Marriage Certificate - San Andres Colombia

[ColombianoGringo 0]

Hi all,

Maybe some Colombia Club people can help.

My Colombian wife and I were married on June 11 in San Andres Isla, Colombia. We would like to start the K-3 process immediately. I have a few questions about the proper way to prepare our documents for the application.

She has received the marriage certificate from the notario in San Andres. I have received conflicting information as to what needs to be done with the certificate. It seems that the certificate must be registered in Bogota at the Superintendencia de Registraduria in order for the marriage to be valid in the rest of Colombia.

I understand that the marriage certificate must be translated. Does this have to be done by an official translator or can it be done by myself or by a service in the US? I read and write Spanish natively so I should have no problem. Otherwise, my friend's mother owns a translation service in the US and would probably do it for free.

Also, does the original marriage certificate or the translation need to be apostilled or notarized in any way.

Finally, if anyone has been married in San Andres and has applied for a CR-1 or K-3, please let me know if you have information that might be useful.

Thanks,

CG

Edited June 15, 2007 by ColombianoGringo

[Craig_Karina 0]

Hi Colombiangringo...

San Andres is beautiful...my wife and I had our honeymoon there last month. Since San Andres is a part of Colombia, the "Registro Civil de Matrimonio" should be the same one that we received in Bucaramanga. My opinion...San Andres is Colombia...your marriage is valid in ALL of Colombia and the rest of the world!

I self translated my documents. I can read, write and converse in Spanish too. So, I put a statement that I certified that my translation was correct. You can read my other post for the exact wording. As a side note...I have heard that Spanish documents do NOT need to be translated!!!! This makes some sense because we are becoming a more multi-cultural society and Spanish is a dominant language. BUT, I went ahead and translated the documents anyway. I saw nothing that said it had to be Notarized or Apostilled in anything that I read. So, ours went in without!!!!

Regards and Good Luck,

[ColombianoGringo 0]

Craig,

I think I will definitely do the translations. I can have them done inexpensively in Colombia, but I like prefer to do it myself. I believe in "If you want it done right...".

As far as the Marriage Certificate, There is a special law that allows for less documentation for a marriage in San Andres. However, I believe the marriage certificate must be registered and stamped in Bogota in order to be fully accepted in other parts of Colombia. I think there is no cost for this, so I will have a family employee run that errand in Bogota.

If anyone is familiar with this situation and I have things wrong, please let me know.

Peace,

CG

[jediknight 0]

cg, the marriage certificate from the notaria doesn't have to be apostilled but i highly recommend getting more than one copy, of everything. this means that the copies issued from the notaria like birth and marriage certificates should have the proper stamps, signatures and seals, in other words autenticado (which is what we refer to as notarized). i don't know about k3, but if you plan on going the cr1 route, make sure to translate all your spanish documents because you'll be dealing with the officials here in the us and not colombia. suerte

JK

[Mike and Adriana 0]

I agree with Jedi about getting multiple notarized copies of documents.

As far as your questions....

1) Not sure about a marriage in San Andres. It would seem to me that as long as you are legally married, the U.S. government will accept it. Now if you are worried about your marriage not be recognized elsewhere in Colombia (not sure why, but you might), then that's another story.

2) When I submitted petitions for my wife's K-3 visa, we did include a certified translation of her birth certificate and our marriage certificate. Once my wife arrived and we filed papers to adjust status, we again had to provide certified translations of those things. We had the translationns done in Colombia because it was cheap. If you have someone who will do them in the U.S. for free, then that's all the better. I'm not so sure about translating it on your own.....I would not risk it, but if Jedi was successful and that's what he did...who am I to doubt it.

3) The folks at the embassy speak and read Spanish. So, don't worry about having translated documents to take to the interview.

Mike

cg, the marriage certificate from the notaria doesn't have to be apostilled but i highly recommend getting more than one copy, of everything. this means that the copies issued from the notaria like birth and marriage certificates should have the proper stamps, signatures and seals, in other words autenticado (which is what we refer to as notarized). i don't know about k3, but if you plan on going the cr1 route, make sure to translate all your spanish documents because you'll be dealing with the officials here in the us and not colombia. suerte

JK

[cartagena2112 0]

My Colombian wife and I were married on June 11 in San Andres Isla, Colombia. We would like to start the K-3 process immediately. I have a few questions about the proper way to prepare our documents for the application.

She has received the marriage certificate from the notario in San Andres. I have received conflicting information as to what needs to be done with the certificate. It seems that the certificate must be registered in Bogota at the Superintendencia de Registraduria in order for the marriage to be valid in the rest of Colombia.

I understand that the marriage certificate must be translated. Does this have to be done by an official translator or can it be done by myself or by a service in the US? I read and write Spanish natively so I should have no problem. Otherwise, my friend's mother owns a translation service in the US and would probably do it for free.

Also, does the original marriage certificate or the translation need to be apostilled or notarized in any way.

Finally, if anyone has been married in San Andres and has applied for a CR-1 or K-3, please let me know if you have information that might be useful.

Hi CG,

I married in Colombia...

For your I-130 application the apostille requirement is set by your region's service center. You may or may not need it.

By law ALL foreign originated docs need the apostille to be recognized as official by the US government, but I have heard

of peeps who are submitting Colombian docs, without it. Your call. Worse case is that your case gets delayed...

I had our wedding papers apostilled in Bogota just to be sure. It coast extra, but what can ya do? It took 5 days for the papers.

Cartagena-Bogota-Cartagena

If you choose to have the papers sent to Bogota for the apostille, have them translated into english, both need to be certified with the apostille.

The transalator NEEDS to be on Bogota's list of certified translators. That is only if you need the apostille. If you choose not to do that than

the translation rule posted by the gov't is that it must be done by a certified translator, so take care if you choose to do it yourself.

Official translators are easy to find in Colombia and are very cheap.

Yes, San Andres has become the new "Las Vegas" for weddings, it is now very easy to get married there, in General, Colombia can still

bury you in paperwork if you want to get married there, so you saved a lot of hassle by getting married there.

You will need to have your marriage papers certified by a notary and entered into the public record. We did ours in the main certified notary

in Cartagena, we received the required certified copies a week later, but if you pay the guy some money on the side they will do it in a day

or so...

In general, now that the NVC wants ALL papers, get all of the Colombian docs that your will need translated in english, some of the forms

are a bit unique, so get a pro translator, as I mentioned, in Colombia they are cheap.

This board has many great peeps who can help and if you get lucky you may bump into "James The Shortcut" guy. So if you have any questions,

the answers can be found/gotten from here!

Cheers!

George

I hope this helps.

P.S. Where is the photo in your sig??? The only one here that gets a pass for not having a photo is JK, and he had to get permision

from President Uribe, George Bush AND Hugo Chavez to do that!

[jediknight 0]

george, i didn't know about the apostilled thing being set by the regional center. i guess it would be wise to do it just in case although it would be the first time i've heard in a year that it was a requirement. anyway, better safe than sorry right? this could be the week for us!!

JK

[cartagena2112 0]

george, i didn't know about the apostilled thing being set by the regional center. i guess it would be wise to do it just in case although it would be the first time i've heard in a year that it was a requirement. anyway, better safe than sorry right? this could be the week for us!!

JK

Hey Bro,

What are you doing here??? I thought you were out getting me a few slices of east coast pizza???

Yeah, after tons of digging, I found that somewhere that the regional center determines the apostille requirement,

sorry, I don't have a URL.... but that was confirmed to my via telephone as well with one of the agents.

It is amazing how everybody is doing things differently, sounds like the government's rules are pretty darn flexible.

####### and I spent 200,000 pesos getting our wedding cert, with the apostille!

Hehe, for my wife and I and you and Miss Baranquilla (2003), "every" week is for us! But yes I will be happy

when we both have appointments.

Cheers!

George

[jediknight 0]

no pizza tonight, been looking at airfares and thankfully they are going down so i hope to get a decent deal this week when we get the interview date.

JK

[ColombianoGringo 0]

I am inclined to agree about the getting the apostille just in case. I have a guy that will do everything including registering the certificate in Bogota, translating it and getting apostilles on the original and the translation for $160.000 COP(About $85 US). I think it is well worth it to avoid a potential delay).

Thanks for the help.

CG

[Mononoke28 135]

Apostille, schmapostille. I sent it the regular translation of my marriage certificate to the USCIS and had no problem with it, and I haven't found a single document or link in the DOS web site where it says that the documents need to have it. Unless you think you might need to show these documents to other US entities for whatever reason, I think it's useless in all honesty.

[married2006 0]

Hi all,

Maybe some Colombia Club people can help.

My Colombian wife and I were married on June 11 in San Andres Isla, Colombia. We would like to start the K-3 process immediately. I have a few questions about the proper way to prepare our documents for the application.

She has received the marriage certificate from the notario in San Andres. I have received conflicting information as to what needs to be done with the certificate. It seems that the certificate must be registered in Bogota at the Superintendencia de Registraduria in order for the marriage to be valid in the rest of Colombia.

I understand that the marriage certificate must be translated. Does this have to be done by an official translator or can it be done by myself or by a service in the US? I read and write Spanish natively so I should have no problem. Otherwise, my friend's mother owns a translation service in the US and would probably do it for free.

Also, does the original marriage certificate or the translation need to be apostilled or notarized in any way.

Finally, if anyone has been married in San Andres and has applied for a CR-1 or K-3, please let me know if you have information that might be useful.

Thanks,

CG

hi colombianogringo. we were married in san andres in sept. 2006. painless, as you know. filed for I- 129F K/3 spouse dec. 07 2006. I-130 and 129F approved feb. 02 2007. interviewed April 18 2007. aproved. I had marriage certificate and her birth certificate apostilled and the translations apostilled. copies sent with I-130 and I-129F applications. at the interview the CO remarked that all my documents were excellently prepared. I prefer to over-kill with everything than to take a chance. Less is not better in this process just to save a few dollars. The thing about it is with apostilles (IN MY OPINION) its quite apparent to them that you are making an effort to show a geniune interest in doing things right and again (IN MY OPINION) i think it goes faster and smoother. ITS an individual choice of course. I know i was more tranquil because of the (maybe ) additional work and money involved. I eliminated some questions and (maybes) from my mind. Ill be more than glad to help you in any way possible as i have been helped. email me if i can help. Jerry

[married2006 0]

Hi all,

Maybe some Colombia Club people can help.

My Colombian wife and I were married on June 11 in San Andres Isla, Colombia. We would like to start the K-3 process immediately. I have a few questions about the proper way to prepare our documents for the application.

She has received the marriage certificate from the notario in San Andres. I have received conflicting information as to what needs to be done with the certificate. It seems that the certificate must be registered in Bogota at the Superintendencia de Registraduria in order for the marriage to be valid in the rest of Colombia.

I understand that the marriage certificate must be translated. Does this have to be done by an official translator or can it be done by myself or by a service in the US? I read and write Spanish natively so I should have no problem. Otherwise, my friend's mother owns a translation service in the US and would probably do it for free.

Also, does the original marriage certificate or the translation need to be apostilled or notarized in any way.

Finally, if anyone has been married in San Andres and has applied for a CR-1 or K-3, please let me know if you have information that might be useful.

Thanks,

CG

hi colombianogringo. we were married in san andres in sept. 2006. painless, as you know. filed for I- 129F K/3 spouse dec. 07 2006. I-130 and 129F approved feb. 02 2007. interviewed April 18 2007. aproved. I had marriage certificate and her birth certificate apostilled and the translations apostilled. copies sent with I-130 and I-129F applications. at the interview the CO remarked that all my documents were excellently prepared. I prefer to over-kill with everything than to take a chance. Less is not better in this process just to save a few dollars. The thing about it is with apostilles (IN MY OPINION) its quite apparent to them that you are making an effort to show a geniune interest in doing things right and again (IN MY OPINION) i think it goes faster and smoother. ITS an individual choice of course. I know i was more tranquil because of the (maybe ) additional work and money involved. I eliminated some questions and (maybes) from my mind. Ill be more than glad to help you in any way possible as i have been helped. email me if i can help. Jerry

I just want to add, my opinion is in no way critical of what has worked for others.Jerry

[cartagena2112 0]

hi colombianogringo. we were married in san andres in sept. 2006. painless, as you know. filed for I- 129F K/3 spouse dec. 07 2006. I-130 and 129F approved feb. 02 2007. interviewed April 18 2007. aproved. I had marriage certificate and her birth certificate apostilled and the translations apostilled. copies sent with I-130 and I-129F applications. at the interview the CO remarked that all my documents were excellently prepared. I prefer to over-kill with everything than to take a chance. Less is not better in this process just to save a few dollars. The thing about it is with apostilles (IN MY OPINION) its quite apparent to them that you are making an effort to show a geniune interest in doing things right and again (IN MY OPINION) i think it goes faster and smoother. ITS an individual choice of course. I know i was more tranquil because of the (maybe ) additional work and money involved. I eliminated some questions and (maybes) from my mind. Ill be more than glad to help you in any way possible as i have been helped. email me if i can help. Jerry

Hey colombianogringo, be careful, this Jerry fellow seems too darn:

Smart

Prepared

Helpful & Nice

Therefore he must be a troll! So watch out.

Seriously....

Hi Jerry

I agree with everything you say and yes maybe peeps can get by with submitting less, but I think when you said... "its quite apparent to them that you are making an effort to show a geniune interest in doing things right...." That makes it easier for the paper processor at the NVC or regional service center to complete their job. Clearly these processors have hundreds of cases to do and maybe when they see a case with full authentication they

give it less scrutiny, who knows? I just think if you make something clear & easy for somebody they are in a better position to help you.

But it is amazing how peeps here get results with many different methods, obviously there are really no clear instructions to follow for the visa process.

(Except for this Board!). For me I prefer to error on the side of giving too much to the government.

Cheers!

George

[ColombianoGringo 0]

First off, thanks for all the information and suggestions.

I was reading through the Assembly Tips section of the VJ Guides and came across this.

USCIS no longer routinely requires submission of original documents or "certified copies." Instead, ordinary legible photocopies of such documents (including naturalization certificates and alien registration cards) will be acceptable for initial filing and approval of petitions and applications

Does this mean I can just provide a photocopy of the Marriage Certificate. I could easily have my wife scan the original and email it. We have some really high end color printers at the office that could spit out a perfect copy on nice paper.

I assume we would need the originals for the interview, but would this work for the initial filing?

Thanks,

CG