USCONGUZ

Dear CFL Members, We noticed a recent posting that incorrectly described how immigrant visa petitioners may attempt to access the Consulate¡¯s office. Please be advised that the Immigrant Visa unit strictly follows State Department guidance to ensure the same level of access is offered to the public in an efficient and orderly manner, with no special privileges or special channels for immigrant visa petitioners. Additionally, our office follows strict security procedures to ensure the safety of our staff and premises. The Immigrant Visa Section, as a courtesy to U.S. citizen petitioners who have questions regarding the immigrant visa process, has a ¡°petitioner hour¡± on Monday afternoons in which procedural questions can be answered. This is the ONLY venue for in-person meetings to discuss immigrant visa cases with consular personnel. To attend the petitioner hour, please enter through the main consulate entrance by 2 p.m. If you try to enter the Consulate through the entrance described in the previous post, you will be denied entry and asked to leave immediately by security personnel. Please be aware that the Bureau of Diplomatic Security treats attempts to gain unauthorized access to U.S. diplomatic facilities abroad as serious security threats, and will take appropriate action in response to such threats. Please refer to our website http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/contactiv.html for more information for attending the petitioner hour. Thank you for your understanding. If there are further questions, please contact us using the web form on our website. U.S. Consulate Guangzhou, China

Dear CFL Members, The National Visa Center (NVC) has started a new pilot program of electronically processing visa petitions. Under this program all documents related to your case will be sent to Guangzhou electronically, rather than by mail. This should greatly improve the speed and efficiency of visa processing by avoiding delays due to postal service delivery. The electronic processing option is available only for the U.S. Consulate Guangzhou, China and will initially be available only to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens over the age of 21 years (visa categories IR-1, IR-2, CR-1, CR-2, and IR-5). If you have heard from the NVC and have chosen to participate in electronic processing you should not mail any physical paper documents to NVC. Doing so will result in a delay in the processing of your case. NVC will send instructions to all e-mail addresses you provided. Please follow all instructions from NVC for submitting documents electronically and bring the original documents to the interview with you. If your case is being processed through the electronic pilot project, your case number should begin with GZO. If your case is not being processed electronically, your case number should begin with GUZ. For further information regarding this program, please e-mail the NVC at NVCInquiry@state.gov or call the NVC at (603) 334-0700. Customer Service Representatives are available Monday through Friday from 7:30am ¨C midnight EST. You must have a touchtone phone to use this service. Please Note: The NVC electronic processing project for K visa (fianc¨¦e/spouse non-immigrant visa), has different procedures. For these cases, although the petitions are loaded electronically, the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou still contacts visa beneficiaries to provide more documents prior to interview scheduling. If you are a K visa applicant and you have opted in for electronic processing, you will still have to wait for paper Instructions via mail from the Consulate. Thank you, U.S. Consulate Guangzhou, China

Dear CFL Members, We noticed a recent posting that incorrectly described the purpose of the Consulate¡¯s IV petitioner hour. To clarify, the purpose of this session is not to serve as a chance at a prior/second opinion or appeal. We established this petitioner hour in order to give petitioners the chance to ask general questions about visa application procedures before or after their family member¡¯s interview. Petitioner hour is not the time or place to submit supporting documents relating to a fianc¨¦e visa. Instead, applicants should provide this information at their interview, or consult with their petitioner to mail it in, if asked to do so. The only information officers will accept on Monday afternoons is updated address or contact information. Please refer to question number five on our website at http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/iv_faqs.htm for more information. Thank you, U.S. Consulate Guangzhou, China

Dear CFL, The Embassy has received some reports of fraud committed against U.S. citizens by Internet correspondents from China professing romantic interest. For further information, see http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/iv_announcement.htm. Sincerely, USCONGUZ (edited to make link functional - Lee)

Dear CFL, This sort of issue can be somewhat complicated and needs to be handled on a case-by-case basis; so if you are facing difficulties getting this or any other required certificate, please contact the Consulate's IV unit through its website: http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzhou/iv/email.html Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, 1. In general, as far as the Consulate is concerned, a Chinese passport is sufficient--there is no need to also have the national ID card (note that there may be extraordinary cases where the Consulate will require both of these things). Note that this only goes for the Consulate's needs for visa processing--the Chinese government may have separate requirements. 2. Concerning police certificates: all official documents must be translated and notarized. Police certificates are required for anyone over the age of 16. In general, these certificates can be obtained at the local Public Security Bureau office. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, To our knowledge, this is broadly correct, provided (and this is very important) that the father is able to transmit citizenship to the child. See this website for more information on the process of getting a passport for children born abroad: http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/ne...gistration.html Questions of this sort are best directed to the Consulate's American Citizen Services unit, however. Please see our website for their contact information. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, Yes, FTJ applicants can interview with their parents even if they won't be traveling for 6 months or more afterwards. From the Consulate's point of view, it is preferable for all applicants to interview at the same time, even if one or more will follow-to-join later. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, This should be taken care of by USCIS after the beneficiary immigrates to the US. If the date of immigration is more than two years after the marriage took place, then the green card should be issued with IR status. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, All necessary certificates must be valid on the day that the visa is issued. So, if your visa is issued by March 22, you will not need new certificates. If it is not issued until after that date, you will need new ones. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, In general, all children beneficiaries, even those under the age of 14, are required to attend an interview before being issued a visa. A consular officer may, in exceptional circumstances, choose to waive this requirement for children under the age of 14, but such a waiver is exceedingly rare. Your understanding of follow-to-join K2/4 cases is correct. These applicants can either interview with the principal beneficiary or attend a separate interview sometime later. The important thing to remember is that visa issuance for K2/4 follow-to-join beneficiaries must take place within a year of the issuance of the principal beneficiary's K1/K3 visa. If a year passes, the follow-to-join child loses his or her eligibility for derivative benefits, and a separate petition must be filed in order for that child to immigrate. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, We would recommend contacting USCIS for questions about how to fill out visa petitions, as they are the ones who design the petition forms and adjudicate submitted petitions. There is contact info (and a wealth of other information) at the USCIS website: http://www.uscis.gov. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, The email form should still be available on the website, and this remains the best way to contact the Consulate, especially about a time-sensitive problem of this nature. Here is the web form address: http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzhou/iv/email.html Alternatively, you can send an inquiry to our fax number at: (86)(20) 3884-4412. For time-sensitive issues, please write "urgent" or something like that at the top of the fax cover sheet. From what we've heard from petitioners, it appears that email is a much more reliable way of reaching the Consulate successfully, and so we would recommend that as the best way of contacting us. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, We've noticed that a lot of petitioners have recently been coming in to Petitioner Hour at the Consulate mostly so that officers will make a note in their case that they appeared. In the event that people are doing this in the hope that it will increase the chances that their case will be approved--let's be clear that it really makes no difference at all if petitioners come to Petitioner Hour. If you want to prove that you returned to China for your fiance(e)/spouse's interview, just ask them to take your passport or a notarized photocopy of the entire passport to the interview with them. Furthermore, it might be worth keeping in mind that the time consular officers spend at Petitioner Hour is time that is not spent processing cases. The intention of Petitioner Hour is to provide a forum where petitioners can make inquiries about the status of their cases or clear up confusion about the visa process. So, if you go to Petitioner Hour without a real question, you are really just slowing the process down for everyone else. Please keep this in mind when you decide whether to attend. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, It is difficult to give a categorical answer without seeing the documents referred to in this post, but a notarized legal document granted custody of a child to the immigrating parent would certainly be sufficient evidence of custody. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, If your K1 and K2 visas have been packed together and you will not be traveling to the U.S. at the same time as your child, you need to return the visa packet to the Consulate so that it can be repackaged. If you do not have time to do this before flying to the U.S., you are taking a risk--the Consulate cannot guarantee that the immigration officials at the port of entry will return to you the documents that your child will need in his/her visa packet. This is why it is very important to let the Consulate know at the interview (or when you submit your passports, if later) that you and your child will not travel together. Whatever you do, do NOT open the visa packet yourself to remove the documents. Doing so will cause you problems when you arrive in the U.S. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, As this is a non-immigrant visa question, and USCONGUZ is no expert in NIVs, we hesitate to answer. As you obviously understand, the primary challenge for your son will be in convincing the consular officer that he intends to return to China after visiting you on winter holiday. NIVs are, after all, non-immigrant visas, and so they cannot--by law--be granted to someone who has demonstrated immigrant intent. Your son's best chance will be to be honest about his family situation and try to demonstrate that he has strong ties that will compel him to return to China after his visit. Trying to obscure his existing ties to United States is a bad idea, and any lies told to the consular officer may disqualify him from future U.S. visas--either non-immigrant or immigrant. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, We can't shed any light on the rumors you may have heard, but we will note that petitioner income is only one of a number of criteria that consular officers are mandated by law to weigh when considering whether there is a public charge ineligibility. Other factors include the applicant's health, education, family status, age, language ability, and work experience. Again, it is mandated by law that consular officers consider the totality of circumstances, and not just rely only on whether income surpasses the poverty guidelines. So, it is quite possible that some applicants have been found to have a public charge ineligibility in spite of having a petitioner or co-sponsor with income greater than the poverty guidelines. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, The answers are actually compatible and probably differ only because the Consulate was likely responding to specific information about a specific case, while the USCONGUZ post was more general in nature. Let me try to tie the two together: In general, misspelled names on a visa can cause problems, particularly if the passport holder's name is the one with the typo. For this reason, applicants are well advised to contact the Consulate to arrange for a corrected visa if they find a typo. However, there are certainly cases where such a typo is not likely to cause a problem. An example might be if on a K1 visa, the petitioner's middle name has a very obvious typo (say, John Micjael Jones, instead of John Michael Jones). In this case, there is almost no chance that the applicant will experience a problem upon entry to the United States, and so it's likely not worth the effort that it would take to return to Guangzhou and have the visa reprinted. Hope this clarifies-- Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, 1. The child in this case is certainly eligible to apply for a B1 tourist visa. The problem is that, under U.S. immigration law, B1 non-immigrant visas cannot be issued to foreign nationals who have "immigrant intent." In this case, it appears that it would be difficult for the child to prove to the consular officer that s/he does not intend to immigrate to the U.S. 2. The child could apply for the B1 visa at any time. 3. I-130 processing time for IR-2s is not noticeably different than it is for CR-1s or IR-1s. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, When a family/relationship-based petition has been refused under section 5A, this essentially means that the consular officer has made a determination that the underlying relationship is not bona fide and was instead formed in an effort to circumvent U.S. immigration law. After an officer refuses a case under section 5A, all processing on the case in Guangzhou is suspended. The file is then returned with a recommendation for revocation to the local DHS office in the U.S. where the original petition was filed. Once the file arrives at this office, DHS will send a letter to the petitioner asking if s/he wishes to appeal the consular officer's recommendation. Petitioners have 30 days in which to exercise their right of appeal. Anyone seeking to appeal is given an opportunity to review and respond to the consular officer's findings. The final determination of whether to revoke the petition is made by DHS. If DHS reaffirms the petition, it is returned to Guangzhou and processing is resumed. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, In order to receive a replacement visa, the applicant must first appear in person at the Consulate to report that the passport containing the original visa has been lost or stolen. To set up an appointment, call the Consulate at 020-8121-8000 and ask to speak with the Fraud Prevention Unit. The case will be examined after the report is made. If a replacement visa is approved, it can be issued in relatively short order, provided that the applicant can produce the previous visa package and none of the documents in it have expired. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, If the name on the visa does not match the name in the passport, it is quite possible that this will cause a problem when your fiancee gets the the U.S. port of entry. So, if there's a typo, you should email the Consulate to arrange to have a new visa printed. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, As has been discussed before here and elsewhere, consular officers do not have a checklist of documents that are required to prove that a relationship is bona fide. Applicants are encouraged to provide any documents that they feel will demonstrate the legitimacy of their relationship to the petitioner. There are a number of different types of documents that can be used as evidence of relationship, and no one type is definitively required. Sincerely, USCONGUZ

Dear CFL, Applicants who reside within Guangdong province can chose to have their visa delivered to them. Unfortunately, the Post Office will not provide mail service outside Guangdong province at this time. Applicants from outside Guangdong province should arrange to pick up their visas at the Post Office. Sincerely, USCONGUZ