Consulate General of Colombia — Local services in Coral Gables

4/25/24. Taking the time to write this because all info I found did not help. I am giving 5 stars because the service is very good. I think the consulate can do a better job informing people of the capacity, how many people are serviced daily, what are best times to go to avoid large crowds so that everyone has a better experience.

If you do not like waiting (recommended): get there late morning 10 ish get a ticket for your turn and come back roughly when it is your turn. This is the way to do it.

If you need to get in and out as fast as possible (not recommended): get there at 4am to be one of the first people that get serviced.

If you are picking up passport is very easy and you do not need to be in line. Also if people stop doing lines in the morning and get there more spread out I am sure that everyone will spend less time. Is just the rush to get there at 8:30 and get serviced asap that causes all the mess and frustration.

My experience: I did not know what to expect and needed to get a passport because I travel in 10 days. I was not willing to stand up in line at 4am but given that I had no idea how fast they service people or how many they could service on a day, I was part of the craziness and got there 7:20 am. At 8:30 the line is approx 100 people. They started letting people in and gave tickets in order of arrival. I was roughly 50th in line and they told me to come back at 10 am. Came back at 10 and had about 5 people in front of me. When I was called took 5 minutes.

Some information that will help: they have up to 10 officers that are processing people. Takes them about 5 minutes or less per person. It moves fast. Like I said I was 50 and it was about 90 min.

Hope this helps some...

Embarrassing to say the least. You would think a government embassy would be transparent in procedures or have some decency in assisting people of their country. My mother was waiting since 4am along with others who were there since even 2am. Apparently they were a first come first serve establishment because the website never works. Now supposedly they are enforcing a rule that was quite likely made up on the spot, of appointments only being taken online on Fridays on a website that doesn't work or specify anything of the sort at the time. These people were waiting there at least 10 hours or more, not being allowed to enter a seemingly empty lobby. Some people even stuck in without appointments. No consistency or consideration. Why is it so hard to just go outside and tell people there is no point in waiting. One person came from Boston, another from Tampa. No access to water or a bathroom. Shows how much Colombia cares about its people. Nothing annoys a Colombian more than embarrassment. If you're going to wait there. Bring a big ass sign, and write on it how many hours you've been waiting and where you came from. Make it look like a protest, then call onlyindade to get some news reports...

This establishment delivers an abysmal experience, and they seem to take pride in it. It’s the very definition of entitlement, allowed only by Colombian governmental institutions. Arriving at 8:30 AM on the one Saturday they open each month is a joke, as the line wraps around the building, and all appointments are gone within 15 minutes of opening. The staff casually advised me to come on a weekday when it’s “less crowded.” I rearranged my schedule to arrive at 10:30 AM, only to find out there were no more appointments left.

There is no online appointment system in place. You’re expected to arrive hours before they open, only to spend even more hours waiting while the staff takes their sweet time with coffee breaks and idle chatter. All this, just to perform the simple task of collecting information to renew passport. The inefficiency is astounding.

To make matters worse, the doorman’s attitude was shockingly unprofessional. After driving three hours on two separate occasions, he seemed to take pleasure in telling me there was nothing I could do. His smirk made it clear he found the situation amusing. The inefficiency and complete disregard for people’s time is beyond...