Has it suddenly got easy to get married in Colombia?

adrienne79 says on Dec 20, 2007, 11:09:

The easy way we found was to fly to San Andres Island. All we needed to get married in the Notary there was my passport and few Colombian Doc for him. This is due to a law that was passed to encourage destination weddings in San Andres.

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ColombianoGringo says on Dec 20, 2007, 11:19:

Adrienne is right. It is easy in San Andres, it can be a real pain in the rest of the Colombia. Between notarios and priests, I don't know who is the bigger pain.

We got sick of notarios changing the requirements every time we talked to them so we got married in San Andres on the beach. We still have to do the religious ceremony sometime next year and I think I may just end up having to make a large donation to "the candle fund" to avoid all the BS involved.

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lpdiver says on Dec 20, 2007, 11:28:

CG...you are not required to "do the religous ceremony".

t

"cook some rice!"

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LilaM says on Dec 20, 2007, 11:29:

Cool Omni, need some help with that, the only thing that is missing is the boyfriend ejejjeje but my wedding party is almost ready ajjajaj

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don´t try" B. Sills

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ColombianoGringo says on Dec 20, 2007, 11:36:

"CG...you are not required to do the religous ceremony"

I realize that, but I have very catholic in-laws. They would not be OK with a civil only marriage. Besides, when we married in SA, it was just the two of us. Consequently, we are going to have the religious ceremony so that she can have the big church wedding.

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bufalo says on Dec 20, 2007, 12:18:

when we got married 5 years ago a wedding visa was needed by me. I didn't want to go back to the states just for that. We then went to a church and they married us and never asked for a visa. After that we went back to the notary and legally had to accept the marraige - loved the look on the receptionists face!

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor

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ColombianoGringo says on Dec 20, 2007, 13:37:

Notarios are the worst. They make their own rules as they go along so they can charge you as much as they want and take as long as they want to do things.

I went and talked to the notaria in Neiva a few months before we planned to get married. Since I am a dual citizen, the notaria herself told me that if I married as a Colombian, I didn't have to worry about my US divorce decree, etc.

A few weeks before I was headed down there, my wife went to take our documents to the notaria. All of a sudden, they said that I would need a bunch of apostilled documents and a lawyer for my kids. Notarios are notorious for changing the rules as they see fit. I am sure a nice bribe would have fixed things, but that pissed me off.

So I suggested to my wife that instead of hassling with the notaria and getting married in a dingy office, we should go to San Andres and get married on a beautiful beach with zero hassles. In San Andres, I got married as a US citizen and only had to show my passport. My wife just showed her cedula and registro civil.

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lpdiver says on Dec 20, 2007, 14:43:

Yes but notarios are a dime a dozen. You don't like one says...consult another.

t

"cook some rice!"

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Colombiche says on Dec 20, 2007, 14:59:

Juajua jua Lila, me hiciste reir con tu comentario.. .. todo listo, el ponque, el ramo, la iglesia, los pagesitos, los anillos, los pasabocas, el vestido de novia..... solo falta el marrano juajuajua

No me den trago extranjero, que es caro y no sabe a bueno.... (Rafael Godoy)

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Gator says on Dec 20, 2007, 18:53:

One little point. Once you marry in a civil ceremony the notary will not, in all probability, recognize the church wedding. Based upon the theory of you can only marry once without a divorce. The same will apply in the USA-the consulate will not recognize the second marriage nor register it.

"I didn't have to worry about my US divorce decree, etc". Humm! Do you plan on applying for a US Visa? The embassy might not recognize the ceremony.

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

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john_stark says on Dec 20, 2007, 20:48:

When I got married in 2003, a special visa was required and getting that was a bit of a pain in the ass. Since then, this requirement has been removed although I wonder was this just for US citizens or for every extranjero?

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ColombianoGringo says on Dec 20, 2007, 22:00:

The marriage would have been valid because I really am divorced and have no impediment to legally marry. I asked a few immigration attorneys in the US and was told that as long as I was legally able to marry, it didn't matter if I did it as a US or Colombian citizen. Since we ended up getting married in San Andres, none of the documents were required. I did have to swear that I was legally able to marry.

While it is easy to shop around for notarios, I just got sick of their shit and decided to go the easy route in SA and I don't regret it.

We have no desire to legally register the church wedding since we are already married. This is only for the sake of my wife and her family. I think technically it is a blessing of the marriage, but it will be a typical catholic wedding mass.

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john_stark says on Dec 20, 2007, 22:11:

We got married civilly on a Wednesday and in a Catholic ceremony on Saturday. As far as her mother was concerned we weren't really married until Saturday.

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Robert Jorge says on Dec 20, 2007, 23:50:

It is not easy to shop around for Notarias on San Andres. There is just one unless things have changed. Yes, Bogota has a bunch.

--"I believe in making the world safe for our children. But not for our children's children, because I don't think that children should be having sex." - Jack Handy

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adrienne79 says on Dec 21, 2007, 06:54:

Colombianogringo is right about not needing the divorce decree in SA. I was in the same kind of situation. I wasn't looking forward to gettng the divorce decree translated, apostilled, and blah blah blah. There are many islands in the Carribean that don't require the divorce decree to be present. Just less paperwork and more ease. There is no reason why the US would not accept it since we really are divorced and like he said, the notary does make you swear that there is no reason for you not to be able to marry.

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Gator says on Dec 21, 2007, 07:09:

John Stark, how true, ROTFLMAO, Cali has 23 and Bogotá has 76. We use Jaime Mendez in Chapinero(#19) Bogotá

If anyone is interested you can check out the web site of the Superintendencia de Notariado y Registro https://snrportal.supernotariado.gov.co all in Spanish of course, address of all notaries in Colombia by departmento/city, fees, what they can and will not do, etc., etc.

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

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Omnispire says on Dec 21, 2007, 09:56:

Believe me it was not easy. It was a church wedding I am C of E which doesn't really help. The point was that even the priests could not agree on exactly what paperwork they needed and it got close to the wedding not going ahead at all because we did not have one bit of paper that was suddenly needed but not needed before.

It was not just the wedding itself and the priest but the visa situation was a fantastic catch 22. My wife has a right to enter England on a student visa but if we got married and tried to get that visa changed in england from a student visa to a spouse visa then it was likely to get refused on the basis that we had entered the country under false pretenses. That's BS but that's the rule. We were advised to apply in Bogota but the application could take 6 or more weeks. we had flights booked to go back to the UK and having got married believe it or not we wanted to be together. The embassy attitude was that is the procedure full stop.

So someone who does not give a stuff about their wife because they are simply playing the system is fine because they can enter the country separately but if you want to enter the country together because you actually love one another then that is treated as absurd. What's more, it was not possible to apply for the visa until you were physically married so the appointment system was against you.

As it turned out we met a friend in London who had recently married in Colombia with very similar circumstances and they advised that you can pay a bit extra (as in the UK) and get a 1 day turn around decision. That was relatively easy but the only source of that information was through a friend of a friend. I can elaborate more if annybody needs to know the finer detail to help with their circumstances.

I just do not want anybody else to go through the hell we went through. STRESS. It was possibly one of the most stressful times in my life. Walking down the aisle in front of everyone and making my pledges was a piece of cake by comparison.

It's not about the destination, its about the journey

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Chelesupercono says on Dec 22, 2007, 16:40:

getting married....yikes!!! If it floats, flies or fucks..........LEASE IT.......

never go to bed with someone crazier then you are, you will do it and you will regret it.......

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slguy says on Dec 22, 2007, 18:05:

"but if you want to enter the country together because you actually love one another then that is treated as absurd. "

So- the vows were "I promise to love, honor and cherish - and complain if the bureacracy requires separate flights!"?

Good thing most of us don't think taking the same flight is a prerequisite/requirement of love, I guess. jajajajajjaja

Before you throw me out, make sure I pay my bar tab

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Chelesupercono says on Dec 24, 2007, 09:55:

Only marry pre-pagos......much cheaper...

never go to bed with someone crazier then you are, you will do it and you will regret it.......

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billyb says on Dec 24, 2007, 19:17:

" solo falta el marrano juajuajua"

'Biche, como se le ocurre? jejeje.

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