chinashawn

During our two years living together in Wuhan, the question of registering our address never came up. I had a resident permit, but that only had the school's address on it, I think. My apartment was rented by my school, and I had to check in at the district police station, but don't have any paperwork from that. My wife just moved in with me (back when we were dating). And when we got married, they didn't ask for any registered addresses. They asked for my resident permit and her work permit, in addition to photos and my intent to marry form. And we just continued living together like we had been. Does anyone know when / where / how would our address have been registered? I'm wondering now if the Consulate will be asking for our address registration... Glad to know things worked out well with you two. It'll be a toss-up whether I go, almost.

Hmm... I wonder if our living together in Wuhan for two years, plus dating for nearly a year before that, would be enough. Unfortunately, I don't have any hard documentation to show that we did live together (the apartment was rented by my school). But we've been married nearly 2 years now, and we have some emails from the beginning of our relationship, and lots since I've left. And I've got receipts from numerous phone cards, and I've sent some letters... Well, I'll start looking at tickets. The sooner you book, the better.

Thanks, David, for all your helpful responses. In addition to the wealth of information, this forum has provided much-needed alleviation for the general worry and anxiety that people in our boat feel. Now's here another question for everyone: At that whenever in the future when my wife has her interview, would it be helpful for me to join her in Guangzhou? I know I can't go in with her, but would it help if I were there so she could bring in my passport, plane ticket, etc? I would love to go, believe me, but considering that I can only get so much time off of work, I'd rather use that for when my wife's here so I can show her around, and we can go out and celebrate her arrival (using the $800+ that I would otherwise have to use for my plane ticket). So I think I'd only go if it would make a difference to the one with the power to stamp the passport. What do you guys think?

Thanks so much for all your work in providing this data. If you have a chance you can add me to the list. My wife's P3 was entered into the computer on Mar. 28, and the name check was completed on Apr. 1.

My apologies if this has been asked / answered before: You have to have a medical exam as part of your visa interview for a CR-1 visa. So, should you wait until that medical exam and get your vaccinations then? Or should you go somewhere on your own prior to the interview-medical exam and get the vaccinations, and just bring the record with you when you have your interview-medical exam? Just planning for that as-yet unforeseeable day in the future...

Well, I'll tell my wife to get everything updated. Some people who submitted their P3's about the same time as she did are getting their P4 letters... making me anxious. Any difference between the I-864 and the I-134? And I suppose the single certificate is only for fiance visas...

Good news from Richard and pkroger. When did y'all turn in the P3? My wife turned hers in in late March, and we're both anticipating receiving the P4 in a couple of weeks or so.

That's great news. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I could kick myself for not getting the P3 in earlier, especially after reading Lizzie's post (enjoy re4 gan1 mian4 while you can! Haven't found any here). Oh well, live and learn... Does anyone have any idea how long documents are valid? (ie., police record, whatever's on the P3 checklist.) Some of these she got in late January, and they'll be older than 6 months by August. I may have her get new ones anyway, just to be safe.

Well, I finally called the DOS yesterday, and they said my wife's P3 was entered into the computer on March 28, and the name check was completed on April 1. Hope I'm reading that prediction chart right and that she'll get her appointment letter July 15-18ish. Any word from anyone on delays due to the move?

Hey, thanks for your input. I'll definitely give the DOS a call to find out that information. So... perhaps 3 more weeks to go for the appointment letter. And yeah, I saw that notice on the GUZ website about them moving. Makes me a little worried, but who knows?

Great site here... I'll add my yet-to-be-completed story with a few questions: I filed for a CR-1 visa for my lovely wife at the Kerry Mall in Beijing last November (we met, married and lived together in Wuhan). We got our approval letter and the P3 fairly soon after in late December. Unfortunately we didn't return the P3 to Guangzhou until Mar 28th, as I left China in late January, and we waited until I got a new job in the states (in retrospect I would've done things so differently!). Nevertheless, we weren't expecting such a long wait for the appointment letter based on the experience of some other couples we knew. From what I've read on this site, though, 3 to 3 1/2 months is generally the usual time from P3 to P4. It'll have been three months this coming Monday. What I'm wondering is, should I go ahead and start making phone calls and sending letters and what not? I've already emailed the embassy and got the standard response ("Interview date? Not a clue.") I'm planning on calling them tomorrow night and expect much the same response. (Would've called tonight, but I don't have internet access at home, and when I tried to order the PIN number today at work, I discovered you have to have your passport number.) But what about Congressmen and women, DOS and USCIS people, or anyone else? My wife and I have been apart now for 5 months, and we miss each other terribly, so I obviously want to do anything that might speed up the process. But I'm just not sure they will take me seriously if this is within the "normal" wait time. Any recommendations, or just sit and wait & wait & wait a little bit more? Plan a trip to China to contact GUZ in person (and see my wife, of course!)?