Ana

the truth is, i know less than eric about football. however, the husband will be thoroughly indoctrinated by my mother. wish you a great trip, and hope your wishlist will be fulfilled!

you guys are great!! i will be thinking of you and wishing you the best!! owen: i feel for you on that train!!! dont forget to bring some tuoxie!

the final review, as i understand it, is done at DOS to make sure that, indeed, the clearances were done properly. it is not another clearance check. our cases are at DOS right now and will be for a 'few more days.' but providing nothing comes up, they will then be sent to gz. gz may need a fair amount of time to issue the visas, since so many cases were cleared. also, there may be other issues waiting at gz, i.e. if your paperwork is not all in order, etc. but those problems, should they occur, seem to be more case-specific, and not an enormous bureaucratic problem like the one we have just experienced.

here's to mick and eric, the sensitive men of candle.

thanks for the info. i heard something today from ca that seems to support what jon is saying. so black-holers, there may be hope!!!!

how did i join this boy's club? TOP TEN REASONS TO MARRY AN AMERICAN GIRL 01. Love 02. Faithfullness 03. Culture 04. Intelligence 05. Beauty 06. Realism 07. Charachter 08. Loyalty 09. Family Minded 10. Trad...er...Independent p.s. your spelling is terrible!!

i think the younger generation is starting to think differently. most of the chinese college-educated young people i know are dating people very close to them in age. my husband is only one year older than me, and many people have said that it 'perfect.'

Someone mentioned bringing our story to the Chinese-speaking media. CCTV-4 is a well known name to some of you, but I think there is a station with the same name based in the U.S. According to my guide, it is watched by "millions of Chinese-Americans." Below is the web address: http://www.cctv-4.com And their email address: cctv-4-mail1@cctv-4.com yes, those are dashes, not underscores. You can also get at their contact info by going to the website and clicking the "lianxi women" button on the upper right hand corner of the screen (it's in chinese characters). it is the lower button. For those who can't read Chinese, it has 4 characters. Hope you can find it! If you are on AOL or something similiar, a little email box will pop up. I would assume they can read English, so send your story away. They might be most interested in the how-you-met angle and the why-go-after-chinese-immigrants angle. good luck!

what happened since that late dec/early jan wonderful time? it really seemed like things were moving and people were finally getting visas. i havent heard anything lately. it's like the whole process has slowed down and we are back in the middle of nowhere. is it time for another group letter?

i received this over email in mid-jan (jan 14?). it is posted on this board under "email from harty/resubmission" it is a form response that many other people also received. good luck! Dear Ms. xxx: The Secretary of State has asked me to respond to your fax of January 2 requesting information about the immigrant visa application of xxx. Let me assure you that all of us at the Department of State fully understand that delays in visa issuance are seriously complicating the lives of applicants and of those who are waiting for their arrival. Your spouse's case is currently pending completion of required security-related vetting through an interagency clearance process. Changes to this process made in July 2002, together with communications problems, computer issues, and vastly increased work volumes, had the effect of delaying many clearances, especially those dating from the period July to October 2002. The vetting process has been substantially improved since November. The majority of new clearance requests are now processed within approximately two weeks. We are working to clear up the older clearance cases so that the visas can be processed to conclusion. We are taking two separate, overlapping actions that should resolve the vast majority of the immigrant and fianc?e) visa clearances pending for the American Consulate General at Guangzhou. First, visa staff at Guangzhou, who recently began working overtime on weekends, are identifying longstanding visa clearance requests and resubmitting those requests. Second, we are also working with technical experts here in Washington in an attempt to find new ways to expedite the clearance process using State Department computer systems. In addition to these efforts, we have sent additional staff to Guangzhou, and are working to send more, in order to assist with the heavy volume of visa work pending there. We have also identified some longer-range steps we can take to simplify the process for handling future visa cases. The Department of State, in its visa processes, will continue to carry out scrupulously all legal and procedural requirements for the protection of the security of the United States. When Mr. xxx's clearance process is concluded, the Consulate will notify him. I hope and trust that the outcome will be favorable, and will not be delayed much longer. Please feel free to contact us if we can be of assistance in the future. Sincerely, Maura Harty Assistant Secretary Bureau of Consular Affairs

Below is my letter to Harty. If anyone other than AngryTexan would like me to mention your name, please pm me. If you would like to cut and paste from this letter, or adopt the general form, feel free. Try to keep your letter brief and highlight your support of a personal meeting in the beginning of your letter. The CA fax number is: 1- 202-647-0341 Here is my letter: ATTN: Assistant Secretary Harty RE: Proposed meeting with XXX concerning visa delays Dear Assistant Secretary Harty: XXX hopes to meet with you about the delays in family-based immigrant visas for Chinese citizens. My husband is one of those applicants. Ms. Harty, you have always been most sympathetic to our cause. Kind words, however, are no longer enough. The delays have been so long, and the information about when they will end has been so unreliable, that many of us are considering moving back to China to be with our families. This is a big step, one we only want to take as a last resort. For me, it means giving up my home and my place in a graduate program. For others, it may entail even greater loss. Please consider Mr. XXX as a representative for many of us who have been waiting for our loved ones to receive visas. When he speaks, he does not speak for himself alone, and his visit is meant to help all of us. I firmly support him. I am hoping that a personal meeting with you will help clarify the situation and lead to its resolution. Sincerely, XXX Case Number: XXX

yes good idea

forget that email address. it only give automated responses. i myself dont know the email address of anyone in dos. i fax everything. does anyone have any leads?

anyone else willing to go? now's the time to scream and shout.

skibum and angry texan, would you be willing/able to go together? i think this would be better. your more likely to get one meeting (rather than 2); you could be a 'united front'; and all of us could write one fax supporting both of you. would you mind posting your full names on this board like owen and mick did, to facilitate the process? then we could write up a sample letter and pin it.

o ya, i win. 24

it seems that there are some people on this board who are willing to make the trip to Washington to meet with Harty. first, let me applaud you for your dedication! such a meeting would be important for everyone here. but for whatever reason, some people would not be able to participate in such a meeting. yet i think we all need to support the people who go. of course, the most difficult part of this whole enterprise is actually getting in the appointment book. harty, no doubt, is very busy. that's why i want to make a proposal. one of the reasons i think r. adams responded to owen and mick was because he was suddenly flooded with emails and faxes from members of this board that voiced support for owen and mick and asked that he meet with them. why dont we try the same thing for harty? would people be willing to do this?

what a great idea!!!! money talks. its so obvious i feel like an idiot for not thinking of it already. lets add this to our list of demands.

great idea! let's look into this option.

hey! watch your mouth

just sent my email to nytimes. sent another one to the president.

the truth is, we're all really confused about how they are conducting the name check process. all we really have are theories. but what is clear is that there is a problem, at least with the black hole group. maybe what we should call for is priority being given to black holers.

it will help the media (or even your senator's office) get a feel for the personal side of your case if you can send them web links to your story and pictures of you with your loved one at the bottom of emails. dont send these as attachments, as these emails tend to be deleted without being opened. for example, i just sent an email to the nytimes, as others have done (national@nytimes.com; washington@nytimes.com) briefly explaining our situation. but i wanted the email to be at least somewhat brief, so i didnt go crazy outlining my entire case history. at the end of the email, i included the following links: Web Addresses Related to My Story: Photographs: http://www.visadelays.com/ViewAlbum.asp?album=41 My Story: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....6b6e8b95c35ced1 Websites Devoted to Visa Delay Issues: http://candleforlove.com/ http://www.visadelays.com/ Government Websites http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzhou/iv/ Good Luck!!!!

hi. i have worked with MA representative stephen lynch's office back before my husband even had an interview date. at that time, i was just trying to get gz to locate my paperwork! they wrote a few investigative type letters to gz, and got standardized responses. on the whole, they were always polite, but usually told us there was nothing much they could do to help. after my husband's interview, i got in touch with emily winterson, the immigration specialist, in senator edward kennedy's boston office. it was a long time before we ever spoke to her, but i did speak many times with her secretary and other 'office'? people. depending on the person, they were somtimes polite and sometimes very rude/impatient. the only thing they did for me was to write to gz and request information about the status of my case. they continually told me there was nothing else they could do to help me, and that the delay was normal and everything would be fine. once when i called, they told me they had 'seemed to misplace' my file. another time, i called asking if they had heard back from gz, and they 'realized' that they had, but had not contacted me because they had 'lost my contact information.' when my mother finally got through to emily winterson (while i was in china), she was extremely rude and told my mother there was no problem at all and basically hinted that my mother was a pain in her a**. i wrote an email to john kerry's office briefly outlining the problem, but havent heard back. am getting ready for another foray into the senatorial realm.

i agree with mick. let's be active. it is pointless to sit around and try to decide whose situation is the worst. progress for one is progress for all.