Advice/ Agencies and their web photo's

[Craig]

I just wanted to explain, for those who are interested, that using web photo's as the reason to go to Cali, Colombia in my opinion...a mistake. Before I left for my last trip I was able to remember some of the faces on the sites, most of the stunning ones with the long dark hair, and dark eyes. This is some of what I saw. I witnessed some of them walking around with gringo's at the mall. The photo's while on the web site where not in the books at the agency. Last but not least my fiance/novia is featured in an agency. First her listing was a mistake, her bio is not even close to being correct, and her friend who is also on the site is in Aruba. Now the good news, I think the agencies do a good job some a lot better then others. As the Knight said to Harrison Ford in his last Raiders movie "Choose wisely" You can find beautiful women in Cali, I did, and she wasn't an agency girl yet. We have been dating long distance for over 16 months, as far as the agencies remember "you get what you pay for." Don't be cheap, this is not a cheap process, I'm using a lawyer out of California for my K-1 visa. he's a former INS attorney. If you need help I can direct.

[DallasSteve2]

... in response to Advice/ Agencies and their web photo's, posted by Craig on Aug 28, 2002

I filed my own K1 on July 22, 2002 with no help from anyone.  I never got a letter from the INS.  I was getting concerned.  Then on August 16 I called my fiancee and she had received a letter from the embassy in Bogota inviting her to make an interview for the visa.  They had already gotten her approval from the US.

I was stunned.  That used to take 3 or 4 months.  Mine took about 25 days.  Completely stunned.  I guess my K1 package was OK.  ;-)

My point is, I could have paid an attorney, but I can't believe it would have been any faster, only more expensive.  But, there is a lot of paperwork and it takes a lot of careful work.  I'm an ex-CPA, computer programmer so I think I do pretty well filling out and organizing documents.  Some people may need help.

Steve

[papa suave]

... in response to Advice/ Agencies and their web photo's, posted by Craig on Aug 28, 2002

Well, congratulations on finding your muchacha. It's nice to hear about someone happy with his experience in Colombia. I think most are happy with Colombia we just hear from so few that bungholes like Lex stick out with their negativity towards Colombia.

The only thing from reading your post that concerns me...you mentioned that she joined an agency after you 2 met...were you already together at this point? This would worry me.

[Craig]

... in response to Re: Advice/ Agencies and their web photo..., posted by papa suave on Aug 29, 2002

Hey Papa
Well I knew I would have to explain this. My fiance is a friend of the agency owner, as well as me. The agency owner took some PIC's for me so my novia could e-mail them to me. except the pic's wound up on the web site instead of my e-mail box. Was it a mistake by the agency owner? Who knows for sure, except I'm satisfied that my novia is truthful. That's why we've been together for 16 months.

[mudd]

... in response to Advice/ Agencies and their web photo's, posted by Craig on Aug 28, 2002

you don't need an ex ins attorney to file the paperwork. it is pretty much self explanitory(sp). their are even help yourself forms for people who are not sure, but hiring a lawyer to fill out some paperwork seems a little extreme, and expensive. hope he gave you a good deal. anything over $500 is a ripoff.

[Craig]

... in response to Re: Advice/ Agencies and their web photo..., posted by mudd on Aug 28, 2002

Yes it's not to hard to file a K-1 even my attorney stated the same, except I work 70 hour weeks and don't have time to balance my check book. So for me it's worth the money to let somebody else worry about it.

[Cali vet]

... in response to Advice/ Agencies and their web photo's, posted by Craig on Aug 28, 2002

Some girls look in person just like their fotos, some girls get a hold of profesional photagraphers and have stunning fotos then turn out to be Dra, Jeckal and Senorita Hide when you meet them in person. Others look like real Plain Janes then they walk into the agency, your jaw drops and you ask the secretary whoe's that??!!! and she tells you oh that's so and so, she's right there in the books...I learned to be suspicious of any professional photos, especially of women over 25 and to look closely at the "plane jane" photos. I ended up with someone from the first option.