Venezuela Criminal record 'Antecedentes Penales' for K-1 visa

[tony210 0]

Hello 

This is my first post here and I was wondering if anybody could help me with a problem my fiancé and I are having.

My fiancé, a Colombian citizen, was born in Venezuela and moved to Colombia when she was 4 years old. We have gone through the pre-interview process for the K-1 visa, we put together about 6 inches of documents in preparation for her interview at the US embassy in Bogota , CO. Her interview was on July 18, 2024 (Last week) and she was refused because she did not have the criminal record certificate ‘Antecedentes Penales’ from Venezuela. This document is only issued to people with Venezuelan Identification Cards (Cedula). When she explained to the interviewer that she could not get the certificate due to this reason, the interviewer responded, “They are issuing them online”. When my fiancé explained that she does not have a Venezuelan ID (Cedula) and that it was not possible to obtain this document online, the interviewer stood her ground and issued the refusal letter. The instructions online from the embassy clearly state that if you do not have the certificate, you need to be able to explain why you are not eligible to receive it from Venezuela. She did that, but still no consideration.

 

Has anyone had a similar situation? And/or does anyone have any suggestions or people/organizations/law firms that could potentially help?

We have an attorney in the US, but there is not much they can do to influence government workers at the embassy to think rationally.

 

Thank you for any help or information!

[cm17 9]

Hello Tony, 

 

Any update on your case? I'm in a similar boat. My mother in law has her appointment coming up in DEC. As of today we are still unable to get a police certificate from the website. We are very worried about this as I am sure you know, that website is either not working properly, or not working at all. Looking forward to hearing about your experience. Thanks!