2023-09-02 07:01:00
The high number of Colombians trying to travel to the United States caused the embassy in Bogotá to collapse and achieve an unprecedented feat: according to the US, Colombia has been the number one country in requesting and printing visas during this period of 2023.
This is a phenomenon that has been going on since 2020 and that has increased the number of migrants, tourists, businessmen and students wanting to travel to that country after the lag of the pandemic.
The demand has been such that there were users who requested their appointments from 2022 and only got a place until 2024. And the same with those who are trying an interview at this time of the year who, according to citizen reports, only find a place for 2025.
“They should advance dates, my sister has an appointment in July 2025,” lawyer Ivette Perez reported on the embassy’s networks.
The measures of the Embassy
In this context, the US Embassy in Colombia requested help from other consulates abroad to attend to the number of appointments and impressions that it has received and that reach more than 500,000 visa applications.
Thus, the entity announced that around 50 experts from other nations landed in Colombia to help process all the documentation.
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“The United States embassy in Bogotá has received support from around the world to meet the growing demand for visas in Colombia. For this reason, consular experts traveled from Argentina, Brazil, Belize, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jamaica, Namibia, Mexico, Serbia, Suriname, and Venezuela,” the Embassy said. .
These professionals will work shoulder to shoulder with the agents that were already in the country and that, according to the entity, will help streamline procedures and reduce waiting times.
However, this time optimization would only apply to those who are just applying for their visa, not to those who are trying to renew it.
According to one of the officials, “the consular team in Bogotá is committed to reducing waiting times in Colombia for first-time visa applicants. And this global team is honored to help achieve this goal.”
As revealed by one of the most recent reports on the migrant population in the US, published as of 2021, around 855,000 Colombians with official documentation lived in that country on that date.
With that figure, Colombia ranked first with compatriots living in that country in all of South America. However, the Venezuelan exodus may have put them there.
For now, appointments will remain assigned as they were when users scheduled them. However, there could be changes to advance those shifts according to the availability that will be enabled through the official website of the Embassy.
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The tourist visa costs 185 dollars
Currently, the most requested visa is the tourist one, which can be B1 or B2. The first is used to carry out procedures related to business or international relations. The B2, for its part, is intended for tourist or vacation trips, medical treatment and enrollment in short recreational study courses that are not to obtain degrees. The B1 and B2 tourist visas are valid for 10 years, but the time that people with this type of visa are allowed to stay in the United States is a maximum of 6 months per trip. Thus, the official value for 2023 is 185 dollars that can vary in Colombian pesos according to the exchange rate.
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