LouRose

Actually my husband got everything overwith all at once. He went in in the morning and they did the whole interview, collecting the I-864 and all accompanying tax returns. It was all over by noon.

We haven't started to think about citizenship yet, but I was wondering what exactly are the benefits of becoming a citizen as opposed to remaining a permanent resident?

3) They don't ask for any financial info until the interview when you must bring the I-864. 4) Yes even though we live right down the street from the Beijing embassy, GuangZhou is the only place in the whole country that does immigrant visas. 5) If you do DCF you are living in China so don't forget you have to prove your domicile in the US. We worried about this a lot and then the VO didn't ask any questions specifically about that, but did ask related questions about what we planned to do in the US. Seems like it's usually not a big deal but something to be aware of.

I read that thing about the letter online too, but no you don't need it. And no fingerprinting until the interview. Don't worry, DCF is pretty simple.

I also did DCF, in Beijing. I believe Chinese people can only register for marriage in the place of their hukou (household register). That should be the same place where their dangan (file) is kept. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure.

My husband did get his visa! Sorry I didn't report back earlier, we were travelling for a couple weeks with my family. The interview was on the 16th, they asked all the questions we had practiced, and they didn't look at anything he brought except the tax returns. It was all over before noon. Then he immediately flew back to Harbin for our wedding on the 19th. Then the next day he flew back to GZ yet again to pick up the visa. Needless to say he has had more than enough trips to good old GuangZhou. We are relieved that part is over, and now getting nervous and excited for the move to the US!

My dad is a cosponsor for my husband, and I have both his and my tax returns from the last three years. They are very very thick! Do they need to see all those pages at the interview or just the first one or what? Also what happens to the I-864 and supporting evidence, do they keep them or just look and hand them back? Thanks!

Mari! That's so great, you must be so excited it's finally over! Buena suerte con tu vida juntos!

It may well be very difficult to get a real person there but the one time I called to make an appointment, it was a real person. She was not overly helpful but she was nice enough. Have you tried calling them yet? You never know.

You have me listed as K3 but in fact I am CR1 through DCF. No big deal, just thought i'd let you know, for accuracy's sake.

Congrats! Hope you live long and happy lives together. Thanks for asking about the visa pick-up, I feel much better knowing the official rules. It's a big help.

No P4 yet. In an e-mail they said they would resend it, and we faxed them the address *again*, so hopefully next week we'll get something, but who knows.

Congrats! Jennifer's interview is the same day as my husband's! Maybe they can meet up, will you be going too? I take it she hasn't received P4 yet - we haven't either, do you know when yours was sent?

That's very helpful! thanks! It's probably too important to complicate things by having someone else pick it up so i guess my husband will just go to GZ a second time to get it.

Yes you are right, it probably won't hurt to ask if they can have it ready the next day. What about the third question - if you can't pick it up earlier or on time, it must be okay to pick it up a day or two later right? Can you imagine anything bad happening in that case? Seems like people are getting their visa on the second day after the interview, but we would have to wait until a couple days after that. Maybe I'm being neurotic, but I want to anticipate every possible scenario!