Colombia

fons trompenaar

Has anybody travelled in Colombia recently, just looking for info on the red tape that´s involved

Ruu_Old

Ive heard its not the safest country in the world, not to dampen your plans There are certain parts I have heard that are a very high security risk at this particular moment in time. Maybe someone who has been there can shed more light on the situation.

douglasman

fons trompenaar wrote:

Has anybody travelled in Colombia recently, just looking for info on the red tape that´s involved

Originally you just needed a tourist visa like most South American countries which just means filling in some forms on the plane. That has all changed thanks to the Colombia 3. Now you must attend a personal face to face interview in London (no Colombian embassy in Ireland) where they will grill you as to why you are going there. This only applies to Republic of Ireland so if you are from Northern Ireland and travel with a UK passport, there is no red tape, otherwise lots of red tape!!

Special Information for Citizens of the Republic of Ireland
All citizens of the Republic of Ireland must come to the Colombian Consulate
in London for a personal interview. There is no need for an appointment. You
can come in Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m - 1:30 p.m.

Please bring all the paperwork including photocopies of the visa you are
applying for a personal interview. There is no need for an appointment. You
can come in Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m - 1:30 p.m. Please bring all the paperwork including photocopies of the visa you are applying for. The normal processing times for visas for Irish Nationals is 4 to 5 working days. Please allow this time for before your trip.

The address of the Colombian Consulate is :
3rd Floor 35 Portlan land Place
W1B 1AE
London

fons trompenaar

I´m in South America at the moment, it wasn´t in my original plans but many people I´ve met have been raving about it, including other Irish...I think Veneuzula is more of a risk these days to be honest....

I found this post on lonelyplanet so it must be possible to travel there without the interview in London

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This information has been provided by finnfinn:

Colombian Tourist Visa for the Irish

I am travelling on an Irish Passport and therefore need a visa to travel to Colombia. I have found it a bit of a chore to apply and have had to find ways around the bureaucracy involved in getting a visa. It has took me a bit of time, so here are my instructions that will hopefully help you out!

I am in South america at the moment and the here is a list of the things that you need for to apply for a tourist visa:

1. Photocopy of your passport with a copy of your picture AND photocopies all the stamps that you have got from other countries you have visited (straightforward).

2. Application form (straightforward). Just make sure that you have a hotel to stay at, as it asks for your hotels telephone number and address.

3. 3 passport photographs (straightforward). Make sure you are looking at the camera and have a white background!

4. Onward ticket. Not so straightforward, unless of course you have an onward ticket! But what you can do is get an e-ticket off the internet, when the reservation appears on the screen, print it and when it comes to pay (the next screen), just dont! It is sufficient for your online ticket. There are loads of airlines that deal with e-tickets.

5. Reservation at hotel. Relatively straightforward, but do a search on the internet or guidebook and email a hotel/hostel with the dates that you are planning to stay there and get a confirmation email from them and this will suffice for your reservation.

6. A copy of your bank statement or evidence of sufficient funds for the duration that you will be staying in colombia. This could prove quite difficult to obtain if you are out of your home country when you apply. But what you can do if you have internet banking is print off a statement online. Again this is sufficient for the visa.

ok, one more thing that you need to do, is write a handwritten letter to the consul (this is the case if applying in south america, definitely in quito and lima, not sure about other countries). There is no standard letter, you write your own. The letter can be written in English and goes something like this (believe it or not!).

"
Senor Consul,

I plan to arrive in Colombia on dd/mm/yy

I plan to stay for x days

I will be leaving Colombia on dd/mm/yy

I will be staying at x hotel which is at x address

I promise that I will pay my way while I am in Colombia

I state that I have sufficient funds for my stay in Colombia

I promise that I will leave the country at the end of my visa or when the consul decides i have to.

Regards,

Your name, signature and date
"

The letter was the one that got me, i thought the idea was really funny!

Finally (!) you need to make a copy of EVERY DOCUMENT mentioned above except for the application form itself and your passport photographs. Hand this in with the original photocopies and you have made your application!

Good luck and hope that this saves you more time than i spent with this farce!

finnfinn!

oh yeah i replied to someone else´s post here also here is a bit more info!

dont bother your hole applying in lima, the guy there will ask you 100 questions and query you as to why you want to go to colombia etc. he scrutinised my passport and hes there saying oh uve been to cambodia and vietnam, im there yes, so what! i heard that you can be waiting 3 weeks there. Also he said "if he decides to grant me a passport he would recommend giv¡ng me one month, how generous! so i sacked it off and applied in quito. i applied on monday and got it friday, 60 days, i think it was a bit quicker cos i had an english birth certificate. but apparently the guy told me it takes 8 days for an irish passport! the guy is nice there also, but cant speak much english so hope ur spanish is ok!

in colombia now so my info is deffo correct, glad that this FARCe is over!

finnfinn!

markst33

I am married to a Colombian and was there for the first time xmas of 2004 and we are going back this xmas. Beautiful country with beautiful people. Yes there are dangerous areas so its best to stick to the major cities but if you use your common sense you will be quite safe. I recommend going to San Adreas Island. Beautiful hot and cheap, about 1 and a half hours flight from Bogota. To get the most from your trip to Colombia I suggest you do some Spanish lessons as you could be a while trying to find someone with Englisg to get directions off. Other places to visit are Cartagena (going there this year) on the Carribbeen coast. Bogota is worth seeing but be prepared as its a huge city compared to any in Ireland so you really need some spanish.