CR-1/IR-1 Colombia Club

[jediknight 0]

L4W and Dougyceci, congratulations to all 4 of you!! thanks a bunch for posting the questions they asked you and for sharing your experiences, it will certainly help everyone going through this process.

my question to you both and anyone else who may know is regarding the police reports. it seems now that as of april 1, 2007 the supporting documents have to be sent with the DS 230 to NVC and not taken to the interview.

my wife lives in barranquilla and lived in bogota for 2 years, does she need police reports from both cities? if she needs one from bogota, does she have to go their and request one personally or can someone else ask for it, perhaps with a notorized letter authorizing someone in bogota to obtain that report. this changes things for me because now my wife has to send me the reports before I can send out the DS230. any help guys is appreciated.

thanks

JK

[Looking4Wife 0]

L4W and Dougyceci, congratulations to all 4 of you!! thanks a bunch for posting the questions they asked you and for sharing your experiences, it will certainly help everyone going through this process.

my question to you both and anyone else who may know is regarding the police reports. it seems now that as of april 1, 2007 the supporting documents have to be sent with the DS 230 to NVC and not taken to the interview.

my wife lives in barranquilla and lived in bogota for 2 years, does she need police reports from both cities? if she needs one from bogota, does she have to go their and request one personally or can someone else ask for it, perhaps with a notorized letter authorizing someone in bogota to obtain that report. this changes things for me because now my wife has to send me the reports before I can send out the DS230. any help guys is appreciated.

thanks

JK

Jediknight:

Thanks for the congrats.

"my wife lives in barranquilla and lived in bogota for 2 years, does she need police reports from both cities?"

Yes, if she lived there anytime since she was 16 years old. You probably already noticed that in the instructions.

NOTE: Apparently Colombian cities, at least Barranquilla, seems to have "localized" police reports for different neighborhoods or something. My wife apparently went around and got official versions of these things from different neighborhood police offices, since she had moved around a lot to different neighborhoods (even though she's never had a run-in with the law and would be the last person on earth to have reason to).

These things she collected were IN ADDITION to the one you get from the centralized DAS office in Barranquilla (or your respective city you live in).

However, she was never asked to produce these additional documents for the visa interview. I suspected that they wouldn't be needed in the first place, and I was right. She wanted to make sure she satisfied all the requirements, and compiled all these things before I found out she was doing it (and I definitely would have discouraged her). Based on what I've read on VJ, I've not noticed anyone else mention these "neighborhood-style" police reports, so I didn't think they would be necessary

(Disclaimer: I'm not saying that someone else wouldn't be asked for them at the interview, just because we weren't. But I don't know anyone else on VJ who has been asked for anything other than the general DAS document for police clearance)

However, I can see how a local person could interpret that they might need them. I'm sure I would have felt stupid at the interview, if we would have needed them and I would have told my wife they were unnceccessary.

As far as the other stuff about getting police docs from Bogotá, I'm clueless on that since my wife has only lived in Barranquilla since she was 16.

[jediknight 0]

L4W, was the police report referred to as the Certificado Judicial? I went to the DAS website and it lists a Certificado Judicial as one of the documents people can get at their offices. Did your wife need or get an entry/exit certificate? Is this even necessary if my wife has never left the country? I remember seeing it on the list of documents needed in the packet people receive before the interview.

gracias

JK

[Mononoke28 135]

JK,

Thank you for the NVC documentation link by the way. I'm so glad I found out now so my husband can have this stuff taken care of now before we're approved and sent to the NVC. No wonder the US embassy in Bogotá doesn't have a list of documents for packet 3 for CR-1/IR-1 visa petitioners since we would have already sent them in to NVC.

Also, the 2 documents needed from the DAS are: 1. Certificado Judicial (police report) and 2. Certificado Migratorio (migratory movement document). That is all. Your wife can also call the DAS in Bogotá to find out if she needs a Certificado Judicial from there or if the one she gets in Barranquilla is all she needs. I wish I had their phone number but I can't find it anywhere and all I have is their address.

Diana

[jediknight 0]

L4W, how long did your wife have to wait before getting the certificates? i read somewhere that it can take up to a month in barranquilla and 3 days in bogota.

Mononoke, NVC told me that they needed a national certificate, i hope this is the one my wife can get in barranquilla so she won't have to goto bogota

JK

[Looking4Wife 0]

L4W, how long did your wife have to wait before getting the certificates? i read somewhere that it can take up to a month in barranquilla and 3 days in bogota.

Mononoke, NVC told me that they needed a national certificate, i hope this is the one my wife can get in barranquilla so she won't have to goto bogota

JK

It took my wife 1 month to get the MAIN certificate from DAS because it comes from Bogota and she applied for it in Barranquilla. If she would have waited until we went to Bogota, she could have gotten it in 3 days. We didn't want the extra stress of waiting, so we went ahead and got it prior to going to Bogota.

As far as the other certificates I have no clue... she did that without my knowledge. I would guess they pretty much give them on the spot, since its a neighborhood thing.

[Mononoke28 135]

JK,

She definitely needs to find out from the DAS itself, actually from both, the Barranquilla one and Bogotá's. You guys really shouldn't risk it by assuming what she might need. I'll talk to my husband and see which he needs to get. I'm thinking he'll find out if the one he gets in Tuluá is as good as the national one. I'll let you know what he finds out.

[jediknight 0]

mononoke, from what i've been reading, DAS is national so it should be good if people have lived in more than one city. also, maybe you should call NVC also and ask to see what they say but NVC told me that they only need a national poilice certificate and would only need additional ones if the applicant has lived in more than one country. i called on 2 separate occasions and was told the same thing. i'm going to call this week and ask again. i wish things were more clearer and not so confusing. take care

JK

[dougyceci 0]

Mononoke28 there is no packet 3 for CR-1 filers. Only a packet 4. I will look to see if I have mine and try to make it available this week for those of you who have interviews coming. If you look earlier in this thread BradandVicky had a post which tells you the documents you need to take to the interview. It is not just the Bogota embassy, the packet 3 is for all embassies and the K visas. I think you are already aware of this but thought I would post it just in case.

Doug

[Mononoke28 135]

Oh I see, there is no packet 3 because the choice of agent already sent all the paperwork to the NVC prior to the case making it to Bogotá, is that right?

So if that is the case, all my husband has to wait for is for packet 4 which contains the interview information?

Diana

[Looking4Wife 0]

Oh I see, there is no packet 3 because the choice of agent already sent all the paperwork to the NVC prior to the case making it to Bogotá, is that right?

So if that is the case, all my husband has to wait for is for packet 4 which contains the interview information?

Diana

For the CR-1 visa, there is no packet 3.

After the case is submitted from NVC to the Embassy, then the NON-US Citizen will receive Packet 4 in the mail.

The USC will eventually receive it also in the mail (in Spanish), but the NON-USC should receive it long before the USC does.

[cartagena2112 0]

Hi everybody, things are moving along and I am very happy for everyone who is has recently received

thier VISAs. Congrats again.

I have a question on the DS-230 papers to be sent to the NVC.

I visited this excellent thread: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3176.html

but I am still confused.

Aside from the DS-230 & Barcode Cover sheet & Passport copy exactly "which" documents

need to be submitted to the NVC???

I thought that the birth certificate & police report and marriage docs, etc... need to be submitted

to the embassy in Bogota... NOT to the NVC.

Now I read they must be submitted WITH the DS-230 package and sent to the NVC along WITH

translations (obviously all my wife's docs will be in Spanish, since she is a Colombian.)

Can somebody please straighten me out?

Best & Thanks

George & Leydi

[jediknight 0]

this is what has been driving me crazy this past weekend. it seems that the required documents sent with the DS230 have changed per that link you posted. my wife will be going to the DAS in barranquilla for her certificado judicial. as for the translations, i'm not 100% sure but i think that if the docs are in spanish there is no need for translations, i remember reading it somewhere, look back on page 3 of this thread for a post by bradyvicky dated jan 25, read point 2. can anyone confirm that the docs don't have to be translated?

JK

[Mononoke28 135]

As per that link, all documents need to be "original documents" or "certified copies of the documents". It also says:

Translations

Applicants must obtain English language translations of any documents that are written in another language.

The translation must include a statement signed by the translator that states that the:

- Translation is accurate, and

- Translator is competent to translate.

It makes sense to send the documents translated because we can't expect the employees at the NVC to understand every language there is. We didn't need the translations before because we were bringing them directly to the embassy where they all speak Spanish.

My husband started running errands today to find out how to get the DAS documents in Tuluá, then he's going to send them to this really nice guy in Medellín to have him translate them, so that should take about 1½ months.

[cartagena2112 0]

Hi everybody,

My wife just received the first of the required DAS documents (Certificado Judicial).

She got it after 3 days/3 visits to DAS and MUCH waiting.

She is now sending the paper to Bogota for the other (Certificado Migratorio).

They say the wait is 15 days, but who knows??

I understand from reading here that the "Judicial" is manadatory, the "Migratorio" is

not. We plan to send in the DS-230 ASAP, so we will not wait if the Certificado Migratorio,

takes too long, we will bring that to the interview or send it to the NVC if they write

back and request it as well.

I scanned the Certificado Judicial, so you can all see what it looks like.

Look in my photos.

Cheers!

George