rogerwink

This was the closest I could find, but it still reads in the future tense, and "Maybe". I'm glad you were able to get it taken care of - I also hope that anyone else who finds themselves in the same position realizes that certified translations can also be done in the US. You got me. . . ...I hope people in this same position understand that Certified and Notarized DO NOT mean the same thing! Certified is dead easy! It can be obtained by someone OTHER than the person the document refers to (hence, Certified Translations CAN be done in the USA without the person being there). There are several places where GUZ asks for "Certified documents and/or translations". From Packet#3 instructions: Certified Copy of Birth Certificate, Certified Copy of Court Records, Certified Copy of Military Record, Certified Copy of Marriage Certificate and Finally, Certified English Translations of all documents not in English. Notarized is special, and quite different. Its purpose is to specifically have a third party (a Notary) witness that a person physically standing in front of them, has applied their signature onto a document. The Notary checks the ID of that person, and after witnessing the signature, they apply their Notary Stamp to the document which states that "this person came before me on this date and signed this document" and they then put their signature to it as well. You cannot get your signature Notarized if you are not physically standing in front of the Notary. The Communist Overcome Instructions specify "All Chinese documents must have Notarized English Translation"... I TOO thought that GUZ made a mistake and MEANT "Certified English Translations"!!! As I stated earlier, I contacted GUZ... they repeated the exact, same, fricking sentence again in their e-mail reply.... "..All Chinese documents must have Notarized English Translation". (as if somehow by exactly repeating a sentence one can gain cosmic understanding of the innner workings of GUZ and decifer the meaning of it all!) When GUZ asks for APPLES and you decide to give them DURIAN, then all I can say is... Good luck with that! Until several people say that they ACTUALLY submitted ONLY Certified English Translations in response to the Commie Overcome Questions AND eventually got their Visas.... I think it would be a disservice to suggest to people who get into this predicament to go ahead and submit "Certified" translations and take their chances. I personally think you get better Odds in LasVegas than you get when dealing with GUZ! I WISH they would stop asking the Commie question. I WISH they would stop asking it randomly. I WISH they would stop randomly being SADISTS! (like in MamaBear's case). I WISH they would change the Commie Overcome instructions to say only "Certified". . . I WISH my MIL had just said "NO"!

Sorry, but in my previous post "#4 in this thread" I stated that they SPECIFICALLY ask for "NOTARIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF ALL SUBMITTED DOCUMENTS..." Someone in California can NOT Legally Notarize the translation of a document from someone who mails it to them from China! They MUST witness the original writer's signature on the original Chinese document. I WISH it would have been that easy... It was NOT. You need to make this a do-able task. GUZ does not ask the impossible - just that you do the best that you can. I don't see that they're asking that the signature be notarized - just the translation of the document. Why don't you do what they ask, and let them accept it or not? If you reject it yourself, she'll never get the visa. As indicated in my previous posts... This is all in the PAST... We mailed the "NOTARIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS" stapled to the hand-written originals that they asked for last year. It is a done deal. Yes I asked them what they meant. Yes they repeated (in their lovely, impersonal, boilerplated e-mail reply, "All Chinese documents must have Notarized English Translation". That is what we sent them after finally flying over to China to find a certified translator who would put her neck on the chopping block by translating the anti-commie documents GUZ requested! The Blue-Slip states exactly this: (I QUOTE!) "All Chinese documents must have Notarized English Translation" My whole purpose in starting this thread was to ask how someone complies with GUZ's Blue-slip CCP demand when EVERY translation company in my MIL's hometown and more than 15-companies in GuangZhou that we contacted, REFUSED TO TRANSLATE THE DOCUMENTS, let alone put any kind of seal on them, CERTIFIED or OTHERWISE! I finally DID find one, independent translator who did the deed EXACTLY AS GUZ ASKED FOR. I have been personally involved in FOUR complete immigrations from China so far, so I am certainly not a neophite. I have done all the "easy" RFE's and Video-Tape-evidence's and updated Support documents, etc.! But.... This Communist Party Question BS is the worst thing I've ever come across because of people's continuing FEAR of messing with the CCP! which makes the seemingly simple task of getting your overcome documents translated...NOT Impossible, but darn near impossible! I sincerely hope that no-one is ever asked the ridiculous, CCP question in an interview ever again...but that is NOT going to be the case! So I can only hope that people ARRANGE things as early in their immigration process as possible to ALLOW them to HONESTLY answer "NO!" to the COMMUNIST QUESTION that the V.O. may or may not ask you!

Sorry, but in my previous post "#4 in this thread" I stated that they SPECIFICALLY ask for "NOTARIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF ALL SUBMITTED DOCUMENTS..." Someone in California can NOT Legally Notarize the translation of a document from someone who mails it to them from China! They MUST witness the original writer's signature on the original Chinese document. I WISH it would have been that easy... It was NOT. Did you try HK? M.I.L. is mainland Chinese person NOT living in ShenZhen.. NOT permitted to go to HK! (she tried to get permission and police said.. No Way!)

Sorry, but in my previous post "#4 in this thread" I stated that they SPECIFICALLY ask for "NOTARIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF ALL SUBMITTED DOCUMENTS..." Someone in California can NOT Legally Notarize the translation of a document from someone who mails it to them from China! They MUST witness the original writer's signature on the original Chinese document. I WISH it would have been that easy... It was NOT.

OR QUIT PAYING DUES! (MUCH, MUCH, HEALTHIER!) Someone who quit paying dues to the CCP can honestly say "NO!" if/when asked the "Are you CCP member?" question by the V.O., especially if it's been 2-years! In any case I would NOT answer "I'm not now, BUT I WAS BEFORE!" (which some people insist is "The HONEST" answer to that question and I stongly disagree! When the V.O's question can be answered with a simple "Yes" or "No", then THAT should be your "honset" response and nothing more!) When I asked my good friend, who is STILL an active member and who tried to help us with our overcome papers, about not paying dues, he said (I quote!) "6-months after you stop paying your dues, the party drops you from their roster". Different chapters may drop you sooner, (educational chapters of the CCP which have a big turnover for example, but I'm simply guessing). From the trouble my MIL had I would NOT suggest asking a CCP officer about it! (They are NOT nice people!) Also, I would NOT suggest trying to "Formally Resign" from the party either! as my good friend said: (again, I quote!) "Are you crazy!?" Quit paying dues and if necessary, move somewhere where your local CCP chapter officers cannot find you to harass you. The only other alternative is to NOT quit and then deal with falling into the CCP pit of despair IF you are asked the dreaded "are you a CCP member?" question. (It is NOT "simply a delay", it is an insane nightmare trying to get someone to translate your "anti-communist" responses for your overcome documents!)

Whoa here! I know for a fact that at least one member here was still a CCP member when she got her visa. She had to wait about 4 months for the waiver to be approved. She couldn't quit the party without losing her job. She couldn't quit her job until she knew for sure she would get the visa. I stand by my statement as correct, according to the VO's interview guidelines (can't find the ref to those right now but you know the ones). Please note the last three words in my statement "at the interview.". IF the 2-year period has been met (to the belief of the VO) THEN the VO can proceed on with the interview to give the VISA if everything else goes OK. No "waiver" is needed. IF the 2-year period is NOT met, OR the VO doesn't believe it has been met THEN the blue-slip is given and CCP Pit-of-despair is entered. A "waiver" is now REQUIRED.

Cammie, I am convinced the best way to handle the CCP, witch-hunt problem is to be ABLE to truthfully answer "NO" to the V.O.'s Communist Party question IF it comes up...and hope that it does NOT come up. Even if he could resign, he must have quit for 2-years BEFORE the date of VISA application before the Visa Officer can consider giving a waiver to him at the interview. My advice/opinion about this CCP B.S.: Stop paying dues as soon as possible before the interview! Why? Because then he CAN answer (relatively) truthfully to the question the VO will/may ask "Ni Shi Gong Chan Dang Yuan Ma?" (You are communist party member?). He CAN answer "NO" and hopefully/likely the V.O. will move on. THEN...IF by some chance the V.O. continues to query, "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN a CCP member", then of course he says, "Yes". and "When did you quit?", says "I stopped paying my dues 1 month ago". If the latter scenario happened, the V.O. could not catch him in telling a LIE! It is still a truthful approach! and WHY would anyone deliberately jump into the bottomless CCP hole that my MIL fell into by VOLUNTEERING "the COMPLETE story" to the simple question the V.O. first asks, if they can truthfully answer "NO"? As for the DS-230 Part II.30.c question that relates to Communist party affiliation.. The question is a terrible, FIVE statement, compound sentence that ANYONE could interpret multiple different ways! It has NOT been presented in even a reasonably clear manner that anyone could argue that there is no possible alternate interpretations of its meaning! YES, many of us KNOW what they are REALLY asking for... but not all of us are English Grammer experts and it is a FACT that my Chinese wife DID NOT understand that question at all, when she filled out the I-130 application for her mother! AGAIN, if you answer "NO", you can reasonably claim that the question is not understandable should someone later attack your truthfulness. and Lastly, Here are the important parts of the dreaded Visa Denial Form that my MIL received: The Consulate cannot issue your visa until you submit these requested documents. If one is unavailable, submit a credible explanation. Applicants must translate all documents into English. RESUME 1. Provide a detailed resume (in both Chinese and English) for the applicant(s) listed below, including all professional and educational history. Include a complete list of all of your employers, all specific job responsibilities and projects, and any publications you have written. Note titles, descriptions and dates of all publications. Be as comprehensive as possible. OVERSTAY 2. blah blah blah not related to CCP. RELATIONSHIP 3. blah blah blah not related to CCP. CCP 4. Provide a written statement from current/past employers verifying the person listed below does not belong to the Chinese Communist Party. _______________________ 5. Submit a statement, written by the person listed below, in both Chinese and English that includes the information requested below (A through H): ___________________ A. Name of the Communist or other totalitarian party to which he/she belong or belonged; B. Reason for joining; C. Dates of membership; D. Any offices held; E. Why he/she remained a member; F. Any education or standard of living benefits by membership; G. Degree to which he/she accepts(ed) the structure, goals, methods, and practices of the party; H. If he/she terminated the association, the date of termination and reasons for terminating.

We MAYBE have found an indepedent translator in GuangZhou who will do the "against CCP" translation. We spent all night calling hotels to get phone numbers of translation services and asking them for other contacts when they all said "NOT GONNA DO IT". We had softened the response down as far as we dared and still, no-one would touch it. But finally, someone has agreed to do it. In fact she allowed us to "harden" it back up a bit. If all goes well in GuangZhou, I will post her name and number for others to use when they get into this nasty pickle also. In reply to "get someone to do it in the USA"... I considered this, but the reply to the commie questions is requested to be written, and thus, I think the consulate is looking for a handwritten statement from the beneficiary that is attached to the "Notarized English Translation" exactly as they ask for. If the M.I.L. is not IN the USA, then nobody can legally "notarize" her signature on the original document. This GuangZhou gal promised to staple the original to the translation as well as the "Certified Translator" statement as a cover page and then Crimp all the documents together with her business seal. That is what *I* would expect if *I* was asking someone for a written, notarized, translated statement. Now we must hope it all goes as planned and then mail the docs into the consulate and wait the million or so years for the waiver process to complete. TTYAL

Hi guys, I have been away from CFL for a long time, since my wife came here successfully in 2001 on a K1, is now a US Citizen, we had a baby 3 months ago, her sister came here also on a K1 successfully and we applied for her mother to immigrate as an IR5. Everything I know about the process is that it is slow, methodical, plodding, etc. But if one has patience it all seems do-able. HOWEVER....... My Mother-In-Law is in a nightmare. She failed her interview because she was and still is a member of the CCP. They blue slipped her and asked for a detailed resume and to fill out answers to the dreaded "8-communist membership questions". So...Be honest at the interview and move to Blue Slip Lane. OK, they tell you what they want.. So give them what they want again, and be honest, right? So.. The resume is a no-brainer.. Written, translated, certified, done! But the CCP questions?? Written, BUT they CANNOT and WILL NOT be translated by a certified translator!!!!! She tried to get it translated in her hometown and NO-ONE will touch it! They will NOT translate ANY document that says anything NEGATIVE or BAD about the CCP. We then thought to locate and telephone several translation companies in GuangZhou. First they say "no problem" but when we e-mail the actual document to them they say "NO WAY! Everything about that paper is against the CCP!" (yes..we told you the first time!) Such as the following (truthful) items she wrote that they said were too negative to translate: I joined the CCP just to get a better job. I remained a member because in the past it was dangerous to even think about resigning, so after retirement, I remained a member. My participation in the CCP was absolutely minimal and non-meaningful. I can NOT terminate from the CCP. I tried to when I returned home and they threatened me not to. So..I thought I'd put this in front of the collective brain and see if anybody has an idea?? Oh… and we already though of trying to "soften" the tone of the replies by "Lying" but then if she says she “loves the CCP and will never quit”, she's toast! Going to GuangZhou next week to see if we can bribe someone to translate it. Grrrrr!

meaning less than a week?? Haaaaaaaa Haaaaaaaaa!!! As much as I LOVE China and the Chinese people, I am quite sure I have never known a collection of slower moving people on earth! Although things get done, it sometimes seems like a comedy routine the way things work in China. One of my favorite stories happened in 2002 while I was working at an airplane factory in NanChang, JiangXi for 2 months. I was constructing a machine from parts that the factory had made according to our designs. During assembly I noticed that a couple of holes had not been drilled and tapped to allow mounting an important part. I asked one of the workers for a drill and tap so I could do the job. He left and came back after about 30 minutes with 4 additional workers. They would not allow me to do the work, so I stood back and watched (while my interpreter explained what was going on). One man had brought and electric drill another man brought a loose box of drill bits, a third man had a box of taps, and a fourth man had a crescent wrench. The man in charge of the drill bits gave the electric drill man a bit which he commenced to use to drill the two holes in the metal frame. Then the man in charge of the taps, used the crescent wrench (they couldn't find an actual Tap Wrench!) to slowly tap each of the holes. This whole process took about an hour! I was simply dumbstruck with the whole comedy routine, but learned that "This is the way things work, in China!". The next day, I stopped at a tooling shop and purchased an electric drill, tap wrench, set of drills and taps all for about $50 USD. I used them for the remainder of my work and then gave them to one of the engineers who could not believe I didn't want to take them back to America with me!

Thanks for the congrats, people. I passed them all along to my brother and sister-in-law, who will soon be my sister-in-law-squared! It was certainly an odd circumstance that my brother fell for my wife's older sister, but it is a wonderful thing as well. Now my wife will have her sister living just 5 minutes away from her. Someone she can hang out with and have fun showing her the America that she has come to love the past 3 years. OH! My brother related one VERY interesting anectdote from an American consulate worker he talked to casually at lunch yesterday.... They were talking about the upcoming consulate move and how disruptive that will be. The consulate guy said "The move is scheduled to take about a week, but this *IS* China and none of us believe that is gonna be the case." Thanks again for the congrats. and if anyone needs any help on forms and doument organization, I'd be happy to assist. Roger Wink Spokane, WA

Thought I'd relate another K1 interview for the archives. My older brother's Fiancée (who happens to be my wife's older sister) passed her interview on May 31st! She was called to Window#7, where a surly looking Chinese V.O. was waiting for her. Only his first two questions were in English, the rest of the interview proceeded in Chinese! VO- Do you speak English? ......Only a little. VO- How did you meet? ......Online. VO-What is his job? ......Bridge Worker. VO-How will he able to support you? ......*Gave him the I-134 package. He spied the photos in the front of the document carrier. VO-Can I see the photos? ......*Gave him 3 bound albums. Photos only of them together and family for his 3 trips to China. VO-Which is his favorite? ......I like this on in BeiJing because it was my first airplane flight. VO-No. I asked you which is HIS favorite! ......Oh! This one with our engagement rings together. VO-Have you or your fiancé ever been married before? ......No. VO-How many times has he been to China? ......4 times including now. *She showed him his passport but he only glanced at it. VO-OK. You are approved. Take this (pinkish slip) to the ShaMian post office, pay your fee and pick up your Visa 2 days after payment. Have a nice trip. Other notes: I made up the documentation folder for my sister-in-law’s interview using a see-through plastic, backpack-style holder which had 5 plastic letter folders inside which were labeled and easy to extract singly as required. Contents: (3) spiral bound, computer produced, photo albums with captions, one for each visit to China, pictures of "together" and family. Green folder: I-134 with all supporting documents bound with acco-fastener at top. ....................Some additional financial docs: several paycheck stubs, utility bills, cable bills. Blue folder: Affidavit of Communication (because she can't speak good English). Notarized ..................History of Relationship. Notarized ..................Certified copy of Petitioner's complete passport. Red folder: Long distance phone bills/records. .................Airplane boarding passes, ticket stubs from China trips. .................Sample of e-mails from her. .................Sample of e-mails from him. .................Sample logs from MSN chats. .................Sample e-card printouts. .................Postcards/Letters sent to each other including the envelopes. Yellow folder: Copy of original I-129 fiancée visa application, including original documents: birth certificates, divorce certificates, etc. Pink folder: Copies of submitted P3 and P4 documents.

I can't find the post that mentioned that possibly bogus interview date scheduled for 7-25-2005 on the .001 site. Did anyone follow up on that and find out if that is a typo or reality? Or maybe it is a special, hardship case and not a normal K1? If the GUZ is moving 7-1-2005, and there is truely a K1 interview scheduled just 24 days afterwards, they must have hired a starship to use teleporters to do the job! Roger

Here is a thought..... What if this "Post Office Delivery system" is simply for the transition period while moving to the new consulate offices July 1st? Surely, not ALL of the consulate will move, and not all in 1 day! If, for example, the VISA Printing department stays in the present ShaMian Island Consulate for some period after the new consulate opens, then it could be resonable that GUZ would want to, basically, USE the post office workers to give out the visas. Their staff will be split between the old and new consulate offices for some time to come and keeping people at the old consulate for the relatively simple task of handing out the visas might not work out, management-wise. The addition of 1 extra day will be tolerable IF AND ONLY IF they do not continue the INFURIATING practice of giving you a Blue-Slip (or whatever color they now decide) Request-For-Evidence when you are expecting to pick up a VISA!!!!! If your SO gets a "BLUE SLIP SURPISE" instead of a VISA at the post office....!$##@!#$$ ... TA MA DE!!!!!!!! PLEASE.. PLEASE...Don't let it come to pass.... Roger Wink

In China, my wife (then friend) would not let me TIP anyone...anywhere. She said it is a bad western tradition and in her city, especially, it was considered insulting! Now in America, as my wife, she does not allow me to tip anywhere, anytime ALSO! She works PT as a waitress and when they changed law that prevented anyone working solely for TIPs, her income SKYROCKETED. So she says waitresses make too much now! The ONLY place she will sometimes let me leave a TIP is if we go to a restaurant that we frequent (which is only ONE). "Frugal" is my wife's middle name! It is unbelievable how much she has been able to put int saving since she has been here. She is REAL good for my ecomony. Roger