[Politics] Colombia and the United States will begin negotiations on visa elimination

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This Friday, October 28, in Washington, a formal table will start between Colombia and the United States to discuss the possibility of eliminating the tourist and business visa requirement for nationals, as well as other immigration issues.

(In context: How viable is the proposal to eliminate the visa for Colombians in the US?)

This was confirmed to this newspaper by official sources in both countries. That day the Binational Consular Working Group will meet, a mechanism that had been created in 2006 to discuss and advance migratory priorities but that stopped meeting in 2019.

(Read here: Arrests of Colombian migrants at US borders reach 116,000)

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The meetings will initially be headed by Ambassador Luis Gilberto Murillo and Foreign Ministry staff, as well as officials from the State Department and the Department for Homeland Security (DHS).

In principle, Colombia will ask the US to work on five specific issues: mechanisms to speed up the visa process at the US embassy in Bogotá (which is taking more than two years); advance in the process of entering Colombia into the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which eliminates the need for a visa; possible temporary work programs for Colombians in the US, such as the one granted by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and other regular migration channels; recalibrate the message that the US uses about Colombia in its so-called Travel Advisory; and the situation of illegal immigrants detained at the border and those extradited in both countries.

That according to a preparatory document that was known by this newspaper

https://www.eltiempo.com/mundo/eeuu-y-canada/colombia-y-estados-unidos-negociaran-le-eliminacion-de-visa-de-turismo-710844