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Filed: Timeline
Posted

So, in planning to marry my Colombian fiance (who has a child) in Colombia, I ran into the pesky problem of seeing that they require a birth certificate that is issued no more than 90 days prior to wedding. My problem is I have one issued in 1987, in Russia, and it was translated and apostillized in Moscow in 1994 when my family moved to the U.S. So it is valid in Colombia, but it certainly has not been issued within 3 months. For me to get a new one from Moscow is almost an impossible process. It would come down to me having to go there, at which point the Russian Government might make me stay there and go to the army. No joke, official advice from lawyers my family has spoken with. And there's also the "freedom from marriage" proof I need...

So... what do I do? Two options/questions.

1.) Any way to get around this 90 day requirement? Since it is accepted as a legal document in the U.S., can I somehow get a notarized statement from a U.S. attorney saying it is valid? Anything I can do without actually getting a new one issued from freaking Moscow?

2.) We could get married in Trinidad & Tobago. No visa required for her. And marriage requirements are basically just a passport for me, an ID for her, that's more or less it. The problem is... I've been trying to dig into Colombian law and more and more, I feel that for the marriage to be registered in Colombia, she would basically have to present my birth certificate issued no more than 90 days ago... i.e. same roadblock. But this got me wondering... if she were ever to do a CR1 interview at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, would that embassy accept the Trinidad & Tobago marriage certificate? Or would they require that this marriage is first officially registered in Colombia?

3.) If I make a sworn statement in the U.S. that I am not married and have never been, and it is notarized and apostillized, will this be sufficient?

Lastly, what affect will her child have as it pertains specifically to the points I raised (so forgetting for now about child's permission, etc.) ?

ANY help would help... Send me a private message if you would like. I am just going a little nuts because for us, CR1 is by far the best route and I feel like my only choice is becoming the K1... Which would delay us living together by 3-4 years. Help?

Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Ireland
Timeline
Posted

*** Moving from CR-1 to South Americas Regional forum as questions are Colombia specific ****

I can;t answer your Colombian questions, and I so think the CR-1 is generally the superior visa, but why do you think the K1 would delay you 3-4 years?

Bye: Penguin

Me: Irish/ Swiss citizen, and now naturalised US citizen. Husband: USC; twin babies born Feb 08 in Ireland and a daughter in Feb 2010 in Arkansas who are all joint Irish/ USC. Did DCF (IR1) in 6 weeks via the Dublin, Ireland embassy and now living in Arkansas.

mod penguin.jpg

Filed: Timeline
Posted
  On 3/13/2012 at 9:22 AM, Penguin_ie said:

*** Moving from CR-1 to South Americas Regional forum as questions are Colombia specific ****

I can;t answer your Colombian questions, and I so think the CR-1 is generally the superior visa, but why do you think the K1 would delay you 3-4 years?

Because I will be living in a country other than the U.S. for at least the next 3-4 years. To have her be able to live and work in that other country, she has to be married to me. If she is married to me, she will have to do a CR1 visa. The other choice is for her to not marry me, visit me in the country where I will be (which costs a lot), and then marry me through a K1 once I am back in the U.S. That is why CR1>K1 for me :(

Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Wales
Timeline
Posted

are you sure that is the requirement?

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Colombia
Timeline
Posted

Colombians are very strict about having recent documents issued before doing anything. Same goes for notary seals and apostilles. What your fiancée needs to do is go to the notary who will be taking care of your marriage paperwork and ask them for advice on what you can do. Tell her to ask what other options you may have given the circumstances. This way you'll be 100% sure of what you need to do, if anything, since they're the ones marrying you.

If you decide to get married outside of Colombia, you will have to register the marriage if you want it to be legal in Colombia. Since you're filing for her visa in the US, then all you need is a copy of the marriage certificate to submit with form I-130. The US recognizes most marriages, so it won't be a problem.

Any particular reason why you're not considering a K1 visa vs. a CR1 visa? I'm usually against a K1 visa since the person has to file for Adjustment of Status once they arrive in the US, something you don't need to do with a CR1 visa, but in this case it would make it easier to get a K1 visa and get married in the US without all that hassle.

Diana

CR-1

02/05/07 - I-130 sent to NSC

05/03/07 - NOA2

05/10/07 - NVC receives petition, case # assigned

08/08/07 - Case Complete

09/27/07 - Interview, visa granted

10/02/07 - POE

11/16/07 - Received green card and Welcome to America letter in the mail

Removing Conditions

07/06/09 - I-751 sent to CSC

08/14/09 - Biometrics

09/27/09 - Approved

10/01/09 - Received 10 year green card

U.S. Citizenship

03/30/11 - N-400 sent via Priority Mail w/ delivery confirmation

05/12/11 - Biometrics

07/20/11 - Interview - passed

07/20/11 - Oath ceremony - same day as interview

Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Ireland
Timeline
Posted

If you are going to be outside the US for so long, she will loose her greencard again unless you are military or similar. One option may be to get married in the country you are moving to, or trying to get her a tourist visa (long shot, but not impossible) and get married in the USA.

Bye: Penguin

Me: Irish/ Swiss citizen, and now naturalised US citizen. Husband: USC; twin babies born Feb 08 in Ireland and a daughter in Feb 2010 in Arkansas who are all joint Irish/ USC. Did DCF (IR1) in 6 weeks via the Dublin, Ireland embassy and now living in Arkansas.

mod penguin.jpg

Filed: Timeline
Posted
  On 3/13/2012 at 6:11 PM, Penguin_ie said:

If you are going to be outside the US for so long, she will loose her greencard again unless you are military or similar. One option may be to get married in the country you are moving to, or trying to get her a tourist visa (long shot, but not impossible) and get married in the USA.

I want a CR1 as opposed to a K1 because a K1 is not a spousal visa, it is a visa for her to enter the US to marry. I will live in Rwanda for 3-4 years. I want to get married and live in Rwanda... before applying for any visa. But for her to be able to live with me in Rwanda, she needs to be married to me... So I would have to marry outside of the U.S.

It makes sense to me that if she wants to enter the U.S., only the U.S. has to accept the marriage. My only concern is she also has a daughter. The father will give permission, but I wonder if somehow Colombian law says that in order to leave the country with her daughter, she must be married to someone else. I HIGHLY doubt that, but who knows.

Any consequence of not registering the marriage in Colombia, if she is moving to the U.S.? I mean... we would probably get it registered eventually, but the process through Russia would be horrible.

Filed: Timeline
Posted
  On 3/13/2012 at 6:23 PM, nebodihome said:

I want a CR1 as opposed to a K1 because a K1 is not a spousal visa, it is a visa for her to enter the US to marry. I will live in Rwanda for 3-4 years. I want to get married and live in Rwanda... before applying for any visa. But for her to be able to live with me in Rwanda, she needs to be married to me... So I would have to marry outside of the U.S.

It makes sense to me that if she wants to enter the U.S., only the U.S. has to accept the marriage. My only concern is she also has a daughter. The father will give permission, but I wonder if somehow Colombian law says that in order to leave the country with her daughter, she must be married to someone else. I HIGHLY doubt that, but who knows.

Any consequence of not registering the marriage in Colombia, if she is moving to the U.S.? I mean... we would probably get it registered eventually, but the process through Russia would be horrible.

Getting her a tourist visa to where I am moving, Rwanda, is a piece of cake. In fact, all of that is easy. We can get married in Trinidad and Tobago, in fact, and then she can get a dependent-of-temporary-worker pass to live with me in Rwanda. Or she could enter Rwanda on a tourist visa and we get married there, or in Kenya. Again, my only concern is when the time comes for her to come to the U.S. and she interviews in Bogota, and she seeks official permission to take her kid to the U.S., if the Colombian authorities will say, "WAIT... but you did not register your marriage in COLOMBIA!" That is the only roadblock. The getting married in another country is not a roadblock. The roadblock is whether Colombia has to have it registered in Colombia prior to letting her leave with her daughter to the U.S. on a CR1...

Posted
  On 3/13/2012 at 6:28 PM, nebodihome said:

Getting her a tourist visa to where I am moving, Rwanda, is a piece of cake. In fact, all of that is easy. We can get married in Trinidad and Tobago, in fact, and then she can get a dependent-of-temporary-worker pass to live with me in Rwanda. Or she could enter Rwanda on a tourist visa and we get married there, or in Kenya. Again, my only concern is when the time comes for her to come to the U.S. and she interviews in Bogota, and she seeks official permission to take her kid to the U.S., if the Colombian authorities will say, "WAIT... but you did not register your marriage in COLOMBIA!" That is the only roadblock. The getting married in another country is not a roadblock. The roadblock is whether Colombia has to have it registered in Colombia prior to letting her leave with her daughter to the U.S. on a CR1...

Did you post here a little while ago trying to figure some of this out? Your situation rings a bell. If so, it seems you were able to make some decisions since then :thumbs:

Let's assume you get married in T&T or Kenya and then live in Rwanda together for a few years while you are working. When you decide it is time to move back to the US you can file the I-130 from Rwanda and then have her interview at the embassy in Nairobi (I think that is the embassy in charge of immigrant petitions for that area) eliminating the need for your fiancee to return to Columbia.

If you take this route there are some issues that would need to be addressed. Such as you would most likely need a co-sponsor for the I-864 unless your income is US based. Also I believe at some point in the CR/IR process you will have to prove domicile in US such as current bank account and residence. There are topics on this site about how to prove domicile while living abroad you should do a search for them. It will take some effort but you have time to prepare.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Filed: Timeline
Posted
  On 3/13/2012 at 7:04 PM, beejay said:

Did you post here a little while ago trying to figure some of this out? Your situation rings a bell. If so, it seems you were able to make some decisions since then :thumbs:

Let's assume you get married in T&T or Kenya and then live in Rwanda together for a few years while you are working. When you decide it is time to move back to the US you can file the I-130 from Rwanda and then have her interview at the embassy in Nairobi (I think that is the embassy in charge of immigrant petitions for that area) eliminating the need for your fiancee to return to Columbia.

If you take this route there are some issues that would need to be addressed. Such as you would most likely need a co-sponsor for the I-864 unless your income is US based. Also I believe at some point in the CR/IR process you will have to prove domicile in US such as current bank account and residence. There are topics on this site about how to prove domicile while living abroad you should do a search for them. It will take some effort but you have time to prepare.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

I know I cannot actually file the I-130 from Nairobi because they recently stopped accepting DCF unless the person resides there. But perhaps she may still be able to interview there. Still, I fear for some of the negative fallout of never registering in her own country. Also, I wonder if her having a daughter complicates things specifically as it relates to the issued raised in this post... i.e., will Colombia require for her to prove she is married before letting her leave with her daughter to live in another country? Or should a permission for the daughter's father be all that is needed?

And yes, I was on here before and the situation has evolved :)

Filed: Timeline
Posted

Well, I just spoke to http://www.visasamericanas.com/ by calling their Bogota number and spoke with a man named Diego. He was excellent, speaks both English and Spanish very well. I don't know how 100% I would trust them to assist me with the entire process since they are obviously a site dedicated to working with foreigners who want to marry a Colombian... But he gave me some very clear info: I can marry in Trinidad and Tobago, and this marriage should not have to be registered in Colombia to be valid for my then-spouse's visa interview. He said that for her to leave Colombia, it has to do with U.S. law and not Colombian law. Just like she could leave to travel to Disney Land if she had the proper visa, the Colombian government has no say in whether she can leave or not, it's only the U.S. government, and if they accept Trinidad and Tobago's marriage certificate, then that's all that she needs. He also said that her daughter has no effect on this at all, as long as she is given permission to leave by the father and, again, it has nothing to do with her marriage status in Colombia.

This was all probably more or less obvious to everyone, but I love to have things cleared up! Again, I don't know if I would work with them all the way because I think they would charge me way too much, but in terms of being a good informational resource, I definitely recommend them!!!

Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Brazil
Timeline
Posted (edited)
  On 3/13/2012 at 8:29 PM, nebodihome said:

Well, I just spoke to http://www.visasamericanas.com/ by calling their Bogota number and spoke with a man named Diego. He was excellent, speaks both English and Spanish very well. I don't know how 100% I would trust them to assist me with the entire process since they are obviously a site dedicated to working with foreigners who want to marry a Colombian... But he gave me some very clear info: I can marry in Trinidad and Tobago, and this marriage should not have to be registered in Colombia to be valid for my then-spouse's visa interview. He said that for her to leave Colombia, it has to do with U.S. law and not Colombian law. Just like she could leave to travel to Disney Land if she had the proper visa, the Colombian government has no say in whether she can leave or not, it's only the U.S. government, and if they accept Trinidad and Tobago's marriage certificate, then that's all that she needs. He also said that her daughter has no effect on this at all, as long as she is given permission to leave by the father and, again, it has nothing to do with her marriage status in Colombia.

This was all probably more or less obvious to everyone, but I love to have things cleared up! Again, I don't know if I would work with them all the way because I think they would charge me way too much, but in terms of being a good informational resource, I definitely recommend them!!!

That sounds right what Diego advised you.

Not sure where you are coming up with the birth certificate for the foreigner needing to be issued within 90 days, mine wasn't and it was fine at the notary we went to. Not all notaries are the same in Colombia so you would have to feel that out. I remember the Apostilles needing to be within 90 days. The best thing to do is go to the notary where you will marry and ask them what they specifically require, reading online is not the best in that regard because notaries do things differently. Looks like you are going to T&T to get married so that is cool, you can bypass all of the getting married in Colombia part. You can get the declaration for single status at the local court house. They will do a marriage record search for you and give you a declaration that they cannot find any marriage records for you, that is what I did, it did not seem like an exhaustive search of all US jurisdictions, but it got the job done. When you submit all the documents, the notary reviews them and backs to you and lets you'll know if the documents submitted are in good order. Hope it works out for you.

Edited by Orando

Our Visa Journey

12-10-2011: Married

01-03-2012: I-130 Mailed

01-09-2012: NOA1

05-16-2012: NOA2

06-04-2012: NVC Received

11-27-2012: NVC Case Complete

01-23-2013: Interview in Bogota (pending medical results)

02-13-2013: Visa Approved

03-20-2013: POE - Miami

Filed: Timeline
Posted
  On 3/13/2012 at 10:16 PM, Orando said:

That sounds right what Diego advised you.

Not sure where you are coming up with the birth certificate for the foreigner needing to be issued within 90 days, mine wasn't and it was fine at the notary we went to. Not all notaries are the same in Colombia so you would have to feel that out. I remember the Apostilles needing to be within 90 days. The best thing to do is go to the notary where you will marry and ask them what they specifically require, reading online is not the best in that regard because notaries do things differently. Looks like you are going to T&T to get married so that is cool, you can bypass all of the getting married in Colombia part. You can get the declaration for single status at the local court house. They will do a marriage record search for you and give you a declaration that they cannot find any marriage records for you, that is what I did, it did not seem like an exhaustive search of all US jurisdictions, but it got the job done. When you submit all the documents, the notary reviews them and backs to you and lets you'll know if the documents submitted are in good order. Hope it works out for you.

Yes, you are right that it only needs to be apostillized, but I can only do that in Russia also, so it's the same thing for me as getting a new one issued. Same problems.

Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Brazil
Timeline
Posted
  On 3/13/2012 at 10:36 PM, nebodihome said:

Yes, you are right that it only needs to be apostillized, but I can only do that in Russia also, so it's the same thing for me as getting a new one issued. Same problems.

Yeah, you would need an exception granted....it is in the realm of possibilities though...1994 is a long time ago for the apostille, but the information is still good and legit...just have to convince the notary of that...

Our Visa Journey

12-10-2011: Married

01-03-2012: I-130 Mailed

01-09-2012: NOA1

05-16-2012: NOA2

06-04-2012: NVC Received

11-27-2012: NVC Case Complete

01-23-2013: Interview in Bogota (pending medical results)

02-13-2013: Visa Approved

03-20-2013: POE - Miami

 
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