My wife and I were married civily last week in Cali. Early next year we will be married in a Roman Catholic ceremony also. The first marriage was just to get the paperwork on the Spousal Visa going early.
For anyone who cares, the Notary charged us 200,000 pesos for the marriage. I remember the notary's office saying 130,000 in July but when it came time to pay it looks like I was hit for a gringo impuesta of 70,000. Oh well it was worth it...
We went to Bogota for the first appointment. We took a flight on Aero-Republica for 270,000 pesos round-trip per person. The plane ended up being 3 hours late all toll. We got on the flight an hour late, we boarded, made it 3 quarters down the run way when they aborted the takeoff. We taxied back to the gate and the explanation the pilot gave was that he wouldn't take off under the plane's condition. OH GREAT... About 5 or 6 people walked off the plane after the pilot said this. Anyway, we waited on the plane another hour. The people were becoming very frustrated as the flight attendants were up in the front of the plane and weren't giving any indication what was going on. My wife and I walked up to the front to ask what was happening and we were rudely told to go sit down. Then we were all asked to leave the plane and whatever it was that was wrong would be fixed in an hour. This actually turned out to be true and we finally took off for Bogota. I think the plane was a DC-9, it was a bumpy ride and it seemed like we were flying at a lower altitude than what I'm used to.
When we arrived in Bogota, we stayed at a Hotel called the La Feria or a name close to that. It was a nice place, was only 3 blocks from the Embassy and cost about 120,000 pesos a night for a room. We went shopping at the Salitre plaza, Uni-Centro and 15th Avenue. We found some good deals at different places, there was a Tommy store having a liquidation and my wife bought several pairs of jeans for only 30,000 pesos each. I've been looking for a warm jacket for her but this has proved more problematic.
We went to the embassy gate about 10:30 AM to get in the line early. There are several lines outside the embassy gate and we asked the gaurd which line was for petioning for an alien relative. He told us where to go and that line would be allowed in to the embassy grounds at 1 PM.
My wife and I were early into the line, perhaps the 10th and 11th persons but as time progressed it turned into a line of about 100. I saw about 6 or 7 gringo/colombiana couples arrive over time but most came right before 1 PM. Interestingly, most of the gringos didn't go to the back of the real line but began to form their own line on the other side of the gate. I don't believe they were told to do this but rather I think they thought the real line was for Colombians and that Americans should have there own special line. The problem with this thinking was that the long line, the people were just as much Americans as the gringo line but many were naturalized and not white.
At about 1 P.M. the real line with the 100 or so people was let in and after the real line was let in the gringos followed. The lines went through security and entered an area with about 20 windows that are used to petition different types of Visas. As we entered we were given a number and asked to form a line behind one of the windows and wait. The big line arrived first and waited politely but when the gringos got there they went to the front of the line and stood in the walkway aisle. I'm telling you, this took a lot of nerve for them to do this and the big line was clearly irritated by their arrogance. One Colombian-American guy asked them politely to move to the back of the line but I still don't think they got it. Then one of the embassy staff got mad at the gringos and told them to move. Again they didn't go to the back of the line but formed their own next to the real line. When the window opened for processing the petition the gringos tried to move in first. There was a moment of confusion with some pushing and shoving and one of the gringos was shouting "I'm an Americano, Americano". The whole line event was an embarressment and confirms my thinking that a lot of the gringos who marry Colombianos are the worst our culture has to offer. But to be fair, I've met a lot of great guys too.
Anyway after that fiasco I managed to have my turn at the window. My papers were in order although we were asked to complete a form very similar to the G-325. We did that and returned to the line and received several packets and an interview date for my wife. The second date is approximately 5 weeks after the first so it looks like we'll be back in late January for her interview.
I have a list of documents they require and will post it as I have more time.
El Diablo
