elcajongr

List of Guangzhou hotels and room rates. http://www.guangzhouhotel.com/bestrates.htm

Email from GZ, 1-17-05 Please note that the case is now under processing for an interview scheduling. Once we complete it, we will notify you. Thank you for using the GuangzhouIV e-mail service.

your post "This morning when I call DOS and requested the status, I was surprised to have been told: February 15th at 08:00. This was pretty exciting, then when I realized this appointment date was the first "working day" for the consulate after the week long holiday for Chinese New Year, I became quite nerveous. I must travel to Beijing just days before the NY, then we must together fly to Guangzhou on Sunday or Monday (the end of NY and a traveling nightmare in all of China's airports). Whew....I don't know if I should laugh or cry.....excited and scared!" Medical exam question? I have heard medical exams will be limited during the first week of NY. Will you have to make a trip to GZ in the week prior to NY to get the medical exam? Does anyone know the GZ hospital work schedule during NY?

Following is a link to a street map of the Shamian area including the Embassy location. Look in the lower left hand corner of the map for the U. S. Consulate and the White Swan Hotel. Shamian Map: http://home.sprintmail.com/%7Ekirkc/gz.jpg

A list of K1 practice questions my So and I have been using. Access is sometimes slow so have patience. GR http://www.powow.com/grobbins/gr-questions.html

Looks like GZ is off to a good start in 2005. My SO's report of 001.com activity. Today's email from my SO. "The embassy began to send P4 again, I saw on 001 just now 6 people said they got P4, the time of the interview is February 14-25, one's fiance phoned to DOS to know her interview date is the 22nd of February, they are almost all P3 returned in August, only a person is returnings P3 in 15th July. Five sisters of 001 are passed today, they will get the visa tomorrow, among them a person got the white slip in one minute. They have sent the notice, tomorrow afternoon 2.30 on the net. a bar near the embassy of Guangzhou has a party , they have no report finding time to write the interview. I feel glad for them, just as if I get P4 like that. . This is good news of 2005 ¡£"

Does anyone know of a posted image of the dreaded BLUE slip or the White slip? It would be interesting to see the list of possible reasons for denial. Thanx

Sunday December 26, 1:54 PM Reports: Several killed, dozens injured as tens of thousands riot in southern Chinese city, Da Lang village in Guangdong province. http://asia.news.yahoo.com/041226/ap/d87754ao0.html

Q1: Are the instructions asking for two copies of the I-134 form & attachments or is it two copies of the supporting documents attached to the one I-134 form? Q2: This question is about scheduling medical examinations at the Chinese hospitals during the Chinese Spring Festival. Does anyone anticipate any problems getting a medical examination during the Spring Festival?

The following post gives a very small window for preparing the forms and I-134. What is an acceptable time(age) limit for the I-134 support documents? Would GZ reject 3-4 month old I-134 documents? (elcajongr) ************************* Posted at 001.com by "rosemeili" K1, VSC, BOSTON. p1 June2, P2 June8 ,P3 Aug4, Aug 14 to GZ, ,Dec 15 got P4, interview Jan 4 ************************

Thanks Stan, That makes more sense of the GIV-24. I had received copies as two individual pages.

Item 36: Has anyone ever filed an Immigrant Visa Petition on your Behalf? Yes ------- No --- If Yes, who? ****************************** Not sure how to answer. Is this pertaining to present K1 petition or an earlier visa period? How did others answer? ****************************** Also question on the GIV-24 form; Item 6 on page 2 is about the SO's family. Page 3 seems to be a followup to item 6 but I have no idea of what they are looking for? ?? Thanks

With the long Chinese holiday in February I was of the opinion there may not be too many interviews during the month of February. It seemed to me that all of the January interviews might be to makeup for the reduced number of interviews in February. For me, I think February would be the very worst month for an interview. Do any of the older members have any thoughts about the February interview prospects?

I'm very sorry. I should have made myself more clear. This is not our interview, which will not be due for another three or four months. This was someone else's experience at 001.com . I thought the tips might be worthwhile. Sorry again for not making myself more clear. ************************************* I also received these dates from 001 without an explantion which are very puzzling: ======================== a wanmen dates she is very luck p1 2004-9.20 p2 10.4£¨9.28£© p3 11.10(11.15 retured£© p4 12.11 (got) interview date 2005-1-25

The following, copied from 001.com, was emailed to me Monday, 12-13-04 ************************************** Hi, everyone I am sorry I can't type in chinese now. I have to use English in this cafe! I just passed my interview today. The whole interview lasted less than sixty seconds. I was asked just three questions. 1. How did you meet your fiance? 2. How many times has he come to visit you? 3. What is your fiance's job? Then she asked for the I-134, and then looked at some of the photos that I brought. She then wrote something onto her I-156, told me to come back at 4pm tomorrow to pick up my passport, and gave me the white slip. My VO was a young, white woman, who smiled all the time. I bet she is the nicest VO in consulate!!! Tony's mom's angel really gave me GOOD LUCK!!! Tips: 1. Try to get to the consulate early! If not you might have to stand there all the time while you are waiting for your interview! 2. You should show your fiance's passport when the vo asks your passport!!!(if you have your fiance's passport at that time.) 3. Keep your big smile to VO!!! Don't be nervous, the interview is pretty easy actually!!! I entered the consulate around 7am, but actually they started interview around 10am. I was the No.6 or 7 person to get call for the interview. Okay, guys, I am going to celebrate with my Tony now. Hope everyone has a GOOD LUCK for your interview!!! We have two big bottles champaign waiting for us tonight!!!

I found this older copy of form GIV-8 on the internet. Does anyone know if these instructions are still valid?.... I have heard that the paid receipt will be enclosed in the sealed envelope, True? .... Thanks CONSULATE GENERAL OF AMERICA Guangzhou, People's Republic of China MEDICAL EXAMINATION INSTRUCTIONS Now that you have obtained the various documents required in connection with your immigrant visa application, you should make arrangements for your medical exam. All members of your family who intent to apply for their immigrant visa at this time must have a medical exam, this includes all children, reguardless of age. You should arrange to undergo your medical exam at the hospital indicated below, Medical exams conducted at other hospitals will not be accepted. You must go to the hospital to have your exam earlier than your visa interview appointment date. Each person who is examined must bring four photos of themselves to give to the examing physician. FIRST HOSPITAL OF ZHONGSHAN MEDICAL COLLEGE 74 Zhongshan Second Road, Guangzhou FIRST HOSPITAL OF GUANGZHOU MEDICAL COLLEGE 151 Yan Jiang xi lu, Guangzhou Tel:(020)83337750-7098 HEALTH CARE CENTER of GUANGZHOU INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL 33 Shamian North Street, Shamian Island, Guangzhou Tel: (020) 81889513 TAISHAN PEOPLES HOSPITAL 80 Huan Bei Da Dao, Taishan City Tel: (0750) 5522299 BEIJING TONCHEN HOSPITAL 2 Chong Wen Men Nei Dajie, Beijing Tel: (010) 65129911-5513 THE SHANGHAI FIRST PEOPLE'S HOSPITAL 85 Wu Jin Road, Shanghai Tel: (021) 63240090 FUJIAN PROVINCIAL HOSPITAL 134 Dungjie Road, Fuzhou, Fujian Tel: (0591) 7557768-8065 Before going to the hospital, you must complete the top portion of the enclosed OF-157, MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF VISA APPLICANT. The examming physician will complete the remainder of the form 157 after the exam. On the date of your final immigrant visa interview appointment, which is specified in the attached letter (form Of-171) you must present the completed form 157 and your chest x-ray, along with the other documents specified in the form of-171, children under 14 do not need to present a chest x-ray unless the examming doctor decides it is needed. GIV-8 (REV,8/97)

It appears to me the GZ interviews are now very short for both the white slip and the blue. "If", that is true then I wonder if there is an effort to speed up the process? Is it just wishful thinking on my part or are they making an effort to reduce the backlog? With the holidays ahead the backlog will get worse unless the process is speeded up somehow. Since we don't know how many interviews are conducted each day we'll only know by the results a few months down the road.

Congratulations. Was the interview conducted in English and was there more than one trip to China? Thanx

Once again the wiser heads here at CFL were right. All my worrying and fingernail chewing was time that could have been better spent. The response to my 5th GZ email finally brought the message I was hoping for. Now I can kick back , relax and look forward to that happy day. Thanks again ************************ Nov 15 email response "Thank you for your email. Please be advised that we recently received the forms your fianc¨¦e returned to us, and the namecheck clearance for her case has been completed. Now the case is queuing up to be scheduled. Due to heavy workload volume, it seems that the interview will be in approximately a few months, we will notify the applicant after the appointment date is set."

I apologize if I have given some the impression that I am complaining about the long wait. I went into this knowing it would take over a year. I am not complaining about the wait because the reward will more than makeup for any wait. There are too many folks here you have had a much rockier road than I to travel for me to be complaining about the wait. It would be very selfish on my part to think my petition should be processed ahead of anyone period. It is essential for my peace of mind to know that the completed P3 forms have been received and logged at GZ. As everyone knows the visa process is frozen in time until those forms reach GZ. All of my waiting will be to no avail if those forms did not reach GZ. I have heard of too many problems with the China mail system to not have a concern. Am I really being unreasonable to want to know if GZ has my P3 forms so I will know the processing is continuing? Knowing that I am not one of those unfortunate ones who have to wait many months for the security clearance check would also be reassuring. Simply assuming that everything is going to go right is a luxury I can't afford at this stage of my life. It would take someone 30 seconds to give me an yes or no answer. It burns me to think of how much time would have been saved by all by giving one simple direct answer about my P3 forms. Sounds like a great way to create job security to me. If the government adopted a policy of providing a proper answer to its citizens the first time then the GZ and DOS communications workload would be cut in half overnight. So far DOS has used 12 operators to not tell me what one operator could have said on the first call. Meanwhile everyone going thru this process suffers because of problems of the governments own making. Thanks for listening.

There has been much speculation here about whether the outcome of an interview has been predetermined. I have a question I don't recall seeing posted before, if so, I apologize. Some have indicated they were denied the visa one, two or three minutes into the interview without the VO ever viewing the supporting evidence. To those who have faced the terrible disappointment of the blue slip my question is this. Was the denied individual handed a previously prepared blue slip or did they have to wait while the blue slip was being prepared? Does anyone know the procedure for issuing the dreaded blue slip? A second question is about a denial that was posted here about three months ago. The petitioner reported his SO was told at the beginning of the interview by a GZ woman VO to "speak English". You are going to America, now you must speak English. The SO was then denied the visa one minute into the interview without viewing any of the supporting evidence because she could not speak English. I have not read if there was a successful outcome to that case. There was no indication at the time if the petitioner was told to make a video. Does anyone know the final outcome of that case?

Your answer is the main point I have been trying to make. Your post suggests you get an answer of some type whether it be correct or incorrect. Many as well as myself get one standard answer from GZ and DOS . "Your case is being processed and you will be notified when it is complete" Today was the first time an effort was made to provide me with an answer other than above. I suspect if this individual had found my file and found that I was not one of those scheduled for a white slip he would have given me the "standard non-reply" Most of the timelines here at CFL contain the information that I absolutely cannot get from GZ or DOS. To date I have heard no logical explanation for this. I have accepted the fact I will not have an interview for another 6 months. I have not accepted the fact that for whatever reason that some people cannot get an answer form GZ or DOS under any circumstance.

A friend of my SO had her K3 interview Monday, Nov 8th. Two minutes into the interview she was given a blue slip. There were three items listed on the blue slip. I do not know the exact reading of those three items. Roughly speaking they were 1. Insufficient financial support. 2. VO suspects authenticity of marriage. 3. Fiancee does not speak English. The VO appeared to be an American Born Chinese who spoke good English but poor Chinese. The wife being interviewed cannot speak any English. Those reporting the results of their interviews here at CFL have not indicated if their interview was conducted in English or Chinese. Are all interviews now conducted in English?

The latest kick in the pants. I just got off the phone with DOS where for the first time I was able to talk to someone who actually acted as if they were there to serve the public. I feel super good that I talked to someone who had the courtesy to listen to me and at least try to assist. I am completely discouraged by the answer I got. After the gentleman spent about 10 minutes searching all of his available databases he was unable to find my SO in the sytem. He searched on the GUZ#, SO's name and SO's passport number to no avail. He even searched for a P3 entry for mid-Sept. His conclusion was that I should call GZ directly to see if they had entered my SO into the system yet. I now feel as if the merry-go-round is starting to spin out of control. At least my record is still in tact. To date I still have not received one concrete answer from anyone during this entire process and I'm sorry but I don't think it's asking too much to be told if your P3 forms have been received at GZ. --------------------------------------------------- To rephrase; DOS did not say my SO's P3 was not in the system. They said my SO was not in the system period. There was no record of my SO in the system! Common sense says she couldn't have received the P3 packet if she wasn't in the system? Do incompetent operators have access to the DELETE key if you tick them off?

The white slip statement; "Regarding the interview, it was pretty straight forward and my fianc¨¦ stated she saw the white slip on the VO's desk before the interview even began, although he unskillfully tried to keep it discreet." The above statement tends to confirm a conclusion I reached about 4 months ago. I feel I was scheduled for "rejection" from the gitgo. I am one of probably many who can't get the time of day from GZ or the DOS. After numerous attempts they absolutely refuse to tell me if my SO's P3 was received & logged at GZ or if the clearance check has been completed. Most of the people at this forum seem to be able to get that information easily. I can't help but wonder how many others here share my situation in that they can't get a single civil answer from anyone involved in this process??? I am now considering the possibility that my final alternative will be to move to China. This whole process has left a bitterness in my mouth that will never go away. Sorry to nag ********************************* added Nov 15 response to GZ email "Thank you for your email. Please be advised that we recently received the forms your fianc¨¦e returned to us, and the namecheck clearance for her case has been completed. Now the case is queuing up to be scheduled. Due to heavy workload volume, it seems that the interview will be in approximately a few months, we will notify the applicant after the appointment date is set."