US embassy Bogota recent visa experiences?

[Sol]

Hi,

My wife has her visa interview next Thursday. I'd like to know if any of you guys with recent experience of this process can provide me with information, especially if there were any surprises that I could know about and plan for beforehand. There are no children or prior marriages for either my wife or I to document or discuss so I'm expecting it to be a quick process plus I've had Gary Bala prepare my documents but I still want to know what I might need to plan for.

Also, I'd appreciate answers to these questions:

1. What was the date of her interview? How early did you arrive on the interview date? What time did your wife get called for the interview?

2. How long did the interview last?

3. What questions did they ask her?

4. Did they ask you (or her) for any documents other than those they identified on their list?

5. What thoughts, feelings, impressions, or words of advice do you have for those of us about to go through the interview process?

I'm going to fly down for the interview even though the embassy clerk told me that I was basically irrelevant in this process. I know my documents better than she does, I want to support her in the process, and I intend to fly back with her a few days after she gets her visa.

Thanks very much,

Sol

[JimSimon]

... in response to US embassy Bogota recent visa experience..., posted by Sol on Jan 4, 2002

Ours was a K1 visa and all the basic requirements are outlined for you-----get Colombian police clearance, see doctor, get vacinations, drive to west Bogota to pay bank IN CASH the visa fee.

The only surprise we had was that since my wife had been in the US prior to her K1 on a tourist visa she needed to wait two weeks for FBI clearance that she hadn't commited any crimes in the US.  Since she lives in Cali,I flew hoem and she and two kids had to fly back to Cali, waited two weeks and then flew to Bogota to get the visa.

Jim