Attention Columbian VJ'ers: New Bogota Columbia Embassy Visa Delivery Service

[Captain Ewok 1,858]

Note:

The Bogota Columbia Embassy has a new visa delivery service that goes into effect November 19th. As of Monday, all approved immigrant and fiancé(e) visas will be delivered by courier delivery service. This will likely impact many VJ'ers so I wanted to let you know. This information is directly from the IV Chief at the U.S. Embassy Bogota.

They also passed along some updated to the Bogota Embassy Info Page (I updated already):

* Someone wrote that fiancé(e)s and spouses were not allowed to attend interviews.

Not true! Spouses and fiancé(e)s are always invited and encouraged to attend their

loved one's interview.

* The email is working again. IVBogota@state.gov <mailto:IVBogota@state.gov> works

and we answer phone calls from the public on Weds from 2-4 at 011-57-1-315-1566

* Our new address is Carrera 45 No. 24B-27

Your users might be interested in taking a look at our list of scheduled

appointments. It's updated on/about the 15th of every month.

http://bogota.usembassy.gov/iv-appointments.html

Also just to throw it out there, K visa applicants have to pay at the bank because K

visas are technically nonimmigrant visas. They cost $100 and the Embassy collects

all nonimmigrant visa fees through the bank. Immigrant visas cost $380 and are paid

at the Embassy.

[Bill y Bella 0]

Note:

The Bogota Columbia Embassy has a new visa delivery service that goes into effect November 19th. As of Monday, all approved immigrant and fiancé(e) visas will be delivered by courier delivery service. This will likely impact many VJ'ers so I wanted to let you know. This information is directly from the IV Chief at the U.S. Embassy Bogota.

They also passed along some updated to the Bogota Embassy Info Page (I updated already):

* Someone wrote that fiancé(e)s and spouses were not allowed to attend interviews.

Not true! Spouses and fiancé(e)s are always invited and encouraged to attend their

loved one's interview.

* The email is working again. IVBogota@state.gov <mailto:IVBogota@state.gov> works

and we answer phone calls from the public on Weds from 2-4 at 011-57-1-315-1566

* Our new address is Carrera 45 No. 24B-27

Your users might be interested in taking a look at our list of scheduled

appointments. It's updated on/about the 15th of every month.

http://bogota.usembassy.gov/iv-appointments.html

Also just to throw it out there, K visa applicants have to pay at the bank because K

visas are technically nonimmigrant visas. They cost $100 and the Embassy collects

all nonimmigrant visa fees through the bank. Immigrant visas cost $380 and are paid

at the Embassy.

Thanks for the info.

I noticed the embassy info page still says that emails are not accepted in the "Best Way to Contact Consulate" section.

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

Note:

The Bogota Columbia Embassy has a new visa delivery service that goes into effect November 19th. As of Monday, all approved immigrant and fiancé(e) visas will be delivered by courier delivery service. This will likely impact many VJ'ers so I wanted to let you know. This information is directly from the IV Chief at the U.S. Embassy Bogota.

Please tell me where you got the info because so far I have'nt been able to confirm this and it concerns me because this will affect us BIG TIME!

[Captain Ewok 1,858]

Directly from the IV Chief at the U.S. Embassy Bogota. It is authentic.

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

Is there any specifics on wether there would be an option to pick up the visa at the embassy? Or have it delivered to the hotel that your staying?... especially if you and your fiance plan on departing from BOGOTA right after the visa is issued.

It just would'nt make sense to have it delivered hundreds of miles away when many couples plan on departing immediately upon receiving visa.

Please help if you can with these concerns.

Edited November 16, 2007 by Scott n Yenifer

[Scott n Yenifer 0]

Directly from the IV Chief at the U.S. Embassy Bogota. It is authentic.

Please help with previous post if you can...

Edited November 16, 2007 by Scott n Yenifer

[neophi 5]

If this is the case, the Embassy will probably use Domesa to send the visa to the beneficiary. If you're in Bogotá, that could take up to a week.

This is only speculation on my side, because I went to the Embassy in September to get my son his American passport. We had the option to either pick it up or have it mailed. There is a Domesa stand in the visa waiting area where you have to give your receipt number, name, cédula, and address. You pay about COP$25,000 for the service.

My wife waited about two weeks to get the passport in the mail. However, according to lady who issued the passport, the first week was additional processing at the Embassy or wherever, and the other week was the time it would take for the mail to arrive. My wife tells me that usually all other visa types are sent by mail (i.e. tourist visa, etc.) to begin with so she was not surprised. I guess spousal visas are/were the only ones available for pickup?

We'll see what happens.

Edited November 19, 2007 by neophi

[Brian and Yenys 0]

Note:

The Bogota Columbia Embassy has a new visa delivery service that goes into effect November 19th. As of Monday, all approved immigrant and fiancé(e) visas will be delivered by courier delivery service. This will likely impact many VJ'ers so I wanted to let you know. This information is directly from the IV Chief at the U.S. Embassy Bogota.

They also passed along some updated to the Bogota Embassy Info Page (I updated already):

* Someone wrote that fiancé(e)s and spouses were not allowed to attend interviews.

Not true! Spouses and fiancé(e)s are always invited and encouraged to attend their

loved one's interview.

* The email is working again. IVBogota@state.gov <mailto:IVBogota@state.gov> works

and we answer phone calls from the public on Weds from 2-4 at 011-57-1-315-1566

* Our new address is Carrera 45 No. 24B-27

Your users might be interested in taking a look at our list of scheduled

appointments. It's updated on/about the 15th of every month.

http://bogota.usembassy.gov/iv-appointments.html

Also just to throw it out there, K visa applicants have to pay at the bank because K

visas are technically nonimmigrant visas. They cost $100 and the Embassy collects

all nonimmigrant visa fees through the bank. Immigrant visas cost $380 and are paid

at the Embassy.

*********new policy went in to effect today**********

you must pay 50,000 Pesos or $30.00 and will be delivered to any city you want in Colombia in 8 DAYS!!!

This is now going to delay folks to depart.....

19 NOVEMBER 2007 and is official change now...thanks for the insight Capt Wookie !!!!!!!

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************8

[neophi 5]

Yeah, as I had suspected. Here's from the Colombia Club thread:

Hello everyone. I am not sure if anyone has responded to this yet, I am a bit behind of the forum happenings. Lina and I actually went to her interview today. I will post up more details when I get home in about a week. The quick and dirty version is that we showed up about 6am and went straight for line number three as per instructions here on the board. Waited for a while inside the embassy...take a jacket it is cold. The interview itself was done by a male CO and lasted maybe five minutes (no that is not an exaggeration). He only spoke to Lina and didn't ask to see any of our pictures or emails. In response to what you wrote Diana, yes picking up is no longer an option. The service cost 50 000 COP and takes about eight days (or so they said) to get to whatever city you want to have it sent to. I don't think things would have gone so well had it not been for the help I got here and I hope this can help somebody else. Good luck to everyone waiting, and thanks to everyone that helped out.