I used a brief cover letter that worked for me, just keep it simply I would suggest. Best of luck!



American Embassy
Calle 22D-Bis # 47-51
Bogota, Colombia

Re: K-1 Visa Documents for (Fiancee name) and Child ( packet 3) ( if this applies to you)

Case Reference # BGT2007-xxx-xxxx

To the Consular Section Visas,

I am seeking an interview date for a K-1 Fiancee Visa.

I have faxed the following documents for (Fiancee name) ( Fiancee) and (Son's name)(Son of xxxxxx)

DS-230 part 1
OF-169
Copies of Passports

Sincerely,

Thanks Corey....Did your fiance fax it in english?

Hey Parkpapa,
I spoke briefly to my fiancee today and I believe she had gone to the DAS office today and obtained a form from the Office. She had to sign the document, and provide a finger print. The document is going to be sent to the child's biological father to be signed, and notarized. I am not sure this information is completely accurate so I just want to add that disclaimer. Will keep you posted when I have a chance to speak to her longer.
Corey

Yes, the cover letter was in English and my Fiancee's paper work was in Spanish but the cover letter I written was in English...No issues, had a interview date a week later, used the telephone number TonyS posted that is in Washington. Took 10 minutes and they gave me the interview date. While I was in Colombia she received package 4 and it was the correct date. Will be in Bogota on 5/24 until 6/1 if any other Visajourney / Colombia Club member are going to be there, let me know
Corey

Thanks, Corey. Let me know what she says. I will give my wife the heads-up that DAS might have such a document.

Hey guys, just wanted to share the news that our I-130 was approved today! Now I don't feel so left out anymore.

Anyway, a friend of mine didn't know anything about how to create a letter for her ex-boyfriend to sign giving her permission to take her child out of the country. All she did was go to a notary and they wrote out a copy for her and him to sign and then notarized it. This was back in the 80s though, so things might have changed.

Welcome back Corey. Good to know you had a good time. You have to tell me all about it when you settle in.

Tony

Congrats, Diana!!!!!

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

Just be careful. THere is a big difference between the one-time permission letter and an irrevocable letter. A notary MAY have an example of a permenent, irrevocable letter, but I wouldn't count on it. That's why my wife went to her attorney.

Also, I don't recall anything about presentation to a court. The letter has to be shown at the airport upon departure to the U.S.

Good luck!

Mike

Congrats Mononoke!!!

Mike, thanks again!!

Gracias Luchito.

Hello....i think this is great....my fiancee has her interview set for 5/31. We have all the documets in order excpet for the Certificado de Migratorio. Does anyone know what the wait time is if we were to try and get this at the DAS in Medellin? I've read that in Bogota it is about 3 days. We have already made our travel plans and we get in on Sunday 5/27 with our interview set for 5/31...thursday....if we went to the dAS in Bogota on Monday do you think we can get it on wed? Just not sure what the best way would be....thanks

I know the America Embassy is closed due to the Memorial Holiday on 5/28 not sure if the holiday is also observed in Colombia, something you may want to look into to ensure the DAS is open. My interview is on 5/25 so will have to wait until Tuesday to pick up he visa.

A member who also has great information on immigration issues and visas on Colombianblog.com ( Gator) posted this draft letter, hope it helps others. It is in Spanish ans English


LETTER OF PERMISSION AND AUTHORIZATION

I, [Name of father], male of legal age, bearer of citizen

identification Cedula) ID No. -----, issued in [Name of city], hereby grant

my natural minor child [Name of Child], with Birth Certificate

No. ---------- and Passport No. --------, permission and

authorization to leave the country Colombia and enter the United

States with the child's mother [Name of Mother], bearer of citizen

identificationCedula ID No. ________, issued in [Name of city]. This

trip is expected in --------------, and this permission and

authorization is effective from now until the date of the trip.

Date:___________

In witness whereof I sign this document:

_______________

[Name of Natural Father]

Notarized by Public Notary in Colombia

ESPANOL

LA CARTA DE EL PERMISO Y LA AUTORIZACION

Yo, [el Nombre del padre natural], mayor de edad, identificado

con la cedula de ciudadania numero CEDULA Numero ----,

expedida en [el Nombre de la ciudad], por medio del presente

documento, concedo permiso a mi hijo menor [Nombre del hijo],

identificada con Certificado de Nacimiento No. --------- y el

Pasaporte No. -------, para que pueda salir y ausentarse del pais

y entrar a los EE.UU. en compania de su madre [Nombre de la

Madre], identificada con la cedula de ciudadania CEDULA

Numero ---------- expedida en [el Nombre de la ciudad]. Este
viaje se espera en -------------, y este permiso y la

autorización son efectivo de ahora hasta la fecha del viaje.

Fecha:

En el testigo de qué yo firmo este documento:

_______________

[El Nombre de padre]

[En notario público en Colombia]

This is a good things to post. Just keep in mind that you will have to get this completed and signed EVERY time the children want to leave Colombia after a visit. Hopefully the father/mother will never try to use this as leverage against you. The alternative is to try to get a permanent, irrevocable letter signed by the other parent....but, again, it's questionable as to who DAS is going to react to it. Candidly, it is kind of scary knowing that any time you return to Colombia with your children, it is possible for the other parent to "block" the children from returning to the U.S., but that's the risk we take.

Mike

PS - remember, this form has to be signed within 3 days of departure. or so I've read.

Hello to everyone,
We had our interview on April 30th, we arrived very early at 6 am and no one was on he line #3, after that one of the guides told us to go to window #40, that window doesn’t exist only until he #32….so we did the line in that number, we wait about an or to gav our paperwork, and about 3 hours to put finger sign, ……..we were interviewed until 1:30 pm, the lady was very nice with us ,we stay for less than 8 minutes and only 8 questions:
When we met?
Where I learn English?
When was our wedding?
Where we were at honeymoon?
How many times my husband has visited me?
If I met his parents?
What I do for life?
If I will work in US?

If we had emails and pictures, and we showed a bunch of emails that she didn’t wants to look because was like a book…….after that she said ,that we can pick up the visa on Wednesday at 4 pm.

Know I am here in LA with m husband and begin to do my AOS

felicitaciones anagd3
JK

A dumb question!

on the Form I-134 After question 11, it says "OATH OR AFFIRMATION OF SPONSOR"
my question is who should filled this out? Im not using anybody as an sponsor, do I live it Blank?
last question is where do I sign the Form I-134 when its going to be notorized?

Great news!!! Catherine and I just returned from the interview (okay, that plus a nap), and her K1 was approved in a very few minutes! We fly to Texas on Thursday.

I want to thank everyone for some very helpful information over the last few months.

In a few days I will write more detailed comments on the experiences. It appeared that the vast majority of visas were approved, but I did see one denial...

One thing I will share is there was a sign posted saying the consular section would be closed to the general public on 5/24. I do not know if this means anything for those with interviews on that day, but I would at least take it into account for picking up a visa (i.e., after interview travel plans).

Off to celebrate with Catherine´s prima. I will update later!!!!

Congrats Jay and all those recent approvals... you must be very excited!

I also have great news... our interview is on Monday, June 4. Coincidentially, I called the Dept of State this morning to get the cool news while my fiancee received Packet 4 in the mail as well. I'll be flying into El Dorado on the 29th and return on the 12th of June. Then I assume she will meet up with me in Miami as our meeting point... sometime between July 4 and the 12th. I just started a Cingular Family talk plan and got her a new phone that she'll use to dial me the minute she lands in Miami as we won't see each other for the Ohare flight until she clears Customs.

Have a great evening to the all of you

HEllo...just a few questions...about 1)medical interview 2) interview at embassy..

1)I've read that only the beneficiary can enter the medical and laboratory exam.. Do they have waiting rooms or should i just stay back at the apartment?

2)I plan on being at the embassy with my fiancee to show support. What types of questions should we expect besides just providing the documentary proof requested of us?

Thanks.

Hello

For the lab exam you will have to wait outside. In my experience, it took a hour and I waited at a cafe next door. The medical exam had a waiting/reception area...it took only about a hour. Read the old threads and you will see the typical questions. Most of the "Colombia Club" interview went very well and were very short. Typical questions for a good interview are:

1. How did you meet?
2. When did you meet?
3. How many times have he/her ( American ) been to Colombia?

Angagd3, Congrats!!!!

I'm also in L.A....I hope I will have success at the interview as well!!

Congrats on your interview date. I'm curious who you called to get that date because the embassy's website is not updating the interview listing and they are also not accepting calls. We've submitted our packet 3 this month, and I was suprised to see that they would already be scheduling interviews prior to the middle of the month. If there's somewhere I could call, it would sure help me out as my daughter is getting married in June also, and I need to be scheduling travel for both events as soon as possible.

If you live outside of Bogota and can't wait for the packet 4 to arrive, then you have two options as I see it. "You" can call the Department of State in the U.S. or you or your fiancee can send your question to the embassy (via fax) and see if they reply. I suspect there is a greater likelihood of getting the information from the DoS. I would only contact the embassy IF you believe packet 4 is lost and you want to request a duplicate.

The mid-month cut-off date is exactly that....a cut-off date. The embassy does not wait until that date to schedule all of the interviews. It schedules them every day. The closer you are to the cut-off date, the closer your interview date will be to the end of the month. For example, we submitted our packet 3 around December 13 and got an interview date of January 19. I assume the folks who will get a date in early June, 2007 are the folks who missed the April cut-off date by a few days.

Thanks for the advice, Mike! I called DoS, and after going through the phone tree five or six times, I realized I only needed to press "0" to get a live person. Lorena's interview date is June 6!!!!!!!!!

Hello!!!

My fiance just got her police certificate. Just to verify, is it a small green booklet?

yes, on the outside it says certificado judicial, there's a copy of it here
http://www.visajourney.com/gallery/thumbna...y&uid=29596

JK

Thanks JK, thats it!!

Ok, now just waiting on migratorio cert.

Exactly so dear folks, the information is there to be found... We missed the May cut-off by a day. As a result, our interview was scheduled pretty early on.

My girl supposedly already has the Certificado Judicial, so its only a matter of collecting the final round of documents. Tax stuff is on its way, final bit of evidence is being put together, and it should be about time to get the Migratorio from DAS. A word of advice on the Migratorio; Do it in Bogotá. The original 3 week estimate given 4 weeks ago in Bucaramanga is still not complete and its starting to tick me off. I'll have to "ask" a friend of ours over there that has a friend in DAS to hurry it up.

Good to hear! I'm happy for all recent approvals!

I've been going through older messages in this thread and came across a discussion about the prices of flights to Bogota. Being from the center of the country, and KC not being a major hub for American Airlines, prices do vary a lot - both by carrier and by date. From KC, for example, Delta is almost always the cheapest, though sometimes Continental runs a sale or something (I frankly prefer Continental). But, from everything I read, if you want the best prices to fly your loved one to Miami (only Miami), then you need to check out LAN.com. I'm looking for tickets right now for my wife and her two sons. LAN will be roughly 60% the price of Avianca and maybe 50% the price of AA.

I have almost always booked through expedia.com, but for my upcoming flight I found a much better deal through orbitz.com. In any case, it pays to shop around.

Would you be road tripping back to KC from MIA? That ought to be pretty fun! I was actually thinking that same idea but to Chicago... only no time for it. Lucky me I have the habit of collecting AA Miles... That will pay for the BOG-MIA-ORD trip for her and the ORD-MIA-ORD trip for me in July as well as already having paid with only 30K miles for the interview trip... May 29 thru June 12 (ORD-BOG-ORD via MIA)...

You may try getting to a hub like Dallas/Houston depending on your airline of choice.

I'll take a look at LAN but lately with some of the search engines it doesn't come close to AA when doing any BOG-MIA segments.

If I owned (or rented) a minivan, the road trip from Miami might be doable, but as you say, time is a factor.

As for LAN, I checked their prices on their website and they're lower than those listed through one of the search engines - at least for the dates I wanted. There is so much fluctuation in prices, even by the minute sometimes, that eventually you take your best shot and don't look back!

Bros/Sis's

Our approval just arrived at NVC today. NVC should send it to Bogota today, tomorrow or latest Monday?? If so, Bogota should receive the package some time during the end of next week?

thanks!

Lucho!!!!!!

You have a shot at getting a June interview....but the mid-month cut-off is approaching fast. I assume you've already talked to someone at the NVC and gotten your case number (BGT...). Now you need to call them back and find out when the petition has been sent to Bogota. If it gets sent tomorrow, for example, it should be in Bogota by next Tuesday the 15th (delivery takes 3 business days by DHL). If so, then you can have your fiancee fax the packet 3 info on Wednesday, the 16th. THere is no guarantee that you'll make the cut-off, but it's possible. If not, you should get an early July interview date.

Good luck.

Mike

Yup!!! We have a shot at a June inteveriew!!! It will be a tight race to accomplish that. I have the case BGT case #. I will be calling twice a day from now on, to find out if they have sent the petition. Worst case scenario, an early July interview....I can live with that! Thanks so much for your help Mike! Tomorrow I will show you my packet 3 in its entirity...let me know what you think.

Thanks!!


Question,

Should my fiance fax packet 3 several times, just in case it gets lost at their end in Bogota? I have told her to fax it twice, then to snail mail it in. I cant wait.

Lucho!

All I can tell you is what we did. My wife faxed it and then we followed up with a hard copy by courier (just in case) two days later. You could fax it more than once, but then you might risk someone on the other end getting ticked that they got so many faxes and accidently putting you at the bottom of the pile (human nature). Overall, I think the embassy does a pretty good job considering the number of visa petitions they process...so I personally would trust them...and only send one fax.

Mike

Is there a way to confirm that they received the fax? I'd hate to send the fax, and some how it not go thru. I know what you mean about getting someone ticked lol.
Thanks

You can try calling the embassy to see if they received the faxed documents but someone said they're not taking calls anymore. It's worth a shot.

Question for you Lucho. Have you received your NOA2 in the mail yet? How long does it take?

I guess, in her cover letter, your fiancee could ask for confirmation of receipt. But, based on all that we know about the embassy, I highly doubt that they will respond. And the embassy no longer accepts phone calls. I believe they are accepting e-mails now, but there is no guarantee of a reply.

That is why we followed up our fax with the hard copy via courier....just in case. Maybe you send the documents by courier the same day you send the fax. Just an idea.

Mike

PS - at least from Bogota, the courier was LESS expensive than the fax!

Diana,

I received the hardcopy of the NOA2 4 days later in the mail. And thats including a Sunday. So it took basically 3 USPS work days.

Mike,
I guess thats all we can do, is just hope. I will try emailing them afterwards.

Any cheap $ hotels near the embassy in Bogota? If so, please let me know around how much per day. My fiance and I will be there for approximately 3 days. I need to start running the numbers.

thanks!

Lucho:

If it makes you feel any better, I've bee following this thread since last fall and I have not heard of one person who has used the short-cut who has not gotten an appointment. In other words, I've seen nothing about the embassy losing any faxes.

Mike

We got a phone call the day after we faxed the paperwork in, so no, they did not lose the info!

hello to all,

we had our interview on may 7th and we didn't get denied or approved. our case is pending since supposedly someone has my fiancee's name in the u.s. and is a criminal. the interviewer was extremely nice and spoke to me also. she explained that they had to do some kind of extra background check that would take 3-6 weeks. i would think that they would have found this out before i went all the way down there and bought tickets etc. she said all the paperwork looked great and she looked at the first half or our photo album. she was american. i'll write a detailed review on the embassy review section. so, i guess i should have listened and not assumed everything would go smoothly. it sucks but i guess we'll have to wait another month. thanks to all that have helped.

Shoot, I still don't have it. Those Mo fo's!

As a bit of follow-up, since the interview dates are not being updated on the embassy's website, I called the DOS number you listed. I called on May 8 and the person I talked to was very efficient and helpful. He asked for my petition number (BGT #########) and then he told me our interview date and time, and also the date that packet 4 was mailed to my wife.

That's the good news. My wife still has not received packet 4 so now I'm trying to see if there is any way that I can get it so that I can bring it with me for her interview. I know that a copy can be picked up by her or a designated person, but our opportunities to do so in a timely way are running thin on time (she lives 10 hours from Bogota). Do you guys think they would send me a copy?