[shutterme2]

I went to the American citizen hour on Friday, I got there at 2pm.... went into the waiting room that have all the windows that the interviews are done at. I was asked to fill out a form and take a number.

I was the only WHITE CITIZEN in the room, most were chinese people

The form asks for your SO name, DOB, CASE #.... then it asks if you have specific questions that you want to ask about your case.

I thought that the ACH was an open forum, and that it was for people to get familar with questions regarding the process for the interview. to my surprise it was conducted on a 1 on 1 basis with a V.O.

As I waited for my number to be called, I could hear others session with the V.O.'s and their problems, nothing that pertained to me, so I didn't focus in on their problems, but could hear very clear. The windows are very thick glass with a mic on both sides, and a slot for passing things back and forth.... Just like a bank!!!

After about 30 minutes my # was called, I went up to window # 25 and was greeted by a young 30's american fellow, which I could tell he was happy to see a white face!!! I handed him my form and he asked what can I do for you. I told him that I had a few quetions about our case..... and then he looked at his screen on the computer, and said.... oh.. I see you have emailed several times, and that you made a change of address... he then said thats good.

we started talking about the visa pickup time and how accurate they are to have them completed and delivered, he told me that 99% of the time the visa is at the china post the evening before, but you have to pickup on the day of your scheduled pickup.


We started talking about many things such as the most recent trend of denials, for K-1, K-3, CR-1.......He said that if a middle aged chinese woman with 2 teenage kids, recently divorced met a guy from NY that doesn't have a good job, and barely meets the REQUIREMENTS, he said that would raise a red flag, most likely they would be denied

another reason he told me........ If 2 people are in a relationship and the chinese person cannot speak english, and the american cannot speak chinese.... That is reason for not having a valid relationship " How can you have a relationship if you cannot understand each other, how do you communicate on the phone?"

The last bit of advise I got from the 1 on 1 was..........

If your SO, Wife...... gets a blue slip, they will tell you why they are they are giving it, with more evidence that is needed for overcome
The V.O. will give a list of evidence needed to proceed, and if your SO or Wife has all the items on the list with them at that time, they can tell the V.O. that they have all the items they are requesting. Make sure that they ask the V.O. if they can step aside and gather the items and return to the window when they get them gathered.

The V.O. that I talked with said that is what he does if the person tells him they have all the overcome evidence at the time of interview.

He also told me "IF" someone is denied, and they don't tell the V.O. they have all the evidence that they are requesting. HE SAID.... TELL THEM NOT TO LEAVE THE AREA AND GO TO WINDOW #30 THEY CAN RESOLVE THEIR CASE AT THAT TIME.

I had a enjoyable time talking to the nice V.O. and we talked about many different situations, and also had a few laughs too.

He told me that it is true that they only see the case minutes before the interview, and NEVER GIVE THEM ANYTHING THAT THEY DON'T ASK FOR!!! They don't have time for you to disrupt their process they have certain ways for conducting the interview.


I hope everyone can benifit from my experiance


Scott

[Trigg]

Great stuff---esspecially 'window 30' this is news to most of us I'm sure!!

[hunter]

shutterme2, on Mar 10 2006, 08:44 PM, said:

I went to the American citizen hour on Friday, I got there at 2pm.... went into the waiting room that have all the windows that the interviews are done at.  I was asked to fill out a form and take a number.

I was the only WHITE CITIZEN in the room, most were chinese people

The form asks for your SO name, DOB, CASE #.... then it asks if you have specific questions that you want to ask about your case.

I thought that the ACH was an open forum, and that it was for people to get familar with questions regarding the process for the interview.  to my surprise it was conducted on a 1 on 1 basis with a V.O.

As I waited for my number to be called, I could hear others session with the V.O.'s and their problems, nothing that pertained to me, so I didn't focus in on their problems, but could hear very clear.  The windows are very thick glass with a mic on both sides, and a slot for passing things back and forth.... Just like a bank!!!

After about 30 minutes my # was called, I went up to window # 25 and was greeted by a young 30's american fellow, which I could tell he was happy to see a white face!!!  I handed him my form and he asked what can I do for you.  I told him that I had a few quetions about our case..... and then he looked at his screen on the computer, and said.... oh.. I see you have emailed several times, and that you made a change of address...  he then said thats good.

we started talking about the visa pickup time and how accurate they are to have them completed and delivered, he told me that 99% of the time the visa is at the china post the evening before, but you have to pickup on the day of your scheduled pickup.


We started talking about many things such as the most recent trend of denials, for K-1, K-3, CR-1.......He said that if a middle aged chinese woman with 2 teenage kids, recently divorced met a guy from NY that doesn't have a good job, and barely meets the REQUIREMENTS, he said that would raise a red flag, most likely they would be denied

another reason he told me........ If 2 people are in a relationship and the chinese person cannot speak english, and the american cannot speak chinese.... That is reason for not having a valid relationship  " How can you have a relationship if you cannot understand each other, how do you communicate on the phone?"

The last bit of advise I got from the 1 on 1 was..........

If your SO, Wife...... gets a blue slip, they will tell you why they are they are giving it, with more evidence that is needed for overcome
The V.O. will give a list of evidence needed  to proceed, and if your SO or Wife has all the items on the list with them at that time, they can tell the V.O. that they have all the items they are requesting.  Make sure that they ask the V.O. if they can step aside and gather the items and return to the window when they get them gathered.

The V.O. that I talked with said that is what he does if the person tells him they have all the overcome evidence at the time of interview.

He also told me "IF" someone is denied, and they don't tell the V.O. they have all the evidence that they are requesting. HE SAID.... TELL THEM NOT TO LEAVE THE AREA AND GO TO WINDOW #30 THEY CAN RESOLVE THEIR CASE AT THAT TIME.

I had a enjoyable time talking to the nice V.O. and we talked about many different situations, and also had a few laughs too.

He told me that it is true that they only see the case minutes before the interview, and NEVER GIVE THEM ANYTHING THAT THEY DON'T ASK FOR!!!  They don't have time for you to disrupt their process they have certain ways for conducting the interview.


I hope everyone can benifit from my experiance


                                      Scott

Basically what you are saying is, My SO and I have every chance in the world to get our visa. Now I understand how the VO think, I know that my wife and I will be united soon. Thanks for the good words.

[IluvmyLi]

Great info............I will chain myself to window 30 :angry:

[shutterme2]

I'm sure window #30 will be a big hit in the future,


JUST REMEMBER TO TELL YOUR S.O. NOT TO LEAVE THE BUILDING


That may be the biggest thing to remember when a blue slip is issued, one's mind might not be thinking very clear at that time

[Stone]

shutterme2, on Mar 11 2006, 01:43 AM, said:

I'm sure window #30 will be a big hit in the future,


    JUST REMEMBER TO TELL YOUR S.O. NOT TO LEAVE THE BUILDING


  That may be the biggest thing to remember when a blue slip is issued, one's mind might not be thinking very clear at that time

Was that Window #30 born out of my recommendation for a Second Opinion?

[jim_julian]

GREAT post Scott! Invaluable ... thank you!

[jemmyell]

Yes, Scott! This one goes into my 'K1' folder now!

-James

[shutterme2]

pushbrk, on Mar 11 2006, 05:12 AM, said:

shutterme2, on Mar 10 2006, 11:43 PM, said:

I'm sure window #30 will be a big hit in the future,


    JUST REMEMBER TO TELL YOUR S.O. NOT TO LEAVE THE BUILDING


  That may be the biggest thing to remember when a blue slip is issued, one's mind might not be thinking very clear at that time

It seems CFL members are on a great streak of passed interviews. This is great information but the Window 30 scenario raises a couple questions about detail. I wonder if you lose your Window 30 option if you leave the 5th floor. I take it only the beneficiary goes to Window 30 and that there is no opportunity to communicate with the petitioner between receiving the blue slip and showing the overcome documentation.

It sounds like the first thing the beneficiary should do about a blue slip is to stay put in front of the current window, read it carefully and inform that VO, if they have the overcome information in their possession. If the VO is willing, they show it to them. If not, go to window 30. Is that how you understand it?

It might be good to formulate a question about this for GUZ Speaks.

That is correct, "IF" the V.O. will allow you to stay at the window, then by all means pleed your case, "IF NOT" go to window #30

[Stephen]

shutterme2, on Mar 11 2006, 08:17 PM, said:

pushbrk, on Mar 11 2006, 05:12 AM, said:

shutterme2, on Mar 10 2006, 11:43 PM, said:

I'm sure window #30 will be a big hit in the future,


    JUST REMEMBER TO TELL YOUR S.O. NOT TO LEAVE THE BUILDING


  That may be the biggest thing to remember when a blue slip is issued, one's mind might not be thinking very clear at that time

It seems CFL members are on a great streak of passed interviews. This is great information but the Window 30 scenario raises a couple questions about detail. I wonder if you lose your Window 30 option if you leave the 5th floor. I take it only the beneficiary goes to Window 30 and that there is no opportunity to communicate with the petitioner between receiving the blue slip and showing the overcome documentation.

It sounds like the first thing the beneficiary should do about a blue slip is to stay put in front of the current window, read it carefully and inform that VO, if they have the overcome information in their possession. If the VO is willing, they show it to them. If not, go to window 30. Is that how you understand it?

It might be good to formulate a question about this for GUZ Speaks.

That is correct, "IF" the V.O. will allow you to stay at the window, then by all means pleed your case, "IF NOT" go to window #30

My wife doesn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Chinese. She is studying English and I Chinese. We talk on the phone every day and communicate just fine. We each have talking translators. On occasion we use an interpreter service to discuss in-depth things. There are services available today that will translate on the fly. It seems to me that guz has an outdated mindset on verbal communications. Maybe 10 years ago it was a problem… but not with the electronics and resources of today. I would hope that the people in guz understand this and would not put such a high importance on verbal communication.

[Randy W]

Stephen, on Mar 12 2006, 08:31 PM, said:

My wife doesn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Chinese. She is studying English and I Chinese. We talk on the phone every day and communicate just fine. We each have talking translators. On occasion we use an interpreter service to discuss in-depth things. There are services available today that will translate on the fly. It seems to me that guz has an outdated mindset on verbal communications. Maybe 10 years ago it was a problem? but not with the electronics and resources of today. I would hope that the people in guz understand this and would not put such a high importance on verbal communication.

Jiaying and I found that the human translators would always add their own spin of one kind or another. We found the electronic ones to be much better.

It was not an issue at the interview.

[whatsthehaps]

Everyone's experience has helped me very much!

Thanks,
Rick

[shyaushu]

Stephen, on Mar 12 2006, 08:31 PM, said:

shutterme2, on Mar 11 2006, 08:17 PM, said:

pushbrk, on Mar 11 2006, 05:12 AM, said:

shutterme2, on Mar 10 2006, 11:43 PM, said:

I'm sure window #30 will be a big hit in the future,


??JUST REMEMBER TO TELL YOUR S.O. NOT TO LEAVE THE BUILDING


?That may be the biggest thing to remember when a blue slip is issued, one's mind might not be thinking very clear at that time

It seems CFL members are on a great streak of passed interviews. This is great information but the Window 30 scenario raises a couple questions about detail. I wonder if you lose your Window 30 option if you leave the 5th floor. I take it only the beneficiary goes to Window 30 and that there is no opportunity to communicate with the petitioner between receiving the blue slip and showing the overcome documentation.

It sounds like the first thing the beneficiary should do about a blue slip is to stay put in front of the current window, read it carefully and inform that VO, if they have the overcome information in their possession. If the VO is willing, they show it to them. If not, go to window 30. Is that how you understand it?

It might be good to formulate a question about this for GUZ Speaks.

That is correct, "IF" the V.O. will allow you to stay at the window, then by all means pleed your case, "IF NOT" go to window #30

My wife doesn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Chinese. She is studying English and I Chinese. We talk on the phone every day and communicate just fine. We each have talking translators. On occasion we use an interpreter service to discuss in-depth things. There are services available today that will translate on the fly. It seems to me that guz has an outdated mindset on verbal communications. Maybe 10 years ago it was a problem?but not with the electronics and resources of today. I would hope that the people in guz understand this and would not put such a high importance on verbal communication.

Of course everyone has a somewhat different experience in Guangzhou, and here is ours.

My wife (still) speaks preciuous little English (our little joke is for her to say "see you tomorrow" when I leave for work) and my Chinese ability was of the competent to order food, ask directions and talk about simple things that happened variety in December, 2005.

The Visa Officer spoke Chinese to my wife and our communication was never brought up. We had been married for 11 months at that point.

My conclusion: this underscores the "don't offer anything they don't ask for" part. Just like in court. If they are appropriate, a "yes" or a "no" should probably be the response to a question like "Do the two of you have any problems communicating?" I feel "No" would be an excellent answer.