Sponsorship through Bogota 2015-2016

[JulianaAndrew]

Hi everyone, hope you're doing okay!
I came to this forum to find some guidance and information about the spousal sponsorship application. I live here in Colombia, I was born here, but my future wifey is Canadian and lives there. We've been in this relationship for about ten months now and we've been engaged for more than half of that time. We finally met in person last December/January but now she's back in Canada, as she has to go back to college. We're planning on getting married next time she comes visit me, once college is done, so in June. We have several questions, and as of right now my main concern is where we apply from. I'm confused with the inland-outland process, so I don't know if we have to go through Bogota or through Canada. I've been refused for the visitor visa twice, which has been very disappointing and saddening, but we're still there. I'd like to know if there's a way I can go visit her in Canada after we're married, since the people at the embassy told me that unless my situation changed considerably, it would be a waste of time to try getting a visitor visa. I want to meet her family, and spend more than a month with her. As all of you know, the distance is incredibly hard, and the tears make no difference if I'm a man. There are bad days when the missing is overwhelming. Lastly, we plan on submitting the spousal application after she goes back to Canada after she comes visit me again, so approximately in August or July this year. I don't know how much it would take, but I've gotten my heart crushed thinking it could take two years. We have more than enough proof of relationship, anything that you could ask for.
I sincerely thank you all for your help and for taking the time to read this. I genuinely hope to hear good news from your applications

 

[sponsoring123]

Hi Jorlando and Outro. it seems that everyone experiences are different. in our case all people we dealt with were very nice, and everything went smooth. My wife arrived Feb 3rd, and at the airport they welcomed her with a big smile. She had to sign her COPR and then they just checked that her address here in Toronto was correct. then they said that her PR card would arrive within a few weeks and wished her luck in her new life. she was done in 5 minutes ! just remember NOT to sign the COPR when they give it to you along with the visa. That has to be signed in front of the officer here in Canada.
Good luck to you all !

 

[outro7]

Finally!!! My wife got her passport today! we are looking for flights now. Thanks to everyone on this forum especially sponsoring123 and jorlando!

 

[outro7]

Im sorry to hear that jorlando. I really hope you are next. I will keep checking in on this page and let you all know how the landing goes. Hopefully it is as smooth as sponsorings but one thing i am learning is not everyones process is the same. Sponsoring123 your updates have helped a lot and i hope i can do the same for jorlando and anyone else reading this.

 

[jorlandoj82]

Finally!!! My wife got her passport today! we are looking for flights now. Thanks to everyone on this forum especially sponsoring123 and jorlando!

Did you get an email saying they mailed it out?

 

[jorlandoj82]

Finally!!! My wife got her passport today! we are looking for flights now. Thanks to everyone on this forum especially sponsoring123 and jorlando!

Also what company was used to mail your passport?

 

[sponsoring123]

Wonderful news Outro !!! I am glad ! I am happy my updates are helpful. and I am sure Jorlando's will be next. to what city is your wife coming to ? when is the trip planned for ?

 

[sponsoring123]

Hi JulianaAndrew, this is in response to your message.
Well, after going through all, the application process is very straight forward, and the course of action shall be technically simple. this is my advice and experience on how to proceed from here for you:
The inland sponsoring i think is out of the question for you. To do that you should be in Canada already, and after twice denial of tourist visa I think it is pretty much impossible to visit Canada and apply from within here. Even if you were able to enter Canada and apply from here, the fact that you tried twice to obtain a visitors visa and was denied immediately becomes a huge red flag.
Your option is to do everything by the book. I suggest that you plan a wedding in Colombia for June, and get married there. lots of pictures, friends and family around, and if possible a honey moon right after and lots of more pictures, proof of the trip, tickets , hotel reservations etc.
once that is done, your wife would come back to Canada and start the application process. I can help you guys with it if you like. I did the application so meticulously that I think that that was part of the reason why my process took so fast.
If everything goes right, and nothing is missing the entire process from application sent to landing in Canada should not be longer than 6 months. In my case it took exactly 124 days, just over 4 months !
Don't distress about waiting times, or what the websites tell you. it may say 17 months... 12 months... etc... but in reality processes are going very fast these days in Bogota Visa Office.
The important thing is to complete and send the application making sure everything is perfectly right. as long as that is done, and your relationship is legit and you have lots of proof of it, you guys should be ok.
If you have any questions or need help I can always coach you and your future wife through the whole application process.

Cheers !

 

[JulianaAndrew]

Thank you very much sponsoring123. I just have a question that came up today, which has gotten me very worried. I was looking at the guides and I read that I would need the military card for the sponsorship, it's implied. Is that correct? I don't have one and it would be really hard to get one right now. It is a bit weird because you don't need that card to get the visitor visa, since you don't need it to get a passport. Your comments about the time frame are really encouraging. We'll start working on the sponsorship application in advance so we don't get unpleasant surprises.
And yes, we do have lots of proofs of the relationship, thankfully.

 

[JulianaAndrew]

Colombia - Additional forms for residents

Supplementary Information – Your travels [IMM 5562] December 2016
The principal applicant and all family members included in the application who are 18 years of age or older must complete this form.
Details of Military Service [IMM 5546] December 2016
Complete this form for anyone included on the application who has ever held a high ranking/senior official government position or served in the military, army, defence or police unit, (including National Service), and submit a copy of the military card/booklet, including blank pages, if applicable.
Colombia – Instruction(s) for documents

Copies of all required civil documents must be notarised by Notaria where the documents were registered.
For all civil marriages in Colombia, a copy of the Escritura de Matrimonio is required.
For divorces obtained in Colombia, “Escritura de Divorcio” or “Sentencia de Divorcio” or “Cesación de los Efectos Civiles del Matrimonio católico” must be submitted, whichever applies to your situation.
Military service document: All males holders of Colombian Passports age 18 and older included in the application must submit:
Libreta Militar, and
Hoja de Vida Militar (if applicable).

Please help me understand this. To my understanding, it just means that if anyone included in the application has done the military service here, then we would have to include the military card there. But since that form doesn't apply in my case, (we wouldn't fill it out because I haven't been involved with the police or military force in any way), I don't need to submit a military card I don't have, and it says there that it's an instruction for the documents we could need to support those two forms. I don't see it saying that I need the military card. What do you think? We emailed the embassy in Colombia as an attempt to make sure

 

[JulianaAndrew]

I'm sorry, I figured it out by myself, I don't need the military card. Sponsoring123, I'm very interested in your advice, we would be really grateful. We're a very young couple (I'm 22 and she's 21) so we still feel like we need lots of help, not just from each other. If you would like, we can communicate through something else, like email, although what's comfortable for you is the best way to go. If you need some information from us, I can share it with you, within reasonable.
Hope you are all having an excellent day!

 

[JulianaAndrew]

Yes I did I send everything last week
I send it in the last day

Did you serve the military? If I haven't served the military or police or anything and I don't have the libreta militar, what do I do? I don't have it an it's almost impossible for me to get one

 

[JulianaAndrew]

Hi guys I'm sorry to bother you, but I am really concerned and confused.
I don't know 100% if I need the military card or not. I haven't served the army nor the police nor anything like that, and I didn't get the military card, ever. It would be almost impossible for me to get it right now. The website doesn't say I'd need the military card, apparently it would be if I served the military or something, which like I said, I didn't. But it's not clear, it's not specific. In case I didn't have it, would the whole application be thrown away because of that single thing? Although I guess my main question is if I need the military card or not.
Thank you very much, you're all so kind.
Enjoy the day and rest of week, I hope you all had a good Valentine's day with your partners

 

[outro7]

They didnt send an email jorlando. They called my wife on monday to confirm the address and tuesday she got the passport in medellin. We used servientrega to mail it to them , im not sure who the embassy used to mail it to us. My wife is coming on friday to toronto sponsoring123.

 

[Beeo08]

My wife applied back at the end of June for her spousal visa and she just got an email today asking her to send her passport in. So hopefully we get it back quickly! So that was about 8 months for us. It will be a bit more once she finally she receives her passport back.

Actually, she was supposed to fly tomorrow to visit me in Canada as we didn't know how much longer it would take, but I cancelled the flight so she could stay and send in her passport.

So hopefully it comes quickly!

Congrats to everyone that has seen progress.