Results of Interview in Bogota

[Danny&Adri 1]

So here's the story... but important things first:

WE GOT THE VISA !!!

I'm sorry if there is too much detail, but if others are as anxious as I was, they might want to know.

I went to Bogota on 26th to be at the interview, too. We spent the 27th going over paperwork. I week or so before the interview, I check the Visa Journey reports (under "Immigration Timelines" above) to see if any other VJers had an interview scheduled in Bogota for the 28th. I found that Audrie and Jose Carlos (user name Audrie) would be, so I sent an e-mail so we all could at least say hello.

As I talk of "embassy" and "windows" and "interviewers" do not think so much of an office environment as I was expecting. Picture an outdoor pavillion with lots of black iron fences and concrete walls. The seating area was a covered concrete area, perhaps like the an eating area at your favorite amusement park. The windows where the questions and interviews where held seemed more like concert ticket windows than anything else.

Our appt was for 7:00. We showed up at 6:00 and were about fifth in line. A couple of street vendors were selling coffee, gum and cigerettes. At about 6:30, several embassy employees started dividing us into lines for K1 visa or other stuff. We were told to double check our paper work and they discussed what we would need. In doing so, we realized we were missing from our stack an old passport. Adri called her brother who said he would bring it to us. We asked one of the ladies outside, how could we get the passport once it was delivered. She said there was a process, but that someone inside would have to tell us.

We were then taken through security where no cameras were allowed. I don't think other electronic equipment was either, like computers or music devices, but I'm not positive about that. Cell phones were allowed.

After security, we walked down a sidewalk through a second entry way that took us into the pavillion area mentioned. The person at the gate had the K1 folks set along a long bench. Right at 7:00 a lady went over the process again, basically reading a large print out of Packet 4 letter. She then started processing us, giving us a folder labeled "K1" and having us arrange our paperwork in there. This lady was the same lady we had asked outside about getting the passport from Adri's brother. Adri asked who could tell us. She then told us the process, which I'll detail in the next paragraph. (I found this amusing that she would not tell us outside but would after we were in - - - She was quite rude in all of her attitude.)

We were sent to a seating area to coordinate our paperwork into the folder. In about 10 minutes we were called to "Window 29" where a lady checked all our paperwork. She had a copy of the file that we initially sent to Texas Service Center (then CSC) and she returned a large number of things out of that file that she did not need, like extra translations we had done that I guess were not needed. About this time Adri's brother called on the mobile stating that he was outside the embassy. They would not let him in. What they did allow was for me to leave the pavillion area, but NOT leave out of the secure area. I walked to the secure area where Adri's brother handed me the passport through the fence. I was surprised the guards did not seem to watch me to closely, but perhaps they could tell it was just a passport even from a distance.

I took the passport back to Adri who was still at the window. She was speaking through a phone to the lady behind the window who was very quickly checking the folder from the CSC and the folder of items required in packet 4. This whole process, including me going up to the front security, took about 15 minutes. She told us we would be called to "Window 2" for fingerprinting. We were called after about 20 minutes and then told to wait for the interview. By now, it was approximately 8:00. We started the long wait.

The chairs were like uncomfortable lawn furniture. The wind was blowing some and it was quite cool unless you were in the sun. There were restrooms and a small cafeteria where you could get coffee, sodas and some danished. During this time we started looking for Audrie and Jose Carlos, the other VJers I mentioned. We found them. They seemed to be about an hour behind us in the process, meaning their Window 29 and their fingerprints seemed to happen about an hour after ours did.

So we sat and chatted. Audrie and Jose Carlos seemed as nervous as us. I think Audrie was the same as me, in that we flew down just to make sure we were there to assist our fiance(e)s however we could. It was good to have the company while we stared at the walls.... and waited.... and waited some more.

At about 11:30, Audrie and Jose Carlos got called. Me and Adri got really nervous... what had we missed or what had happen to cause us to get missed? We didn't know. We thought we were about an hour ahead. (Maybe because we are getting a K2 also, for Adri's son.)

After about a 3 minute interview Audrie and Jose Carlos came back with great smiles on their faces. They were told to pick up their visa that afternoon at 4:00. We of course were so happy for them, but still terribly nervous ourselves. About 5 minutes later we were called.

Up until this time, everyone we had seen, all the security, all the folks behind the windows, all the assistances, seemed to be Colombian. They ones I spoke English to, could not understand me. (I do not speak Spanish.) They all also seemed to be "extremely business like", bordering on rude.

The man that interviewed Adri was an American, but Adri said his Spanish was very good. He was still business like, but not so terse.

When she got to the window and picked up the phone, she said, "Buenos tardes." He looked at his watch and said in Spanish something like, "What? No, not yet. Don't scare me like that." He was very personable, asked a couple of questions in Spanish like, "Where did you meet?", "Has Danny met your son?", "How does your son feel about him?" Then without warning he switched to English and said, "So where did you learn English?" and finished the interview with a few questions in English. Since Adri is so fluent in English and in the English e-mails she sent to me, I'm sure he was just checking to make sure the e-mails and her communications were really from her. After about 3 or 4 minutes of questioning, he handed her a slip of paper and said we could pick up the visa the next day at 4:00. (WOO HOO)

I was standing about 5 feet from her, but he never asked to talk to me. At the end of the interview he handed us back the pictures we submitted last April when we started the process. He never asked for the additional proof of the relationship that we prepared for the interview; they had all the previous paperwork.

Next day, picking up visas - -

They would only let the beneficiaries in, the sponsors had to stand outside the embassy. I saw Jose Carlos who told me the embassy was not able to get theirs done on the previous afternoon (the same day as the interview) so he had to come on the following day, like us. I am speculating that since he was from Barrenquilla, they might have tried to get his visa completed on the interview day. Adri lives in Bogota. so they might have planned ours for the following day.

They would not let anyone in the gates until 4:00. They then passed out the visas in the same order as they were approved on the day before. We were one of the last, but still Adri got out by about 4:30. She had the visa and a sealed envalope to give to the US Immigration officer at her point of entry. The embassy official was joking some and said the envalope contained a letter that basically said, "If this person does not get married in 90 days, here is the address you should hunt them down at." :-)

While the beneficiaries were inside getting the visas, the sponsors who were there were chatting out side. I met a man (non-VJer) that said that his fiancee had an interview one week before and was denied. He said that according to his fiancee, the lady that interviewed her denied everyone that day. She was told she did not have enough proof of relationship and asked why her fiance was not there to support her if they had the relationship. They man I met said that after this, he flew down to Bogota for the re-interview on the 28th and that he and his fiancee brought "tons" of extra proof of relationship documents. On the 28th, his fiancee got the same interviewer as my fiancee did. This interviewer did not even ask to talk to him, just as I was not asked to speak to the interviewer either. Perhaps just being there was sufficient.

We then left, bought plane tickets for Adri and her son and went home to celebrate with her family. Some tears of joy and some tears of sadness that she would be leaving.

I'm too tired to go back and proof read this, but if any of you have specific questions, feel free to post them or e-mail me.

There is one thing I wanted to mention. Adri and her son were getting K1 and K2 visas. We were told her son not only did not need to be there, but that children were not allowed. This did not seem to be the case. There were a number of kids in the interview process. Adri took her son the second day when she picked up the visa. It was not a problem.

This board has been so wonderful to me in getting us through the process, I hope this helps some of you in your expectations of the interview process.

[aliciaandfran 0]

Thanks so much for sharing!!! I loved reading it...thanks for including all of the details!!!

[carldecolorado 0]

Thanks so much for sharing!!! I loved reading it...thanks for including all of the details!!!

Thank you so much for all the info!! Luisa has her interview in the morning, and we are both very nervous!! I hope she does not get that lady that denies every visa! Seems like I have read quite a few posts about this lady in recent weeks!! I will be sure to let everyone know how everything goes as soon as I have news!!

Carl

[Ladylethal 12]

Congratulations !!!

[wileastmot 0]

I'm so happy for your family! I have a save trip back to the US on Oct. 14th.

Rhonda

[Rodney 0]

Congratulations. Thanks for the detail. I will be going throung all of this around the 1st of December.

[tamara143 1]

congrats!

[jmwprof03 0]

congrats!

wooooooooo! i am smiling from ear to ear for you guys! i like the detailed post.

now, i wish carldecolordaro and jpine much luck. you guys have your interviews before carlos and i. we have it on halloween.

[salgood411 0]

Congratulations and thank you very much for the commentary on the process at the embassy. Commenting on the post we are following we believe that our packet 3 was also lost in the mail. The embassy received our petition on 9/5/06 and still no packet 3.

[sheeba 0]

Congratz!

[Peter Miami 0]

Hi Danny,

Congratulations to Adri and you. I am very happy for guys. Another eleven days and Adri will be here with you and you can really celebrate. Thank you for the interview details.

Good luck,

Peter Miami

[ovet16 0]

congratulations...

[Peter Miami 0]

Congratulations and thank you very much for the commentary on the process at the embassy. Commenting on the post we are following we believe that our packet 3 was also lost in the mail. The embassy received our petition on 9/5/06 and still no packet 3.

Salgood411,

Did you guys do any of the tips I wrote about in the “Colombian Club” thread? Or how about this piece?

“Once the petition gets to the Embassy you or your fiancée faxes and sends by courier (Servientrega); a copy of your fiancées passport, OF-169, DS-2001 and DS-230 part 1. If the Embassy gets these documents before the cut-off date (varies from month to month 16th to the 20th) then you get the interview the following month. If not by the cut-off date you get the interview the month after that.”

Peter Miami

[salgood411 0]

Thanks Peter, will try that. We did do it before but because of incomplete information only faxed the 230 and 156. Did not send any hard copies either. My fiance(e) was told over the phone that they did not accept faxed copies.

[Danny&Adri 1]

The embassy received our petition on 9/5/06 and still no packet 3.

Thanks to everyone for the good wishes. We are definitely excited!

salgood -- We got our packet 3 quickly in Bogota, however I heard news from others that the packets sent to other places, Cali or Barrenquilla, were quite a bit slower... but a month seems like a long time.

Check out the process for calling the embassy... with the PIN number. I heard a couple of folks stating it was lost in the mail.

ALSO - please note your new number on the notice from the NVC, beginning with "BOG". You will find that is the number they use on the web site to show your interview date.