PhatCat

I have been to Colombia more than a dozen times--primarily Bogota but also Medellin, Cartagena, Santa Marta and Cali-- over the past few years to visit with my (now) fiancé who has lived in Bogota over 10 years. Except for Cali I have never felt threatened after following normal safe travel procedures. Avoid known dangerous areas, especially at night; don't be ostentatious, especially with phones or other things easily grabbed. We do take local taxis a lot because the fares are incredibly cheap compared to NY or other major cities. Uber also works there , as do local rideshare apps. Have your fiancé deal with the taxis as in my experience even if you speak Spanish, as a Murican, taxis will try to cheat you on the fare. And always have pesos to pay. My advice is for the interview stay at a hotel within walking distance of the US embassy. There are several; the Wyndham Tryp is nice and reasonably priced.

Thanks. In our experience and in other postings re: Bogota, they only address the beneficiary, not the petitioner. They do ask the beneficiary who is the person accompanying them. They will likely ask your fiance what languages s/he speaks, whether you speak your fiance's language and in what language you normally communicate. Something like "mostly Spanish but more English as I am learning" seems to be fine for the latter. If your fiancé says s/he speaks English be prepared for them to immediately switch to English for the rest of the interview.. On a lighter note, my fiancé said the officer conducting his interview spoke heavily accented Spanish and he had some trouble understanding the questions. This is after dealing with my Spanish for several years.

A note to OP. In Bogota the petitioner can attend the interview with the beneficiary. I did this recently with my Colombian fiance and the officer asked him if i was his fiance. In spite of red flags he was asked only the basic questions and we were approved in les than five minutes.

As of April 1 2022, Mexico has a Pre-registration process explicitly for Colombians wishing to visit, Apparently this is to address many instances of Colombians being denied upon arrival. My K1 fiance had been previously denied entry under circumstances similar to yours--they stole his cell phone and continued to use it until he cancelled it in Bogota upon return. When i filled out the reregistration form to visit last year, towards the end, one question asked if he had ever been denied entry. Then it asked how long ago, giving various ranges, the shortest being 0-5 years. When i selected that, the application was almost immediately denied. My conclusion is that he likely has a five year ban. You might want to check this for your fiance before making any plans to visit Mexico, even after she gets the green card since she will still be traveling on her Colombian passport.

Someone pointed out that i omitted the I134. That was one of the required docs that they checked upon entry. Apologies

My fiance and I attended the K1 interview in Bogota. on July 5 The process was remarkably well organized and smooth. You will wait outside until your visa type and appointment time are called over a loudspeaker. (Spanish only). You will go to a side entrance where they will check you in at a makeshift station. They did not asl for the appointment letter, the DS160 page or anything else. Instead they had notebook computers where they looked up his passport. and verified what they needed They only asked for his passport and his passport photos. After passing through airport type security there is another makeshift station inside where they will hand you a laminated form with the documents and order you will present them. For us there were no divorces so this comprised the Police record (Yes, the one you can pull online), the sealed record from the medical exam and an original Birth Certificate. That's it! From there you will go to a short line where you will present these documents at a bank teller style. window We too had copies of everything up to that point in the process and nothing was required beyond the docs mentioned. Then you sit in a covered outdoor waiting area and wait for your name to be called. For us the wait was about an hour and half. Our interview lasted less than five minutes and we were approved without even presenting the extensive documentation of our time together post the I129F submission. Good Luck!.

As I have posted the details here recently I will just summarize that my Colombian same-sex fiance and I have a 45 year difference and were approved without any questions as to age. The approved I129F sent from the embassy had been notated in red pen "2nd approved I12fF" and "45 years apart", so they did take note. As my lawyer explained, neither is reason for denial but they will look at the application closely, mostly to protect the US citizen. Since we knew this was likely to warrant a closer review, we front loaded the I129F with evidence of having known each other for 6 years and had met 4 times in the months prior to the I129F submission. I was permitted to accompany him to the interview window and the officer did ask if I was the fiance. I agree with the previous poster that my presence helped confirm that we had a serious relationship.

One last update for others going through Bogota. We had paid for DHL delivery to his home. Our interview was July 5, the visa was issued Jul 6 and it was in his hand Jul 12. Our overall experience at the US embassy in Bogota was excellent.

We had paid for DHL delivery to his home. Our interview was July 5 and the visa was in his hand Jul 12. Our overall experience at the US embassy in Bogota was excellent.

At our approval in Bogota Colombia last week, the officer said the visa will be ready in two to three weeks. In our case we had paid for it to be sent to my fiance via DHL.

I have monitored the postings on the K1 topic for almost two years while our K1 application was in process. I created this account to share our experience of getting approved in spite of serious red flags. Don't give up hope. The key is to be extremely well informed and provide enough evidence of the relationship to override potential concerns. Here are the basic facts. My fiance is Black Colombian 27 years old and he is a student at a top arts school in Colombia. I am a 72 year old white dude who works as a tech manager in a top US bank. In addition, i had made a previous K1 application for a Colombian that was initially denied due to admitted marijuana use and was eventually cancelled by me. Given the large age difference and repeated K1, i figured this was not a DIY and hired the immigration lawyer who had done the first same sex K1 from Colombia. I know using a lawyer is generally frowned upon here but i can definitely say that there is no way i could have got this right doing it by myself. given that my fiance is ADHD and I had to chase down every single aspect of the process. The first thing the lawyer recommended was to let the previous K1 totally wash out of the system. We had already passed the two year mark from the previous I129F application so that was not an issue. But it took another three months for the K1 cancellation to be acknowledged by USCIS. We waited another month before submitting the second I129F. The next thing the lawyer recommended was to front load the I129F with a preponderance of evidence of the relationship. By the time we met in person in Cartagena in 2021 we had already been (only) friends online since 2016. So we included sample chats before an after the relationship turned romantic. We had met in Colombia four times by the time of the actual application so we included detailed evidence of each. We detailed the proposal (by him) and the exchange of rings. The lawyer also helped me craft a carefully worded statement of intent to marry that acknowledged the demise of the previous relationship and the emergence of the second. She thought it was better to deal with the overlap of the friendships head on. After the I129 application my fiance and i traveled together during the pandemic. We kept careful records of plane flights, hotels and easily identifiable selfies. I spent 10 hours compiling all these for the actual interview. Spoiler alert: they were never requested or viewed. Nor was the marriage license for hawaii. One aside about the red flags. When the NVC sent my approved I129F to the embassy in Bogota, the embassy sent a copy of the approved I129F to us. Someone had literally used a red pen to notate on the first page "45 year difference" and "second approved I129F." So we figured we were in for a grueling interview. As to the actual interview. We came loaded for bear. Tons of evidence. I prepped him on over 100 K1 interview i found on various sites. He is an actor so learning lines was easy. On the day of our interview appointment at 7:00 we arrived at the embassy at 6:30. We had to wait outside until they called for K1s and others at 7:00 The entry process was impressively organized and smooth. All the embassy employees were professional and supportive. After various checks for the appointment confirmation, security and the completeness of documents, we waited in a covered outdoor area. One note about Bogota: it seem this is one of the few locations where I as the petitioner was able to accompany him through the entire process, including up to the interview window itself. As we waited we watched the progression of folks thru their interviews. it was generally very easy to see who was approved and who was not just by watching the faces as they left the windows. Our wait was a total of about 1:30. As we waited things kept going through our minds about what they might ask and what the outcomes might be. Finally his name was called. I walked up with him and stood to the side and a little behind. The official asked him to rise his hand and swear to tell the truth, looking straight into his eyes. (Had not seen that at any other window). He then asked the standard questions that everyone is asked; Where and when did you first meet. What languages do you and your fiance speak (He speaks a little english and i speak enough spanish to get along). In what language do you communicate. At one point he asked if i was his fiance. And that was it! No questions even indirectly about age difference or my previous K1. No question about me or where the wedding would be or where he would live. The entire interview lasted less than 5 minutes. Maybe 3. I had told my fiance that if they reject the visa they will give him back his passport and if they intend to approve they will hold onto it. When we saw him close the passport and move to put it in a folder, we knew we were approved. The official said your visa will be ready in three weeks and that was it! We looked each other incredulously...that's all??? it was almost anticlimactic. He gave us a thumbs up and waved for the next interview. We gave each other a big hug and left in shock at how easy it had been. The best part was everyone in the waiting area giving us big smiles as we practically skipped away. So what are my conclusions? If you have red flags address them head-on. Overcome them by front loading with overwhelming evidence of a legitimate relationship. Other than browsing through my fiance's passport where he could see his trips, the official never asked about ongoing evidence throughout the 20 months after filing. If possible attend the interview. Even if you can't enter, your fiance can say that you are waiting outside and give you their passport to show. I think it gives weight to the legitimacy of the relationship. And finally, if you are going to DIY educate yourself completely about the entire process and make sure you get every detail of every step exactly right. Make your evidence overwhelming and exceedingly clear Good luck P.S. My lawyer says 45 is a new record for age difference in their office. Would love to see someone break it.