Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Mexico, Latin & South America	Any of you have dropped your first name to use just your middle name?	The only time where you will always be Maria Claudia (aside from your parents, I'm sure) will be when you need to perform any type of legal stuff in Colombia (if you keep your original citizenship). I'm not sure there is a choice here, because even when the time came for a US passport, it would have her place of birth as Colombia. Edited by Julie y Pat, 10 April 2012 - 05:16 PM.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-04-10 17:14:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Any of you have dropped your first name to use just your middle name?	You want airline tickets to match the name in your passport. A copy of your marriage cert. will explain the difference on your green card.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-04-09 19:24:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Vaccines in Colombia: K1-visa	DO NOT go to DR. Roa, the man is a liar. He will tell you shots you got elsewhere are invalid, and he will tell you they are invalid even if he gave them to you. I hope he catches one of the diseases that he sells vaccinations for.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-07-19 20:58:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Medical exam scam	yeah, and the blood work is done at the lab, so he doesn't get a fee from that. also told her she needed flu shot, which I don't think is required, another hundred thousand pesos or so. the embassy will say they aren't doctors, so they can't go against the doctors decision. I don't think he is one of the panel physicians because they think he is a nice guy. he said the shots my wife bought from him a little over a year ago were no longer valid, and that the embassy requires them. how do you know when Dr. Roa is lying? when his lips are moving	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-06-30 09:23:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Medical exam scam	I'll bet it was Dr. Roa. My wife had to buy his shots twice. we had to wait for an I-601 waiver, so my wife's medical had expired in that time. He is a very dishonest doctor.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-06-30 08:30:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	CR1 Visa Vaccinations for Bogota Embassy	vaccinations will cost about as much as the combined cost of the medical exam and lab work, if not a little bit more	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-08-19 15:41:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	E-mailing Bogota Embassy	I've gotten responses back a number of times, using the BGT number in the subject line. As a header for the text of the email, I listed Case Number:, Principal Applicant Name:, Preference Category:, and Foreign State of Chargeability:. Then Dear Consular Officer, whatever I asked them.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-09-12 15:52:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Notarized Letter of Eligibility to Marry	I got the same type of document as gstrength, mine was from MA Office of Vital Statistics.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-12-19 18:28:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	cannot pay	Use a different internet browser. I use safari on my mac and it wouldn't work, so I used firefox and it worked.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-06-18 15:53:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	NVC -> US Embassy Bogota	Documents in Spanish do not need to be translated for the NVC. You will likely need them translated in the future for Removal of Conditions, because USCIS does that and they want everything in English.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-05-11 21:10:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Colombia--Civil Wedding	My wife and I were married at Notario Cuarta in August in Armenia. From what I understand, different notarios may not require the same documents, so you may ask your fiancee to ask one or two what they would require. I needed my birth certificate, notarized copy of my passport bio page and DL, and for proof of eligibility to marry I got a certificate from the MA dept of vital statistics showing a negative search for a marriage on record for myself. You will likely need all of these documents apostilled, and no older than 90 days. I had an issue with my first attempt to get an apostilla for my birth certificate because is was a county and not state issued, but in the end it was good thing because the copy I had was 19 years old. And then there is the validation or certification of the apostillas in Colombia after they are translated, and this has to be done in Bogotá. So I would start by having your fiancee check at a notario and find out exactly what they will want. I wish you well on your journey.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2009-12-24 01:49:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Divorced a K1 and I want to remarry with K3, any restrictions?	I'm pretty sure the affidavit of support from the first marriage is still in effect	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-01-21 11:13:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Received a Phone Call from the Consular Section of the US Embassy in Colombia	So much of this process is "don't call us, we'll call you." Only thing is you never really expect them to call. It's nice to hear that they sometimes do.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-08-30 19:13:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Am I legible to apply for citizenship?	If you think you're legible and no one here is qualified to tell you otherwise, send in the application and the fee and see what happens	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-04-09 20:18:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	US Passport Place of Birth Issue.	DAS stamps a visa in your US passport at POE. You aren't required to get it before traveling, but is still a visa.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-04-02 08:32:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	US Passport Place of Birth Issue.	I'm pretty sure Colombia still considers her a Colombian citizen only, regardless of whether she has a US passport, so she can't get a visa to visit Colombia. Money under the table is one way to get someone to break the law for you. Imagine the hassle your wife would get at the embassy in Bogota if she got a new Colombian passport, visited Colombia, and before returning applied for a tourist visa to the US. They'd tell her to use her US passport, or get a new one, but no visa.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-04-01 20:03:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	How my child can become a US Citizen	get her a passport, is what I was going to say, but she should have gotten it in the UK. I don't think US citizens are supposed to enter under VWP and adjust status	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-05-30 21:08:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Transcript "copies"	When I've gone to the local IRS office for transcripts, they usually are stamped with red and blue date stamp. I made sure to send these to my wife, because she would have flipped out if I sent her something that looked like just a photocopy, and not an original. It saved me the explantation that everything from the IRS looks like a photocopy of a photocopy, even something as important as transcripts. Edited by Julie y Pat, 15 July 2012 - 05:24 PM.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-07-15 17:23:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Obtaining a passport for minor after naturalization	The DS-3053 tells them why no permission of the father is available and why no such permission is needed. but it's also used for the parent's consent when it is available	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-12-05 00:35:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Chance to move to Italy and on to Colombia	Maybe moving to Colombia in a few years...I see a few apostilles in your future	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-08-07 19:31:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Need Help! Wrong birth year on green card!	I'd say this is a time to ask your elected officials to help	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2013-06-19 19:02:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	Need Help! Wrong birth year on green card!	I would argue some more with them.  Was her birth year correct on her conditional GC?  I don't know if birth year is printed on a visa, but if your wife had a K1, her daughter had a K2, but I don't think she would have been eligible if she was thirty years old in 2008.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2013-06-18 21:30:00
Philippines	AOS - is it necessary	After a certain amount of time living in PI, she will eventually be seen as having abandoning her permanent residency and can be denied entry to the US. She will also likely have a more difficult time getting a tourist visa being married to a US citizen, even when you are both living in PI. With naturalization and a US passport, the only time you would have to go to the embassy in PI would be for a CRBA! A US passport may also make it easier for you and your wife to travel to other countries on vacation.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-07-02 16:05:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Why Is CSC processing January 2011?	What countries are the beneficiaries from?	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-02-24 03:25:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inappropriate Interview	The beneficiary has to go to these K-1 interviews but the partitioner (USC) does not, or is different in Ecuador. Is Ecuador known for fraud? I see posts about how it helps for the USC to be at the interview. At least with our experience in the Philippines it went so smooth without me (the USC) attending. I don't see how it could have been any better if I had attended. If she, the USC, had not attended her fiancé's interview the entire line of questions would have been pointless. True if you don't go there may be some unanswered questions and you get AP. But if you do go and give the wrong answer you face out right denial. Story's like this one just confirm to me it is best to NOT go to the interview. Guayaquil is known for wanting the petitioner at the interview.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-02-25 21:08:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Inappropriate Interview	My wife and I were Stoked at the consulate in Bogota, but none of the questions were sexual in nature. I told my wife the night before our interview when we were preparing that they could ask questions about our sex life. But I just got a letter from USCIS Panama telling me that my wife's I-601 waiver was approved, so the tough interview we had is a distant memory now.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-02-25 21:02:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	For the newbies...why it takes so long	I only see one person working in that whole place. Where are the desks? Is this really the USCIS warehouse?	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-04-23 19:15:00
Middle East and North Africa	Automatic 2 year wait	I think you're getting some really old information from your coworker. From what I understand, it did take a long time for I-130's to be approved in the past, and the K3 visa shortened the wait. Nowadays the I-130's are approved months and not years, so the K3 has become obsolete.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2012-08-05 17:29:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	I Did Something Dumb	No need to get the new originals apostilled. When I was married in Colombia, the notario kept all of my original documents, and the apostilles that were attached, and I never made copies of them. We weren't asked for any of them at my wife's interview. If you were previously married, then it would be good to have originals of any divorce documentation, copies of which you would have submitted with the I130.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-03-13 04:23:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New Policies at USCIS or just Multiple Anomalies	It is my opinion, from your observations on this topic, and my own observations in other areas, that these aren't just multiple anomalies, but changes in policy. I think the policy change, in general, is to decrease the number of immigrants entering the US, and to increase the number of immigrants leaving the US. I don't know if you're referencing other sources besides VJ for the observations you make in the start of this thread, but that doesn't really matter, we can extrapolate from the numbers here to get a bigger picture. Increasing the burden of proof for petitioners and applicants going through higher fraud consulates is one way to shrink the number of potential immigrants, hence more "Standard Interviews" and RFEIE's. I think another way to shrink the number of potential immigrants is by doubling or tripling the time it takes for petitions to be approved. The stress of waiting can take it's toll on relationships, and the likelihood of a relationship falling apart and never making it to the interview stage can be increased by making the wait longer, and I think they are counting on this. And the number of deportations have gone up the last two years. I hope I didn't go too far off topic, but these are the reasons I think it's policy change rather than multiple anomalies.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-04-11 17:58:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New Policies at USCIS or just Multiple Anomalies	Trying to keep the thread on topic. Maybe ask your question in a new thread. well what's your topic? I'm pretty sure you mentioned standard interviews.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-04-11 05:19:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New Policies at USCIS or just Multiple Anomalies	I'm still curious about the standard interviews.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-04-11 00:16:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New Policies at USCIS or just Multiple Anomalies	I'm just saying before the current trends we are noticing, petitions were not often denied, maybe because USCIS felt the Consulate in higher fraud countries were better trained to weed out fraud cases. Sure, they don't like petitions being returned, but even if they approve the returned petition again, the consulate will probably deny the visa again. Maybe USCIS is noticing from their own data that the consulates in higher fraud countries, as vigilant as they are in detecting fraud, are still getting duped. I'm not disagreeing with you, just saying USCIS data will back up what the consulates are saying.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-04-10 22:46:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	New Policies at USCIS or just Multiple Anomalies	I have no opinions or observations at this point, but I am very interested in this topic. I'd like to know more about the "Standard Interview" before petition approval. I'm guessing it's when the petitioner is called to USCIS for an interview, but I wasn't aware that these actually happened. But now that I think about it, I'm surprised they don't happen more often. Now I'm starting to develop more of an opinion. Could some of these trends be a result of USCIS's own data, such as how many people apply for removal of conditions after being divorced from the petitioner, or applying for naturalization after five years instead of three as a result of divorce.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-04-10 20:00:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	So lost!	Hi Iryna, Congratulations for becoming a US citizen! Now is the time to be getting ready for the NVC. Check out the wiki for shortcuts through the NVC, they are very helpful. Your part will be the I864 Affidavit of Support, and that's where bank statements would play a part if your income wasn't sufficient. If you don't already have them, get tax transcripts for the last three tax years from the IRS. Your husband will need two documents from the DAS, the Certificado Judicial he can pick up the same day, but the migratorio will be sent from Bogota, but can be ordered at the local DAS office. There's on in the little city in Armenia, but if your husband lives in Armenia, I'm sure he knows where it is. You'll also need an original birth cert. for your husband, and an original of your marriage cert., and a photocopy of your husband's passport bio page. And also the DS230. Also a divorce cert. if your husband was previously married. And if your husband is in Armenia, there is a DHL shipper at the travel agency on the avenue, on the block to the right of Portal del Quindio, a few doors from the pizzeria. I hope this helps. Pat	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-05-22 16:48:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	After NVC receives IV and AOS packets, how long til interview?	we had case complete at NVC end of September 2010, and received notification on Dec 5 that my wife's interview was scheduled for Jan 5 2011. The DS 2100 is for K visa applicants. You have already submitted the DS 230 to NVC. NVC will notify the embassy that you have all documents ready for the interview, as you will have already submitted them.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-06-10 18:39:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Petitioner's migratory Movement Letter.	My wife lives in Armenia. As it is now, my wife is going to DAS to get another MML, because the one she sent to me that I submitted to NVC had been opened by someone, somewhere en route. Then I see this topic and I wonder if she should get one for me.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2010-12-16 20:58:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Petitioner's migratory Movement Letter.	My wife's interview is Jan 5 as well, and this topic caught my eye. I just can't figure out the answer!	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2010-12-16 20:11:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Acroynms...Please explain	AOS adjustment of status, or AOS affidavit of support	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-07-24 10:08:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Real Love, but Real Problems?	How is going on a cruise like going to work? I don't know what you do for a living, but I thought cruises were for eating, drinking, relaxing, getting laid and all sorts of fun things like that. The only people who did things on a cruise that seem like work, work on the boat.	Julie y Pat	Male	Colombia	2011-07-28 20:02:00