SUCCESSFUL FAMILY VISIT VISA

After looking through a great many stories of visa's being rejected which was very demoralising during the process of applying for my wife's visa I'm pleased to be able to write about successfully getting her visa despite the fact we had no provable money or assets at the time, and despite the many of the original supporting documents my parents sent being lost in the post.

We applied for a family visit visa in Medellin Colombia. My wife is a Colombian national and I am a British citizen living in Colombia.

We supplied the following documents:
- A signed letter of invitation from my parents in England, stating that we would be staying with them and they would be funding our trip. (scanned copy)

- A copy of my mother's bank statements. (scanned copy)
- A copy of my mother's tax returns which was 2 years old. (scanned copy)
- A copy of my mother's pay slips for the last 6 months. (scanned copy)
- A copy of the utility bills from my parent´s house. (printed from the internet)
- A copy of both my mother and father's passport bio page. (scanned copy)
- A print screen of my mother's bank account. (printed from internet)

- A photocopy of my passport.
- My bank statements for the last 6 months. (original, signed and stamped by the bank, also an officially translated copy)
- My three credit card statements showing the available balance. (all printed from the internet)
- A letter from my work stating that I have a contract which would be renewed the following year and my salary. (original, also an officially translated copy)

- My wife's passport.
- My wife's bank statements for the last 12 months. (original, signed and stamped by the bank, also an officially translated copy)
- A letter from my wife's work stating that she was employed and her salary. (original, also an officially translated copy)
- A letter from my wife's university stating that she was a student there. (original, also an officially translated copy)
- Our marriage certificate. (a copy and also an officially translated copy)
- A printed email showing our flight times and dates which we return tickets. (printed from the internet)

We presented all of these documents at the Visa Application Centre in Medellin and they were all sent to Bogota for the decision to be made by the embassy there. We were sent various emails keeping us updated about the process including when the documents arrived, when they were given to the visa officer, when the decision had been made and when we could expect the documents. (We were only told the decision had been made, not the result.)

This was at a peak time so we were told it could take longer than usual. But actually the process took less than two weeks and only 7 working days for the passport to arrive complete with a 180 day, multiple entry visa. After reading so many horror stories about the visa application I was very impressed with the speed and attention of the British Embassy and the Visa Application Centre here in Colombia. I hope this is of help to those of you in a similar situation.