Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Ken y Leidys @ Sep 4 2009, 08:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (Mr Twister @ Sep 4 2009, 01:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why wait to see if the PDF has been updated??? Call NVC 202-663-1225 1,0 and ask them - I called today and they told me my appointment is setup for Oct 8 Mr. Twister, Thank you for this information!! Tuesday morning, I will be awake early to take care of this...until then, the Jeep awaits!! I'm going Jeeping in the desert with my friend Mike. Hopefully, I won't roll her end over end on a certain obstacle I plan on tackling tomorrow afternoon! Just call while jeeping bro, the news of an interview coupled with some rum (i hope you arent the one driving and drinking) will be great im sure hehe. Diana I called to ask about my case information and the I129 was recieved and sent to Bogota on September 1st, arrived on the 3rd and something should be headed my wife's way in the next few days. However one tidbit of information was wrong, yeah this is so weird but my DOB got entered wrong at the NVC because when I called to ask about it they couldnt give me any info. So right away I sent them an email about this and proved my date of birth with my passport biographic and driver's license as an attachment. I hope they receive this soon. The person whom I talked to last night said that the I129 was already sent to the embassy so I would have to call there. The I130 however they have yet to receive.. I am definately wanting to get that email update taken care of. Snail mail is definately not what I want to use. Question.... Does the embassy email things as well to the beneficary if you wanted them to? That might make things go fast on that side as well. James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-09-05 03:29:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Ken y Leidys @ Sep 3 2009, 08:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (jpcanon @ Sep 3 2009, 10:23 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ken, I hope you guys get your appointment date soon- lookin' like October. I am off to Colombia tonite for a few days, so I'll be checking in here and there..... Joe Have a great trip outta LAX. Please check in, let me know how the prometida is holding up? I'm sure we will have our appointment in October. It will be a busy month at my work, but... Brother ken with all those vacations to Barranquilla and your fun times in Mexico i was wondering if you did any work at all hehe . Yes we did sommmmmme of the research, Adriana has been talking to Leidys on chat and we are most likely going to save money and stay at her apartment in Bogota, then just leave really early for the interview apt. The I129 paperwork was sent from the NVC to the Bogota Embassy on the 31st, so I hope that my esposita receives something soon so she can begin on it. We are both highly anxious and we want to try all the shortcuts out, even the I129 to I130 interview change if the I129 is earlier than the I130 and the I130's paperwork is at the Embassy in time . Hopefully all works out for all of us. Santero rum? No Jose Cuervo?	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-09-04 00:26:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Angie Y Shane @ Sep 1 2009, 12:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ok, we got the great news today. the embassy called my wife's house to schedule and interview. We are scheduled for Tuesday the 8th. What do we need to do next to prepare for the interview? what is the embassy looking for when going to the interview? anyone from this web site, could you please explain??? Angie Y Shane, They called you and scheduled an interview on the 8th? I guess the US Colombian embassy is having a shortfall on applicants and this is not their busy month . This can be a very good thing for everyone! Yupi yupi. Diana, I know i know.. I want the CR1 and would like nothing more to be rid of AOS and all that. So we will try our best to see how fast Adriana can get it. I hope those shortcuts are still in grade A effect. I heard they don't do barcodes and give out the ITNs anymore greatly delaying how much time we were able to complete the NVC. Still im thinking if I send a notice showing my relocation orders maybe the NVC will get a jumptstart on it. Ken, thanks and Leidys was able to talk to Adriana on yahoo earlier today about the confusing DAS policy. My worry was not being able to having enough of the product to carry over for both the K3 and CR1 packages. Ill keep ya posted! james	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-09-01 01:56:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Ay Dios Madre... My command has just graced my unclass email with a selection for reassignment! Im possibly going to be headed over to Osan Air Base South Korea in March but not sure if I will be able to make this an accompanied tour or not. My Adrianita knew for awhile that this was going to be a big possibility. My only hope is that I can find the true answer about this today. It is both our wishes that we can get past this immigration BS asap now more than ever. With the approvals of the I129 and I130 in the books, we want to continue to pursue both visa petitions. Naturally we originally wanted the I130 but considering the circumstances anything that gets her here fastest is the best choice. My questions are begining to mount so I thought I would write on here. My understanding is that the NVC sends the I129 application to the Embassy while the I130 is retained. What should I do when both require the originals of the limited supply of originals I do have? The DAS certificado judicial/migratoria is sealed in an envelope for the embassy but can we make a copy for the NVC's own use? Should i just drop the ball on the I130 altogether? The I129 K3 visa will still let Adriana revisit Colombian if needed right? James (worried and impatient)	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-08-31 01:21:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Ken thanks! And the news about packet three is great too. I guess the DAS certificate goes two different ways. The one for the embassy is sealed and the one for the NVC is the one that the DAS authorities let users recieve online. I called the NVC early today and they told me that my wife should visit the administrative offices in Bogota to recieve her answer there. Ayy Dios madre i hope that I can accomplish the I129 and I130 with ease.	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-08-27 21:36:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	WOW, Good news! Upon looking at the good ol USCIS website like I normally been doing ever since I sent our application back in May I saw good tidings that my wife's I129 package was approved.. I called my wife with the great news and we naturally were estatic! Even more surprising and good was that after getting into work tonight I checked the website one more time and bam... another great surprise was the I130 was also approved 2 hours later! I just want to say thanks to everyone for the help thus far. Now on to the NVC side of things .	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-08-25 23:41:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Ken y Leidys @ Aug 25 2009, 11:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (Ken y Leidys @ Aug 25 2009, 06:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (caliboylost27 @ Aug 25 2009, 12:23 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (Ken y Leidys @ Aug 25 2009, 01:51 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My next challenge will be for Leidys to fill out her DS 230, sign, and SCAN/SEND it to my email addy. Sound simple? We'll see how this step in our VisaJourney goes when we discuss this tomorrow evening. Buenas noches, amigos! -Ken Hi Ken, was the DAS certificate in a booklet form or a one page certificate? Just wondering.. As for anything going on for us.. we are still waiting for our NOA2. Straight from Leidys fingertips... Desert Outlaw: y tu certificado...fue en un librito o era un certificado de solo 1 pagina? Desert Outlaw: de DAS leidys: es un sobre sellado Desert Outlaw: una stampa? leidys: dice sobre sellado para la embajada no abrir leidys: mas o menos leidys is typing a message. leidys: es un cerificado en un sobre Desert Outlaw: yo recuerdo esa descripcion que tu me dijistes como 4 veces.... Hope this helps... -Ken Translation: Leidys told me that this certificate arrived inside of an envelope that cannot be opened by anyone except the person at the Embassy. Very delicate form from what I am told. Printing something from the Internet could be changed, and I seriously doubt it would be accepted. Leidys had hers in 2 working days. Very fast, IMO. Wow thats crazy Ken, a sealed envelope that you cannot access to even check to see if the Embassy and NVC are going to recieve the proper documentation that they will need. Are you sure this is it? Im going to call the Embassy and NVC tomorrow.. My wife is going to look into the matter with DAS tomorrow and report. I hope we can work a final answer on the matter so that we can help future VJers on here. I still cannot believe that.. sealed envelope.. thats like trusting someone else to do your important work for you. Anyway Adriana has Leidys email for correspondence maybe our beloveds can get into contact and help each other. J	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-08-25 22:44:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Ah yes Maloka, maloka maloka. No Ostrich meat was off my diet menu when the farm lady asked if we wanted some. In fact I got a little sick watching the video they show pre-visiting the animals. Everything else was good though and feeding them was actually kind of fun.	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-08-25 17:52:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Ken y Leidys @ Aug 25 2009, 01:51 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My next challenge will be for Leidys to fill out her DS 230, sign, and SCAN/SEND it to my email addy. Sound simple? We'll see how this step in our VisaJourney goes when we discuss this tomorrow evening. Buenas noches, amigos! -Ken Hi Ken, was the DAS certificate in a booklet form or a one page certificate? Just wondering.. As for anything going on for us.. we are still waiting for our NOA2. Here are some pictures of what our August Vacation turned out to be... Puente de Boyaca... Very instrumental bridge in the South American war vs the Spanish for independence. Villa de Leyva town center. Horseback riding through the town and outside of the town's outskirts. The ostrich farm... yeah you can actually pet these guys but watch out for your shiny jewelry because they have a deep fascination with shiny objects. Ostrich skin... yuck. Hiking to see the waterfalls near Villa de Leyva. A dazzling waterfall.. I believe I was trying to recite the words to the name of this place, Molaka when I took this pic after getting back to Bogota. I hope to do this again someday with more of our families included. James y Adriana.	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-08-25 02:23:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Mononoke28 @ Aug 18 2009, 06:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (caliboylost27 @ Aug 18 2009, 04:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ken y Leidys, once again congradulations! Joe, thanks, if you guys want some adventure in Bogota, i highly recommend Villa de Leyva near Bogota in the Boyaca state. A quiet colonial town that is a nice little romantic retreat from the big city life. Adriana and I explored tantalizing cascadas, went horseback riding, saw the ruins of an ancient Chronosario, explored an Ostrich farm (yeah kinda fun though actually), reflected on life at a sacred indian laybrynth maze, ate a wonderfully prepared romantic dinner at Antiqua in Villa De Leyva, and passed time enjoying the small amount of time we can share with each other while we wait for this process to finish. Right now i have one more day with my love and a question came up about the DAS certificate. I read from Ken's letter that the DAS is 15 days? Although my wife was able to get hers to me online printed off and says its good for one year from the date printed. She even got it translated to english in bogota... The question i have is if we need to make a notary sign and date the translation and the DAS certificate to make it more legit or will it be fine without the notary or apostille from Colombia? Your thoughts and answers are greatly appreciated. Saludes to all, i raise my club colombia to you mis amigos. James y Adriana <ps Yes I am prepping the DAS certificate ahead of time when the NVC process begins... James, From what I've read in the Spanish Colombian K1 thread, the online Certificado Judicial from the DAS is not valid for visa purposes. I'm not sure if that is still the case or not, but most people have gotten the little booklet, not the online piece of paper. So check with the NVC AND the embassy before you send it in since they're the ones who give you the green light. Also, any document that's either in English or Spanish does not need to be translated. According to the US Department of State website (http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3195.html): Translation Requirements All documents not in English, or in the official language of the country in which application for a visa is being made, must be accompanied by certified translations. The translation must include a statement signed by the translator that states that the: * Translation is accurate, and * Translator is competent to translate. Back in my day we had to send in translations as well (notarization and apostilles were not needed) but it's no longer the case. Again, check with the NVC before you send them anything. Diana Thanks agian Diana, ill have to check the embassy and NVC. My wife has the old style booklet for the DAS but it appears they only do online nowadays.. But i rather eliminate any guesswork and ask what our uncle sam will need for their validation. As far as my vacation goes... Avianca is crazy... im delayed and practically stranded in bogota and forced to play standby in the coming days for their aircrafts. Hopefully i can get out of Bogota before saturday or my work will be mad haha. Take care mis amigos James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-08-19 21:38:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Ken y Leidys, once again congradulations! Joe, thanks, if you guys want some adventure in Bogota, i highly recommend Villa de Leyva near Bogota in the Boyaca state. A quiet colonial town that is a nice little romantic retreat from the big city life. Adriana and I explored tantalizing cascadas, went horseback riding, saw the ruins of an ancient Chronosario, explored an Ostrich farm (yeah kinda fun though actually), reflected on life at a sacred indian laybrynth maze, ate a wonderfully prepared romantic dinner at Antiqua in Villa De Leyva, and passed time enjoying the small amount of time we can share with each other while we wait for this process to finish. Right now i have one more day with my love and a question came up about the DAS certificate. I read from Ken's letter that the DAS is 15 days? Although my wife was able to get hers to me online printed off and says its good for one year from the date printed. She even got it translated to english in bogota... The question i have is if we need to make a notary sign and date the translation and the DAS certificate to make it more legit or will it be fine without the notary or apostille from Colombia? Your thoughts and answers are greatly appreciated. Saludes to all, i raise my club colombia to you mis amigos. James y Adriana <ps Yes I am prepping the DAS certificate ahead of time when the NVC process begins...	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-08-18 17:14:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (jomartinez67 @ Aug 6 2009, 10:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Gyus my wife is finally home, she arrived yesterday everything went well but since we have not been married two years or more we have to renew the visa in two years!! What exactly we have to do in order to do that!!!!! Any thoughts? Orlando... Saludes mis amigos, That is awesome Orlando, what I would give to have this happen for us soon here.. Well on another happier note, I am flying out of Miami International at 5pm to touch down Bogota at 730pm tomorrow. Its been nearly 3 months since mi esposa and I have seen each other in person... Yep, calling and camming just does not cut it heheh . I hope you guys are doing really great, maybe ill get a chance to post pics later on of my latest adventure in Colombia. James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-08-10 10:45:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Orlando I am happy for you man, that would bring immense emotion for just about anyone who is going through this. Joe- hang in there because I have no idea how horrible it is to have to continue waiting even long after you finished with the stuff I am waiting for or have to complete longer down the road. I am taking vacation to see my lovely wife in August in Bogota so lets be sure to trade stories and pics on here hehe. And back to HAL's baseball analogy, i am glad that all those up to bat from VJ are averaging 1.0 . My question today is this, will your spouse changing jobs in her country impact the visa process any? She was just telling me that her computer programming company in Bogota, Heinsohn Human Global Services is having a lot of problems and many of her coworkers are either quiting altogether or finding better opportunities elsewhere. She also said that her manager named Ana told her boss that her and two others were leaving and her boss which is the Vice President of the company replied in kind, "Good because you and Merardo are liabilities and are too expensive for the company and that they would pass all the work on to Adriana." (Adriana being my wife). And I was thinking this could be a promotional opportunity but mi esposa told me that the Vice President intends to lower my wifes monthly salary and make her continue the work that her boss and coworkers were doing alone... Such a crazy situation that my wife was really worried about what she is going to do now. I told her I would be able to help her but she is worried, which got me worried too, and not just for her, but for the visa application. Does anyone know if this impacts the visa that much? You can see from my timeline below that I am still at the waiting of the NOA 2 part. My wife told me she may just end up looking for a new job as early as next monday. So I am just wondering if I should advise the USCIS or whatever of her plans. Once again amigos y amigas thanks for all the information James y Adriana	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-07-17 22:08:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (jomartinez67 @ Jul 6 2009, 05:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (HAL 9000 @ Jul 6 2009, 05:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Great news Orlando... I am glad you will be able to speed things up a little bit. THANK YOU! EVERY LITTLE HELPS..... Yes por favor, escribe un review! I want to know alllllllllllllllll .	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-07-07 04:13:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (HAL 9000 @ Jul 6 2009, 12:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> just to let you know... If I am not mistaken, VJ Colombia Club members are batting 1.000 on K visa interviews (not counting AP ordeals... which always get resolved for the better). So no pressure... because im soooooooooooooo lazy to crunch the numbers myself hehe... Estoy flojo............ What are the CR1's batting these days??	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-07-07 04:11:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (jomartinez67 @ Jul 4 2009, 10:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> We have our interview on July 22 and we would like to know if any of you guys now a good hotel not expensive close to the embassy. Thank you, Orlando... Hey Orlando, I know that the welovebogota.com has some very good and affordable hotels. even the embassy reviews has some information regarding where you can go and at a reasonable rate. They have reviews there too so you can see how close it is in relation to the embassy. Good luck on your interview! Tell us all your results. James y Adriana	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-07-05 22:50:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Hey James, On this trip we went to Nevado del Ruiz- it is a valcano located outside of Manizales- it was like a 3 1/2 hour drive from Pereira. We hiked up that, but it was freezing and the altitude started taking me down, hiking up that sucker! Joe [/quote] That is awesome and your wife really likes adventure! I bet that was pretty high too. My wife was trying to talk me into seeing the mud bath on top of a volano near Cartagena. I chickened out lol. And skype $6.00 to landline in Colombia thats awesome. If they have one for cell phones that is more reasonable then I would like to use it because Yahoo is rediculous in their current computer voice to landline/cell charges. James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-06-22 21:40:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Hey Pat, Thanks for the support- I just got in from Colombia tonite. I had a nice time there with my sweetie, but hard to leave her behind. Unfortunately, I have still not heard anything- I was hoping we may get notified while I was there, but nada. I'm thinking I should hear something soon, but who knows at this point... Thanks, Joe [/quote] Joe I am sure you will get notified soon. You and your wifey look really great together what all did you get to do? Anyone try doing the extremesports.com down there yet? Looks fun, but im going to have to whip myself into better shape haha. Time to hit the gym big time! James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-06-22 00:49:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Pat the man @ Jun 11 2009, 05:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (jpcanon @ Jun 11 2009, 12:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (caliboylost27 @ Jun 9 2009, 05:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ahhh Pat, Thats one thing about this wretched government sometimes. That they are more interested in protecting everyone else that the freedoms we hold near and dear to us are not always there in place. I really will be praying for you and your wife. ###### like this makes me mad and I hope for the best. Stay positive, smile, act like this is going to be a good day no matter what. Positive energy grows on people and if the laws of the universe are concerned you just might be able to make a person get infected with it there as well and give you your approval. James I hear ya, James! Stay positive.... Joe And I hear both of you her visa was approved .........OMG I couldnt believe it. We didnt even have an interview. expect to wait a long time when they call you back 221gs took forever there were abput 4 or 5 of us left . We submitted all of her school records a timeline and waited waited and waited some more. at 130 the Consular Officer,s were out to lunch so they handout a pink slip telling ou to come back at 230 . 2 couples had recieved it. We were called next. My wife expecting a pink slip puts her hand in the little area where you recieve and give documents and a worker tells her pick up the phone he hands her back some photos that were proof she had actually studied in Ny when she came in to the country with the F1 visa, he is like these are yours. Please pay domesa the fee congratulations the CO has approved the visa . No questions of our bonafide relationship none on the first day she was asked two questions how do you meet him and why did you go to new york when your original visa was to ca she asked us to bring the documents supporting her answers . I am astonished so happy Cr-1 visa is en route joe , james thank you for your support and god bless you best of luck to everyone . Hell yeahhhhhs. Awesome news man congrats.. See i told you to stay positive and what does positive give back to you... swinnnnnnnnnnnnng! James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-06-11 18:57:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Ahhh Pat, Thats one thing about this wretched government sometimes. That they are more interested in protecting everyone else that the freedoms we hold near and dear to us are not always there in place. I really will be praying for you and your wife. ###### like this makes me mad and I hope for the best. Stay positive, smile, act like this is going to be a good day no matter what. Positive energy grows on people and if the laws of the universe are concerned you just might be able to make a person get infected with it there as well and give you your approval. James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-06-09 19:30:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Seeing that the Colombia Club seems to have slowed down a bit.. Does anyone have any plans to go to the Carnival in Barranquilla next year? I just might want to check that out because Ken and my wife keeps saying how great it is. J	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-06-05 09:39:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Mononoke28 @ May 27 2009, 02:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yep, the K3 is a waste of time and money, I agree. And Pat is correct, right now they only have the Vermont Service Center for East coast petitions and the California Service Center for everything else. The VSC always backs up and never seem to be able to catch up so they end up transferring a ton of cases to the CSC every once in a while. They used to have two more service centers, Texas and Nebraska, but they stopped processing I-129Fs and I-130s a few years ago. Diana Thanks guys, I didn't know about the VSC being backed up and everything but transfering it to a center that does everything else the other does not do doesn't sound too good either :/. I sent my wife's K3 packet yesterday because we agreed that we wanted to have all our options available. Naturally we would want the CR1 to be handled quite quickly being that I am in the military and may get thrust in to the thick of things. I'm hot for orders (not deployment orders) but orders nonetheless and by this time next year I am going to be sent somewhere. I put on my request list of bases everywhere in my career field that I could take my wife with me but I would be an ignoramous if I was blind to the fact I can still get sent to the places I could not take her. So my worst case scenarios would be that I get sent to S. Korea or Qatar and cannot take my spouse and the CR1 is still not complete or it gets completed late in the game and she is only here for 2 months or so before I leave. I tried explaining this to my leadership but the words are very clear on the expedite criteria, it has to be detrimental to the US Government. Only deployments seem to garner that kind of support and since Im not attached to a mobile unit yet than I really am just packing up all my things and moving to another job. The k3 she can arrive faster and be with me and Im sure with all the military help available there can be things she can be involved in. Still all of you guys are right, the CR1 is the way to go. I just hope my worst case scenario does not come to pass and that I can be here for her and for the big adjustment in her life. James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-05-27 15:21:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Good stuff all. I received my wifes CR1 NOA1 today and I was able to rush out the K3 packet just before 3pm to make it in by mid afternoon tomorrow at the lockbox. I also noticed that they assigned me to the California processing center which I had no real grasp at understanding the logic behind it. Unless it is because I am from California and they just want to keep the petitioner's origin in mind than I believe that would be the only reason. Does anyone have any experience in dealing with the Golden State? I am from California but serving in the military in Key West Florida. I guess I just thought I was going to be assigned somewhere more on the east coast. Anyway saludes everyone! James y Adriana	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-05-26 17:34:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Pat the man @ May 23 2009, 09:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (caliboylost27 @ May 23 2009, 02:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (Pat the man @ May 22 2009, 07:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Does any1 have an interview on the 8th of June? Thats when my wife and I have an interview together Nope, I am probably 6 months away for my wifes . Say with the NVC all the original documents get returned to you eventually right? James and Adriana I am not sure, I have been told sometimes it is sometimes its not, but be prepared for the worst, but i will let you know after the interview, Best of luck to you, God bless Thanks man, hopefully they return everything. Good luck at your interview!	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-05-24 01:41:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Pat the man @ May 22 2009, 07:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Does any1 have an interview on the 8th of June? Thats when my wife and I have an interview together Nope, I am probably 6 months away for my wifes . Say with the NVC all the original documents get returned to you eventually right? James and Adriana	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-05-23 01:01:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	So I filled out my I130 package on the 14th and sent it out air express mail next day delivery and in my dazy sleepiness I think I added a little more than necessary. Just a tad really... I put my wifes birth certificate right smack in front of the marriage license and translation. I am hoping I do not confuse anybody heh... I also did not include an email on my cover letter. I totally forgot! Hopefully I can get my mailed NOA1 soon and maybe get a chance to add that if I can call them up with my case number when it gets assigned. My K3 package is probably going to be ten times better looking than my CR1 package.. Ahhh I am just rambling guys.. and begining the long wait ahead for my wife and I. James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-05-18 09:42:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (jpcanon @ May 13 2009, 10:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (subguy812 @ May 13 2009, 04:47 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Good Luck with everything James...I wish you a speedy and RFE free process Troy And an AP free one, too! Yeah my hotel was located a little further along the main street, Dann Cartagena. Pretty nice overall and I have been meaning to put a review on yahoo and hotels.com about it. With everything going on about the swine outrbreak there were countless guards and employees all wearing masks. So sad.. but otherwise we had a great vacation. James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-05-14 19:36:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (jpcanon @ May 12 2009, 03:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (caliboylost27 @ May 12 2009, 01:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hello everyone I flew back to Colombia on April 28th to marry my Colombian princess. We married in Barranquilla and then trollied over to Cartagena for our honeymoon. Let me say that it was a blast and I got to spend it all with my girl. Now that I am back I am ready to tackle on this giant behemoth hurdle known as starting my wife's visa journey. Heh, after the hurdle I had to jump over just to get married in Colombia this shouldnt be so bad right? Anyway i have pretty much everything I need to file right as soon as my wife's paperwork gets delivered by the postal service tomorrow or the next day (g325 signed and some colombian affidavits of support, marriage license translated and notarized.) My current question is should I copy all these documents and send a copy to USCIS or send in all originals? I was originally planning on sending all originals but that would make things rediculously more expensive in the long run and not to mention a big pain. So what is your opinion? Send in copies or copies of certain documents or all originals? James and Adriana *awaiting enlightenment* Congrats on the marriage! I was in Cartagena in March and had a nice time- did you see that big huge shoe? Good luck with your journey- there are many helpful people in this Colombian Club forum... Joe Thanks Joe, I did get to see the big shoe and my wife was very insistent on getting a photo op of us jumping inside of it. Whew, smelly hahha. We also toured the colonial town and checked out the Rosario Islands. Where did you stay at? I wanted to go to see the Volcanoe but didn't get around to doing that. James Diana, ok ill send copies and pray I dont get a RFE hehe.	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-05-12 20:38:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Hello everyone I flew back to Colombia on April 28th to marry my Colombian princess. We married in Barranquilla and then trollied over to Cartagena for our honeymoon. Let me say that it was a blast and I got to spend it all with my girl. Now that I am back I am ready to tackle on this giant behemoth hurdle known as starting my wife's visa journey. Heh, after the hurdle I had to jump over just to get married in Colombia this shouldnt be so bad right? Anyway i have pretty much everything I need to file right as soon as my wife's paperwork gets delivered by the postal service tomorrow or the next day (g325 signed and some colombian affidavits of support, marriage license translated and notarized.) My current question is should I copy all these documents and send a copy to USCIS or send in all originals? I was originally planning on sending all originals but that would make things rediculously more expensive in the long run and not to mention a big pain. So what is your opinion? Send in copies or copies of certain documents or all originals? James and Adriana *awaiting enlightenment*	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-05-12 03:49:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Joe McGillicuddy @ Apr 21 2009, 11:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Newbie here...Interview on 11 May...any hotel suggestions in Bogota? The fiancee and her daughter will be going up on Wednesday afternoon, blood test/x-rays on Thursday morning, physical exam Thursday noon, and I will be arriving on Friday morning. I am looking for anything reasonable and near the embassy. Another (very helpful) member suggested I ask here as well. Thanks in advance. Joe Hi Joe im sure the earlier posts will be able to help. The "We love bogota link" seems like a steal or "poorbuthappy" is a nice website too because they show the bottomline cheapest way to vacation in another country from other people's experiences traveling abroad. On a side note. 8 days till i say 'I do'!	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-04-22 00:26:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	So happy...! My marriage with Adriana is inching everyday closer and closer. Everyone on here has helped sooo much that words alone cannot suffice. But I just wanted to say thanks for the help. As much as everyone says it is a very big pain to get married in Colombia because of the great lengths at providing authentic documentation and it being time sensitive are definately correct. But the hurdles have all been jumped and now it is time to sit back and be merry. After this big step in our lives and one of the many challenges we will face I am more confident that the process of getting my wife her visa in the end will be easier because of all you guys. Now on to the good stuff . We are going to marry in Barranquilla and honeymoon in Cartagena so I looked up the ol yahoo site and travels website to see if there is anything specific to check out while we are down there. Right now I am interested in the naval defense wall and some of the nightlife. I know some of you guys have visited so cmon and spill your beans on what we can do while we are there. J	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-04-11 03:46:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Also quick question is there another spanish Colombian CR1 or visa thread started? The first one is closed .	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-04-07 10:51:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	My fiancee told me something a little off from the normal proceedings I hear about concerning the CR1 Visa and Colombia specifically. She was talking to her sister and her sister had mentioned one of their cousins who is already in the USA said the CR1 visa to Colombia really takes 2 years. He claims that the Colombian process of marriage validity takes the biggest chunk of time because the USA needs to recognize the marriage. The route we are going he said will take a lot more time than I think. Now correct me if I am wrong but we are marrying April 30th and upon arriving back I can file for her CR1 in May asap. The only requirement I gather to marry is what Diana and everyone else has told me in prior posts (which we have accomplished all this to even arrange for a marriage date in April.) Then after we marry we can file for a CR1 which we would definately like to do when I arrive back to the states and get everything ready. It seems ludicrous to think that there is some other requirements that we are missing out on because I failed to see all that. Bottom line if we marry in Colombia we can move right away to file for a CR1 and should not be under a much longer wait time. At least this is what I am hoping for. Please feel free to comment if you have words of wisdom and put my worries to rest. Our Wedding is in April 30th and we will be honeymooning in Cartagena May1 to May5th. Maybe we will see other peeps from VJ too . *wave* James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-04-07 10:48:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Mononoke28 @ Apr 1 2009, 12:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (CoffeeisSweet @ Mar 31 2009, 07:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ah I see Diana, and those affidavits can only be made by US residents or Colombian relatives to my fiancee? James It doesn't really matter as long as they're from people who know both of you pretty well and who can testify that you have a bonafide relationship.. If they're in Spanish, make sure you include the translations. Here are examples of the two I sent, one from my mother and the other one from my sister. Diana Those are great Diana. Much easier to read than the legal limbo versions I saw elsewhere. I do have a slight request since you are indeed the author of these affidavits. My fiancee's familia does not know a lick of english and wouldn't be able to understand. However they feel compelled to help us in our endeavor just as much as my family wants to. I would love to include some of their affidavits as well and was thinking maybe you could make a spanish version as well? James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-04-02 03:15:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (Mononoke28 @ Mar 30 2009, 04:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (CoffeeisSweet @ Mar 27 2009, 06:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Greetings friends, fellow VJers, Colombianos and yes even Costenas. First and update, Adriana and I are doing very fine. We decided to push back the date of our union to April 30th because her mother was going through a tough time and my work was creating some havoc. All in all love seems to conquer all and in the midsts of everything her mom pulled through and I decided to just visit her o inn the dates we set for the wedding Bogota instead. Even though we did not get married as planned we had a blast together! Did some shopping, went to the central park for a picnic, watched Slumdog Millionaire (great btw), played at the recreational facility, and ended up at Jaime Parque near Zapaquira on the last full day of my trip. Fun fun. My question is a small one, I wasn't sure If mounting all the possible evidence for a bonafide relationship would go so I am going to turn to you all for advice. We want to build up as much evidence supporting statements as possible from friends and family. Can her Colombian friends and family send in an affidavit as well supporting our validity of a bonafide marriage? Thanks! James PS: The advice of the I130 package is tremendous lifesaver on here but does everyone really send all the pages of chat logs, cell phone bills, photo albums and pictures in the mail along with the visa paperwork?? James, You don't need to send all that evidence with the I-130, a couple of affidavits and a copy of your marriage certificate are more than enough. Save all the rest for the interview. Diana Ah I see Diana, and those affidavits can only be made by US residents or Colombian relatives to my fiancee? James	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-03-31 20:00:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Greetings friends, fellow VJers, Colombianos and yes even Costenas. First and update, Adriana and I are doing very fine. We decided to push back the date of our union to April 30th because her mother was going through a tough time and my work was creating some havoc. All in all love seems to conquer all and in the midsts of everything her mom pulled through and I decided to just visit her o inn the dates we set for the wedding Bogota instead. Even though we did not get married as planned we had a blast together! Did some shopping, went to the central park for a picnic, watched Slumdog Millionaire (great btw), played at the recreational facility, and ended up at Jaime Parque near Zapaquira on the last full day of my trip. Fun fun. My question is a small one, I wasn't sure If mounting all the possible evidence for a bonafide relationship would go so I am going to turn to you all for advice. We want to build up as much evidence supporting statements as possible from friends and family. Can her Colombian friends and family send in an affidavit as well supporting our validity of a bonafide marriage? Thanks! James PS: The advice of the I130 package is tremendous lifesaver on here but does everyone really send all the pages of chat logs, cell phone bills, photo albums and pictures in the mail along with the visa paperwork??	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-03-27 19:26:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Greetings friends, fellow VJers, Colombianos and yes even Costenas. First and update, Adriana and I are doing very fine. We decided to push back the date of our union to April 30th because her mother was going through a tough time and my work was creating some havoc. All in all love seems to conquer all and in the midsts of everything her mom pulled through and I decided to just visit her o inn the dates we set for the wedding Bogota instead. Even though we did not get married as planned we had a blast together! Did some shopping, went to the central park for a picnic, watched Slumdog Millionaire (great btw), played at the recreational facility, and ended up at Jaime Parque near Zapaquira on the last full day of my trip. Fun fun. My question is a small one, I wasn't sure If mounting all the possible evidence for a bonafide relationship would go so I am going to turn to you all for advice. We want to build up as much evidence supporting statements as possible from friends and family. Can her Colombian friends and family send in an affidavit as well supporting our validity of a bonafide marriage? Thanks! James PS: The advice of the I130 package is tremendous lifesaver on here but does everyone really send all the pages of chat logs, cell phone bills, photo albums and pictures in the mail along with the visa paperwork??	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-03-27 19:23:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	Hello Colombia club I just wanted to ask if anyone has any hotel recommendations for Bogota City. Preferably near this address Avenida 19#114 65. Naturally the best deal for the most in comfort is what I had in mind but most importantly Im just looking for a nice clean private place. Hostelworld.com seemed to have a lot of reviews of different places I could check in at but if you have something better you have used in the past and a thumbs up or down for it please let me know J	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-02-26 03:15:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (gigisan @ Feb 21 2009, 10:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (CoffeeisSweet @ Feb 21 2009, 07:23 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (gigisan @ Feb 19 2009, 01:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Visa Approved Am I reading that right??? Your visa has been approved in 3 months? Forgive me my eyes may have deceived me as i have indeed worked all night and dead tired. But if so then you give a shimmer of hope for my soon to be in your shoes situation this coming month . Presented I-130 dic 22/2008, visa aproved Feb. 19.2009, 59 DAYS Well congrads man.. 59 days is very quick.	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-02-21 21:40:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Colombia Club Part II	QUOTE (gigisan @ Feb 19 2009, 01:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Visa Approved Am I reading that right??? Your visa has been approved in 3 months? Forgive me my eyes may have deceived me as i have indeed worked all night and dead tired. But if so then you give a shimmer of hope for my soon to be in your shoes situation this coming month .	james&adry	Male	Colombia	2009-02-21 07:23:00