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| Bogota, Colombia |  Review on March 17, 2018: |
dnyal
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
It was overall, a good experience. For our kind of visas, I would like to share with you all the process we went thru with as many details as possible for those of you who love details. It was as follows:
We went (my American fiancé and I) to the interview together on a Friday. I had accomplished all the requisites the days before that:
1. I went to the lab to get my blood tests and chest X-ray done on Monday of that week at Instituto y Laboratorio ClÃnico. I got there just before 6:30 am (they start letting people in at 7 am), and there were already like 20 people in line; arrive early. Bogota was cold that morning so dress accordingly. Everyone stands in line until a lab assistant starts letting everyone in, without any companions (unless it is a group visa); she reviews the paperwork and lets you in if everything is ok. Please, do read all the material the embassy sends you and always call any place you intend to attend to confirm the necessary requisites and paperwork. More than once I saw people losing their spot in line because they didn’t seem to have all their papers in order or, for instance, had the wrong format of pictures or didn’t know the name of the doctor who was gonna perform their physical. They let people in and stop as the waiting room inside fills. As people come out, they let more people in. When they let you in, the assistant takes your passport and documents. You sit and wait for the lady at the counter to call your name. When they do, they just confirm the information on your documents and you pay them the fee in cash only. Then you sit again and wait to be called for the blood and urine tests, then the X-ray. When the X-ray is taken, you get your passport back and you’re free to go. I arrived before 7 am and left around 9 am. There is no necessity to schedule an appointment; you just show up the day before your doctor’s appointment. I did hear someone comment, while I was waiting in line, that sometimes the lab does get too many people (the lab is open from 7 am to 10 am) and they stop seeing people even before 10 am, so I’d recommend anyone to attend very early.
2. The next day, on Tuesday, I went to the doctors office. I chose doctor Rodolfo Dennis and he and his staff were very friendly. His office, at the moment of this posting, was located at the tower letter I (it’s not number 1, as it would appear from the packet the embassy sends you) of the Fundación Cardioinfantil Hospital complex. The neighborhood doesn’t appear very safe, so be mindful about that if going too early or too late in the afternoon, though I didn’t face any issues. You just arrive to the hospital’s floor and talk to the lady at the counter and they give you directions. The actual physical was somewhat quick. He just asks the basic questions about your health history, diseases, medications, drug use, etc. His staff conducts some basic medical exploration before you see the doctor, like eyesight tests, vital signs and stuff. They are all very friendly and helpful. Again, I did see people who didn’t bring all the necessary paperwork. I still don’t know what it kept happening to others. I just followed all the instruction of the packet the embassy sent me and when I called the doctor’s office to schedule the consult, they explained to me everything again. About scheduling consults, do it with several weeks of anticipation because he seems pretty busy and someone was trying to reschedule an interview for a week later and they had no availability. They seem pretty concerned about the vaccination thing. I’ve read reviews of other panel physicians being the same. I get the impression they get money out of selling you the vaccines you need. Dr. Dennis’ staff did give me the option to get my vaccines in the US since they are not necessary for the K-1 visa process at that point, but being a physician myself, I had already got vaccinated for everything they asked and even more given that it is required in my kind of job. They don’t take any vaccination records older than 2 years, it seems to me, because they didn’t take any vaccination carnet I gave them that was older than 2 years. In the end, the doctor had to concede that I had all the vaccines required for the adjustment of status to immigrant once I enter Pedro the us and married. My appointmeant was at 2 pm. I arrived earlier, was seen earlier and got out earlier, around 2:30 pm. They ask you to come back after 5 pm the same day for the sealed packet the doctor gives you if they found all in order. They also gave me a copy of the doctor’s notes of my completed vaccination record for use during AOS. As a side note, the doctor didn’t asked me to be naked for the physical, just to have my underwear on. I noticed some other people didn’t have their required vaccines, so the doctor still sees you but gives you an order to get vaccinated and you will have to bring the vaccination carnets or records to them again so the doctor can complete your medical package. I believe that’s why Dr. Dennis only schedules consults 3 days before the interview at the embassy.
3. The day after, on Wednesday, I had my biometrics taken at the CAS. They only see people by order of appointment. Mine was at 7 am. I arrived at 6:30 and there were already like 10 people in line. People with appointments scheduled after 7 am were not allowed and were asked to wait until their group was called. They review your passport and DS-160 (in case of a fiancé visa) and let you in. It’s a pretty simple step and they guide you thru it all, so I won’t say much of it, other than the traffic in Bogota is terrible, so try to do everything with enough anticipation.
Finally, Friday came and our interview was at 7 am. My fiancé and I arrived at 6:20. There were already a bunch of people (more than 40) outside, though most were there for non-immigrant visas (other than K-1, which is treated like an immigrant visa). There are places in front of the embassy where you can have breakfast while you wait. One must go to the entrance for visa applicants, not the general entrance to the embassy, which I think is only reserved for diplomats and staff. There is a not so visible sign signaling the entrance for visa applicants. Usually, the taxi driver will know where to drop you off. It’s all outdoors so dress accordingly, specially if the morning is rainy. They make you wait across the street before the embassy staff start calling for lines. You cannot sit at the fence that surrounds the embassy because every few minutes a policeman comes and asks people to wait across the street.
Around 10 min to 7, the staff starts calling specifically for those applying for immigrant visas, fiancé visas and Cubans to form a line by the fence. There was a lot of people already and my fiancé and I had to wait like 20 min to go in. First, the staff reviews that all the paperwork is in order. Again, and I can’t stress this enough: have all the necessary paperwork at hand and just as they asked for it. Many people had plain photocopies of documents instead of notarized ones or originals. Some others forgot some necessary papers and there were people who didn’t even know their own phone numbers (they ask for them at some point). Use your better judgement and common sense.
When our paperwork was reviewed, we were given each a green sticker with a K on it and one for my passport. My fiancé was let in with me once I informed them he was my sponsor and showed them his passport. The staff at this point just puts the basic paperwork in the order they require it. They let you into the embassy, though everything is still outdoors. They guide you where you need to go. They pointed us to approach this lady sitting at a table inside. You go to this lady who is organizing people in lines before a series of windows. These windows are for checking papers and taking your fingerprints again to confirm identity. Some are only for immigrant visas and K-1 visas, so the lady points you to which window you should go. You walk up to your window when it’s your turn and a person asks for the paperwork. They break open the package the doctor gave you and organize it along with all the other papers. In that package I included the DS-160 (they don’t ask for and actually gave me back the NOA2), my passport with two pictures, original of my civil registry (I had annexed a baptismal certificate because I was registered when I was 5 years old, and the packet the embassy sends to your email says to annex one in certain cases like this, but the guy at this step said it was not necessary and mostly applied to people born before 1940), police certificate, affidavit of support with the last two years of forms 1040 (tax returns), W2’s, employment verification (what we call “certificado laboralâ€) from my fiancé’s job and three pay stubs, and finally the doctor’s packet. At this point they do not take any more paperwork and give you back anything else, including the evidence.
They guy only organized all this paperwork and gave me the whole thing clipped and told me to give it to the consular agent as it was given to me. He pointed us to back to the lady at the table who then gave us a number and directed us to sit at a certain, separate area and asked us to wait until our number was called. CO’s do take their time with immigrant visa applicants; I saw some people who were with them for around 20-30 min. When your number is called, a staff member puts you in a short line before another series of windows for immigrant visa interviews. Then they called our number and we were in line until we were asked to approach a certain window.
We were interviewed by a nice lady who totally ignored my fiancé’s presence. She stood up to get our packet somewhere and came back and asked me the following questions in Spanish:
1. Do you swear that all you’ll say is the truth and nothing but the truth? To which I responded that for religious reasons I could not swear but I could solemnly affirm; she said nothing and resumed the interview.
2. State your full name
3. Who’s petitioning you?
4. What is your birth date?
5. Have you ever been convicted of any crime or been in trouble with any authority?
6. Have you ever lived outside Colombia?
7. Do you currently hold a US visa? (I have a tourist visa)
8. Do you have any family living in the US? (I have a couple of far related family members which I mentioned)
9. Have you ever been to the US? When was the last time? How long did you stay that last time?
10. How many times has your fiancé visited you here? How many times have you visited him in the US? When were those visits?
11. How did you first meet? When was that? When did you start your relationship?
12. Do you have any plans for a wedding?
13. Have you been previously married? Have your fiancé been previously married?
14. Do any of you have any kids?
15. What does your fiancé do for a living?
16. Where does he live? With whom does he live?
17. Do you speak English?
I said yes to that last question and she immediately continued the interview speaking in rapid English without any warning; I felt it was a trick from their part. I do speak English very well, so I understood her following question in English and responded in their language:
18. Can I see some evidence of your relationship?
19. What is this Line app you use? Why do you use it? It’s not very common.
She then started to review the paperwork. She focused on my fiancé’s tax returns, pay stubs, W2’s and employment verification letter. My fiancé income is a bit north of 23K a year, which is over the 125% of the poverty guidelines required for the AOS (he doesn’t have any dependents). She then proceeded to review the evidence. About this, we sent with the first filing of the I-129F a lot of evidence. We wanted to front-load the petition. It was a white binder, somewhat thick. It was mostly 10 miscellaneous pictures, including some with his family and of our small engagement party, and short legends explaining them with dates, and also a few screenshots from our Skyping, chats and trips, a few gifts we had given each other. When she went to get our packet when we first walked to up to her window, I saw that the packet she retrieved was very thin and in a red, plastic folder. I didn’t see any of the evidence we had sent (I think USCIS trashes all of it). When she asked us for evidence, we had brought just a few printed pages of our most recent chats, Skyping and a couple of pictures of us together. We just intended for this new evidence to supplement what we had sent. I actually asked the CO, after having handled her our scarce current evidence, whether she had gotten the evidence we first sent with the petition. She remained silent and took only the evidence we had given her.
She finally proceeded to tell me, “ok, I’m gonna approve your petition, your visa will arrive in one week thru DHL with the sealed immigration package and this is a copy you must read with the rights you have as a spouse of a US citizen.†We were happy and I thanked her, and asked, “this is all?†She said yes and then bye. She returned to us the evidence with the sheet of domestic violence rights and kept all the other paperwork and my passport.
That was basically the whole process; our interview lasted around 10-12 min and we walked out of the embassy around 9 o’clock.
My answers to the questions were precise and to the point. For instance, when she asked with whom my fiancé lived, I said, “he lives with Dan, his roommate.†“How did you two meet?†Thru a dating website called OK Cupid. “When was that?†Back in 2011. When she asked about the app we use for chats, I said we used it because we used to use Facebook messenger but it would drain my phone’s battery, so we just found Line on the App Store and it turned out we liked the cute stickers it had. She actually smiled and said she loved those stickers she saw too. Do not over-elaborate.
I believe our visa petition was quick and successful because we were honest, we have a long, 4-year relationship, we have visited each other around 5 times, my petitioner was present, income above the minimum required and we have a pretty straightforward case: no divorces, no kids, no problems with authorities, no visa problems, etc. We did it all ourselves without the need to hire any consultant or such.
I apologize for the lengthy review but I do know some people are like me and love details!
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #23445