Approved at Interview...waiting for DHL / Visa Info

[Ryan76 46]

So my fiancee in Bogota was approved Friday morning (July 6)!! Obviously we are super excited and we're trying to plan when to buy our plane ticket. We are wanting to her to travel on August 17, but she's worried about buying a plane ticket until she has the Visa in hand. I've been logging on to this page http://colombia.usvisa-info.com.. about every 15 minutes waiting to see a DHL tracking number, but it still says something about "there is no waybill / DHL number for this account". It seems that most people on here from Bogota say that they get their Visa in 3-5 days. I'm getting a little worried that we don't have a tracking or "waybill" number yet.

Obviously we want to buy her plane ticket ASAP because the prices go up with each day we wait. Do you guys think it's safe to get a plane ticket for the 17th of August, or should we play it by the book and wait until the Visa is in her hands? At what point should we begin to call the Embassy? The link I posted....this is the right place i'm supposed to be looking for an update, right? I just log in and then on the main page there is a blue box with the standard info, and this is where it says "no waybill number has been assigned for DHL,etc".

We're just a little anxious because we found a couple seats available on different flights where the cost is only $319 including taxes, and after those are full it looks like the next best prices are around $440. Obviously every single dollar is important to us right now, so we'd like to get her ticket ASAP.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

[amykathleen2005 441]

It can take time for the visa to be printed and some embassies only print issue on certain days. You may have a week before it gets sent out.

[Ryan76 46]

It can take time for the visa to be printed and some embassies only print issue on certain days. You may have a week before it gets sent out.

I realize i'm probably stressing a little too early. I'm sure she'll get it soon and everything will be fine. I'm really just wondering if it would be a bad move to go ahead and buy her plane ticket with a departure date of August 17. I mean that's 5 weeks away. Since she's been approved...there would have to be a pretty major problem for her not to receive her visa well before then, right? Or should we just play it by the book and literally wait until the minute she has it in her hands, even though it might cost us an extra $100 or $200 USD?

[amykathleen2005 441]

I think you should be safe.

[Nana098 18]

I'm going to tell you my experience, my husband bought the air-tickets too early, my interview was in March 16 and he bought my ticket in February, can you believe it?. One month before my interview. He was crazy!

He just left one week between the interview date and the travel date. I lived in Barranquilla.

My visa wasn't approved that day. We had to came back to Barranquilla and search some documents that the Counselor wanted, we needed bought a pin and called for a new interview. Finally, we got an appointment for the next day, we came to Embassy with all stuff and we got approved my visa. I received my passport around 5 days. So, I think you can buy the tickets for August 17.

If I could do it with all those problems that I had, you can do it.

[jkelly07 120]

when you was approved at the embassy. then they send you to a booth to pay fee for your visa to be delivered to you. it should have only taken a week do you have a receipt, you should get it this week, or call the courier service,or the consulate check if its the right address.

[MrsSuarez 2]

Congrats on your approval!Some travel agencies in Colombia (some websites too! ) will let you "hold" the tickets for 48 hours! you can do that in order to lock the prices/tickets.. and then keep going every 48 to re-book if you dont receive it yet. You have a month... i will totally buy the tickets for 8/17. Walk by faith and not by sight!