The U.S. Embassy in Colombia delivered an update on Monday on the status of visa services and announced changes to the procedure for accessing the document. The amendments are specifically for the application of non-immigrant visas.
The Deputy Head of Nonimmigrant Visas, identified in the US Embassy video as Will, explained what the process will be like for scheduling interview appointments. “At the moment there are many Colombians who are traveling to the United States to participate in exchange programs, students and people who are going to work with petition visas,” the official commented, noting that these types of cases are a priority for the entity.
In this way, they established that during the next four to five weeks appointments will be available for the F, M, H, J, L, P and O visa classes, which correspond to exchange or work programs. “In the coming months and all of our officers are working hard every day at the embassy to process these kinds of visas,” Will said.
With regard to the B1 and B2 visas, which correspond to tourism and business, the deputy chief stated that they are working on processing those documents. “In recent weeks, there were more than 1,000 people every day who were doing their interviews at the embassy,” said Will; however, in the face of high demand, availability for these appointments is in 2024.
“We understand that this creates a very difficult situation for many Colombians who want to travel,” the official said. However, he highlighted the system of priority appointments for humanitarian emergencies, such as the death of a family member or medical services that are urgent and that are not available in Venezuela or Colombia. “If you need to make one of these priority appointments, please visit our website,” Will added.
The entity also provided clarity on some rumors about the interview appointments that assured that there were supposed services that could bring the meeting up to a closer date if an amount of money was paid. Faced with this, the deputy chief replied that: “We never charge anything for appointments, at any time (...) These services have committed fraud and this has a very negative impact on the applicant and we also have to deny the visa then.”
Interview Waiver Process
The embassy explained that there is a system for applying for a visa without an interview, which will now take two to three months. The previous system was that people who have already had a visa of the same class or who are under 14 years of age or older than 79, could apply for the exemption. “In the new process — which will take effect from April 12 — when a person fills out their visa application in our system, the system will say if the person qualifies for the visa without an interview,” said Will.
From that moment on, the embassy program will offer you an appointment to leave your passport at the Bogotá office. With this, the entity will not stay too long with that document of importance to the citizen during the waiting period for visa approval. “There are people who may need to travel outside the country at that time and need their passport,” the entity added.
The embassy also stressed that the option of sending papers such as passports through DHL will no longer exist, but there will be a wait to leave these documents by appointment. “We believe that this process will provide a more convenient service for applicants, because their passports will be in the embassy for less time: it's weeks rather than months,” said Will.
This is the official communication from the U.S. Embassy in Colombia:
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