49 RMB for the first cup, 5 for the next

[Rob and WeiLing]

I'll try to keep our story short and informative. WeiLing got a pink today, and we're very excited.

 

We arrived at the front of the consulate building at about 7:05, and the lines were already huge. The "line" for immigrant visas was actually three-lines wide, and the guard passing out entry cards decided to start out by only giving cards to one of the lines. (This ultimately resulted in some people who arrived ~7:20 getting in before we did.)

 

Once inside the building, I walked with her to the 4th floor guard post and then watched her give a smile and thumbs up as she ascended to the consulate. The rest of the story is hers, and I'm just translating and writing here...

 

She said most of the staff that she dealt with were friendly. While waiting, a Chinese person collected her medical information and financial support forms and then passed it to a VO who later called her. The collector asked her if she's been outside of the country (China) before, which Wei Ling has (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand). She overheard another woman being questioned by this Chinese data-collector, "When was your divorce? ...(applicant answered unclearly)... But this says __(some date)__. Wait, how many times have you been married?!" WeiLing thinks this person got a white slip.

 

Among the VOs, WeiLing said that some took a long time to review the information, while others were zipping through applicants: reviewing data and sending them away with a pink. One of the VOs who took a long time on each seemed rather young and almost never smiled. WeiLing's interviewer was a large, middle-aged white woman with glasses that was friendly and smiled often.

 

The first question was in English, simply "Can you speak English?" WeiLing started to respond "Yes, I can--" and the woman started to ask another question. WeiLing finally got out "I can speak a little English." The rest of the interview was conducted in a mix of English and Chinese. I don't know the order of the following questions, but here's roughly what was asked:

 

1. Who petitioned for you? "My husband, Robert __(Last Name)__" - The VO smiled at hearing WeiLing say my name.

 

2. Who is your financial sponsor? "My husband's father, Fred" - WeiLing intentionally said my dad's name. The VO smiled and said "Yes, Fred." I should also note that my own I-864 lists $0.00 income all the way down, which is truthful. I have not filed income tax for 2009, so I included a letter explaining why I am exempt from filing (and I did not check the box stating that I filed). I think this letter may be a helpful reference to other young'uns here, so I'll post a copy of it a little later.

 

3. Did your husband's parents come to the wedding in China? Can I see the pictures? - We submitted 100+ pictures to Beijing, and WeiLing brought another 100+ (mostly different) with her to the interview. She had the foresight to sort the ones she brought and easily pulled pictures that included my parents. (The VO also asked who various people were, from my classmates to her parents, etc.)

 

4. What are your and your husbands plans after going to America?

 

5. When will your husband begin working? (I'm a full-time student currently.)

 

6. When was the first time you two met?

 

7. When did you two get married?

 

8. Who introduced you two?

 

9. What employment did you formerly hold?

 

10. How well does your husband speak Chinese?

 

After that, the VO spoke in English and congratulated WeiLing on pink and told her where to go to register for mail-delivery of the visa. WeiLing didn't understand everything she said, but understood the idea. While leaving she said "You are very friendly. Have a nice day!"

 

WeiLing told me that she was mindful to always look the VO in the eyes and maintain a smile even when the VO was looking our forms or the computer screen.

 

I should mention that CFL provided a lot of information that was invaluable in preparing for this. I'm sure that without the help here, we wouldn't have been able to go from petitioning in Beijing to pink in Guangzhou in just 110 days like we have. Thanks a bunch, guys!

[Amaro]

Congrats!! A sigh of relief and you are now able to press on to the next chapter in life.

[TheMace]

I'll try to keep our story short and informative. WeiLing got a pink today, and we're very excited.

 

We arrived at the front of the consulate building at about 7:05, and the lines were already huge. The "line" for immigrant visas was actually three-lines wide, and the guard passing out entry cards decided to start out by only giving cards to one of the lines. (This ultimately resulted in some people who arrived ~7:20 getting in before we did.)

 

Once inside the building, I walked with her to the 4th floor guard post and then watched her give a smile and thumbs up as she ascended to the consulate. The rest of the story is hers, and I'm just translating and writing here...

 

She said most of the staff that she dealt with were friendly. While waiting, a Chinese person collected her medical information and financial support forms and then passed it to a VO who later called her. The collector asked her if she's been outside of the country (China) before, which Wei Ling has (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand). She overheard another woman being questioned by this Chinese data-collector, "When was your divorce? ...(applicant answered unclearly)... But this says __(some date)__. Wait, how many times have you been married?!" WeiLing thinks this person got a white slip.

 

Among the VOs, WeiLing said that some took a long time to review the information, while others were zipping through applicants: reviewing data and sending them away with a pink. One of the VOs who took a long time on each seemed rather young and almost never smiled. WeiLing's interviewer was a large, middle-aged white woman with glasses that was friendly and smiled often.

 

The first question was in English, simply "Can you speak English?" WeiLing started to respond "Yes, I can--" and the woman started to ask another question. WeiLing finally got out "I can speak a little English." The rest of the interview was conducted in a mix of English and Chinese. I don't know the order of the following questions, but here's roughly what was asked:

 

1. Who petitioned for you? "My husband, Robert __(Last Name)__" - The VO smiled at hearing WeiLing say my name.

 

2. Who is your financial sponsor? "My husband's father, Fred" - WeiLing intentionally said my dad's name. The VO smiled and said "Yes, Fred." I should also note that my own I-864 lists $0.00 income all the way down, which is truthful. I have not filed income tax for 2009, so I included a letter explaining why I am exempt from filing (and I did not check the box stating that I filed). I think this letter may be a helpful reference to other young'uns here, so I'll post a copy of it a little later.

 

3. Did your husband's parents come to the wedding in China? Can I see the pictures? - We submitted 100+ pictures to Beijing, and WeiLing brought another 100+ (mostly different) with her to the interview. She had the foresight to sort the ones she brought and easily pulled pictures that included my parents. (The VO also asked who various people were, from my classmates to her parents, etc.)

 

4. What are your and your husbands plans after going to America?

 

5. When will your husband begin working? (I'm a full-time student currently.)

 

6. When was the first time you two met?

 

7. When did you two get married?

 

8. Who introduced you two?

 

9. What employment did you formerly hold?

 

10. How well does your husband speak Chinese?

 

After that, the VO spoke in English and congratulated WeiLing on pink and told her where to go to register for mail-delivery of the visa. WeiLing didn't understand everything she said, but understood the idea. While leaving she said "You are very friendly. Have a nice day!"

 

WeiLing told me that she was mindful to always look the VO in the eyes and maintain a smile even when the VO was looking our forms or the computer screen.

 

I should mention that CFL provided a lot of information that was invaluable in preparing for this. I'm sure that without the help here, we wouldn't have been able to go from petitioning in Beijing to pink in Guangzhou in just 110 days like we have. Thanks a bunch, guys!

 

 

Congrats to you both.

[Rob and WeiLing]

Thanks guys

 

I almost forgot to mention that when WeiLing mentioned to the VO that she had my passport, the VO was interested in seeing it. I had clipped my ISIC (International Student Identity Card), my Chinese university student ID booklet, and my passport together for WeiLing. She said the VO spent the most time looking at my Chinese student ID.

 

Should I mention that the student IDs here are little red books? Or is that stating the obvious, as China loves little red books...

[Kyle]

Chinese university students get the little books, but they are not always red. It depends on the university. My student ID book was brown. Congrats on the successful interview!

 

EDIT:

 

Chinese students, meaning students in China regardless of national origin.

Edited July 6, 2010 by Kyle (see edit history)

[Rob and WeiLing]

Chinese students get the little books, but they are not always red. It depends on the university. My student ID book was brown. Congrats on the successful interview!

 

 

Thanks!

 

I must've just assumed that every little book in China was red (aside from the yellow international vaccination record): marriage, passport, hukou, Mao phrasebook, my student ID....

 

WeiLing just told me something more about her interview. When the Chinese info-collector passed out interview cards, her number was "1066". From this number, she had a feeling she was going to get pink. You know, because 6 signifies things will go in your favor. Oh Chinese and their superstitions...

[Sam and Fen]

Congrats! Makes the expensive coffee worth it.

 

There is a young (slightly obese) Chinese girl that works there.

She was a sweetheart when I was there for our interview.

 

Every-time I got up to walk around she would grab my hand and tell me to sit down and relax.

 

I was a nervous wreck even though I was pretty sure we would be getting a pink, she finally pulls up a chair for me from where I had a clear view of people walking back down from the interview.

[tonado]

Congrats.

[AaronTMartin]

Congratulations to you both! Xuemei's interview time is eight hours from now. I hope we have a similar result. All the best to you and your wife!

[Rob and WeiLing]

Congrats! Makes the expensive coffee worth it.

 

There is a young (slightly obese) Chinese girl that works there.

She was a sweetheart when I was there for our interview.

 

Every-time I got up to walk around she would grab my hand and tell me to sit down and relax.

 

I was a nervous wreck even though I was pretty sure we would be getting a pink, she finally pulls up a chair for me from where I had a clear view of people walking back down from the interview.

 

I was one of the first one there, so I had a good seat to watch everyone round the corner. I just drank the (slightly) cheaper Dole Orange Juice... I didn't see any slightly obese young girl. My waitress was a middle-aged woman who spoke enough English. She did catch on that I could speak some Chinese, even though I hadn't said a word of it. Smart woman or just lucky guess...

 

 

Congrats.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Congratulations to you both! Xuemei's interview time is eight hours from now. I hope we have a similar result. All the best to you and your wife!

 

Good luck! Just have your wife ask for the larger, middle-aged woman wearing glasses. I hope you see pink as well!

[Stepbrow]

Congratulations! Did you meet any interesting people in the coffee shop?

[bird]

Congratulations!!!

 

I am very happy for you guys that you don't have to go through what my husband and I are going through now.

 

Wish you two love birds fly together happily forever.

[Zhou Zhou]

Congratulations!!!

 

I am very happy for you guys that you don't have to go through what my husband and I are going through now.

 

Wish you two love birds fly together happily forever.

 

 

I spent a half day in the coffee shop, myself. Congratulations and good luck!

[Rob and WeiLing]

Congratulations! Did you meet any interesting people in the coffee shop?

 

 

I'm more of an introvert, so I kept pretty much to myself. It's especially bad when I'm nervous or anxious, so I gave other people a friendly smile, but mostly played sudoku on my ipod touch.

 

When the waitress mentioned that I ate the Ïã¹Ï×Ó really well, she followed by asking if I could speak Chinese. I only said Ò»µãµã. She then repeated what she had said and I just did the ¶÷ affirmative grunt that the Chinese do.

 

Congratulations!!!

 

I am very happy for you guys that you don't have to go through what my husband and I are going through now.

 

Wish you two love birds fly together happily forever.

 

 

Thanks! There seem to be a lot of horror stories from the process, but I think most of the posters here at CFL eventually get a pink slip. The forum shows you only have 1 post, so welcome to CFL

 

Congratulations!!!

 

I am very happy for you guys that you don't have to go through what my husband and I are going through now.

 

Wish you two love birds fly together happily forever.

 

 

I spent a half day in the coffee shop, myself. Congratulations and good luck!

 

 

I was in there for over 3 hours, which felt like half a day. Since I stood in the appointment line out front while my wife waited inside the air-conditioned building, I knew a lot of people that went in about the same time as her. When I saw these people coming down from the 5th floor, I started watching more intently...

[Rob and WeiLing]

I just talked to my sister-in-law, who is working in Shanghai. WeiLing and I had registered to send the visa package to her sister's office... It was received this afternoon. From being approved on late Tuesday morning to receiving the package on Thursday afternoon... That seems unusually quick, especially considering transit time was also involved. She's bringing it to us tomorrow evening, so I'll confirm that it's the real deal then.