RedKris

You have the right one, no problem. Don't worry at all.

CONGRATS RedKris!!!!!!!!! Did you go to GUZ with her? Thanks! Yes I did go with her, her interview time was 7:15, we were there at 6:00. And yes it is completely true - don't go early, they just stood outside in the humidity until 8:something and then all went in. And she was one of the last ones at 11:45. Those three hours were some of the longest of my life... especially because I was trying to keep a two year old occupied the whole time. But the little man was awesome, he only cried once, the rest of the time he was charming all the people working for the various companies that cater to the people there for visas, and running around and around the building until daddy could not keep up.

Do you have a translated copy of those books that is notarized or do you have a Notarial Certificate certifying your marriage? Not having the correct document is what got our petition denied, but then we reopened the case and got accepted two months later just by supplying the notarial certificate. The notarial certificate is a completely separate document, similar to the certificate you have to get saying she isn't a criminal and the one certifying she was born. It is a booklet with some Chinese pages verifying on what day you two were married, and then it has an English translation, and then some other pages in English and Chinese saying that the English translation matches the Chinese, and the whole thing is stamped up and notarized. What we originally sent was a copy of our marriage booklet, each page and cover, and a notarized translation. This was considered not acceptable and we were denied. We specifically were told that they would not accept those marriage booklets and translations of them as proof of marriage, we needed notarial certificates. Never mind the fact that the original marriage booklets and the notarial certificates were issued from the same building, run by the same people... I will be posting a scanned copy of our notarial certificate for reference for another Candle member in a couple of days, I will make sure to come back here and post a link as well.

I am travelling right now, but I will get a scanned copy of the notarial marriage certificate (with our personal info crossed out) and post it for your reference. Given that it was the document that got our case reopened and accepted I can guarantee it is what they want.

The version you want looks just like the book they give you saying she isn't a criminal, and the book they give you that verifies when she was born. It should be the book, not the paper, but just double check. The version you want comes with the English translation. You don't want anything you have to then go and get translated again, if so you have the wrong thing. Not having the right notarial marriage certificate is what got our petition denied, but then we reopened the case and got accepted two months later just by supplying the correct document.

Having just gone through this and gotten pink, I have to say it was almost anti-climactic. All that waiting, hand-wringing, preparing... ultimately they ignored the kitchen sink and passed my wife with the bare minimum of questions.

Update: Qiao Qiao's passport complete with the visa and the brown packet was delivered to the Guangdong Victory Hotel around noon. Didn't show up until 5:45 last night on EMS tracking and then at 7:30 this morning was in sorting and then delivered. Very painless.

Well he 'understands' (read: properly responds to) Mandarin, his mother's Henan dialect, our neighbors' Shanghainese, and English. But so far only speaks about 20 words in Mandarin and about 5 in English. My guess is he will understand his mother, but end up not speaking it despite our best efforts. This seems to be the case with others we have met with young children born in China.

And thanks everyone!

Correct. He is not immigrating, he is just 'going home'. They were only interested in seeing his passport as proof of the connection between my wife and I. What he did need was an exit permit from the Chinese Government. Which basically looks and acts like a one time/one use Chinese Passport. It even has some of the same language inside the first couple of pages like a Chinese Passport. The reason for this is that the Chinese government effectively considers a baby born inside it's borders as Chinese until they are given this exit permit and leave. The child is allowed to stay in China without a visa indefinitely until they do leave, and then if they want to come back they need to return on their regular passport and a visa.

Well we didn't even try since Alex was being a bit of a pain in the ass while we were waiting there this morning. Made the most sense for me to take him for a walk and when we got back, Qiao Qiao was already inside. In the end it was all about Alex anyway. They asked her a couple of generic questions like how we met and what I did for work, but the ONLY evidence they asked to see was our son's passport. And then Qiao Qiao was given the Pink!

Definitely! We have a good selection of family photos from the last couple of years, clearing showing him growing up with us. Including photos from three different visits my parents and brother made to China. I am sure if it is just about a bona fide relationship, the pink is guaranteed. I think the only potential pitfall is some technicality I might have missed.

I was referring to not being able to bring others in to the interview with her. For example I can't go. Makes sense that rule doesn't apply to an infant, but it might apply to a 10 year old. Wasn't sure where the age cutoff occurs, or even if it occurs at all. But like Warped said, I will be there as well so worst case scenario I will take care of him while she is inside. Just was trying to make my wife as stress-free as possible. You would think that NOT taking the 2 year old in with her would be better on that front, but I think the separation issues cut both ways to be perfectly honest. And with my part time dad status, I am not to be trusted. Again, something to address after we get pink!

That's what I thought. Thank you. So she is allowed to bring him? I was concerned he would not be able to go in with her. A young baby sure, but I thought a 2 year old might be crossing the line.

Forgot to mention, my son was born in Shanghai but has a U.S. passport. So officially there is no reason for him to be there. He also already has his exit permit from the Chinese Government, just in case you were wondering.

Hey everyone, So I don't post much but I do troll quite a bit. Want to thank everyone for their information and support, and I will be sure to post after tomorrow to let everyone know how we do and what pitfalls we come across so hopefully other people can avoid them. The problem we have right now is our two year old. He loves daddy but since I travel back and forth between the U.S. and China on a monthly basis, he is definitely tied to mom's apron strings. About 45 minutes separated from her is the most he can handle before he throws a serious fit. And I mean SERIOUS. Now of course we plan to work on this, but the day of her interview doesn't seem like the best time, and my wife is very concerned. She doesn't want to worry about how much of a tantrum he is throwing while she is waiting for her interview. So do you think she will be able to take him with her? As a side benefit, he is pretty much a living proof of the bona fide relationship. He strongly resembles both of us, so I am guessing he can't hurt her chances. Thanks in advance. Kris and Qiao Qiao (and Alex)

Wow, the P4 arrived via EMS today! So good to finally have things happening on time. Now just onto the medical exam and the interview on the 3rd!

Very happy for everyone that has only taken 2-6 months, no one should have to go through what we have. But still so frustrated and confused about why we had to. Even if you want to argue that we made mistakes, it took a year for those mistakes to even get looked at. Anyway. Congrats everyone, good luck in August and think pink!

We have our interview on August 3rd, but of course her P4 packet is no where to be found... the story of our journey, 22 months and counting. Hopefully our request to have them resend the P4 packet will be received and responded to in time, but I will be honest I am not all that hopeful. Better to be pleasantly surprised than shocked and disappointed.

After rereading baobeizhu's post right above mine I just want to add that while you can probably get away with a lot of things 99.99% of the time in this process, I speak from experience when I say that being that 0.01% REALLY sucks. I would do anything to get back the extra 4 months that I have been away from my wife and son. If I had known to spend an extra couple of weeks sending documents back and forth with DHL, I would have.

My wife and I had our I-130 and I-129F denied based on the fact that we tried to send copies of our original marriage certificate along with a notarized translation. We had to supply a notarial certificate from the notarial office in the city where we got married (Zhengzhou, Henan). The quote from our denial letter was: So while I guess you can take a chance getting it translated and notarized here, I would suggest against it.

It was especially upsetting that the RFE came a full year after we started the process and then they waited the entire 60 days before denying us... while at the same time watching people that met AFTER we had been married for over a year fly through the system and get their visas. In the end it took us a full 16 months just to get our petition accepted. If we are lucky my wife will be here 2 years from the start date.

We misunderstood the difference between a notarized marriage certificate and a notarial certificate about the marriage certificate. When we first sent in the I-130 we sent a copy of the marriage certificate main page and a notarized translation. Then we got an RFE stating: After reading this, we thought it was clear we made a mistake by submitting only one page of our marriage certificate, the page that showed only the information relevant to the marriage itself. The RFE specifically stated that in order for the marriage to be considered valid, it must have been registered with a civil authority from the location where the marriage took place. Given that there were other pages in the marriage certificate booklet, including a page that had been stamped and dated by the official who issued the marriage certificate, we assumed this was the reason the original submission had been rejected. There was a paragragh in the RFE quoted from the Foreign Affairs Manual that mentioned the term 'Notarial Certificate'. But in this context it came across as a reference on how to obtain notarized documents after the fact, where in our case we had what we thought was a notarized marriage certificate. We made new copies of the entire marriage certificate and then had those pages translated and notarized. Then we were denied on that 60th day. My favorite part of the denial letter was: (Which was funny in a sick, angering sort of way.) And then the jewel... ...Which would have been helpful had it come in the original RFE instead of what I quoted above. In the end we filed an appeal, got a notarial certificate, had to pay some more money, and the appeal was accepted and our case reopened in 7 weeks. Then accepted in 1 more week. Now we are embroiled in the NVC process.

In James' shortcuts there was this note about sending in the DS-230: Did everyone else do this? I was all ready to send the signed DS-230 and realized I missed that. Thanks in advance.

In our case it took 60 days, and on that day they denied us. What was interesting is that we did get a senator's office involved and they contacted the VSC liason at 1:30 pm on the 60th day and were told that it would be soon, and at 4:00 pm on the 60th day we were denied.