How To Apply For TP7 Visa and Cedula
7 years ago
These are my suggestions and I hope other posters will verify that my steps are correct.
These steps worked for me for the past five years, but this is Colombia. When it comes to visas and application procedures things change, sometimes suddenly and dramatically, as pointed out by a poster in a previous thread.
To apply for TP7 Visa you need Passport and Translated Copy of your Benefits Letter from FBU Bogota. You also need a photo, 3cm x 4cm, white background, colored shirt.
The web site for Federal Benefits Unit, US Embassy Bogota is
https://bogota.usembassy.gov/service/federal-benefits.html#
Their email is [email protected]
Go to a local internet cafe. They will help you with the Spanish keyboard to find the @.
On the Embassy website download the Privacy Act Form DD-5505 and fill it out. It says you have to type it but I just print the information and they´ve never rejected it.
Scan your:
1. Passport information page
2. Your signed DD-5505 that you dowloaded from Embassy web page
3. The benefits letter you got from Social Security, or whatever proof of income letter you have from other retirement sources.
4. Your previous Colombian Visa if you are renewing.
Each year Social Security will send you a new benefits letter, usually in December of the year before.
Or, you can go to the Social Security web page and sign in with a US address and download your benefits letter.
You can´t sign in to Social Security web page with a Colombian address. Most of us have two addresses, one in US and other in Colombia. For Social Security matters we use the US address and have someone there forward our mail to us here in Colombia.
But, mail in Colombia is not reliable, so I just have my friend in the US open my Social Security letter and scan it and email it to me.
With scanned copies of your three documents (passport, DD-5505, benefits letter) email to [email protected] telling them your full name and social security number and your Colombian address (hotel, hostel, whatever) and your Colombian phone number.
Ask them to provide you a translated benefits letter you can take to Ministry of Foreign Relations to apply for a temporary visa in whichever category you are going to apply.
Within 2 or 3 days you will get an email back from FBU saying they received your request and will handle it.
About a week later you will receive your translated benefits letter delivered to you by courier such as DePris or Servientrega. If you are living in Bogota you have to go to US Embassy to pick up your letter. I think you need an appointment to do that, because they won´t let you through the front gate without your name listed on their appointment sheet.
To apply for your Colombian Visa you can use a representative who is approved by MRE such as a lawyer or visa service. The cost varies but I´ve heard it costs about 400,000 to 600,000 to hire their services.
If you choose to do it yourself you have to go in person to Ministry of Foreign Relations Bogota (Ministro de Relations Exteriores - MRE) in Bogota at :
Sede Norte
Avenida 19, Number 98-03
Edificio Torre 100
If you are flying to Bogota you can take a taxi from the airport. if you are going to Bogota by bus go to the North Terminal, then take a taxi.
At the airport and the bus terminal there is a kiosk where you can get a ticket for a taxi. Don´t take one of the pirate taxis waiting outside, they will try to rip you off.
In the taxi the meter shows a number. There is a chart on the dashboard and another hanging from the passenger seat. Look at the number and beside it will be the amount you have to pay. If you don´t see this chart ask the driver for it. They have to give it to you. If you don´t ask for it they will charge you some arbitrary amount.
To go from North Bus Terminal to MRE takes about 15-20 minutes and costs about 11,000 to 12,000 pesos. I once had a taxi driver ask me for 30,000 until I demanded to see the chart. The correct amount was 12,000.
The hours for MRE visa applications are 7:30 - 12 and 2-3.
People start arriving about an hour early and the line can have a lot of people in it but it goes pretty fast. The process will take maybe one or two hours, after you fill out the online application first, which you have to do.
The web page for MRE is:
http://www.cancilleria.gov.co/en/procedures_services/visas
All the information about visas is there; what type you need, how to apply for it, what documents you need, how much it costs.
When you arrive at the Edifcio Torre 100 there will be two lines of people on the sidewalk.
The line to the left is for Colombians applying for a passport.
The line to the right at the corner of the building by the parking garage driveway is for persons like you who are applying for a Colombian Visa.
Before you get in line you can go to the internet cafe about two or three stores to the right of MRE and ask the man there to help you fill out the online form to apply for a visa.
To complete the online application you will need to scan your Passport, your translated benefits letter, your previous Colombian Visa if you are renewing and a Photo.
You can get the photo taken at any photo shop. It costs about 5,000 and has to be 3cm x 4cm with colored shirt on white background.
You can fill out the Online Application form the day before, but it is only good for 1 day, then you have to fill out a new application.
Even if you speak fluent Spanish the online instructions are confusing so you may need help.
The man at the internet cafe next to MRE knows how to fill it out. He doesn´t speak English but he is very helpful.
Once your online application is accepted you will get an invoice to print out and take with you to MRE.
The invoice is for about 150,000 pesos and it is called a Visa Study. Take that invoice with you to the third floor of the Torre 100 and the guard will point you to the bank kiosk where you can pay either in cash or credit/debit card.
You get a number tab when you enter the kiosk. That number will appear on the teleprompter when your turn comes for you to meet the immigration agent.
Once your visa is approved you go back to the bank kiosk and pay the visa fee. For a TP7 visa it costs about 650,000 pesos.
After you pay that fee you return to the immigration officer to pick up your passport with your new visa installed.
About your passport:
To get a Colombian Visa requires that your passport have more than 180 days remaining before expiration.
Also, you need two blank pages in your passport for the new visa. The blank pages in your passport have to say VISA on them. There are a couple blank pages at the back of your passport that do not say VISA and the Ministry of Foreign Relations WILL NOT put your visa on those blank pages that do not say VISA.
If you need extra pages in your Passport you can send your Passport to FBU and they will handle it for you, for a fee.
You can renew your Passport when it has less than 180 days before expiration.
After you receive your new VISA stamp in your passport you then have 15 days in which to go to the Migracion Colombia office in your city and apply for a CEDULA, which is the Colombian national identification card.
If you do not apply for the cedula within 15 days there is a hefty penalty. The penalty per month is one month minimum wage, which at this time is almost 700,000 COP per month.
Every state in Colombia has a Migracion Colombia office in the capital city, for example Bogota, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Medellin, Pereira, Cali and so forth.
To apply for a cedula you need a photocopy of your Passport information page, a photocopy of your new Colombian Visa, a blood test and two photos.
You can get the blood test at any lab, just ask around where you are and you´ll find one. The blood test cost 7,000 pesos when I did it a few years ago. All it gives is your blood type. Just walk in and the lab will do it while you wait.
The immigration agents at MRE speak English, but at Migracion Colombia the agents I have met do not.
If you speak Spanish this whole process is a LOT easier. My first time even when I spoke what I thought was pretty good Spanish I still had to have help from a woman in line behind me to understand what they were asking me.
Now when I see expats in line ahead of me who are struggling with the process I help them when I can.
If you don´t have at least good basic to intermediate Spanish I think it would be easier to take a translator with you.
You can find a translator by asking at your hotel or at a nearby school where the English teacher will help you find an English speaking person.
When I need a translator to help me with medical appointments I pay about 5,000 per hour to the translator and pay for their taxi and meals. I have good Spanish now, but I still take a translator with me for medical and dental appointments so I will be very sure I understand what the doctor is telling me.
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