Well my wife picked up our baby's Amercian passport today and also got a visa for her mother so she will be coming home in a week or two.  I was planning on going down to help her come back but now I'm not sure if I will or not because she might have to return to Colombia to take care of some business when her mother returns so we are thinking of me not going down to save some money.  

What I am writing about is to see if anyone else has left Colombia with a child.  Do you need to have permission from both parents to leave?  Obviously if I accompany my wife it isn't a problem, but if she comes back without me does she need something signed from me?  If so, what exactly does she need?  

My child is both a Colombian and American citizen and has two passports, but when leaving Colombia he will have to use the Colombian one.

... in response to Re: Leaving Colombia with a child, posted by Edge on Feb 20, 2004

Yes that is correct; my wife’s parents had been denied tourist visas before.  I don't know the details of the reason for the visa.  My wife handled the application through some company in Colombia and it cost me $300 for both her mother and father.  This company also provides some kind of health insurance for them while they will be in the states that I also paid for but was told was refundable if they didn't get the visas however the $300 application fee was not refundable.  My wife's father got his visa in January (but unfortunately he died one week later) but I don't know any of the details of his visa, and my wife's mother got her visa approved yesterday and my wife told me it is a one-time entry visa (apparently the one issued her father wasn’t) but she won't know the length of the stay allowed until she actually gets the visa.  The embassy said 8 to 10 days for the visa to be mailed to her house (which is how it was handled for her father’s visa as well and it arrived with no problems).

My wife said the visa was based on her pregnancy and the older age of her parents, her father was 78 and her mother is 68, but I don't know if there are official guidelines for something like that or what.  I know when I went to file for citizenship and a passport for my son at the American Embassy two weeks ago, I mentioned to the person handling the paperwork about my wife's father receiving a visa, and he misheard me and thought I was asking about one and said there was no way her father or mother would get a visa since her family is poor and she is an only child and therefore they would be considered high-risk candidates for returning to Colombia.  I repeated what I said that HE HAD ALREADY RECEIVED THE VISA and then all the sudden the guy was saying, "Well there are lots of reasons people can be issued visas".  So that really left me clueless as to why they got visas as even someone at the embassy didn't think they would qualify for one.  But the guy told me he didn't actually work on the visas, and it was a good thing too, because I also mentioned that my wife's father had suddenly died the week before and that my wife's mother was hoping her visa would come through (hers took longer because there was a spelling error on some of her documentation that required a second appointment with more documentation) so she could go to the states with us because she didn't want to be alone right now.  He said if the interviewers at my wife's mother’s second interview knew the father had died they would probably deny the mother's visa.  Ironically I had brought a letter with me from the states for my wife to take to the second appointment requesting compassion from them in granting my mother-in-law's visa as her husband had just died.  After what the embassy guy said, I promptly destroyed that letter and we went to an internet cafe and I composed a new one just requesting compassion and assistance since this was my wife's first child and she needed the guidance of her mother for a few months.  Don't know if the letter helped but at least it didn’t hurt.  I would have felt horrible if I found out my wife’s mother’s visa had been denied because of the letter I wrote about her father dying.

Anyway I know I am not much help here, but I don’t know more than that.  I can ask my wife the name of the company she went through if you are interested.  I know they are in Bogotá.

By the way, I guess since I mentioned my wife’s father’s passing in this post I might add that it gave me a lot of peace about the difficult decision to have the baby in Colombia, since it meant she was there when he died.  He died quickly and without any warning and there is no way she could have flown down in time.  Her father got to know the baby for 15 days (he had long-running heart problems, which is what killed him, but was otherwise healthy and fully able to appreciate the baby – he called the baby his gringito lindo since it has blue eyes like me) and my wife was with him when he died and while having my wife away for so long (since January 1st) has not been easy for me, it is well worth it knowing how much it meant to my wife for her to be there and for her father to see the baby.

... in response to Leaving Colombia with a child, posted by lswote on Feb 19, 2004

Bruce,
Write them the letter.She will probably need it to leave with the kid.Better safe then delayed.I think you being an american would raise less question,but the same rules,both parents permission,probably still apply.
A lady I know here was born her but lived in New York most of her life.A US citizen.She had a kid here with a Colombiano and is having trouble getting the kid out of the country,probably the fathers permission thing again.
But,for about $400 round trip out of Miami you might just want to come down to take them back.

Pete

... in response to Leaving Colombia with a child, posted by lswote on Feb 19, 2004

The Government of Colombia DOES HAVE a regulation by which every Colombian minor leaving Colombian territory either without his/her parents or with only one of them, must have the written authorization of the non-traveling parent to leave  Colombian territory. This regulation does not refer to children coming into the country, but ONLY to children leaving the country. Colombia's specific procedures require children under 18, REGUARDLESS of nationality, who are traveling alone, with one parent or with a third party MUST have a copy of their birth certificate and written authorization from the absent parent that specifically grants permission to travel alone, with one parent or with a third party. When a parent is deceased, a notarized copy of the death certificate is required in lieu of the written authorization. This will apply even in a divorce and the parent has sole custody. (I can personally attest to this as my adopted son was denied permission to board an American flight to Miami in Medellin even though hhe had a USA passport.) If documents are prepared in the United States and you DO NOT go through a consulate, the authorization and the birth certificate must be translated into Spanish and notarized. An "apostille" must then be affixed to the document by the designated state government authority. This, believe me, is a very large pain in the a-- and takes some time, at least in Florida when it has to go to the secretary of state. If documents are prepared in the United States, the authorization and the birth certificate must be translated into Spanish, notarized, and authenticated by the Colombian Embassy or a Colombian consulate within the United States. If documents are prepared in Colombia, only notarization by a Colombian notary is required. This is the BEST, CHEAPEST and QUICKEST way to go. A permission letter prepared outside of Colombia is valid for 90 days. A permission letter prepared in Colombia is valid for 60 days.

According to Colombian law, any person born in Colombia MUST use their Colombian passport to enter and leave Colombia, even if also a citizen of another country. Therefore, if you are a Colombian-American citizen, you should be prepared to carry your Colombian passport as well as your U.S. passport on your trip.  Everytime we go back and forth we have to show the wife's Colombian passport even though we leave the US on the USA passport.

Your wife will have dual citizenship. No Colombian by birth may be stripped of his/her citizenship. The status of Colombian citizenship cannot be lost by virtue of the fact of acquiring another citizenship.

Article 96. of the Colombian Constitution states following persons hold Colombian citizenship:
1. Citizens by birth:

a. Native-born Colombians, according to one of these two conditions: that the father or mother should have been natives or Colombian citizens or that, being the offspring of aliens, either of the parents was domiciled in the Republic at the time of birth.

My advice, have everything in order even through you hear stories "that I have done it lots of time and no one ever asked me" advice.  It only takes ONE time and you learn an expensive lesson.

... in response to Play by the Rules When Leaving Colombia ..., posted by Gator on Feb 20, 2004

I agree with this information.

The travel permission letter of the natural father
of the minor child leaving Colombia is recommended
and required, even if the natural or adoptive father is
US citizen and child carries US Passport.

If you choose to secure the letter through one of the
Colombian Consulates, the Houston Consulate
website explains the procedure.
http://www.colhouston.org/english/minors.htm

Sample "Travel Authorization for Minors" Form in PDF Adobe:
http://www.colhouston.org/forms/viajar.pdf

For more on this issue, see free online newsletter
topic "Can the Kids Go Home?"
PDF Adobe:
http://www.usaimmigrationattorney.com/onlinenewsletter2004.pdf

Best regards to all,
GB

... in response to Play by the Rules When Leaving Colombia ..., posted by Gator on Feb 20, 2004

"My advice, have everything in order even through you hear stories "that I have done it lots of time and no one ever asked me" advice. It only takes ONE time and you learn an expensive lesson."

I couldn't emphasize that statement more!  Hopefully I caveated sufficiently my below statements to that affect.  I am curious as to when and where your spouse was asked for the approval paper Gator upon departure - you're the first case I've heard of actually being asked for it.

Iswrote, by all means get the papers in order!  Especially the first trip back.  I've just passed on info about what I've done - and quite frankly now instead of waiting around to see if my wife got on the plane without those papers, I'm kind of wishing someone with DAS would actually inforce that requirement to give me an excuse to get my arse down to Colombia ASAP

... in response to It was.............., posted by Gator on Feb 20, 2004

Do you know if it is the airline or Colombian immigration that requires the letter?

... in response to Re: It was.............., posted by lswote on Feb 20, 2004

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