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New TP-7 process

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Visitando
  8/22/2017 09:10 EST

I decided to live in Colombia so I went back to USA for few weeks to settle affairs. Now I´m back in Colombia ready to apply for TP-7 and there are some significant changes to the process and I need advice.
Last spring when I inquired about the proof of income benefits letter the procedure was to send it to FBU Bogota and they would translate it and sign and stamp it and send it back to you so you could include it in your application at Ministry of Foreign Relations in Bogota.
Now, apparently the Embassy no longer provides that service and you have to make an appointment and go to the Embassy and pay a $50 fee to get the translated letter.
Has anyone had to do that yet?

AAW
  8/22/2017 11:41 EST

I just finished the process. Right now, you fill out an online form. Although It's collected in Bogota electronically, it's forwarded to (I think it's Puerto Rico) for processing. Then returned to FBU Bogota and they email it to you. I put my lawyer's email on the form since they were accumulating and processing everything for me. They received it and followed up by doing whatever it was that they needed to do for the TP 7 visa.

You may take your paperwork to Bogota and for $50 get it processed by hand. I have no Idea if that's a one day thing or not.

There have been plenty of computer snafus. I waited just under 3 weeks for my paperwork to be processed electronically.

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Visitando
  8/22/2017 12:03 EST

Thanks AAW.
At this point I´m not getting any responses from FBUBogota. They don´t answer the phone, and they haven´t responded to my email or to the online form that I filled out. When I filled out the online form it was forwarded to American Citizens Services in the US Embassy in San Jose Costa Rica.

All I need is my benefit letter translated. Another gringo said he took his to the government building here in Popayan and they did a translation and notarized it for 50,000,
If I don´t hear back from FBU pretty quick I´ll go ahead and use the notary at the government building in Popayan.

bigjailerman
  8/22/2017 13:01 EST

It's definitely Costa Rica
here is the link for inquiries

https://cr.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/social-security/fbu-inquiry-form/

Visitando
  8/22/2017 13:08 EST

Yes, that´s the form. I filled it out and submitted it two weeks ago and didn´t hear anything back. Their autoresponder says response within 5 days, but didn´t happen. I filled it out again yesterday and am waiting to see what happens. Thanks for posting this link, others will need it too.

AAW
  8/23/2017 10:05 EST

I had the same problem. My lawyer's office (Alan Gongora) said that 3-4 weeks was not uncommon due to the new system. Once I got my paper work back. they processed the visa itself in 3 days.

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Visitando
  8/24/2017 08:49 EST

This morning I received to autoresponder messages from FBU Bogota, in response to me filling out that form.

Good afternoon.

Please note that to request a verification letter, you would need to request a “Notarial and other services” appointment here: https://evisaforms.state.gov/acs/default.asp?postcode=BGT&appcode=1
The date of your appointment you must submit:
-Valid US passport
-Documentation from Social Security or bank statements indicating the monthly amount you receive
-USD$50.00 notary fee (you may pay in cash dollars, pesos or by credit card)

Please let us know if you require further assistance.

Kind regards,

ECM

Visitando
  8/24/2017 08:53 EST

I also found out that the new 3 year visa that will replace the 1 year visa doesn´t start until November.
I need to find a way to extend my stay here until November. I might go to another country for three months.

bigjailerman
  8/24/2017 10:09 EST

Wouldn't you save money by not going to another country for three months and just get the 1 year now and then update it next year?

cccmedia
  8/24/2017 10:53 EST

Whatever you do, don't go to Venezuela for that period.

How about investigating a 'conducto de salvo' to bridge the gap?

cccmedia in Medellín

PRS
  9/14/2017 19:37 EST

Visitando,

Related to your Aug 22 post, what "government building" did your friend take his (presumably downloaded) social security benefits letter to? Was it a local Migracion office? An official translator as publicized on the Cancilleria website?

Previously, folks who were able to email FBU and get a document back acceptable to Bogota received a letter on US Embassy letterhead, with an official US Embassy stamp at the bottom, signed by the Embassy Vice-Consul.

Not sure where that leaves us all.

Thanks for any additional info.

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Visitando
  9/15/2017 09:57 EST

PRS, the state office building where houses the governement of the department where you live. It is called simply Gobnierno. They all have apostilles and translators as far as I know.

I inquired at one office and they said they translate the document then send it to MRE in Bogota for the apostille.

The apostilled document costs 40,000 pesos for the one page benefit letter to be translated, and another 31,000 for the MRE to stamp apostille. Total 71,000.

When you receive the document back from MRE you can then include it in your application package.

From what I can find out, there are no guarantees that MRE will actually do this apostille and there are no guarantees that MRE will actually accept their own apostille as part of your application for a TP-7 visa.

quite frankly, from what I know now, the MRE process is in a complete state of upheaval as is the US Embassy. Hopefully at some point in the future the system will straighten out and be easy to navigate. In the meantime we appear to be testing their system for them, and so far it isn´t working.

Obviously the US Embassy does not want to be in the business of translating and certifying these benefits letters. They require you to travel to Bogota by appointment only and present your document and pay 150,000 pesos. If you have to stay overnight in Bogota it can get fairly expensive fairly quickly.

For me it will take a one day round trip that will cost about 100,000 in bus fares, plus another 30,000 in taxi fares, plus the 150,000. In total the letter will cost about 300,000.

Of course, if I have to do that every year it will be a royal pain in the acc but if I have to I have to.

My sense is they (US Embassy) has made this so difficult and expensive because they do not want to have to mess with these benefit letters.

I have heard there are alternatives, such as going to the government office building in your state and finding someone to do the legalization for you.

BUT, according to the MRE web page at cancillería.gov.co the Consulate, US Embassy is the only one who can do the apsotille..

I tried to contact Canilleria.gov.co at their contact points by entering my US Passport number and the form did not allow me to enter. I don´t know what other number I can put in that blank so they will talk to me either by phone or by chat or by email. It seems to be a dead end.

there is also no mention on the MRE cancillería web page about the upcoming changes in visas supposedly scheduled for November 2, 2017. AS near as I can tell from their web page there are no impending changes.

So, I´m left with a sense of pending doom. The US Embassy does not answer the phone or answer questions by email or by auto-form. All I get from them is an autoresponder response saying I have to make an appointment in person.

There doesn´t seem to be any way to contact MRE Cancilleria on their web page. I want to ask them directly what steps they are requiring for the benefits letter. So far no luck.

I am not ready to give up yet, but things are looking a little bleak. It appears I am being forced into making an appointment with US Embassy and paying them the 150,000 pesos.

WhoaNellie
  9/15/2017 10:13 EST

Visitando, you said "There doesn´t seem to be any way to contact MRE Cancilleria on their web page."

I went to the web page (and have been there before) and at the top, they give phone numbers. Further down the page on the right is a button for video call. At the bottom of the page on the left they give more phone numbers as well as an email address.

Also at the top of the page if you click on "Tramites y Servicios" (Procedures and Services) that takes you to a page where on the left hand side, you have buttons for phone, email, chat and video call.

Visitando
  9/15/2017 10:30 EST

You think I haven´t tried all those contact methods? Go ahead, you try. You have to start by inputting a number. The only number I have to put in is my passport number and it will not accept my passport number, in red letters it says the Number _____ is not registered. So I can´t connect a chat or email. And they don´t answer the stupid phone or you get a recording which keeps you on hold for an hour and not contact. Go ahead, try and see what happens. and reread my last message where I explained this already. But I do appreciate you trying to be helpful. Thank you.

WhoaNellie
  9/15/2017 11:51 EST

Sorry, Visitando, when you wrote:

"There doesn´t seem to be any way to contact MRE Cancilleria on their web page."

I took what you wrote literally, I'm sorry I misunderstood you.

It does sound vexing. I know what I'd do - I'd make a holiday of it, and go to Bogotá to the MRE offices at Palacio de San Carlos at Calle 10 # 5-51, and talk to them in person. Colombia bureaucracy being what it is, I'd pack a lunch...there is very little in Colombia that works with the efficiency and speed and level of customer service many of us are accustomed to in some other countries.

WhoaNellie
  9/15/2017 11:53 EST

By the way, for the chat, where it says "Nro Documento", put in "EEUU pasaporte" and press Buscar. Other fields to fill in will then come up. However after filling them in and then pressing the button at the bottom, it never does connect...

PRS
  9/15/2017 12:28 EST

Both the online chat and telephone works for us. However, we have discovered that calling early works best. Online chat connected but we had to give up since they took too long to join the chat. Using a passport number worked without any issues for us.

Regarding the benefits letter, it appears that the only way now to get a "certified" one is to make an appointment at the US Embassy in Bogota. An MRE agent told us this morning that we had to have our local office send an "original" to Bogota to be apostilled, but we think he did not understand that we were talking about one already translated and certified by the US Embassy. We think he was under the impression we were talking about an "original" mailed to us from Social Security in the US.

Patricio
  9/15/2017 18:39 EST

Visitando, if i read you correctly and the topic, this concerns mainly with obtaining a US SS benefits letter for visa application.
If this letter from US is to be apostilled, that is a procedure done in the US or in US embassy in Colombia, a US document cannot be apostilled in Colombia, same as birth certificate and divorce papers. For use in Colombia, they are apostilled there and officially translated here and then you take to cancilleria or Migracion Colombia or wherever.

cafetero
  9/15/2017 19:50 EST

Yes, to what Patricio said, the US document has to be apostilled in the US or in the US Embassy in Bogota.
However, there is some hope that when the new visa rules come into affect on November 2nd there will be a process whereby the Benefits letter can be certified (not apostilled) either through MRE or through specific agencies other than solely through US Embassy.

What has most of us in a tizzy is that US Embassy until about three months ago provided the letter free and did it by mail. Now you have to go to Bogota by appointment and pay $50 for it. So it is very different cost wise now.

My opinion is that YES, they should charge something for the service rather than provide it for free, and although I think $50 is high I am willing to pay it. But, NO they should not make you go in person to get it.

The problem, as it was explained to me by US Embassy staff person is that they don´t have any way to collect money to pay for the service unless you come to them and pay it in person. My response was Good Heavens, we´ve been sending cash by Western Union and other courier services for eons, why not just let us courier the money to you via Depris or Servientrega. I didn´t get an answer, just a blank stare.

So, at least for the time being we are stuck with the burden of traveling to Bogota, by appointment, and paying the $50.

cafetero
  9/15/2017 19:54 EST

The reason I mentioned Depris courier service is because Depris has a kiosk in the waiting room of the Embassy where the benefits letters are issued. The kiosk is literally 15 meters from the clerk who writes out the benefits letters. It seems simple enough to me to just send a cash payment via Depris right to the waiting room in the embassy and the Embassy clerk could walk over and collect it from the Depris clerk.

WhoaNellie
  9/15/2017 20:14 EST

cafetero, you are laboring under the misapprehension that the government, or specifically the government bureaucracy, exists to serve the citizens...

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