My reasoning for this is two-fold… first, I wanted to recount to my blog readers what happened when I went to apply for my visa. Second, I want to help others who are needing to do the same thing and spell out a bit of a step-by-step process.
1. Check out the consulate website. Several of the pages are available in English, which is especially useful for all the words we wouldn’t usually use in day-to-day Spanish. Find the visa you think you’re applying for and check out the requirements.
2. Be in communication with your Colombian hosts. Make sure they understand the requirements and that you need original documents. Papers that were sent by DHL on a Friday arrived on the following Wednesday. It was a stack of 12 papers or so and the shipping cost was $45 USD.
3. Once you have the required papers (and photos – I had a friend take it and I printed them at WalMart), make an appointment on the website. It said I would get a confirmation email, but I never did – however, I did print the confirmation from my browser and had it with me.
4. Book a flight or drive to Chicago. If you have the margin, take an extra day to enjoy the city. I found it very helpful to figure out the train/bus system so that when the visa day came, I was familiar with it. Enjoy some great meals cheaper with certificates from restaurant dot com. I purchased an unlimited 3-day pass to the transit system for $14 (and was happy to give it away after 1.5 days of use to a lady who was about to purchase one).
5. Don’t try to drive to the consulate. I can’t imagine how I would have gotten there in traffic or where I would have parked. It’s pretty much a straight shot from the Blue line train.
6. With all your documents in hand (well, in a folder), go to the consulate. If you’re coming from the airport or one of the park-and-rides nearby, take the Blue line all the way to the Grand stop (about 45 minutes from O’Hare). Get off at Grand, cross the street, and take Bus 65 toward the Navy Pier. Ride about 10 minutes, getting off at Illinois. Walk East on Illinois until you come to Michigan. On that side of Michigan, find the 500 building. (Check out the Chicago Transit Authority‘s website for a good trip planner if you’re coming from elsewhere.)
7. If you happen to arrive an hour early and it’s cold and rainy outside, you don’t have to go down the stairs under the street to the under-pass. There’s nowhere to sit and it’s kind of creepy. Instead, if you look just a couple of numbers down from the 500 building -there’s a Starbucks. Don’t be turned off by the line – it moves really fast. Sit and sip some espresso (if you can tolerate Starbucks espresso) and remind yourself that “He surrounds the righteous with favor as a shield” (see Psalm 5).
8. Twenty minutes before your appointment, head back to the 500 building. Walk in, state your business, and write your name on the sign-in sheet. The Colombian Consulate is in Suite #1960. Walk back on either side and pass up the first set of elevators – they only take you to the 14th floor. If you happen to go that far to see if you can’t just go the other 5 floors from there, you’ll discover yourself in a formal office with a locked door. They’ll send you back downstairs to the other set of elevators (past the first set).
9. When you get up to the 19th floor, turn to the right and go through the door where you see the Colombian flag (if you don’t know that that looks like, I’m not sure why you want a Colombian visa… ;-). Go in and approach the first window – where it says “VISAS.”
10. Hopefully you’ve anticipated that everything might not go as planned. The lady will look through all your papers and might explain to you that you actually need to apply for a different type of visa and that you might still need another paper from Colombia. Explain to her that you drove 10 hours and she’ll nod her head and tell you that if you get everything by the end of the month, you can send all your papers, along with your passport, to them (along with a postage-paid envelope) and they will send your passport back with the visa. She’ll also tell you to reference your interview date so they know you’re not trying to skirt around that.
11. After realizing that she’s not going to change her mind, thank her and walk back downstairs, papers in hand (frequently checking to make sure you have your passport). Head back the same way you came on Illinois, turn right on Rush, turn left on Grand (or ask directions to the Red line of the guy doing mason work) and find the Red Line train station (below the street). Board the Red line toward the Loop. Get off at Jackson and follow the signs for the Blue line. Take the Blue line back to O’Hare or wherever you parked.
12. Use the 45 minute train ride to reflect on the fact that even though you’re disappointed that you’re not going home with a visa, God is still in control and can still get you where He wants you. Enjoy the scenery!
I hope this has been interesting to some and helpful to others. If it has been either of those things to you, please leave a comment! To find out what happened with my visa, check out “Amazing visa news.”