Colombia Club Part IV

[Ryan76 46]

My wife reminded me - You will also be asked, "How do you communicate?" If you reply, "The language of LOVE!" you might get a thumbs down. Good thing your Fiance is taking English classes.

haha, actually they never asked her that...she said it was way, way easy. They asked what my profession was, when we met, what her profession was, and how my family felt about it...that was basically it for the interview. She said they didn't even look at all the pictures, and there were no trick questions or anything! They just took her forms, asked her those basic few questions, then smiled and said "your visa is approved" She was out of there by 8:47am.

So now i've got a random question for you....I'm preparing to buy her plane ticket. She wants to visit her family in Cienaga first and work a few more weeks to leave her mom with some more money, and we're aiming for an August 16 arrival date. Probably going to buy her plane ticket within the next few days. Will it be cheaper to send her money to buy the ticket, or can i buy the ticket for her from one of my preferred travel sites like cheapoair.com? Might be a dumb question, but if I want to buy her ticket online, how exactly do i do it? Just enter all her info, pay for it, and then send her the email with the e-ticket number?

[Ken y Leidys 20]

haha, actually they never asked her that...she said it was way, way easy. They asked what my profession was, when we met, what her profession was, and how my family felt about it...that was basically it for the interview. She said they didn't even look at all the pictures, and there were no trick questions or anything! They just took her forms, asked her those basic few questions, then smiled and said "your visa is approved" She was out of there by 8:47am.

So now i've got a random question for you....I'm preparing to buy her plane ticket. She wants to visit her family in Cienaga first and work a few more weeks to leave her mom with some more money, and we're aiming for an August 16 arrival date. Probably going to buy her plane ticket within the next few days. Will it be cheaper to send her money to buy the ticket, or can i buy the ticket for her from one of my preferred travel sites like cheapoair.com? Might be a dumb question, but if I want to buy her ticket online, how exactly do i do it? Just enter all her info, pay for it, and then send her the email with the e-ticket number?

That interview sounded like a breeze. Good to hear this! As for an airline ticket purchase, I would first confirm with your Fiance precisely when she is comfortable leaving Colombia. When my Wife's Visa was approved (early October), there were 3 1/2 weeks until her Birthday. I gave her a lead-time of 6 weeks since I would have the week of Thanksgiving off from work. This also gave her the opportunity to decorate her family's house for Christmas - her favorite holiday of the year. So, when Leidys arrived in late November, she was emotionally ready to be in the US and had plenty of time to visit with her amigas and familia. She had time to emotionally move here w/o too much sadness for missing everyone she knew all her life.

Ask your Fiance to purchase the one-way ticket since she will need her Cedula to make the ticket purchase. I attempted to purchase Leidys' one-way ticket at Copaair.com - but it was a complicated procedure involving her Cedula# and I knew if I made a mistake, getting my money back would take even more time. If your Fiance needs time to work and help her Mother, I would give her as much time as she needed since weddings are expensive and I did not have extra $$ to wire back to my wife's family on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. Also, if you give your Fiance time to work, she will understand that it will take her efforts to provide for her family back home in Colombia.

If you purchase your Fiance's ticket on-line, just have her Cedula# and any other related information ahead of time. You can call the airline hotline and with the help of a bilingual ticketing agent and your Fiance on the other line, I am sure you could also make the purchase quickly. But, my advice is to do things in the less direct way in order that your Fiance can go through with her emotional inventory work. She will be in utter pain for the first 6 months that she is here without her family. My Wife was, and all of her friends from this forum went through it as well.

My Wife and her ENTIRE FAMILY hired a full bus to take her to the airport! Everyone crying the whole way, no less...

[Ken y Leidys 20]

Hey Ken! It's nice to see you around here. I was thinking of you guys because I saw the commercial for the Colombian Festival in Anaheim next week. Looks like fun.

Take care and thanks for dropping by.

Diana

I'm getting nostalgic, Diana... I met my Wife exactly four years ago (this Thursday July 12th). This forum and your advice prepared me so well for what to do. I even was able to anticipate the difficult Consular interviews and still make it through with flying colors thanks to everyone here at Visa Journey.

Good luck with your Consular interviews, everyone! You came to the right place for help!

[Mononoke28 134]

Hello.

Follow up question to your response. At what point can you make the appointment though? I, like happyturtles, am waiting for the application to be received from Bogota from the NVC.

1. Are we sent an email notification stating that that has happened?

2. At what point are you able to make the appointment online? Do you have to wait for the embassy to receive it and notify you (via email I assume?"

Thanks for your time.

The first thing you need to do is find out when the NVC will be sending the case to Bogotá or when they sent it if they already did. Wait about three days to give it time to arrive and email the embassy to ask them if they received it, don't forget to include your BGT#. If they have, they will send you the instructions package via email and that's when you can go to that link to register for the visa, pay for it online if you want to, choose your DHL delivery office and make the appointment for the interview.

Don't wait for them to contact you because they may never do, always be ahead of them and contact them first.

Diana

[Ryan76 46]

That interview sounded like a breeze. Good to hear this! As for an airline ticket purchase, I would first confirm with your Fiance precisely when she is comfortable leaving Colombia. When my Wife's Visa was approved (early October), there were 3 1/2 weeks until her Birthday. I gave her a lead-time of 6 weeks since I would have the week of Thanksgiving off from work. This also gave her the opportunity to decorate her family's house for Christmas - her favorite holiday of the year. So, when Leidys arrived in late November, she was emotionally ready to be in the US and had plenty of time to visit with her amigas and familia. She had time to emotionally move here w/o too much sadness for missing everyone she knew all her life.

Ask your Fiance to purchase the one-way ticket since she will need her Cedula to make the ticket purchase. I attempted to purchase Leidys' one-way ticket at Copaair.com - but it was a complicated procedure involving her Cedula# and I knew if I made a mistake, getting my money back would take even more time. If your Fiance needs time to work and help her Mother, I would give her as much time as she needed since weddings are expensive and I did not have extra $$ to wire back to my wife's family on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. Also, if you give your Fiance time to work, she will understand that it will take her efforts to provide for her family back home in Colombia.

If you purchase your Fiance's ticket on-line, just have her Cedula# and any other related information ahead of time. You can call the airline hotline and with the help of a bilingual ticketing agent and your Fiance on the other line, I am sure you could also make the purchase quickly. But, my advice is to do things in the less direct way in order that your Fiance can go through with her emotional inventory work. She will be in utter pain for the first 6 months that she is here without her family. My Wife was, and all of her friends from this forum went through it as well.

Good advice, that's sort of what i'm trying to do in regards to giving her time now with her family, and giving her time to work to leave more money with her family. She's going to go to Cienaga to see her aunts, and take time to emotionally prepare. We're looking at an August 16 or 17 arrival date.

I guess the most important question about plane tickets is which way is cheaper, me buying it or her buying it, or should it be the same either way? Our plan is for her to fly into Miami or Ft Lauderdale and I will fly there to meet her, then we'll go visit my family in Fort Myers for a few days or a week and then fly back to Indianapolis together. I use cheapoair.com most of the time and i had seen a flight from Bogota to Ft. Lauderdale for $219...and I'm wondering if she can basically find the same rate if she's buying the ticket herself in Bogota. I don't think cheapoair has a spanish site, and I don't know if my fiancee is comfortable enough with her english to make a purchase of this magnitude on an english-only website. I just would hate to have to send her $400 for a ticket when I could've gotten it online here for $200 or $300.

Also, when purchasing our tickets from Fort Myers to Indy, I assume i will just need her passport number, name, birth date and that's pretty much it, right?

[Mononoke28 134]

Good advice, that's sort of what i'm trying to do in regards to giving her time now with her family, and giving her time to work to leave more money with her family. She's going to go to Cienaga to see her aunts, and take time to emotionally prepare. We're looking at an August 16 or 17 arrival date.

I guess the most important question about plane tickets is which way is cheaper, me buying it or her buying it, or should it be the same either way? Our plan is for her to fly into Miami or Ft Lauderdale and I will fly there to meet her, then we'll go visit my family in Fort Myers for a few days or a week and then fly back to Indianapolis together. I use cheapoair.com most of the time and i had seen a flight from Bogota to Ft. Lauderdale for $219...and I'm wondering if she can basically find the same rate if she's buying the ticket herself in Bogota. I don't think cheapoair has a spanish site, and I don't know if my fiancee is comfortable enough with her english to make a purchase of this magnitude on an english-only website. I just would hate to have to send her $400 for a ticket when I could've gotten it online here for $200 or $300.

Also, when purchasing our tickets from Fort Myers to Indy, I assume i will just need her passport number, name, birth date and that's pretty much it, right?

I bought my husband's ticket online from the US and then we flew together after he got his visa. Don't know if it was cheaper that way or not because we didn't check over there before I bought it, however, my mother flies back and forth every year and we've found that prices are pretty much the same if you purchase them in Colombia vs. here in the US. She can call the airlines to get quotes and compare them to the prices you're getting here.

All she needs is her passport to fly nationally. By the way, take lots of pictures with your family as you will need to send more evidence of your relationship with your AOS package.

Diana

[Ryan76 46]

Yes I think i will just send her the money for a plane ticket and let her buy it her self. Then I will buy our tickets to fly from Florida back to Indianapolis.

I do have another question...when should we see a reference or "waybill" number for the DHL delivery of her passport? She was approved Friday morning. I just checked the Visa website again and it still says there is no waybill number. I know they say it can take up to 10 days but most people on here said it usually only takes 4 or 5 days to receive it. Should I have her call the Embassy tomorrow or should we just chill out and wait for a couple more days?

Also, thanks for the advice about photos for the AOS package...but i don't think it will be a problem..I always have my camera hanging around my neck and I will have LOTS of photos of her and my family, and the whole process will be very well documented.

[Ken y Leidys 20]

All she needs is her passport to fly nationally. By the way, take lots of pictures with your family as you will need to send more evidence of your relationship with your AOS package.

Diana

Diana - At my AOS Interview, the CO just yelled at us for 50 minutes. He argued with me about my financial forms that I had (all in order, thanks to VJ!) and yelled at me because I couldn't understand his Español w/a lisp, and at minute 45, I became tired of watching him try to break my wife down (to cry), so I pushed a photo in front of him - my Mother, Leidys and I standing at my Father's Military Memorial Ceremony. That shut him up. I just stared out the window by that point, because I don't let people yell at me for the hell of it.

Photographic proof, boarding itineraries, hotel receipts, etc. are very helpful. So will be letters from the employer showing that the spouse was added to their insurance - showing financial liability are very important. It is a good idea to start preparing the AOS packet after the K-1 is approved. It just doesn't stop, does it...

[Mononoke28 134]

Diana - At my AOS Interview, the CO just yelled at us for 50 minutes. He argued with me about my financial forms that I had (all in order, thanks to VJ!) and yelled at me because I couldn't understand his Español w/a lisp, and at minute 45, I became tired of watching him try to break my wife down (to cry), so I pushed a photo in front of him - my Mother, Leidys and I standing at my Father's Military Memorial Ceremony. That shut him up. I just stared out the window by that point, because I don't let people yell at me for the hell of it.

Photographic proof, boarding itineraries, hotel receipts, etc. are very helpful. So will be letters from the employer showing that the spouse was added to their insurance - showing financial liability are very important. It is a good idea to start preparing the AOS packet after the K-1 is approved. It just doesn't stop, does it...

No, it doesn't. A couple of weeks ago I read a post from a member who's having an interview for her Removal of Conditions which is very, very rare, but it does happen. It's always a good idea to keep this stuff around just in case.

Diana

[Ryan76 46]

Hey guys! My fiancee is about to get her plane ticket. We tried last night but her computer kept timing out so she's going to do it today at work.

She seems worried because she saw a message that says she "may be required at the airport to show proof of her return flight". I told her i was 99.9% sure that does not apply to her and people with the K-1, and she shouldn't worry about it. But I wanted to make sure there wasn't some sort of weird circumstance I wasn't aware of, like having to buy round trip in case we decide not to get married or something (which isn't going to happen because we're getting married the week she arrives!!) I told her this was for tourist or business visas but not for K-1.

I'm not missing anything here, right?

[Mononoke28 134]

Hey guys! My fiancee is about to get her plane ticket. We tried last night but her computer kept timing out so she's going to do it today at work.

She seems worried because she saw a message that says she "may be required at the airport to show proof of her return flight". I told her i was 99.9% sure that does not apply to her and people with the K-1, and she shouldn't worry about it. But I wanted to make sure there wasn't some sort of weird circumstance I wasn't aware of, like having to buy round trip in case we decide not to get married or something (which isn't going to happen because we're getting married the week she arrives!!) I told her this was for tourist or business visas but not for K-1.

I'm not missing anything here, right?

That's correct. She can buy a one-way ticket if she wants to since she is using a visa with the intention to reside permanently in the US, so a return ticket is not needed.

Diana

[Ken y Leidys 20]

That's correct. She can buy a one-way ticket if she wants to since she is using a visa with the intention to reside permanently in the US, so a return ticket is not needed.

Diana

Exactly what my wife Leidys did. Also, on the I-134 (I think), she will fill this out when she touches down at the airport and walks through Customs. You won't be able to have any contact with her as she walks through Customs, but she will be able to answer these questions herself. Congratulations!

[Ryan76 46]

I feel like every time I think I'm in clear and we are done with stressing out, something new happens to make me worry. Please help me try to understand this.

My fiancee bought her plane tickets, and she had her Aunt's travel agent help her. And the travel agent, as well as LAN and Avianca airlines who she called, told her that because of some kind of taxes it was actually cheaper to buy a round trip ticket, or a one way ticket with an unpaid reservation for the way back...i'm not even exactly sure.

So she sent me this itinerary in Spanish and I see it has round trip info, so naturally i'm confused, and she explained to me about the cost and taxes. I originally sent her $500 for her flight and this was about the cost of her round trip ticket, so the money isn't an issue at all. I'm just worried that someone at customs, either in Colombia or in the US is going to ask her why she has a round trip ticket when she is flying to the USA to get married on a Fiancee visa. Now I'm worried that this is going to cause a problem, because it specifically says in the K-1 guidelines that you cannot leave the USA for 8 months after being married. I reminded my fiancee of this, and now she's stressed about it too and wondering if she should cancel the return flight (the return flight i told her NOT to get in the first place!) Ugh. It seems like she keeps getting advice from people in Colombia and it's the wrong advice. Or maybe I'm the one who is confused here. Can someone give me some advice on all this?

[Ryan76 46]

I feel like every time I think I'm in clear and we are done with stressing out, something new happens to make me worry. Please help me try to understand this.

My fiancee bought her plane tickets, and she had her Aunt's travel agent help her. And the travel agent, as well as LAN and Avianca airlines who she called, told her that because of some kind of taxes it was actually cheaper to buy a round trip ticket, or a one way ticket with an unpaid reservation for the way back...i'm not even exactly sure.

So she sent me this itinerary in Spanish and I see it has round trip info, so naturally i'm confused, and she explained to me about the cost and taxes. I originally sent her $500 for her flight and this was about the cost of her round trip ticket, so the money isn't an issue at all. I'm just worried that someone at customs, either in Colombia or in the US is going to ask her why she has a round trip ticket when she is flying to the USA to get married on a Fiancee visa. Now I'm worried that this is going to cause a problem, because it specifically says in the K-1 guidelines that you cannot leave the USA for 8 months after being married. I reminded my fiancee of this, and now she's stressed about it too and wondering if she should cancel the return flight (the return flight i told her NOT to get in the first place!) Ugh. It seems like she keeps getting advice from people in Colombia and it's the wrong advice. Or maybe I'm the one who is confused here. Can someone give me some advice on all this?

I think i had my question properly answered in the main K-1 forum. They basically said it's no big deal, and we should just cancel the return flight ticket after she arrives. And if anyone in customs asks questions about why she bought a round-trip, she should just say it was cheaper, and there won't be any problems with any of this?

Do you guys concur?

[Mononoke28 134]

I think i had my question properly answered in the main K-1 forum. They basically said it's no big deal, and we should just cancel the return flight ticket after she arrives. And if anyone in customs asks questions about why she bought a round-trip, she should just say it was cheaper, and there won't be any problems with any of this?

Do you guys concur?

Yes, absolutely. One way tickets are for the most part less expensive than round trip tickets, however, every now and then a round trip ticket will be less expensive than buying one one way. Most people will purchase the less expensive one no matter what it s because we all want to save a few bucks and immigration knows this. So, if for some odd reason they ask, she just needs to tell them the truth, that it was less expensive to buy a round trip ticket vs. one way. No big deal.

Diana