Expert: Cesar - 9/8/2009

Question
HEllo
My husband is now a US citizen. He came to this country when he was 17years old and has not been back to Colombia. We want to go to Colombia to visit and we are being told he needs a Cedula. Can you please explain exactly what we need to do to get this, the cost and can we get in once we get into Bogota or is it best to get in Florida?

Thanks for your help in advance!
Lisa

Answer
Hello,
My first suggestion is to contact a Colombian consulate for advise since I am not a Colombian immigration official and can only tell you what I have seen or experienced myself. The Colombian consulates could be very busy and not answer the phone soon. They also have faxes and you could send them a fax with your question that way for them to call you back. He might be asked to get the military card too (I believe if under 50), but read the requirement list in the Colombian Consulate websites. The military card requires a one time payment based on the income.

This is my experience in the matter:
I know of a Colombian who became an US citizen and follows the instructions of the US that says to use the American passport. What he does is arrive in Colombia and say he is American. He has a strong Spanish accent and refuses to use his Colombian passport by saying that he is required to use the US one. He had entered Colombia that way. The problem with this is that he would only have 90 days with his American passport and would have to file for an extension if wanting to stay longer. The extension is obtained in Bogotá. I do not know if it could be obtained in other cities, but I heard they had to travel to Bogotá. The person might have to travel to Bogotá to get the extension.

Colombian ports of entry are supposed to ask for the Colombian passport when dual citizens come. I have seen that in some circumstances they would allow the person to enter with the American one when the person could not provide the Colombian one or the Colombian one is expired and they would let the person enter that one time with the warning of bringing the Colombian passport next time and if it was expired to take the opportunity get it while in Colombia. This is an everyday situation with dual citizens and both US and Colombia are aware of that and try to handle it the best they can trying to meet their own regulations.

People with two passports would need to show the requested one as needed (for example: the US one when going back to the US): DAS (http://www.das.gov.co/) is one of the Colombia police-type units and has posts at port of entries (airports and land port of entries). Travelers must stop at the DAS office at the airport or other port of entry to have their passports checked in their computer system. DAS needs to check if the person appears in their system as a wanted person and for that they need to see the Colombian passport. There is a new law that says that people with the two passports must show the Colombian one.

Your husband has two options: make sure with the Colombian consulate if it would be okay for him to travel to Colombia with the American passport and enter as an American. The person at the port of entry would probably notice in the American passport that your husband was born in Colombia (the American passport would probably say the place of birth) and the agent would ask for the Colombian one. Your husband would have to tell the person that he does not have one and that he would enter as an American. I suppose the person at the port of entry will let him in and would suggest bringing the Colombian one the next time, especially since it is the first time your husband travels back to Colombia.

His other option is to apply for a Colombian Cedula (ID) and passport. The Colombian cedula takes forever to get, but you will get a temporary one and with it he should be able to get the passport. The passport is what matters the most to immigration officials. DAS cares the most for the passport. The Colombian passports I have seen have their numbers be the number of the cedula. The requirements for the passports appear in the websites of the Colombian Consulates. For the list of the nearest Consulate you could visit the following webpage I made (some information could have changed).

http://www.cesarusa.com/consulates.htm

Normally, the port of entries are not as complicated in regards to the passport used and maybe nothing too bad would happen at the port of entry other than a suggestion to get the Colombian passport the next time the person comes back to Colombia.

You can call me at my US phone number and I would give you my Colombian phone number so that you could call me once you are in Colombia for any questions.

Best wishes,

Cesar
(818) 206-0481
www.CesarColombia.com