With an interview date set and the documents obtained, it was now time to set our trip to Bogota. We checked several hotels and the lowest price we could find was about $150 per night and needed to stay for 8 days.
We found the website www.welovebogota.com and decided to rent an apartment here.
I sent Sr Alberto an e-mail and he responded promptly. He and his sister Martha have several apartments in Bogota and he rented the apartment located in Cuidad Salitre to us. This accommodation worked out very well as it is approximately a 5 minute walk from the shopping center Salitre Plaza. The shopping center had everything we needed for our stay including an “Exito” grocery store, banks, restaurants and travel agencies if needed.
Sr Alberto rents each room in the apartment individually or you can rent the entire apartment for your stay. The apartments have cable TV, kitchen with stove, refrigerator, microwave and Internet access. The only thing the apartment doesn't have is heat and it can get cool at night. The building also has 24/7 security and is in a good area of the city. We rented the entire 3 bedroom apartment for the equivalent of $70 USD per day.
The prices for the apartments are very good and need to be paid in cash for the entire stay on the first day. We enjoyed our stay here, felt very comfortable and would recommend it for anyone who needs to visit Bogota. For more information you can visit www.welovebogota.com and contact Sr Alberto or Martha for more information.
Here are some pictures of the apartment and a map of its location in Bogota
Map of the Apartment (Cuidad Salitre) in reference to the US Embassy in Bogota
We started the day by calling a taxi at 6:00am. Our apartment (www.welovebogota.com) was close however were a bit worried because we didn't have much luck with calling taxis. To be sure we called two different services with the intent of taking the first taxi that showed up. The taxi arrived at 6:10am and got to the US Embassy at about 6:20am. We waited in line 3 which is right outside of the Embassy walls and the ladies in the hot pink vests verified our appointments and let us in the Embassy. We did not get the appointment letter so they had to call and verify our appointment before letting us in.
We then processed through security which is very similar to a security checkpoint at an airport. I’d also like to say that they don’t allow cell phones with cameras, cameras, mp3 players and a lot of other electronic devices in the Embassy. You will need to check them in with security if you have them befor eentering.
We then went to line 40 or immigrant visas and were given a folder to organize our documents. The items in this folder included:
Passport
2 copies of DS-156 & DS 156k forms
Birth Certificate
Baptismal Certificate
DAS Judicial Records
DAS Immigration Records
I-134 & Supporting documents (Employment verification letter, W2 & Tax return from previous years, letter from bank stating balances on account)
Medical exam results in sealed envelope
Two passport style pictures
We waited in this line for about 40 minutes, got the folder, organized our documents and signed the DS-156 and DS156k forms, had them reviewed and were told to move to the waiting area near the Domesa line.
About 30 minutes later we were called to window 32 to submit the documents in the folder. The lady reviewed the document, asked my fiancée a few questions.. Where did I live? Where did I work, was I married? The then told us to go wait by windows 2 – 6 for the immigrant visa interviews.
We waited here for about 2.5 hours before being called for our interview and it was a bit depressing because most people we saw were not approved. You are able to tell if someone is not approved because the officer will return their passport. If the visa is approved the officer will keep the passport for processing. Most non-approvals were because o problems with documents and were told to set up another appointment.
We were eventually called to window 4 for out interview an it was a man of what appeared to be Indian decent.
He asked my fiancée two questions that were: how long did she know me? Where did I live? and then asked to speak to me.
He asked me the following question:
How did we meet?
Where do you work?
When did you propose and did she accept?
Did you give her a ring?
When do you plan on getting married?
What type of wedding will you have?
What was her religion?
He then asked to see pictures and e-mails and I passed them through the window. I explained they were from my last visit in March.
He then told me that the application looked good but that he was uncomfortable with my nervous body language. I explained that I indeed was nervous because we have invested a lot of time, money and emotions in this process and our future depends on this interview.
He then requested to speak with my fiancée again and asked here the same questions. About 2 minutes later he requested to speak with me again and told ME and not my fiancée that the visa was approved. He told us to pay the Domesa fee so we did and walked out the door at about 12:18pm. The interview lasted about a total of 10 minutes.
Also to my surprise the consular asked me about 70% o the questions in the interview.
Interview Tips
REVIEW YOUR DOCUMENTS!!!
They are very picky about the documents so make sure they are all the correct documents they requested an that everything is filled out properly. I cant stress this enough because most of the non-approvals were because of people missing documents like the DAS forms, W2 forms, employment verification letter etc…
Again.. Read the instructions in packet 4 and become familiar with the requirements. Again they will not approve your visa if you don’t submit all the requirements. This is the most important thing you can do before the interview.
Make every effort to attend the interview with your fiancé(e)
Im 100% sure that she wouldn’t have been approved I I wasn’t there because our relatively short time knowing each other. It also shows the officers that you are serious about your relationship. Of the few approvals I witnessed, the petitioner was there with the beneficiary. I can only remember one woman who was approved who was there by herself.
I hope this helps you prepare for the interview!
You must pay the visa fee at an authorized Banco Helm office before having an interview at the US Embassy in Bogota Colombia. My fiancee originally paid the fee at the Banco Helm branch in Barranquilla Colombia however we had problems as the representatives were not properly trained. They wouldn't accept our computer generated forms that were required according to the web site, and the representative was unsure of how to enter the payment giving us serious doubts about if the payment was actually registered.
While in Bogota we needed to visit a Banco Helm office to resolve an issue we had with our payment receipt. I checked the list of authorized Banco Helm payment offices on the US Embassy's website at (http://bogota.usembassy.gov/scabco.html) and decided to go to the branch named:
Oficina de Recaudo de Visas - Cipres Plaza Carrera 50 No. 21-41 Local 118 Hours 7:00am - 3:00pm
The taxi driver wasnt able to find the address as i dont believe its correct on the website but was able to find it because he was familiar with Cipres Plaza. Cipres Plaza is a small shopping center and the building is green in color.
The Banco Helm office is on the first floor and is divided into two sections. The first section is for regular banking transactions and the second section is dedicated to visa payments. The employees were very knowledgeable about the visa payment process and one of the tellers named Diana went above and beyond her duties to help us get the issue resolved. So much that I wrote a letter to the bank manager praising her efforts.
I would recommend that you make your payment at this office to save yourself time and to have peace of mind that the payment was entered correctly.
We wasted two days dealing with the Branch in Barranquilla. Here is a map of its location relative to the US Embassy in Bogota.
