Respite from uncertainty (and Migración Colombia's online system!) with residency

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

So after more than 12 years of having Colombia as my main base and ten years of various work visas, I've finally managed to get residency.

'Relax, you've got residency now.'

Truth be told, since securing a two-year M visa as an independent worker in 2022, residency wasn't a major priority.

Revel in residency

An M visa puts one on the road to residency. For most who have such a visa for work reasons, that road is a five-year one i.e. after five years of consecutive M visas — no breaks allowed — one can then apply for residency.

Thus, getting back on an M visa after the weaker V visa (effectively a tourist with official permission to do certain work) I had from 2020 to 2022 meant I was rather relaxed about my situation compared to the more troubling visa-application times in 2020 and 2021 (for some background on all that, see Colombia's tough love).

Nonetheless, the M visa I had was due to expire in November this year, so I was facing into another nervy renewal process — one just never knows. (After being granted — largely hassle-free — four year-long visas as an independent worker from 2014 to 2018, the process then got more complicated, as I explained in Colombia's independent work visa: ¿Vale la pena?)

Now, though, with my R visa approved — that's R for residency, in case you're not following — a nervy November is less likely. (I'm sure there'll be something else I'll be nervous or worried about, it's just unlikely it'll be visa-related.)

The biggest benefit of such a visa, as I see it at this stage in any case — no, it's not that I can now vote in local elections — is that I can leave Colombia for up to two years with no change to my legal status. It might seem strange that I'm highlighting this as a positive after just getting residency but I'm referring to the flexibility/freedom it offers. An M visa, in contrast, is invalidated if one is out of Colombia for more than 180 days.

'I wonder if Migración Colombia is cursed. It did, after all, come into being on Halloween 2011.'

Linked to this, I've always had this concern — justified or otherwise — about having difficulties with my bank if I no longer have a valid Foreigner Identification Card, cédula de extranjería. It was with my cédula de extranjería that I opened my current Colombian bank account and they can be quite bureaucratic here about such matters. 'Oh, the ID you have linked to this account is out of date. We can't let you access your funds so.'

Flawed system

Bureaucracy and the cédula de extranjería bring us on to Migración Colombia, the entity one goes to for said cédula once the visa department at La Cancillería, the Ministry for Exterior Relations, has granted a visa.

Migración Colombia is under the control of La Cancillería but at times its processes make one feel that it operates in a completely different dimension to the ministry.

In my December 2022 post, Lending Migración Colombia a helping hand, I tried to do just that, lend the body a hand, by highlighting some frustrating flaws in its online system. My article — surprise, surprise — didn't have the desired effect.

The same blind spots I mentioned back then are still present. Or not present, as it is.

Now, though, in addition to the information-light email replies to users of its services, there are a couple of more headaches — for those dealing with the Bogotá office in any case.

That all in-person procedures, bar picking up a new cédula when it's ready, must first be booked online isn't a major deal in itself. It beats, in theory, waiting in line physically. For the Bogotá office, due to demand I surmise, the window to book appointments opens at 5 pm on Sundays and, by all accounts, closes in a matter of hours.

One is thus advised to be ready to enter the booking system as soon as the clock strikes five. The thing is, it seems the system just can't cope.

System overload.

On the two occasions I had to use it over the last few weeks, the first couple of hours I spent simply trying to enter the website were largely a waste of time. At times it did feel like progress was being made, I'd pass an initial step or two but then the system would crash and I'd have to start all over again.

For fear of missing out on reserving an appointment, especially for registering my R visa and with it applying/paying for a new cédula to reflect my changed circumstances, something that has to be done within 15 calendar days of getting a visa, I didn't take a break from trying to enter the system.

On reflection, it seems that one would be better off waiting until 7 pm. It was only after that time that I started to make progress. Yet, as mentioned, there's the fear of entering the system too late. 'Sorry, all appointments have been booked out for this week.' There is probably a sweet spot timewise, I'm just not sure where it is.

The Cursed

And now, having completed the process, I don't really care. As things stand, I won't have to deal with Migración again, in this sort of way that is, until May 2029. Who knows what my circumstances will be then?

Therein lies another benefit of my R visa: not having to use Migración Colombia's online system for years to come. I'm fairly sure it's already taken, if not quite years, certainly months off my life.

Even what had previously been a rather simple procedure, checking if my new cédula was ready, turned out to be more complicated than I remember it before. It took me a long time to find the appropriate online page. In mitigation, I was searching on my phone. Perhaps the website is more easily navigated on a PC or laptop.

I do wonder, though, if Migración Colombia is cursed. Or better said, it puts a curse on those who use its services. It did, after all, come into being on Halloween 2011. Certainly, all the drama I've had with it has been akin to some slapstick horror show.

Migración Colombia: A Nightmare on Bogotá's 100th Street (Calle 100). Box office potential that.
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Lending Migración Colombia a helping hand

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

Having more efficient, simpler processes is something the majority of us no doubt desire.

Migración Colombia's Bogotá office: The employees are generally friendly and efficient, once you get into the building, that is.

In the ten years plus I've been using the services of Migración Colombia, its processes have become more streamlined. When online application systems work well, they certainly can be great timesavers. When they work well, that is.

Smooth operators

For the most part, in my experience, the online systems at both La Cancillería (for visa applications) and Migración Colombia (for registering visas and getting a cédula extranjería [foreign ID card]) are straightforward and largely hassle-free. (Meeting the actual requirements is another matter, and there have been numerous changes in this regard over the last couple of years.)

Lest I be accused of suffering from the 'curse of knowledge' following years of practice with these application processes, novice applicants might initially come undone with the maximum megabyte limit for the various PDF documents required. Making use of the website I Love PDF or the like is essential.

For the visa application with La Cancillería, making sure your photo meets the right specifications can be another snag. Again, however, there are plenty of online "fixes" for this.

I have heard of people having problems with uploading documents, even when they meet all the parameters, or being unable to pass a certain online stage because the system becomes stuck. These things have never happened to me, thankfully, but I have had unfathomable, enraging experiences on other websites.

Such inexplicable occurrences convert the digital utopia into a dystopia of sorts. Spending time in Orwell's Room 101 would be more enjoyable than trying to make contact with an actual human being when facing an online conundrum.

Email omission

It wasn't quite a technological problem, however, that had me rather miffed with Migración Colombia in my latest visa registration. It was more to do with a communications blind spot.

A rather detailed email that leaves out the most important detail i.e. the next step!

After being granted a two-year M visa as an independent worker — a small bit of palanca (preferential treatment) from La Cancillería may have helped me in this (I deserved a break, it was my turn!) — the next step was to register this at Migración, a prerequisite in order to get an updated Colombian ID reflecting my new status. One has 15 working days from the issuance of the visa to do this.

The initial registration is made, unsurprisingly, online via Migración's Formula Único de Trámites (FUT), effectively a digital form for all procedures, you just select the appropriate one at the top of the page.

Once done successfully, a confirmation email is sent to the applicant containing the Código Único de Trámites (a registration number, basically) and a password to enter the system to check the progress of the application.

I emphasise the word check here because this is the case with the visa application, one which is fully online. With that, when you submit your documents and pay the study fee, it's a case of playing the waiting game for La Cancillería to reply. You can easily check your application's progress by entering the system; it tells you if it's been reviewed or not.

'I did try to explain to him that it would be quite helpful if this information was included in the confirmation email; my telepathy skills aren't what they once were.'

Thus, this can frame the mind when dealing with Migración, especially so when in the confirmation email for the online registration no other useful information is given other than the registration number and password. 

That is, it doesn't say that the applicant has to make the next move. (I showed the email to native Spanish speakers just in case I'd missed something, but no, I hadn't.)

You see, I had been expecting an additional email saying that my online application was reviewed or something to that effect.

After a couple of weeks of hearing nothing, I started to get a little anxious, bearing in mind the 15-working-day time limit.

As luck, of sorts, has it, I happen to have the email for a relatively high-up employee at Migración Colombia. So I messaged her about my concerns. She told me that I had to go to the Bogotá Migración office in person to complete the process.

While that wasn't/isn't a major inconvenience in its own right, previous experience since the pandemic has taught me that just rolling up to Migración without a prior appointment is a no-no.

And so it was. I went there and in the queue outside — there's always a queue outside — an official told me bluntly that I had to book an appointment online first.

I did try to explain to the man that it would be quite helpful if this information was included in the confirmation email; my telepathy skills aren't what they once were. He was having none of it. It would appear he suffers from the curse of knowledge — in this regard only. It's unlikely he's knowledgeable in much else.

Overcoming the oversight

Back home after that rather tetchy encounter with the official, I went to Migración's homepage. I couldn't make out where exactly I was meant to make the appointment, I just kept on being brought to the FUT page.

So, I did a Google search for 'agendar una cita Migración Colombia' ('book a Migración Colombia appointment') and the appropriate page came up.

Wrong Way's helpful suggestion has been officially registered. Will it be acted upon?

From there, booking was pretty easy. I got an appointment for the following morning. Do note, the confirmation email for this never arrived — and yes, I checked my spam folder. Luckily, I'd taken a screenshot of the appointment number. Had I failed to do so, I'm not sure how I would have got around that.

By my calculations, that morning I got into Migración to physically complete the registration was the 15th working day since my visa was issued, right on the deadline.

I informed the Migración official who registered my visa of this blind spot in their communications (she had asked why it had taken me so long to do it!).

To avoid unnecessary angst and potential heated exchanges with the Migración officials "guarding" the office entrance, all that's required is a simple line in that confirmation email: 'You now must book an appointment online via the following link in order to complete the process in person at a Migración office.' Something like that.

The Migración woman told me, amicably, to put such an observation in writing for the suggestion box. I did.

And just to give it further airing, I'm putting it here.

It might be a small thing, but it can lead to a far smoother process with fewer misunderstandings. We could all do with that in our lives.
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Colombia's Migración mess

@wwaycorrigan

[Listen to an audio version of this blog entry here.]

In September, Migración Colombia, the body responsible for granting extensions to temporary tourist passes, announced that the grace period for foreign visitors who found themselves stranded in the country was coming to an end.

Opening on Saturdays is a help, but is it enough? (Image from Facebook.)

Escape from limbo land

From the 21st of the month, days spent here would, in effect, start to be counted again, having been frozen when lockdown was introduced in March. 

For tourists, the deadline is 01 November to either apply for another 90-day permit or leave. 

If you're leaving within the time period, well that's straightforward enough. However, it gets trickier if you're looking for an extension as this requires an in-person meeting at a Migración office.

The initial communication from the government body stated that all appointments must be booked online. Those who turned up at Migración without one would be turned away. 

However, facing into a six-month backlog and reopening at only 30 per cent capacity, securing an appointment any time this year quickly became next to impossible for many. 

You see, it's not only tourists Migración deals with. All foreigners based here who aren't currently residents or citizens have to use its services at least once a year. 

Those who, during lockdown, were granted a visa or residency — a fully online process done with a different entity, La Cancillería — are expected to have these registered at Migración. This is one side of the same coin for the issuing of an ID card — cédula extranjería — corresponding to said visa/residency.

As far as I'm aware, this process must be begun on or before 21 October. (In old-normal times you had 15 days to register a newly-issued visa.)

'I've been told of incidents where people with such emergencies were refused entry to a Migración office because they didn't have an appointment reserved online. This is completely at odds with the official line.'

That deadline also applies to foreigners living here who had a visa/residency application deemed inadmissible or whose visas have expired or who find themselves in the country as an "irregular" for whatever reason. 

How I initially understood it was that those in such a position had only to register their intent to legalise their status, which in most instances means applying for an emergency stay called a salvoconducto. (Another option is to leave the country at the earliest possible opportunity — that usually means no more than 30 days after a visa expiry date.) 

If these people in limbo can't get an actual in-person appointment before 21 October because the system is overwhelmed, surely they can't be held responsible for that?

It now appears, however, Migración expects such cases to have reached a conclusion by the deadline. 

The latest advice on its website states that if your appointment is after the date your document expires or you simply can't get an appointment and yours is a case that needs urgent attention, you should go immediately to one of its offices, preferably, I'm guessing, the one closest to you. 

But for the grace of Duque?

That's the official line. As is often the case with such things, though, what's happening on the ground is different. I've been told of incidents where people in such dilemmas were refused entry because they didn't have an appointment reserved online. 

I'm also aware of a number of Bogotá-based foreigners being forced to travel to Migración offices in cities hundreds of kilometres away to resolve their situation before they became irregular. Great in these coronavirus times, isn't it?

One of these was somebody applying for residency. A day before his latest visa expired he received notification from La Cancillería that his application was deemed inadmissible — something that seems to be happening to a lot of folk requesting visas or residency these days.

Thus, faced with losing the continuity of five years of visas, the most crucial, time-consuming requirement for a residency bid, he had to hightail it from the capital to Neiva in order to seek a salvoconducto from the Migración office there, effectively buying time to sort out the issue with his original residency application. 

It worked out for him, he got what he needed. However, this is the exact type of case where I would have thought flexibility would be forthcoming from both La Cancillería and Migración. 

The applicant didn't want to test that, hence his last-minute dash south to Neiva. It must be said, the fact these processes involve two different government entities doesn't help.

The chief press officer at Migración did tell me in a WhatsApp message that they were being flexible. I've no reason to doubt that. I must also state that I've always found officials at that body reasonable and informative. 

Nonetheless, potential arbitrary flexibility and understanding aside, one immediate solution to all of this would be an extension to the grace period. We're still in the middle of this pandemic after all. Forcing people into unplanned travel in such times doesn't seem like best practice. 

So, President Duque, you have it in your power to tidy up this messy situation. Or are the conspiracy theorists on to something? Is Colombia systematically forcing foreigners out? Surely not. _______________________________________________________________
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Applying for Colombia's TP-7 (independent) visa

Over the last while we've had a number of people ask about the process of obtaining an independent visa in Colombia, a TP-7 as it's called. Another sign, perhaps, of the country's global appeal right now.

Whatever the case, while the official website goes through the documents needed, there are a few grey areas that leave applicants with doubts. Then, of course, there's the fact that it's at the discretion of the official in charge of your application whether to approve it or not, as it is in most countries. This is something that's out of your hands, you might just get the wrong official on the wrong day.

'Visa? What visa?!' (Photo from Facebook.)

Be that as it may, in terms of the documents required, from previous personal experience anyway, it's pretty straightforward.

First of all, it must be said that you can make the application in the country. So if you're already here on a tourist visa or whatever, you don't have to leave.

In terms of the paperwork, you need a letter, in Spanish obviously, stating the independent activity you are carrying out or intend to carry out, and your CV.

Alongside this, you must supply documents that prove you do or are going to do this activity. These could be letters from parties -- individuals or companies -- that you are collaborating with and who are already based in Colombia or have legally verifiable reasons to be here. From the 'Wrong Way' perspective, evidence of freelance-journalism work in relation to Colombia has been used, along with letters from other people and companies who I’ve collaborated with.

You also need documents proving that you are qualified to perform the role in question. These are basically copies of university degrees and the like (for the record, I've never had to provide translated versions, copies of the originals have been fine).

Perhaps the most troublesome, confusing part is meeting the financial requirements. It states that you have to show 15 times the monthly minimum salary, that is to say just over 3,500 euros, running through your bank account for the last six months. What's not very clear is does this mean 3,500 euros each month -- a hefty amount indeed -- or just that sum for six months?

Obviously, I've always sided with the lower amount. However, it was an issue for my second time applying, where I was told I didn't quite meet the financial stipulations but they would let me off on this occasion and give me the visa.

The following year, with pretty much the same figures in the account to show, it didn't come up as a problem at all (here's hoping it stays that way for visa application number four later this year). Hearsay has it that this 'anomaly' was to do with the number of movements made in the account and that it's best to have money coming in and going out on a frequent basis.

Nonetheless, however they determine this financial threshold, which appears to be arbitrary, for first time applicants who may not have a Colombian bank account, foreign accounts suffice -- they did in my case, anyway. For further renewals, officials, some of them that is, give more weight to your Colombian account(s) if the activity you'd been doing enabled you to earn a wage in the country.

Having an actual, clearly specified figure might help to clear up a few things here. Just saying like!

On a minor point, but one that might save you a few pesos, you don't need to bring passport photos for the application procedure. The officials take your photo during the interview process, one that will be used on your visa if successful.

It is said that the TP-7 is the hardest of the visas to get, but there does appear to be some flexibility in the granting of it. We are in a time where there are a lot more independent workers about than previously. 

If that happens to be you, your work is related to Colombia and you're looking to stay here on a longer-term basis, all you've got to do is convince the authorities of that (and then pay the more than one million pesos needed, including the fee for the compulsory ID card that is). Simple!

Failing that, there's always the civil union option, disingenuous as some are about it.
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Soft-touch Colombia

I’ve written before about what could be seen as the absurdity of the ‘free world’.* There are many areas where it just doesn’t hold but the one I previously focused on was in the global movement of people.

'On your return, don't bother with a visa. You'll be fine.'

Basically, anyone who has travelled to another country realises how relative any perceived freedom is. 

For sure, depending on where you happen to be born, having the liberty to move to wherever you want is easier for some compared to others. Just ask Colombians for a less-than-positive experience in that regard.

Focusing on this country, perhaps the people’s negative migration dealings have made them somewhat sympathetic to the plight of those visiting here, or more pertinently, those who want to stay on a longer-term basis. 

A case of, ‘if we continue to be welcoming, especially to peoples from the West, in time they will be more welcoming towards us.’ It’s a nice thought, if a little naïve.

Considering, broadly speaking, I am for a freer movement of people across borders with fewer restrictions and bureaucracy for those who want to settle in their non-birth country — especially if they are not a burden on their new state — the Colombian approach, in general, is quite refreshing.

However, for a state that is trying to be taken seriously among the global powers, having a modicum of sense to the system wouldn’t go astray. For judging by anecdotal evidence, the way Colombian immigration control currently operates encourages illegality.

For example, there are foreigners here who have knowingly overstayed their respective visas for a considerable amount of time, with some of these repeat offenders. When they do finally decide to ‘sort out’ their situation, what tends to happen is that they get a token fine and can get another visa with little difficulty, without a black mark to their name.

The answer is Colombia: It's easier without a visa. (Image from colombia.co.)

Contrast that with those who erroneously stay a day or two over their tourism stamp/visa and once they realise this immediately make efforts to rectify the situation. 

The fine these people get is practically the same as the knowing, long-term, repeat offenders. Plus, as luck would have it, I know of some people in this latter, law-abiding category who have then struggled to get another visa. 

Thus, there appears little incentive to do things by the book. 

Indeed, it appears you’re more likely to spend less money and have less hassle if you just hang around illegally and deal with the problem at a time that suits you, paying little attention to what’s stamped in your passport.

Now, to state again, in theory I like the idea of having light-touch regulation as regards immigration. 

Yet, what I don’t like are double standards. It could be argued that Colombian authorities are supporting lawbreakers over law-abiders. Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised about that.

Hats off, though, for doing their bit for a freer world. They could just try and make it more of a fairer one.
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*Check out Phantom freedom for more on that.