Randy W

The procedure as listed on the chinese embassy website: How to apply 1. An Affidavit of Single Status signed before a notary public. 2. Certified by the clerk of Court of the County in which the document is commissioned if applicable. It may be omitted if the authority in item 3 will certify directly to the notary. 3. Certified by the Secretary of the State in which the document is executed. 4. Certified by the relevant Consulate - General. You must apply to the correct Consulate - General which holds consular jurisdiction over your area of residence. For applicants who live in the consular jurisdiction of the Embassy, documents after being certified by the authority in item 3 shall be certified by the U. S. Departments of State Authentication Office, and then by the Embassy. === Please read the sentence in bold... There is where it all starts, that documents going to the embassy will go to DOS first. This procedure apparently does not apply to the consulates. Therefore my question is why? Where does the DOS Authentication Office come in to play for documents going to the consulates? That is my question. And this isn't "highjacking" this thread as Sebastian says. It very much fits into this thread which started out asking where to get a single status certificate. This thread was quiet until dnoblett pulled it back up this evening in retort to one of my post. All I have done was to ask, what I thought was, a simple question in direct correlation to the thread but it has turned into a whirlpool of chaos. My "simple question" got lost in it all. . . . and your question is WHAT ??? WHAT is different about the consulates, other than the STATE in which they are located?? I really hate to get bad-mouthed for trying to answer, but I really can't see anything here that hasn't been answered. Secretary if State of the State of California is Debra Bowen Secretary of State of Washington D.C. is Hillary Clinton http://www.state.gov/m/a/auth/c16920.htm

You may also wish to look at the dates the procedures were posted - the one for the Chinese Embassy was posted "Revised as of 14 /04 /2008" The one at the San Francisco Consulate is current as of April, 2009 Remember also that the Chinese Embassy is in Washington, D.C., while the San Francisco consulate is in the State of California. The US Govt also governs the City of Washington D.C. Regardless, each one must be authenticated before going to China.

Okay - well, our first hint there is that if someone is getting married in China, DOS would have no control over the proceedings or the requirements. But if your question has to do with which DOS office the Chinese embassy deals with, remember that the Embassy is in Washington D.C. Why do you think (or do you think) that the same procedure isn't followed by the Chinese consulates in the US, except on a mail-in basis?

single status- chinese- chinese Well now, the single certificates are used for two different purposes - one, for an individual getting married in China would need to go to the Chinese authorities according to their rfequirements (which I believe calls for the DOS certification). The other type would certify that a Chinese beneficiary was single and would go to the GUZ (only) consulate, This type goes to a US government agency in order to process a visa, and does not require (nor is it available for foreign documents) DOS certification. In other countries, family visas may be handled at the embassy, in which case this document would go to the embassy (still not scertified by the DOS).

What documents? What embassy? What consulate?

NOBODY CAN FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS YOU WANT TO KNOW! To find out WHY documents are required by the CHINESE AUTHORITIES, you need to ask the CHINESE AUTHORITIES, not DOS! You seem to be barking up the wrong tree, but no one seems to know where your tree is!

Did the letter/email come from NVC or the Guangzhou consulate?

If I'm reading your post correctly, you did not have any trouble with any foreign officials, but with the cruise people and the USCIS. The cruise people can be ignorant of the immigration laws - the K-3 is good for an unlimited number of entries at US POE's. What I find most incredible here is that the USCIS would give you grief over their own failure to get the fingerprints at the first POE. How can they expect you to be aware of the need for fingerprints if their own officials are not? Any questions they choose to ask, however, are fair game. The K-3 should have worked without any problems (including Hawaii). It does not, however, allow admission at any foreign POE's where a visa is required for that country, as Dan points out. Remember that he is traveling on a Chinese passport.

No, no, no - the PayPal debit card is like any other debit card - it can be used anywhere on that network, including in China. The only limitation is the 3 days for the amount to post to YOUR account (not hers) But I tend to agree with Sebastian - the quickest, and easiest is via Western Union.

You can either have her set up her own PayPal account so you can send money to it (although this may not work in China), or get a free PayPal debit card and send it to her. She can then withdraw money from your account at $1/transfer (I think it was). This should work just fine in Nanning, although it didn't work in Yulin (no compatible ATM's)

it's an act - when will it become a law ? I worry 'others' will fiddle around with the wording... Well, exactly! In the meantime, this is the first court decision I've seen which directly addressed the USCIS' reasoning - http://americanfamiliesunited.org/files/AF...on-12-21-07.pdf The other favorable decisions had been on a technicality or a side issue.

Breaking News here - on May 20th, the "Reuniting Families Act of 2009" was filed - See http://americanfamiliesunited.org/node/44 I like this quote: "Obeying the law while having birthdays should not be a deportable offense"

I'd be afraid that the I-130 will be denied (if you are filing it), or set on a shelf for an "available visa number", if your wife files it. Be careful, since by then it may be too late to get an interview before her 21st birthday. Again, I'll be happy to let you know what your congressman will have to say tonight. OK - found the letter. I hadn't scanned it in, but I found it in a stack of immigration papers. It's just a 2 paragraph statement that the USCIS had informed him by telephone that he had aged out. "Under immigration law, a child must have adjusted status before his 21st birthday." - simply parroting what they had told him, and ignoring what I had to say. Don't lose sight of the fact that your goal is to get your daughter interviewed before her birthday in September. The USCIS has been known to use inquiries as an excuse to delay processing. In my wife's case, they used their "improved service" as an excuse to not look into the delay in her case, and then used our "freedom of information" request as an excuse to further delay processing while it was itself processed. You simply need to get your daughter interviewed - there's no time for delays.

I'd be afraid that the I-130 will be denied (if you are filing it), or set on a shelf for an "available visa number", if your wife files it. Be careful, since by then it may be too late to get an interview before her 21st birthday. Again, I'll be happy to let you know what your congressman will have to say tonight.

If you want to write your Congressperson, they will be happy to either forward you a summary of what they are doing to stem the tide of illegal immigration, or maybe in 3 months or so, they can forward the USCIS' response. Or I can post a copy of it tonight.

The only "battle" at this point is to get the "expedite" request to take hold, It should have been written on the envelope and the I-485 cover letter. If they can get it entered in the file, I believe the interview will be scheduled in time.

The K-1 and K-2 do NOT need to interview together. Thr I-130 will not work since she would have to go home to wait for an available visa number. The Child Status Prevention Act would not kick in until that time (too late to do any good). She was over 18 at the time of marriage, so she would not qualify as the child of an American citizen. Her mother would need to file for after she adjusts status, with the category being child of an LPR.

The policy of the USCIS is to DENY K-2 applicants who are over the age of 21 at the time of the interview. They have a boilerplate denial letter they send out. The law (INA) reads that they must APPLY by age 21, but the USCIS has added their own interpretation that the phrase (to adjudicate) "child of a fiance" means that she must be under 21 at the time of the interview (never mind that the fiance MUST no longer be a fiance) If she is denied, you are facing a court battle that (in my judgement) you can win, but a court battle nonetheless. They WILL expedite, if requested, I don't think you will have a problem. But make an InfoPass appt today.

http://i28.tinypic.com/2mruqv6.jpg Congratulations !! http://i1.tinypic.com/3ygwmdz.gif

It's "Hollywood Chinese", unfortunately, but I've got it set up to record Thanks

http://i28.tinypic.com/2mruqv6.jpg Congratulations !! http://i1.tinypic.com/3ygwmdz.gif

No - UNLESS she were to have an interview scheduled during that seven weeks. A bio-metrics appointment is more painless to re-schedule, but almost certain to come before then anyway If you want to try to juggle the timing a little, you could delay filing. If you're K-1, that SHOULD be okay, but not for the feint of heart. I'd recommend filing soon and taking your chances with the interview date.

I think it was around 2 to 3 weeks, with the fares at the high end of the equivalent plane trip

Well, the consulates are part of the Dept of State, so they're not actually skipping anything, except for Colin Powell's stamp As long as they're certified by the Dept of State, that is good enough for the Chinese Aren't embassies also a part of DOS? Why is authentication required at DOS for documents going to the embassy and it isn't needed for documents going to the consulate? For us, the embassy and consulates are pretty much interchangeable - so I sometimes just use the word consulate for short. But the DOS certification is required for a USC to get married in China I emailed DOS concerning this issue. I'm really curious to the reason why. I'm not expecting much from them as I would expect from anything else, generic type messages, etc. I'm waiting to see if they actually will impress me but I'm not holding my breath. They say it takes 24 hrs. to reply. If it's worth anythng, I will post it. I am a bit anxious to see what the reply will be... The certificates are different in each country. For an Australian, Remember that these are foreign documents which must be authenticated for use in China. This is the service provided by the DOS for US documents.

Well, the consulates are part of the Dept of State, so they're not actually skipping anything, except for Colin Powell's stamp As long as they're certified by the Dept of State, that is good enough for the Chinese Aren't embassies also a part of DOS? Why is authentication required at DOS for documents going to the embassy and it isn't needed for documents going to the consulate? For us, the embassy and consulates are pretty much interchangeable - so I sometimes just use the word consulate for short. But the DOS certification is required for a USC to get married in China