Help!... I'm an illegal (almost)

[Montrealer]

Howdy all,
I need some help.  I've exceeded my 180 days here in Colombia, and I've just been granted an additional 30 days by DAS after some begging, yelling and pleading.

I was told I can go to Bogotá to obtain a visa of some sort which will allow me to stay in the country longer, but I need to know if anyone can recommend a good lawyer in Bogotá who knows the Colombian immigration system.

I would hate to have to fly to Venezuela and sneak across the border, haha.

Any help or contact information would be greatly appreciated.

I'll also give an update soon on life in BAQ.  But just to let you know my daughter was born on July 8th, perfectly healthy and me and the wife are very happy.  Her name is Allison.  But more on that later.

Please advise.

Monty

[Jeff S]

Congrats on the new baby Monty! Sorry, can't help with the lawyer.

[Parlay Rey]

**Wow, congrats on your daughter and sincerest wellwishes for your family!

[EbonyPrince]

180 day?    It seems as though you have been down there forever .

Once again I want to say that I apologize for not getting a chance to stop by and see you when I was in Colombia.

Anyway man it is nice to hear that you are doing well.  I miss seeing your posts on here.

Congratulations on the new addition, and tell your wife that I said hello.

[Looking4Wife]

Congrats on the birth of your daughter!

[chizz]

Dayum! I wish I could spend 180 days in colombia, that would be nice. Congrats!
chizz

[sean126]

Congrats to the proud parents!!!

You might want to e-mail Gary Bala.  I think he may know someone in Barranquilla.

[Kiltboy1]

I think you can go to panama for a weekend, come back and get another extention. Why not get a cedula like Pete E and not have to bother ?

KB

[pan de bono]

you're in big trouble now. Did you say 180 days, gee im happy with 23 or 24 days.

[jediknight]

congrats and best wishes for your family. i hope you an find a solution to your immigration problem.
JK

[soltero]

Monty, I was holding out until you got your question answered to give you a congrats on your new addition, but that does not look like that's going to happen, so CONGRATS!

I am sure that you will be able to resolve your legal issues as you are in Colombia, and cash is king. You aren't hurting, so all you have to do is locate the right palm to grease and problem solved.

Good luck, and again, congratulations on your healthy, happy little one!

[Montrealer]

Hi guys,
Just wanted to say thanks for the kind words about my new addition to the family.  I will pop in some time and give a proper update on things.

Also to let you know, I am no longer at risk of being an illegal immigrant in Colombia.  I went to Bogota, and the Minister of exterior relations granted me a 4 year visa with multiple entries, and said if I need longer just to apply within 3 months of expiring.

The process was real easy and I ended up doing everything myself.  I flew to Bogota Tuesday night and lost my shirt in a casino (Ok, maybe not my shirt, but about 2 million pesos).  Then went to the visa office with all my documents for opening at 7:30.  I was 8th in line.  But when I got to the counter, they reviewed my paperwork and it turned out that the DAS office here in Barranquilla messed up and put the wrong reason on my "salvo-condutos" form.  They put down that the reason was for "salida" (exit) and not to "permanancer" (to reside), so I had to make a trip quick to the DAS office in Bogota to switch it around.

I was very happy with the treatment I received at the DAS office in Bogota compared to the office in Barranquilla.  Anyone that has ever gone to the DAS office in Barranquilla, then probably knows how horrible and inefficient it is.  Bogota was the exact opposite.  Including the time to run and make a few copies for DAS, the paper change took less than 30 minutes.

Then back to the visa office, where I was now about 50th in line.  D'Oh!  But they were really efficient as well and I was out of there by 11 AM with my new visa in hand.

All thats left to do now is register it with the DAS office, which I was going to do in the Bogota office, but it takes 2 business days, and I wanted to be out of there and back to BAQ that day.  So I'm stuck with doing it with the BAQ DAS tomorrow.

Everything I did, including a trip to the Canadian Embassy to ask about registering my daughter as a Canadian citizen, took less than 5 hours.  That made me happy.

By the way, Bogota is a pretty nice city.  I stayed in the Zona Rosa / Parque 93 area and was real impressed with the city, especially compared to BAQ.  The people were all pretty friendly.  However the Bogota Cachacas were not very attractive in general.  They just didn't dress or act as feminine as I like.  Just not my style.  Only saw a few of them that would be worth talking to if I was single.

Thats all for now,
Monty

[fathertime]

I flew to Bogota Tuesday night and lost my shirt in a casino (Ok, maybe not my shirt, but about 2 million pesos). 

Don't tell me you were playing roulette again!  S h i t  I actually won when we played that day last year! 

I am real happy to hear you are doing so damn well.  You were always a good guy and deserve the very best.  At some point I hope you get us some pics and a good update on life in BAQ.

Fathertime!