Ramirez65

That was really nice of you….it’s hard to get upgrades these days but it doesn’t hurt to try!

I’m glad you’re finally home!! Have to tell you….I reached out to my congresswoman this week to try to get my case moving and it actually worked. So as a thank you, what do you think I delivered to her office this morning? 🍰 you would’ve been proud 🤣🤣

Good news today - our visa was finally issued! My husband will be traveling either tonight or tomorrow. It's been a long and stressful process but all worth it. Good luck to those of you still waiting!!

Almost....one more week and our visa should get issued 🙏

Congratulations 🎈🍾🎊🎉

Thank you for your response. You are exactly right my husband had to go for the sputum test. We are on week 5 right now so we’re just waiting for the 8 weeks to be over. His visa was approved at the interview so I hope it doesn’t take too long after the 8 weeks for them to issue it.

It's usually about a two-week wait if you sent the correct document. You can send an email inquiry to IVBogota@state.gov (with case number, full name and visa type). They usually respond within a day.

So what ended up happening to us is that the doctor saw a spot on my husband’s chest x-ray and made him go for a 3-day sputum test. We have to wait 8 weeks for the results (we’re on week 5 now). If it comes back negative after 8 weeks, they will issue the visa (it was approved at his interview but he was put into administrative processing pending the medical results). How did your interview go? Were you approved?

Thank you friend......you are so right about this forum being helpful - I've come here many times to be comforted in the fact that I'm not alone, some have it worse than I do and this too shall pass. About that cake......ice cream too? 😊

I guess since others are posting their interview/visa experiences here, I'll post mine. My husband and stepson went for their medical exams 8 days before their interview date (Bogota, Colombia embassy). The doctor found a spot on my husband's chest x-ray so he made him go for a 3-day sputum test (for tuberculosis), which takes 8 weeks to get results ☹️ The doctor told him to still go to his interview but gave him a form to give to the embassy officer that said his case would be in administrative proceedings for 8 weeks. My husband did his 3-day sputum test and the initial results were negative. We're on week 3 and if he doesn't get a call by week 8 we'll know he's fine. They went to the interview on July 6th and an issue came up for my stepson. In Colombia they're now doing a special name check in the system to make sure the person's name getting a visa doesn't match the name of any known narcotraffickers or guerillas. My stepson's name matched and they told him he needed to request a special document from a Colombian government agency that says it isn't him. Their visas were both approved pending those two issues. My stepson requested the document that same day and they told him it would be 15 business days to produce it and they would send it directly to the embassy. I'd like to tell you all that I think about this process (especially being charged an additional $440 for a sputum test that costs $120 in the US) but I don't want to be a Debbie Downer. I'm thankful we were approved and it's just a matter of waiting another 2 months 🙄 but I will say this - our immigration system is beyond broken. I just met 3 Mexican guys who were traveling by air to the US for the first time. They applied for asylum via the new app that our government released awhile ago. The time it took between applying for asylum and entering the US - 14 days. The time since I've physically seen my husband - 14 months. 🤷‍♀️

My husband and stepson went to their interview at the embassy in Bogota, Colombia on 7/6/23. Colombia is now implementing a new procedure at each interview where the applicant's name is matched to known ex-guerrilla members in Colombia. If there is a match, the applicant is told that their visa is approved but pending issue until the applicant proves they are not the person who matched their name. This happened to my stepson during their interview. After the interview they had to send an email to a government agency requesting a special document be forwarded to the embassy stating my stepson is not the person he matched names with. We received a confirmation from the government agency that they received our request but there is no way to follow up or check status (they never answer their phones or respond to email inquiries) - the only way we're going to know this document went to the embassy is when they issue the visa (they kept his passport). Has anyone going through the embassy in Colombia had this same experience? If so, how long did it take to get resolved?

Colombia is pretty quick about issuing the visa as soon as they get the correct documents. I have a friend who was missing a document at her interview and it took about 2 weeks to resolve the whole thing and get her visa.

Congratulations!!

He didn't have any bloodwork done - at his age, it wasn't a requirement. The only test he had done was an x-ray to look for tuberculosis. He said the x-ray technicians took a long time to x-ray him because the machine had to be adjusted many times. Maybe they need to redo them.

My husband had his medical exam yesterday in Bogota, Colombia. Today he received a call from the doctor's office saying the doctor needs to talk to him tomorrow afternoon (he gave him a set time) and it is in reference to his results. Has anyone here experienced this? What could this be?? He's very healthy, hasn't been sick in a long time, he got 4 vaccinations yesterday only because he couldn't produce his records from when he was a child, a chest x-ray, etc. They told him everything looked good but if anything came up, they would let him know. I'm freaking out right now.