DylanandLaura

We received the passport and CRBA today. Total of 8 days from Interview to delivery. I think this was much faster than normal... 

I wanted to share a successful CRBA appointment at the Bogota Embassy so others have a future reference. My wife and I had a baby in early September and we booked the appointment for the CRBA that same day our daughter was born for October. On the day of the interview we entered the embassy through the American Citizen Services entrance, which is separate from the Visa entrance. They had three exterior security checkpoints and in the second checkpoint the security officer took our cell phones. We then entered the actual embassy and made a left to the American Citizen Services section. You are required to get a ticket and wait for your name to be called. During the first conversation with a consular officer, they check to see you have the CRBA/passport application with photo, passports and ID of parents, marriage certificate (divorce if you have been), original birth-certificate from the notary, supporting documentation proving physical presence such as college transcripts, high school transcripts, tax returns, certificate of movements and any other supporting documents. After the consular officer verifies you have all the documents to proceed, you are handed a paper detailing the fees to be paid for the CRBA, Passport and DHL shipping. In all, it was $210 for the passport and CRBA and $20.000 pesos for DHL, you can pay in pesos as well. You wait to be called again to pay your fees and after that there is an interview. The interview was intense and the consular officer asked many questions such as:
What elementary, middle and high school did you attend? Where was each of these schools? What university did you attend? For how long and what did you study? Do you live in Colombia? And if you do, for how long? Have you traveled abroad anytime during your life? And for how long? Where were you born? What was the name of the hospital? How long did you live in this city? Where do you work? How long have you worked there? (as well as previous employment) Are you married? How did you meet your spouse? Where did you get married? Among a few other questions...  
At the end of the interview the consular officer said I met the physical presence requirement and my baby's application would be approved. They stated it would take between 2 to 5 weeks to receive the documents and passport back. Hope that helps anyone preparing for CRBA at Bogota. 

Congratulations 

Hi i am also waiting for 150 days now. I heard you can contact your local senator office to expedite the process. I still have my ticket pending with USCIS though but I'm sure it isn't gonna be helpful

Still waiting as of October 31st, 2019. It says the immigrant fee was paid. My wife needs the card for peace of mind entry and exit to Colombia... When are they going to get this process over with????

Yeah my husband arrived October 26th, 2019. We paid about a week before that. Still no Green Card in hand. Website still says fee was received. Soon to consult my senator.

Hello all,
 
I am marrying my Fiance in the next week or two. She is from Venezuela and has overstayed her tourist visa (2 years now). She has her master hearing (final hearing) scheduled for Jan 8th, 2020. (We have already been to one hearing and she received a new court date in order to find a lawyer). We deiced the best route is marriage for us. 
 
I am going to bring the marriage certificate as well as proof of receipt of the appropriate USCIS documents.  Is there anything else I need?

We received the passport and CRBA today. Total of 8 days from Interview to delivery. I think this was much faster than normal... 

Based on that scan you should be good. Make sure the black dots or squares show up on the transcript scans..

This is a pretty specific question.  Does anyone know if we should include a UTMA account for Part 3 question 6 "Market value of my stocks and bonds"? 
 
I don't think a UTMA is either a stock or a bond, but it is an investment.  I do not need assets to get to the 125% over poverty line, my salary is plenty.  Let me know if anyone has an opinon!
 
Thanks

I believe my wife had 2 passport photos for the interview. Just the beneficiary needs the photos. It will say on the embassy website what each embassies requirements are. 

It needs to be a passport style photo. The size doesn't matter I believe. I submitted a large pdf photo of my wife, passport style and it was accepted. They are just trying to make sure you have the photos for the interview, I read in the past you could just insert a document explaining you would bring the photos to the interview. I'm surprised they gave you a checklist for that. 

A passport style photograph...

Okay, great. Thanks so much!

Based on that scan you should be good. Make sure the black dots or squares show up on the transcript scans..

Hi everyone

Me and my husband hired a lawyer to file our cr-1 visa for us, and we have been stuck at NVC stage since April, thats when we paid all fees and sent everything in. We have had 4 RFE's since then with NVC most them which are the lawyers fault (uploading the wrong papers, sending in "too" much paperwork, etc). We got another RFE on Oct 4 here, the Document that was Rejected this time was one called "POLICE CERTIFICATE (1st MARRIAGE-FINAL DIVORCE DECREE)" (this rejection was for me, the beneficiary), and yet it was accepted all the other times but now all a sudden its rejected. Our lawyer said he doesnt know why it got rejected and doesnt understand the description NVC gave us for why it was rejected. Our lawyer said he is going to email NVC and ask what is going on and to give a clear answer to us so we can upload the right documents but our lawyer also said "they can email him back or not, sometimes they dont" and kind of left us in the dark as to whats going on. Our lawyer said wait 7 days for him to get a email response from NVC and its been 2 weeks and all the lawyer keeps saying is "wait". Last time our lawyer said wait 10 days on something it turned into 2 months.
 
Me and my husband are lost on what to do, we keep getting rfes from NVC mostly due to the lawyer messing up or just telling us that they "dont know" whats happening. Me and my husband have started to try and call NVC on our own for weeks now to try and figure this out on our own but its impossible to get ahold of them due to they dont have a line where you can wait on hold. 
 
I personally didnt want to hire a lawyer, my husband insisted. I keep trying to tell my husband we need to fire the lawyer but he keeps siding with them for some reason and doesnt want to, even though they have uploaded the wrong things multiple times and always give us the answer "I dont know". Its very unprofessional in my opinion and is causing us delays in my opinion
 
Should we just try to keep calling NVC on our own? do we ask for a supervisor? we arent really sure what to do
 

The OP can pursue a trade school or other technical skill set at an accredited school in Jamaica. Instead of having to wait 4 years (or longer) to get a Bachelors, they could study and gain employment in a trade such as welding, coding or other technical skill that can be studied in a year or two. My point is most university degrees from overseas don't have the accreditation to transfer to a US employer, but I can see a trade or skill transferring, as well as work experience. Instead of being negative on the OP, let's try to be constructive on how they can overcome this public charge denial. I can't imagine going through this process only to be hit with a denial in the final stages... And with the new rules coming out we will see similar cases more frequently. 

Try for the most qualified siblings, the ones that have an advanced education and have been self sufficient in their home country. I would try for no more than 4 or 5 siblings initially, the consular officer is going to be able to tell how many people you sponsored and if you try for all at once, you best be a successful business owner with significant assets in the bank. I work in wealth management and I can tell most of my clients (less one or two) could sponsor 20 separate visa petitions easily. I would think to ease the consular officer concerns on Public Charge you would need $400,000 plus a year in income or sitting on a $1,000,000 plus in liquid assets (and I really mean plus because I don't think $1,000,000 would cut it).
 
We don't know your financial situation, but we understand the climate for immigrating to the USA and it is getting harder by the day. We all wish you the best of luck!

Thank you so much for the encouraging words 

The OP can pursue a trade school or other technical skill set at an accredited school in Jamaica. Instead of having to wait 4 years (or longer) to get a Bachelors, they could study and gain employment in a trade such as welding, coding or other technical skill that can be studied in a year or two. My point is most university degrees from overseas don't have the accreditation to transfer to a US employer, but I can see a trade or skill transferring, as well as work experience. Instead of being negative on the OP, let's try to be constructive on how they can overcome this public charge denial. I can't imagine going through this process only to be hit with a denial in the final stages... And with the new rules coming out we will see similar cases more frequently. 

The OP can pursue a trade school or other technical skill set at an accredited school in Jamaica. Instead of having to wait 4 years (or longer) to get a Bachelors, they could study and gain employment in a trade such as welding, coding or other technical skill that can be studied in a year or two. My point is most university degrees from overseas don't have the accreditation to transfer to a US employer, but I can see a trade or skill transferring, as well as work experience. Instead of being negative on the OP, let's try to be constructive on how they can overcome this public charge denial. I can't imagine going through this process only to be hit with a denial in the final stages... And with the new rules coming out we will see similar cases more frequently. 

The OP can pursue a trade school or other technical skill set at an accredited school in Jamaica. Instead of having to wait 4 years (or longer) to get a Bachelors, they could study and gain employment in a trade such as welding, coding or other technical skill that can be studied in a year or two. My point is most university degrees from overseas don't have the accreditation to transfer to a US employer, but I can see a trade or skill transferring, as well as work experience. Instead of being negative on the OP, let's try to be constructive on how they can overcome this public charge denial. I can't imagine going through this process only to be hit with a denial in the final stages... And with the new rules coming out we will see similar cases more frequently. 

The OP can pursue a trade school or other technical skill set at an accredited school in Jamaica. Instead of having to wait 4 years (or longer) to get a Bachelors, they could study and gain employment in a trade such as welding, coding or other technical skill that can be studied in a year or two. My point is most university degrees from overseas don't have the accreditation to transfer to a US employer, but I can see a trade or skill transferring, as well as work experience. Instead of being negative on the OP, let's try to be constructive on how they can overcome this public charge denial. I can't imagine going through this process only to be hit with a denial in the final stages... And with the new rules coming out we will see similar cases more frequently. 

I’m pretty sure, they have to have received it prior to the 11th Friday... they don’t work weekends and the 14th is a holiday..
 
Is this physically possible?, unless youve arleady applied for the marriage licence etc have all the forms filled will all the evidence I’m not confident they would have received and accepted application prior to 15th 🤷‍♀️

Realistically, to get it postmarked before the 14th, you need to send it on the 11th. There is too much risk sending it on the 12th because if some USPS worker decides to take it easy on a Saturday heading into a holiday, your petition could be rejected at the USCIS and you would need to fill the new forms (I-944, New I-864). Don't forget Monday the 14th is a Federal holiday and USPS is not open. I had this discussion with someone in a similar situation today, your drop-dead date should be Friday the 11th to send all the documents. Best of luck with your life decisions, they are very difficult to make on such short notice and you may be better waiting to make a clear minded life altering decision. My friend decided to wait, it was too much to fast to marry and send all the required documents, you might consider doing the same.