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| Bogota, Colombia |  Review on May 17, 2009: |
pbarr19
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
It was really anti-climatic. Arrived at 5:30, sidewalk was blocked to the embassy security/entrance gate. At 6:30 let us proceed to the gate area where you line up in 1 of 4 lines. K-1 line is line 3. Knowing this from other posts on VJ allowed us to go to the correct spot which put us 1st in line. After getting instructions inside on how to organize our doc's Glenda was the 1st person called. The lady she had basically checked all the doc's and asked me to come to the window. She had been very rude to Glenda which I didn't know when I walked up. She asked for tax returns I asked "why" I have provided all the other income proof sources, pay stubs, notorized letter from employer, bank statements which was more than requested? She held up a check off list showing "tax returns 2 years" and implyed it was required. I gave them to her because I didn't want to take any chances. Tax returns provide way to much information, some I don't want in a file because of identity theft, especially being handled by a poor Colombiano who could be subjected to bribes commuting to and from work daily. Everyone knows who the people are that work in these sensitive jobs. They are easy targets over time. At anyrate, we were told to wait by the green 3 and 4 windows. After waiting 30 minutes a window opened. Glenda was the 1st one called. They took her finger prints electronically and we were told to wait. 25 minutes later, Glenda was called again for her interview. A female gringa asked a couple of easy questions, "how did you meet?" I was asked a couple of like questions. The girl was very polite, spoke Spanish to Glenda though she answered in English and spoke English to me, said everything looked good and that we were approved. Domesa the FedEx of legal doc's for Colombia handles the Visa doc's being sent. We wanted them sent to a friends apt who lives in Bogota but you have to have his CC ID number and cell number. You can't take your cell inside so we couldn't call to get his info and we couldn't remember his cell number to call from a pay phone. We gave Glenda's address in Cartagena, flew back to Cartagena the next day and waited. We booked our flights for a week later thinking we should have our visa package by then. We called the number for Domesa in Cartagena and got lucky. The woman gave us a number in Bogota and a ladies name and said not to tell her how we got her name but to ask if they had recieved our packagage. The Domesa lady in Cartagena also had recieved a bundle of documents from Bogota and ours was not in it. When we we asked the Domesa lady in Bogota she said they recieved our Visa package on 5/4 (our interview was 4/30) and it was in Cartagena. They ship on Tuesdays and Thursdays and it was Thursday the 7th. We told her, no it wasn't in Cartagena. She checked again and said we were right. If we faxed her a letter stating a reason for needing to pick up the Visa, a copy of Glenda's CC ID card and our receipt we could call in 2 hours and she would let us know if we could come to Bogota and pick up the Visa. We did this and called, was told could come anytime up to 5:00 PM so we flew to Bogota the next day, picked up the visa from the Domesa office and that was it. We arrived in Washington DC on Sunday the 10th.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4395