DanVanessaSiempre

Haven't been on here in a long time, but wanted to pass on the good news. Vanessa had her swearing in ceremony today, and is now one of America's newest citizens! I am so proud of her and everything she does every day, but today even more so than usual <3

Miami International Airport just opened a brand new customs hall last week at the North terminal, twice the size of the old one in the Central terminal, so hopefully things will move a lot faster now. For now it seems like they will have both halls operating, although the new one apparently will not be fully staffed for a while yet. Vanessa is coming home from Medellin this Saturday and I don't know yet which one she'll be going through on American, will have to call ahead and ask the airline before I leave to go pick her up. You should probably give Avianca a call too, just to be sure ;-)

Hola Amigos -

It's been a while since I posted anything here, Vanessa and I are doing well. She's actually down south visiting with the family in Medellin for a few weeks now while I'm back home in Florida watching the kittycats and working. I actually ran into a fellow VJ couple recently at a local club night (Dave & Magda from Coconut Creek - Hola!) Anyway, I have an interesting situation that I may be able to share with someone here on the Colombia Club to both of our advantage.

I'm currently sitting on a sizable pile of airline points with Spirit Airlines that I can also redeem at a better than normal rate as a Spirit credit card holder. Probably going to let the card go next month when the free first year offer expires, and then I'll lose the preferred redemption status, and soon after the points themselves will expire too. Right now we can't use any more of the points for any particular dates that we or friends or family can travel in the foreseeable future. If anyone here on the forum needs a trip to Colombia in the next few weeks or months that falls within the airline's award seat availability, I'd be happy to strike a private deal to redeem some of my miles for your flights, and let you have them for something well under what the going rates would be, rather than let them go to waste, so that way everybody wins (well, everybody but the airline, LOL.) Spirit flys nonstop from Fort Lauderdale Florida to Cartegena, Bogota, Medellin & Armenia (but the Cartegena flights actually need way fewer points to redeem than the other cities.) Points needed also vary widely by available date ranges. They go lots of other places too, but because of the special deals I have, my points could be worth as much as 8 round trips between Ft Lauderdale & Cartegena (or 4 trips to the other Colombian cities), so it seemed that this was the best place to ask if anyone else was interested. Anyone who'd like to give this a go with me, just send me a private message here on the forum and we'll exchange closer contact info (cell phone is best for me) and see if I can get tickets on dates that will work for you. Not sure exactly how much longer I'll have the full access to preferred point redemption, but I believe I'll lose that advantage at some time in mid August.

I look forward to hearing from some of you on this soon, for now I'll be busy for a while scrolling back a few months through the postings to see what's been going on here in Colombia Club, LOL

Adios - Dan Harris

lol. I ALWAYS make fun of my husband about it too. Every time he tells me that day is a holiday i say "oh, what is it this time? day of the duck?"

Today is certainly a holiday for ME, as it's three years to the day since I first saw Vanessa online and started chatting with her.

Good luck to all, from those who have already had similar journeys before...

BANDEJA PAISA! Yummyyyyyy~!

If you guys are hungry for goodies from home, we have discovered a wonderful little Colombian bakery & restaurant here in our local Ft Lauderdale - Sunrise - Lauderhill - Tamarac area. Check out La Antioqueña in the shopping plaza with the Petco & the Publix on University Drive just north of Commercial Blvd. Vanessa is always bringing home tasty goodies from there, I particularly love the freshly baked loafs of bread with the melted cheese inside, mmmmm.

Wonderful news! Hope all continues to go well for you...

Glad to see so many happy couples getting good news lately! Best of luck in all of your future endeavors...

My hubby got his GREEN CARD IN THE MAIL TODAY!!!! thank god!

WOO-HOO!!! Congratulations!

Carol and I had our AOS interview today and I am happy to announce GREEN CARD APPROVED!!!

The interview lasted 15 minutes and was very simple. The IO asked Carol all of the yes/no questions on pages 3,4,5 of form I-485...which I thought was very strange. Didn't ask for any supporting documents other than Carol's original birth cert. and photos of wedding & Colombia.

What a relief to know no more paperwork for 21 months.

Mark

Great news! Welcome to the Green Card Club

HI Everyone! i just got a status update on our AOS case and it says Card/Document Production does that mean my hubby is getting his green card without an interview??

Yes, this is exactly what we got a few weeks ago - Congratulations!

Hey guys...

Last minute AOS question...

What kind of evidence did you include in the AOS package to prove bona fide relationship? Or, is that something to show later at the interview stage (if there is one)? Or, would including it upfront help avoid an interview altogether?

It's just that we're kind of limited in what we have available to us (from a co-mingled finances stage) on paper at this point - it's just too early to have had anything processed..

The package is already fairly thick to begin with so I don't want to overload it with unnecessary photos, statements, etc. if they aren't needed right now.

Thanks

Hey Ryna all we put were like 6 pictures of the wedding and our marriage certificate. that is def enough...they ask for evidence at the interview. so i wouldn't worry about sending a lot in the package. goodluck!

Same here, we only included all of the forms & certificates that they asked for, and were planning to offer up the photo album and any wedding/honeymoon related expense receipts, the joint checking account, utility bills, etc at the interview. Didn't know back then that we'd end up getting to skip the interview, but we would have been fully prepared for it had things gone differently.

WOO-HOO!!!

I was RIGHT! Vanessa's green card came in the mail today, no AOS interview needed! LOL -I guess we're safe now for the next two years. Now we can go ahead and make plans for visits back home for her, and for the trip to Europe that I promised her as a second honeymoon someday (yeah, we still gotta be able to afford it first, but at least the government can't stop us now once we can...) Once again feeling On Top Of The World!!!

I'm very excited!...

A few weeks ago we got a notice that our case was "being transferred to the California Service Center for quicker processing" and didn't attach any special significance to it at the time, just a bit of confusion over why. Now our status on the I-485 online has gone to the "Document/Card Production" column. After reviewing the step by step guide for AOS filing once again, I now see this paragraph:

"Interview Exception. In some cases a beneficiary's Adjustment of Status case may be transfered to the California Service Center (possibly another location) where the CIS will attempt to complete processing without requirinig an "in person" interview. There is no particular way to know if this will happen to your case however if this does happen then you will not be required to attend an interview in person. If the I-485 is approved the beneficiary's green card will simply be mailed to them."

Am I correct in assuming that we have most likely fallen into this category and will soon have a green card arriving in the mail without having to go through the interview stage? We're prepared for an interview and are sure we would easily satisfy them with our answers & supporting materials, but if they are satisfied that we can be approved without that stressful encounter, so much the better. Anyone else had this happen recently who can comment?...

Hi Guys & Gals -

Vanessa & I are headed out for a long holiday weekend in Los Angeles tonight, and I was wondering if anyone in the local community might know of anything special going on in the area that might particularly interest a young Colombiana during any of the no doubt boring down time she will have while I meet up with old friends at an annual fan gathering for a TV show that I'm obsessed with but she's really not that into (it's the BBC sci-fi show "Doctor Who", for those who simply must know...) We'll be based at a hotel by LAX airport, and public transportation would have to be used for anything from Friday - Sunday as Vanessa doesn't drive yet. Monday is our designated "get out and tour together" day after the fan fest is over, and I've rented us a car for that day so we can roam freely all day and into the evening, before catching a red-eye flight home. Any suggestions from our So-Cal members of the Colombia Club?...

You REALLY should check out the "Colombia Club Part II" thread here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/175556-colombia-club-part-ii/ as it probably already has most of the many answers that you will be searching for, as well as MANY helpful people to talk with who have been through it before, or are in your shoes now too.

We were very lucky that my own existing personal doctor for more than 20 years now just happened to be on the list of approved civil surgeons. Her office charges a standard flat fee of $160 to do the exam and fill out the 693 form.

I just want everyone to know that we were approved for our visa today. I'm kind of tired right now, will post more later.

GREAT NEWS!!! Another Happy Couple gets one BIG step closer to their Dream :wub:

Hi dan and vanessa! Juan Esteban has two different birth certifcates one that our lawyer for the k-1 visa translated for us. and another birth certificate that was asked for in packet 3 that has more information than the other one, i dont know how to explain the difference. but anyways my point is i dont know which one we have to translate. i found someone here in ft lauderdale who is charging me $115 to translate a birth certificate!

OUCH!!! We only paid $20. Very nice people. Ruth at HispanUSA at 1919 N St Rd 7 suite#201 in Margate, FL 954-934-7872. Even if you don't use it this time, save yourself some ca$h the next time you need a translation done locally in the greater Ft Lauderdale area...

Here i go again with my AOS questions. I know i have to get Juan's birth certificate translated but does it also have to be notarized?? thank you!

We had Vanessa's birth certificate translated here in Florida this week, and they included a notary seal on the translation as part of their standard procedure.

I found my Visa #, but I don't want to post it on a public forum. It starts with the letters 'CO'. That should probably help you locate it...... Leidy u mean the number it's printed in Red with 7 numbers and 1 letter?...Thank you for ure replay it;s a great help for us....

Hola, we are making the forms for the AOS, and we are not sure what is the A number, if they ever give us one they didn't tell us what it is or how to find it or any at other papers, and one question more im not sure wich all of the numbers i have in my visa is the real "Visa Number"....Thank You for the Help....Peace & Love

Good luck for a quick, low stress, and successful day at the embassy, followed by a long happy life together in America

Sandra just called and said its all approved. I am so happy now .thanks for everyones support I really appreciate it .

FINALLY!

Now, get her here as fast as you can before something else happens...

Coming up for air just long enough to say:

Good Luck!