San Francisco Visa Run

How to Get a Colombian Visa

After the Colombian Embassy had rejected our visa application several times, and we were worried that we might not be able to go to Colombia. So, on Sept. 11, the church sent us to San Francisco to apply in person for our visa. We learned that the problem was the size of our photos (see below).

We took new pictures of each other in the embassy office and submitted them to the embassy. Within an hour, we had our visas. We realized that the church spent over a thousand dollars to send us to San Francisco when all they needed to do was to upload the appropriate photos.

So Jenny created a new instruction sheet for future missionaries, that we shared with the Travel and Missionary Dept.

COLOMBIA MISSIONS VISA REQUIREMENTS

STEP TWO

To initiate your visa process, send the following items to the Church Travel Office (please

review the detailed instructions for each item listed below before filling out any forms):

o Visa Application Information Sheet

o Signed Passport Book

o 1 Electronic Color Photo (less than 300 KB)

o Blood Type Documentation

Color Photograph

You must submit an electronic photo to apply for your visa. The background must be white, and

the photo must be of your head. You are allowed to smile in the photo. Please wear missionary

attire and follow missionary grooming standards.

The photo must be less than 300 KB. Most cameras and phones take photos much larger than

this allowed file size. We recommend standing against a white wall and asking someone to take

a full-body photo of you from about 15 feet. Then, crop the photo substantially to include only

your head. This cropping process will reduce the file size of the electronic photo. You can check

the updated size (in KB) of the photo when you attach it to the email:

iversont@ChurchOfJesusChrist.org.

Please email the cropped photo to Terri Iverson at the above email.

In the meantime, we had a wonderful couple of days in San Francisco, eating great Italian food, Ghiradellis and walking on the Golden Gate bridge!  We stayed down at Fisherman's wharf.