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Recently, in our blog Attention: U.S. Embassy in Colombia suspends Benefits Verification, we shared with all our expat community the news that the issuance of the benefits letter from Colombia by the American Embassy was suspended. This has a great negative impact mainly on Americans who already have a type M Retirement visa and need to renew it from Colombia, as well as on those who are in the country as tourists and wish to apply for the visa to have a long-term legal stay in the country.
But don’t worry. At expatgroup.co, we have the solution thanks to our new service of US Benefits Letter Apostilled from Colombia; read on for all the relevant information.
Remember that in addition to helping you with the apostille of the benefits letter, we offer you our specialized service of type M Retirement visa to save time and money while increasing the chances of success in obtaining your legal permanence in Colombia.
What is the US Benefits Letter?
The US Benefits Letter certifies the amount of money that a U.S. citizen receives each month as a life pension, either for retirement or disability, from a public or private entity.
Why is the US Benefits Letter important?
The benefits letter is the main document to apply for the M-type Retirement visa. If this document is not issued and legalized correctly, the visa application will be rejected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
How must the Benefits letter be issued and legalized to be accepted by the Colombian government?
Initially, the document could be obtained directly through the American Embassy in Colombia, and the information contained therein was duly updated, validated, and delivered in Spanish. The Colombian government has 100% accepted this document for visa purposes during the last few years.
However, currently, due to the suspension of this service by the American Embassy, the letter of benefits requires the following strict process to be accepted in the Colombian visa application:
Step by step
1. Issuance of the updated benefits/pension certificate (ideally maximum 1 month of issuance).
2. Authentication of the signature on the document by a Notary Public in the United States
3. Apostille of the document issued by the Department of State
4. Official translation from English to Spanish
How can expatgroup.co help me with my US Benefits Letter Apostilled?
We understand that the apostille process can be time-consuming, complex, and costly. To simplify this for our customers, we are excited to introduce our new service: US Benefits Letter Apostilled from Colombia at expatgroup.co
