Mononoke28

[Brandon&Diana 1]

Brandon,

Both, your fiancée and her son have six months to use their visas to enter the US, you can try contacting the US embassy to see if they can extend their visas but as I understand it, this is something that is very difficult to obtain unless you have extremely valid reasons. If they agree to do so, you may have to pay another visa fee for the extensions.

If they do not approve your request, you have a few choices. Your fiancée can travel to the US, get married within the 90 days and file for her Adjustment of Status. In the meantime you can cancel her son's K2 visa with the embassy and file an I-130 for him as his stepfather and that way he can enter the US with a CR2 visa and you won't have to file for his Adjustment of Status. This can take between 6-12 months.

Another option would be for you to cancel both visas with the embassy and start from scratch after the custody ordeal has been resolved.

Or, you can cancel both visas, get married in Colombia and file for them for CR1 and CR2 visas as your spouse and stepchild. Once they arrive in the US, they won't have to file for Adjustment of Status and it will give you another 6-12 to have the custody issue resolved.

Diana

Thank you Diana <---also my fiancee's name . I appreciate the help. I emailed the Embassy and here is there reponse.

Dear Mr. ********,

Thank you for your inquiry. When the visa expires, please make an appointment with us via our call center in Bogota to extend and reprint the visa. You will not need to re-petition the son but you will need to pay the $ 404.00 USD visa fee again.

I explained the whole situation to them so this is pretty good news as far as I'm concerned. As always, thank you all on VJ that have helped through this process. I don't post much unless I can be of assistance but this website has a WEALTH of information. Gracias amiguitos! Cuidate.

Brandon

[justwaiting4her 0]

I am back from Colombia. My fiancee received all of her vaccinations at the Red Cross in Barranquilla. It was the only place she could find that had the flu shot available. Hopefully she does not have to retake any.

She is leaving for Bogota tomorrow and staying with a friend. Her medical exam is Thursday, and the interview will be Tuesday. We are expecting to need a waiver, but finally this is nearing its end.

[Jo & A 0]

My novia's K1 visa was approved this morning with little problem.

There were a couple of interesting things that did make us a bit nervous when she was asked to turn in her documents at the first window.

First she was not asked to hand in one shred of evidence of our relationship.

The second was that she was told that the divorce document that we used for the I-129 and for the interview was not a Colombian divorce document. I figure it was the divorce being listed on the birth certificate that saved us.

She was almost in tears while we waited for the decision.

After a short wait we were called to the 2nd window and given the approval.

In at 7am, and out by 8:30am.

It's time to relax.

[justwaiting4her 0]

My novia's K1 visa was approved this morning with little problem.

There were a couple of interesting things that did make us a bit nervous when she was asked to turn in her documents at the first window.

First she was not asked to hand in one shred of evidence of our relationship.

The second was that she was told that the divorce document that we used for the I-129 and for the interview was not a Colombian divorce document. I figure it was the divorce being listed on the birth certificate that saved us.

She was almost in tears while we waited for the decision.

After a short wait we were called to the 2nd window and given the approval.

In at 7am, and out by 8:30am.

It's time to relax.

Congratulations!

[justwaiting4her 0]

My novia's K1 visa was approved this morning with little problem.

There were a couple of interesting things that did make us a bit nervous when she was asked to turn in her documents at the first window.

First she was not asked to hand in one shred of evidence of our relationship.

The second was that she was told that the divorce document that we used for the I-129 and for the interview was not a Colombian divorce document. I figure it was the divorce being listed on the birth certificate that saved us.

She was almost in tears while we waited for the decision.

After a short wait we were called to the 2nd window and given the approval.

In at 7am, and out by 8:30am.

It's time to relax.

BTW, what kind of questions did they ask?

[married2paisita 1]

My novia's K1 visa was approved this morning with little problem.

There were a couple of interesting things that did make us a bit nervous when she was asked to turn in her documents at the first window.

First she was not asked to hand in one shred of evidence of our relationship.

The second was that she was told that the divorce document that we used for the I-129 and for the interview was not a Colombian divorce document. I figure it was the divorce being listed on the birth certificate that saved us.

She was almost in tears while we waited for the decision.

After a short wait we were called to the 2nd window and given the approval.

In at 7am, and out by 8:30am.

It's time to relax.

Congratulations!

[Jo & A 0]

BTW, what kind of questions did they ask?

First window, "How we know each other, for how long, what she does, what I do, where we will live, if she knew that I was married before, and what is my cell number?"

Second window, "What does she do, what do I do, how long have we known each other, how did we meet, how many times have I been to Colombia to see her?"

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