Embassy of the United States Bogotá, Colombia

A nonimmigrant visa simply allows you to travel to the United States and apply for admission as a temporary visitor.  An immigration inspector from U.S. Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security, not the consular officer who issued you the visa, makes the decision as to whether or not to admit you to the United States and decides how long you may stay.  If the immigration inspector decides to admit you, normally you will be admitted for a specific period of time (typically, up to six months).  If you are admitted for a specific period of time, you must depart before your period of stay expires, and you generally cannot work.  If you do not depart on time or if you work illegally, you may be subject to arrest and removal from the United States, and you may be ineligible to receive a visa in the future.

Depending on the kind of visa you have, the immigration inspector may admit you for “duration of status.”  The immigration inspector generally will signify this by writing "D/S" or "DOS" on your entry stamp.  This means that you may remain in the United States until you have completed your course of study or other activity for which you were admitted to the United States.  A student who has completed his or her course of study and any authorized practical training is allowed the following 60 additional days in the United States to prepare for departure.

Note that a nonimmigrant visa is not a substitute for an immigrant visa.  Persons wishing to remain permanently in the United States must apply for the appropriate immigrant visa abroad or apply for an adjustment of status in the United States.

The consular officer decides how long your visa will be valid (up to five years for Colombian) and how many entries will be printed on the visa (normally the visa will be a "multiple-entry" visa, but in some cases the consular officer will limit the number of entries).  If you receive, for example, a multiple-entry, five-year visa, it means that you may apply for admission to the United States as many times as you wish over the next five years.  Likewise, if you receive a one-entry, three-month visa, it means that you may apply for admission to the United States one time over the next three months.

The validity of your visa and the number of entries are completely separate from how long you are allowed to stay in the United States.  As explained in the answer to "How long am I allowed to stay in the United States with my nonimmigrant visa?", an immigration inspector from U.S. Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security makes the decision as to whether or not to admit you to the United States and decides how long you may stay.

Please visit http://Colombia.usvisa-info.com to find out when the next available appointment is. Delete this: If you have an emergency that does not permit you to wait for a normal appointment, contact our Visa Information Center to request an emergency appointment.  We grant emergency appointments on a case-by-case, discretionary basis. Please plan your travel as far in advance as possible.

Receiving medical treatment is a permissible activity on a B-1/B-2 visa.  If you want to travel to the United States for medical treatment, you must contact Colombia.usvisa-info.com to schedule an interview appointment. In addition to the documents required of all B-1/B-2 applicants, we strongly recommend that applicants whose purpose of travel is to seek medical treatment bring the following documents/information to the visa interview:

In addition to the documents required of all B-1/B-2 applicants, we strongly recommend that applicants whose purpose of travel is to seek medical treatment bring the following documents/information to the visa interview:

• Detailed information (issued by a hospital or the attending physician in Colombia) concerning the nature of the illness or disability that requires medical treatment.
• Evidence that a medical appointment has been scheduled in the United States.
• Documentation from the U.S. hospital or physician concerning the projected cost of the medical treatment in the United States.

Documentation concerning how the medical treatment will be paid for.

• A letter from the attending physician in Colombia explaining why the proposed medical treatment is unavailable in Colombia (if applicable).

• Please remember that simply demonstrating that the medical treatment is necessary is insufficient to qualify for a visa; the applicant must also overcome the intending immigrant presumption of Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.  You many wish to consult our list of suggested supporting documents.

• A letter from the attending physician in Colombia explaining why the proposed medical treatment is unavailable in Colombia (if applicable).

Please remember that simply demonstrating that the medical treatment is necessary is insufficient to qualify for a visa; the applicant must also overcome the intending immigrant presumption of Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.  You many wish to consult our list of suggested supporting documents.

No.  Your U.S. visa is still valid.  Simply travel with both passports.  When you apply for admission at a U.S. port of entry, an immigration inspector from U.S. Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security will inspect the visa in your old passport and, if he or she decides to admit you to the United States, generally will place an admission stamp in your new passport with the annotation "VIOPP" (Visa In Other Passport). Do not attempt to remove your visa from your old passport and glue it into your new passport.  If you do that, your visa will be automatically invalid.

In order to help us conserve our human resources, we ask that you not apply for a new visa until your old one is about to expire.  At that time the Nonimmigrant Visa Unit will place a new visa in your valid passport (assuming, of course, that you qualify for the new visa).

There is no such thing as a humanitarian visa. Consular officers are often faced with difficult decisions on cases with a humanitarian component; however, most nonimmigrant visa applicants must overcome the intending immigrant presumption of Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, regardless of how compelling their case may be from a humanitarian standpoint.

The majority of nonimmigrant visa refusals are made under Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Section 214(b), which applies to all B-1/B-2 applicants (as well as to applicants for most other nonimmigrant visa classifications), presumes that an applicant is an intending immigrant (generally, that he or she plans to stay permanently in the United States or plans to work illegally) and places the burden on the applicant to convince the consular officer of the contrary. If the applicant fails to convince the consular officer, the law requires the consular officer to deny the visa.

Applicants overcome the intending immigrant presumption of Section 214(b) by showing that their overall circumstances, including social, family, economic and other ties to Colombia, will compel them to leave the United States at the end of a temporary visit.  "Ties" are the various aspects of life that bind the applicant to Colombia, such as his or her family relationships, employment and possessions.  Because each applicant's situation is different, there is no single factor that demonstrates compelling ties to Colombia. A visa denial under Section 214(b) is not permanent. Visa seekers may reapply for a visa at any time by following the instructions in the How to Apply for a Visa page. However, we recommend that they do so only if they believe that they will be able to show that they are eligible for the visa based on the guidance provided above.  That is, we recommend against reapplying unless the applicant's family, professional or economic situation has changed sufficiently to warrant a change in the consular officer's decision.

Section 221(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is also a common basis for visa refusals.  A refusal under Section 221(g) means that the applicant failed to submit some information or a document, or that some further review is required.  When an applicant is refused under Section 221(g), the consular officer gives him or her a letter that explains what, if anything, the applicant needs to do.

If the letter asks the applicant to return to the Embassy with a particular piece of missing information (for example, birth certificate or job letter), the applicant must contact the Visa Information Center to schedule an appointment to return to the Embassy.  If the letter informs the applicant that the Embassy will contact him or her when "administrative processing" is complete, this means there is no action required of the applicant.

If you have ever been arrested for any reason, at any time and in any country, you must tell the consular officer during your nonimmigrant visa interview. A question in Form DS-160 asks you whether you have ever been arrested.  You must answer this and all other questions truthfully, and you must explain the details of your arrest.

Bring to your visa interview all documentation concerning any and all arrests, even if the charges were dropped or you were acquitted, pardoned or given amnesty.  In addition, you must provide a copy of the statute under which you were arrested and a translation of the statute into English. The consular officer will review the evidence and make a decision as to whether or not you are eligible for a visa.

A waiver is a special authorization granted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) of the Department of Homeland Security to put aside certain ineligibilities temporarily and allow a visa to be issued. Some frequently seen grounds of refusals at the Nonimmigrant Visa Unit that require waivers are Sections 212(a)(6)(C)(i) (misrepresentation) and 212(a)(9)(B) (unlawful presence) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The consular officer will inform you if you are potentially eligible for a waiver, and you will then let the consular officer know whether you are interested in pursuing a waiver.  If so, the consular officer and/or the U.S. Department of State in Washington will recommend for or against the waiver, using the criteria in 9 FAM 40.301. (PDF 91 KB) CBP, which retains sole authority to approve or deny waivers, will make a decision concerning your case. If CBP grants the waiver, the consular officer will inform you promptly.  Please remember that the Nonimmigrant Visa Unit cannot control how long a waiver decision may take. A CPB office in the United States makes the decision. There is no entitlement to a waiver; waivers are always discretionary.