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Temporary Marriage Visa is Gone

This subject has been hit on a couple of times in the past week, but no real clarification has been given. In another recent thread somebody mentioned they "heard" the marriage visa that used to be required before going and getting married in Colombia was going away as of 1 Mar 05. Actually, this went away as of 1 FEBRUARY 05.

Some people say the old visa was hard to get and others said it was easy, but it depends on where you live in the States.

To obtain the now outdated marriage visa you had to do the application, write a letter (preferrably in spanish as an english letter must be translated, both copies notarized and apostilled), get a notarized letter from your fiancee and a notarized copy of your fiancee's cedula. On top of this you had to have an original police background check. These are all above the standard photos(of which different consulates list different sizes) and valid passport stuff. The background check (english)had to have an Apostille attached and then the bacground check had to be translated into Castillian spanish (which not all spanish translators do correctly), the translation notarized and also another Apostille. Quite simply, it was ridiculous. Oh, depending on which consulate you went through you may of had to supply bank statements/W-2s.

Some notaries will debate notarizing the spanish translation of the background check saying they can't notarize a state public document as the background check already comes with a public office seal. This is stupid/false (and shame on dumbass notaries for not knowing their own rules) as they are not notarizing the background check, they are simply notarizing the translator's signing of the translation. A notary doesn't need to know what a document says, they just verify the person signed the document in front of them. You could simply write "This notary is a dipshit" in Russian and they simply notarize you signing that statement.

Getting an Apostille for anything can be a real pain as most people don't even know what it is, even notaries and state officials. It's really quite simple as an Apostille is just a little document issued from the State (with a seal), attached to a document that was notarized/signed or public document issued within the state. It's purpose is nothing other than to state the person who notarized/issued whatever document has a valid standing as a notary in the state. Plain stupid.

Other paperwork not needed until in Colombia on the temporary marriage visa, AND STILL NEEDED REGARDLESS OF THE VISA GOING AWAY, for a CIVIL marriage, are a recently issued certified birth certificate (someone mentioned 45 days, but it is 90), a notarized certificate of bachelorhood (letter from family members/friends of 10+ years stating you're single and free to marry), and certified divorce papers if that applies.

The birth certificate and divorce papers need to be apostilled. The letter/certificate of bachelorhood needs to be notarized and then apostilled. These documents must all be translated. Now, if you translate them in the US, the translations will also need to be notarized and apostilled. YOU CAN TRANSLATE THESE AFTER ARRIVING IN COLOMBIA. I can't remember the exact street of the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, but around 100th and 17th I believe, has official translators right around the corner. They will translate these documents.

These are the actual current rules. I don't know why the consulate web pages haven't been updated yet (except for Houston just deleting everything about the visa, but not publishing the change as a "hot items" issue), but that's Colombia, just as all of the things explained above of course can be dismissed by whatever local notary you deal with. They do want they want. Some will require everything, some will require nothing other than a live body showing up at the ceremony. Some will want more, or just a bribe. Still some may not be up to date with the change, find one who knows their job.

I say this is all current as my wife is currently on a 3 week trip home to her family in Girardot and when I started seeing people asking about the possible change I had her check with her notary (who by chance used to work in the consulate here in Tokyo, where we live) and he gave her this information, without even needing to ask "notary headquarters" or wherever. He said this went into effect 1 February.

So, again, the only things you should need are the birth certificate, certificate of bachelorhood, divorce papers as explained above, and of course a valid passport with the tourist visa.

By DaveS on Feb 15, 2005, 03:27 in Visa & paperwork.

carldecolorado says on Feb 15, 2005, 05:47:

Thanks Dave Dave

Thanks for clearing this issue up, I know there have been quite a few threads over the last 2 weeks regardign this issue, but it does now finally seem to be put to rest.

Carl

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vladimiro says on Feb 15, 2005, 06:00:

Colombian Laws

It looks like Colombian laws are published on the internet. IF anyone knows what the name of the legal order is that removed the "marraige visa" requirement for foriegners it could be looked up and verified on the internet.

http://juriscol.banrep.gov.co:8080/alcance.html

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utopiacowboy says on Feb 15, 2005, 12:50:

Excellent post, DaveS! Muchas gracias.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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lpdiver says on Feb 15, 2005, 15:11:

I would still Contact the notaria I intended on using and fax the documents to them and have pre-approval. Hopefully they will know their own regulations but if they don't do a lot of marriages they may not.

I had to educate out notaria after arriving in Colombia. It sure is easier to iron out the details in advance.

As for the people who think it is too much work...gee whiz. I had to spend about a total of twenty minutes on the phone, an hour typing on the computer, two hours driving to the state department to get the apostilles, then an overnight trip to Houston to the consulate. All told this is less time and expense than the round trip airfare to Medellin.

It was a pleasure to jump through these hoops for my bride.

tony

"cook some rice!"

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Lionheart says on Feb 15, 2005, 15:50:

still some open issues My novia, who is lawyer, and a partner of hers are still doing research. It looks like the procedure is in general as described here, or in the other thread, but I wouldn't rely on the details yet. I haven't seen information yet if it is valid for any country and if you still need or don't need the police report, for example.

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lpdiver says on Feb 15, 2005, 15:57:

Lionheart... Thank you for making my point for me so well. Contact the person performing the marriage and ask them their requirements. They are the ONLY ones that will matter.

Tony

"cook some rice!"

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Lionheart says on Feb 15, 2005, 16:24:

she better do it well I am her guinea pig ... everytime I state some worries and ask questions ... she just smiles back ... "there are always ways, my love ... don't worry"

But she states all the time one fact too, she has to work with the notarias for finalization.

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lpdiver says on Feb 15, 2005, 16:28:

I run into this all the time I pretty much try to do all things on the up and up. They just laugh at me. Tell me how can a person her illegally get a bank loan for $200,000.00 I have to show three years income tax returns.

Also if they get deported is their property attached in some sort of way?

There are way...lmao.

T

"cook some rice!"

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Dan says on Feb 16, 2005, 09:53:

Apotille In the original post, getting an Apostille can be a real pain in the butt. I was born abroad in Germany and My birth certificate is US (I was born on a military base so I don´t have a german certificate). There is no information on how to get the Apostille for my certificate online, so after a few tries, I had to call someone on what it is I have to do... so right now, maybe the third times will go better.
Dan

God Bless America!

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Dan says on Feb 16, 2005, 09:59:

one other thing... Passport with Tourist Visa???
As far as I knew, it´s still not valid: There are other visas that a person can use as I posted here:

http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/node/5222

Unless I´ve missed something since I´ve been in Colombia the past few weeks. This is the first I´ve heard of the Marriage Visa going away.
I´ll catch up on the info sooner or later, probably when I get back home the end of next week.
Dan

God Bless America!

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lpdiver says on Feb 16, 2005, 10:05:

Dan I really don't know either. This is one of those fact specific details you are going to have to do your own homework on. I would contact a liason office with the military to begin with. Look at your birth certificate and see where it was issued from. It is bound to give you some clues.

Good Luck,

Tony

"cook some rice!"

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Dan says on Feb 23, 2005, 09:44:

lpdiver I just found out what it is that I need to do. A little late too. I had to send my Birth Certificate to the place it was issued in Wash.DC. (didn´t have time before my trip). It took a while to find a place that would do a prepaid return (or so I thought). After waiting for while, I called to DC and found out that it was sent to my house in the US and not back to me here in Colombia. So now, I have about 3-4 months before I return for work and now that I FINALLY know what I need to do, Maybe I´ll have better luck the third time around. Everything except the birth certificate has been pretty good. Before I was thinking that I had to send it to an Authentications office, so I sent it do the one in DC and they are the one´s that told me that I had to send it back to where it was issued.

It would be nice if they actually posted this type of info Online. This is just pissing me off. Anyway. I´m going back to the US on Friday. and to return in a few months, We´ll see how it goes then.

Dan

God Bless America!

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