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cguo7

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  2. D-Day

    in Interview Results

    Posted

    ah, that was a very entertaining and humorous story. You got pink, yay! You write quite well too! Take Care. Will you be living in Orange County? I may move back to Anaheim Hills or somewhere in that area, it's where I grew up. If you are moving there, perhaps we could all get together for some storytime experiences and laughs (cause the visa process seriously took a toll on my husband and I too)

     

    OMG!!! I asked xiaomin to write her "Interview Story" for posting on CFL... Who'd of known that she would write an actual story? LOL -- It's long, but provides a great insight to those who've not yet made that journey... [and she tries to tell me that she can't write! pfffft...]

     

    D-Day

    [xiaomin¡¯s Visa Interview Story - 20 July, 2009

    ¨C U.S. Consulate, Guangzhou, China]

     

    Honestly, looking back to July 20th, the longest day of my life (though the actual interview lasted barely 6 to 8 minutes) is the last thing I desired, especially now that the day is history, regardless of the result. Recalling that dreadful day is so much of an emotional disturbance to me that at the end of the day, I was totally physically exhausted, emotionally drained. But, as much as I want to scrub the memory of July 20th (at least the All-Mighty Queen BS part!) from my mind, I also have this irresistible desire to tell it to whoever cares to listen, so I'm not alone walking through every step there, so you'd know at least one thing about me, that I'm not a drama queen.

     

    Jerry woke me up at 5:30 in my morning, saying, sounding upbeat as he always has, ¡°Honey, it's time to get up, and get this whole thing done and over with!¡±

     

    That pep-talk definitely served as a motive to get me to drag my worn butt outta bed at this bank-robbing hour. Dear God please let it be over! Pink, Blue or White, I DO want to end this once and for all, after some 200 days of running around town, between bureaus, ... fighting, begging for my certificates, ... waiting in the dark wondering where my papers had been stashed ... trying to call, getting nowhere/nobody but a nice voice from an answering machine, ... pressing numbers ... finding that I had somehow gotten sucked into a black hole ... finally throwing my hands up in the air! Not to mention those hours of sitting our asses at a computer; printing, printing ... and more printing ... I'VE HAD ENOUGH!

     

    Well, it turned out NOT to be over yet. It doesn't matter how thick Jerry sugar-coated it ¨C ¡°A PINK with a side dish of BLUE¡± -- the fact is that, I finally crawled my way to the end of the tunnel where a streak of bright light shinning, bathing my face! But, I can not move any steps further toward it. Again, the Chinese Government managed to screw up my life for me. As a going-away-present? I PRAY FOR THAT!

     

    It must have been nearly 6:30am (if not even earlier) when we arrived there, feeling kinda stupid ¡®cuz I thought we must be the very first arrivals. NOPE! The lines were already constructed by dozens of people, and stretching out with newly arriving Morning-Birds. To the end, I was amazed at the length, or the size of the crowd. Of course then I was also very thankful to my friend, Mei, who'd given me this wise advice ¡­ "to get there much, much earlier than the Interview time given on the Appointment Letter". And I thought she was crazy!

     

    Then it started drizzling, and very quickly turned into raining, on and off during the whole good hour while hundreds of people standing in front of the Consulate building, firm and still. Holding our breath, while trying hard to hold on to an umbrella in an ass-to-front queue. Í·¿É¶Ï£¬Ñª¿ÉÁ÷£¬Î»Öò»¿É¶ª (translation: ¡°Hold on to MY place in the line at any cost!¡±) ... At one point I was secretly praying for hail or a shaker, just so to pleasure my perverted-desire to see what's gonna happen next. Just 5 minutes before the Consular Officer started to check passports, letting us in, it poured! But everyone survived no casualty occurrences. YEAH£¡(Now I understood why we were labeled by the U.S Government as 'Immigrants & Fugitives', very accurate indeed, for it certainly looked like a herd of fugitives to me.)

     

    In between, I got into chatting with a young woman behind me, telling her that one of my colleagues is still working after her retirement, and so does her husband. Her reason? 'We must send our only son to study in America, and we are spending our retirement money, but that's what we want for our son, and that¡¯s what our son wants too.' The old man before me turned his head, obviously overhearing me, and said, 'Your friend is lucky, she can send her son to America, not Europe, ... otherwise, no chance to even try to stay there, they will do everything to make them leave as soon as the kids finish their studies. What's the point of spending all of our blood-covered money if the kids can¡¯t stay there?'

     

    After we went through the security check we finally moved into this big hall with some one-hundred chairs lined-up in front of a line of windows. I dragged all my luggage (12lbs of docs and evidence) to the end of the hall, but very quickly realized that wasn't a good idea, ¡®cuz I couldn't make out what names that guy was calling in his putonghua [translation: ¡°Native Language¡±, i.e. Mandarin] MOVE! Luckily I found a great seat, right in front of the windows. Now we wait.

     

    'LUO XIAOMIN FROM SICHUAN ¡­ WINDOW 21!' (I should be thrilled right? But why the hell did I feel like I was in a prison on ¡°Family Visit Day¡±?)

     

    This is where I met the All-Mighty Queen.

     

    I was hit with a nasty surprise after I handed over all the required documents, the Chinese Officer wanted the copy of my passport, and she gave me a weird look when I stammered, "... I don't have a copy ... It wasn't required on the Interview Instructions, to which I followed to the letter.'

     

    Jerry had taught me to just say 'Yes Sir/Ma'am' or 'No Sir/Ma'm', and 'Solly Shir, Solly Mdan!' ... Maybe I should have listened to him for a change.

     

    Then it was a downhill ride from that point on.

     

    A nastier surprise followed. 'Your Police Certificate is not acceptable.' -- 'Why?' -- 'It was issued by the Police Sub-station £¨ÅɳöËù£©. '

     

    D'UH?! -- Ok, be calm girl! You can not afford to have an enemy here.

     

    'Where was it supposed to be issued then? ... Please?'

     

    'The Notary Office.'

     

    Now, how do I present my plea with just 'Yes Sir/Ma'am or 'No Sir/Ma'am', and 'Solly Shir, Solly Madan' ? To hell with it! I'm not gonna swallow this, whatever it is that she's playing with me.

     

    I mustered all my guts, 'Are you sure? How can a notary office issue a Police Certificate, or any certificate for that matter? What rights does it have to possess such power? ... And again, I was never instructed as to where and how to get one of these, actually I wish I had been blessed with such direction, so I wouldn't have been made into a football, and got kicked back and forth between those departments ...'

     

    'It's just not what we want.' With that 'explanation', my Police Certificate was thrown out of the window back into my hands. And needless to say I didn't get the answer to my question. But hey, at least I did manage SOMETHING, to make an enemy in no time.

     

    The shit just kept coming ...

     

    When she asked for the financial papers, I had to struggle with my luggage to dig it out because Jerry had them stuffed into the Miscellaneous book, along with the Tax-return Records and such, which I did take out to submit. So I didn't exactly follow that instruction to letter after all, and I paid for this crime dearly. She rolled her eyes, jotted something on a slip and flipped it over to me, 'Go out for your passport copy, and come back to this window along with the right papers, I don't have time for your paper-hunt! ... And don't lose that paper, or you can't come back.' -- YES MADAN!

     

    It took me a great deal of effort and time to pack everything back, and check around making sure nothing was left out. Then I made a bald move. I asked the All-Mighty Queen, and a guard too, whether I could leave my stuff under their watch, for just few minutes, so I could 'travel light'? The answer was of course a flat 'NO.' ... But the message in the tone was loud & clear -- "What the hell were you thinking?"

     

    ... Right, What the hell was I thinking?

     

    WELLY WELLY SOLLY MADAN! WELLY WELLY SOLLY SHIR! I'M GONE!

     

    This whole episode cost me more than half hour though there was some hawks waiting right down there one floor lower, to 'serve' me.

     

    Now I'm back!!! Here's everything you asked. Thank you.

     

    'Ok now, you wait for your turn. List carefully to Your LUN.'

     

    'Excuse me, what?' -- What did I miss?

     

    'The LUNBER, I give you.'

     

    'No you didn't.'

     

    'Yes, I did.'

     

    NO! YOU DIDN'T! YES I DID! NO! YES! ...

     

    'Go to Window 30!'

     

    I went, wracking my brain trying to remember, and to come up with some explanation for the officer at Window 30, should I go into details or just say that I didn't get a number, and she said I had? ... Well, no explanation was needed, for sitting there at the Window 30 was the same All-Mighty Queen. And again we did this Yes-No jigsaw spat. Suddenly it hit me. 'Was it on the paper you gave me to get back in? Didn't I just hand it back to you. And that was the only paper you gave me.'

     

    'LO LO LO! Another paper, very small. I told you don't lose it.'

     

    'Then, can you please tell me what number that was assigned to me?'

     

    'How can I remember so many numbers?'

     

    'Don't you keep one identical number on my file, so they can call me? 'More eye rolling, but, '... Ok, I'm gonna give you another number. Don't lose it again.'

     

    I kept my mouth shut. And that was the last time I saw that Queen that day. I must have done SOMETHING good in my life.

     

    Gone with the All-Mighty Queen was the Dark-Age in my interview process.

     

    Now back to waiting. But It was moving along smoothly. And at the finger-prints collection, the middle-aged lady seemed like an angel compare to the Queen I just had. Then everybody was called standing up to take the oath!

     

    You don't have to ask any questions to figure out how everyone's interview went, the results were written all over their faces! And the pass rate was shockingly high, 80% PINK to say the least. But that didn't do any good to lift the heavy cloud cast in my heart. Lucky somehow my case was arranged almost to the end, that Queen's job for sure, but it worked out just perfectly for me. Because it gave me time to observe, and I found out that the VOs, 5 guys and 1 girl, are all very polite, patient, and seem to be pretty fair. So I determined to try my best to stretch my interview to the max, I must find a way to present my Police Certificate, I was determined not to let that All-Mighty Queen blow this chance for me. And I did it!

     

    The VO I got, I was blessed with, it was that angel girl, who spoke the worst Chinese, I'd noticed that. So I must have played well on her, by surprising her with my English, the relief in her tone could not be disguised. I don't blame her, I'd be frustrated too if I had to speak a language I knew 20 words of, or had to try to understand their perfect Chin-glish all morning. (This is one thing that puzzled me, why the hell would the American Government allow anyone to get into their country without the ability to communicate? Haven't they imported enough English/Chin-glish-speaking rats already?)

     

    How I miss that few minutes of my Interview. I had a great lousy, shitty day until that moment. It was a whirlwind, but I believe that the conversation, and interaction that took place between a VO and her interviewee had reached an up-close and personal level beyond my wildest dreams. When I asked the lady, 'Anything else you need me to provide?' She smiled, 'Your fianc¨¦¡¯s name for starters?' ... And we both laughed, not hysterically, not loud enough to catch some attention, I'm sure. And Jerry's expired drivers-license was stuffed in the pile, she picked it up and asked if he was there to, I said no but he so wanted to be, if only he could squeeze the trip in to his schedule to fit his 'fultime-job, single daddy' life.

     

    She asked some questions like when, where and how we met, the times Jerry visited me, reviewed our scant number of photos, didn't ask any questions about that though, checked a few of our emails. After my answers, she asked 'U Neverous?"

     

    I said, 'How can I not be Ma'am, it's nerve-wracking already this case itself, and I had a problem with my Police Certificate, notarized, but the Chinese staff there told me it wasn't acceptable. ... Can you please take a look at it, and give me some ... advice?'

     

    'I'm sorry, but it's not my job to deal with the papers.' Then she was looking at a card (or something of that sort), I tried my best to stretch my neck, and could make it out that was a report of the paperwork-review, and I saw 3 X¡¯s on it.

     

    She spoke again, 'And there's some other problems with your documents too, the Single Certificate. ...'

     

    I was ready for this, 'Ma'am, I am not married, ever. But please let me explain, you have no idea how many departments I'd run to get this paper, and I did question about the legitimacy of my Single Certificate, but the Marriage Registration Office said that their company (can you believe what they called their Government department, or organization? a company?) was founded on July 13th, 2007, and their computer data can only go back to that period, that¡¯s why they could only prove my marriage record to that period. I even signed a personal statement of my single status, but they wouldn't budge, said this is how it would be issued, take it or leave it. ... It¡¯s just hard for us, just like my Police Certificate. '

     

    That was when she decided to take a look at my Police Certificate, and sent a Chinese staff to the Window 30, 'Ask them what's wrong with this, please.' Off she went, I was worried that nothing would change with that Queen serving at that last window. But there was nothing I could do.

     

    'Ma'am, I can also show you another proof of my single status, the notarized document of my Household Registration Book, my hukou, in which the box of my marriage status is also blank.'

     

    She read it, and then asked for my personal statement, I had a hard time to dig it out, but she waited patiently. ... Then the Chinese Staff came back, and asked me in Chinese if I'd ever been abroad, I said no, she said then Your Police Certificate is good. I went on explaining, but the Lady said it's ok now, you don¡¯t have to do more explaining. I just wish that Queen was there to hear this.

     

    The Lady then asked the Chinese Staff if my notarized single certificate was also ok, the answer was that they want the original, not the copy.

     

    The VO accepted my argument of my single status, she said, 'Everything looks good to me, so I'm gonna approve your visa, but you must provide the original certificate before I can issue you your visa. But, don¡¯t you worry, you passed the interview, so, that's a good thing right?'

     

    While I was still there, discussing about which way to provide the missing doc, 'do you prefer to mail it or walk it in?', I tried to discuss my options with her, explaining the complicity due to my position here in this town as an outsider, would they accept a notarized document from the local authority, she said, 'I'm sorry, I can't help you there, because there's some legality issue here which will be decided according to the law in China. ... But hey, don't worry, it's just few more days of delay, your visa is approved. So it's not all bad right?'

     

    I just couldn't believe that I could be SO lucky to meet 2 women whose action, behavior and attitude had such great impact on my day, the first part of the Interview was like a long journey leading to hell, in which you couldn't help asking, 'What's next?', ... and in the second part, that sweet lady just lifted me from the bottom of the pit, and put me on the top of the world. Even though I still face some problems to re-gain the missing document, I cant express my gratitude to that nice lady. I wanted so much to ask her name, but of course I didn't. There's a line you don't cross.

     

    This story may come out sounding like I'm accusing the American government of being unreasonable, putting us through a horrible experience in the process. But it certainly is not my intention to accuse the American government of anything. If anything, they are not keeping the door closed enough to stop the flood. I'm still shocked at the approval rate. 80% of hundreds of applicants (most of them don't speak one word of English) got PINK, in one day alone, from one consulate alone. Do some math yourself, then you'd know what I'm talking about.

     

    P.S. How could I forget about a very crucial part of my interview¡­

     

    Right before the VO approved my visa, she asked me, 'Do you love him? You DO love him right?'

     

    I answered, 'OF COURSE!', I couldn't hid the glow on my face. We both laughed again.

     

    Then she asked, 'Why?'

     

    "¡­ because he loves me in a way that nobody ever has, and nobody ever could."

  3. After 2yrs and 3months - Pink

    in Interview Results

    Posted

    hi there,

     

    so sorry to hear you went through so much trouble, but now--- you've got pink so congratulations!!! Take cAre.

     

    I will start by saying it was very nice to find such a useful and friendly community as CFL. In order to give back a little I'll share our experience that it might help others. Plus it feels good to rant a bit.

     

    I moved to China in Apr of 06 and married my wife. After almost a year we decided it was time to move to the States (she has never been there, denied visitor visa 3 times). Wanted to apply in Shanghai, went to consulate in Feb 07, told they were no longer accepting applications there (although I was living in Shanghai, I did not have a resident permit at that time, I was on a business visa) and I would have to file in the US. I filed in US in Mar and everything went smoothly and just as the schedules on this site indicated. NVC finally approved our petition in April of 08. I had a friend who filed in Shanghai in May 07 (apparently they started accepting applications again 2 months later, GRRRR) and his wife had her interview in Nov of 07!!! I was a bit irritated about that, but had no idea what was in store for us.

     

    This is the part where it starts to suck. It was six (very frustrating) months before our file showed up in GUZ in Oct, during which time we got pregnant. Our interview was scheduled for Nov 4th and we had to decide if we would be ok to leave before the baby was due (Jan 1). We decided to go for it and had everything prepared to leave short of buying a plane ticket. Good thing we didn't cause she got a blue slip.

     

    As suggested on this forum I had gone in the day before to ask some questions. I had what seemed to be a very friendly VO who reassured me that everything seemed to be in order and we didn't have anything to worry about. For whatever reason, it didn't occur to me to mention that my wife was pregnant. I want to note here that during college my wife had joined the cccp. As recommended on the consulate webpage and other places we prepared a statement explaining that she had not participated in any capacity and her membership terminated before she even graduated. When the VO saw this she asked me how I had known she was a former member and how I knew to prepare a statement. I told her, and she seemed to indicate that it would not be a problem. She was nice, we made some jokes, and she really put my mind at ease.

     

    The next day, my wife was interviewed by the same VO, but who seemed to have pulled a Jekyll and Hyde. My wife said she was almost hostile and she knew from the get-go that it was going to be trouble! The first question she asked was if I knew she was pregnant! WTF? Just the day before I had told her I had been living in China with her for the last 2+yrs! After that she began asking rapid-fire for every conceivable document, and the one thing we didn't bring was her resume. That's right, they denied her because she didn't have her resume! Which, as she didn't work in a technical field nor had she worked at all in the past 2yrs she shouldn't have needed one. So I recommend everyone to bring a resume, no matter what!

     

    I'm not sure what the real reason for her blue slip was, because I seriously doubt it was her resume. It could be they did another background check due to the CCCP thing, but I suspect if I had not shown the VO the explanation letter she might not have even asked. The VO was very friendly to me, so it is puzzling why she was so hostile to my wife the next day. My wife thinks she was just being spiteful.

     

    A devastating setback to be sure, we went back to Shanghai and found a new apt. They told us that it would take up to three months for "administrative processing" and after three months I started calling and writing emails trying to find out what was going on but I got NOTHING. I even wrote to my congressman and senator, but never got a response from either.

     

    I was calling the DOS every other week and around the first of June I was told by a somewhat surprised phone operator that GUZ had sent us TWO notices, the first dated May 9th!!! She couldn't tell me more than that, so I email GUZ again and their response was to wait for the letter to arrive in the mail (it was June 7th at this point). The next day we received the letter dated May 9 but the EMS envelope was dated June 6.

     

    The letter stated that we needed to get a new police report because the previous one had expired (because it took them so freakin long!!!). That took over two weeks thanks to the wonderful Chinese bureaucracy but finally we got it, went to GUZ, turned it in, got the pink slip. So I'm writing this from a hotel room in Guangzhou as we are now just waiting to pick up her visa tomorrow.

     

    To sum up:

    File in China if you can

    Bring a resume

    Prepare a CCCP letter, but don't mention it unless they ask

    Be prepared for long delays with no explanation whatsoever

    GUZ sucks, I hates them

     

    Hope that helps somebody out there. Good luck to all. End of rant.

  5. My Fiance got her approval!! YAY!!!

    in Interview Results

    Posted

    hI Kman,

     

    My husband Wang ZiYi and I had lunch with Jinky the beginning of JUly. He was in a similar situation like your wife and they had become friends. When we found out she got her pink-finally!! We were really happy. Good luck to you guys!

     

    I had just found this forum and been reading many posts. I was in the process of preparing my package to be sent to my congressman due to the long wait. I had patience to spare, but, also knew that there was no reason for such a long wait. Things were complicated by the fact that she (My fiance, Jinky) had been a member of the Communist Party. Sort of stupid, considering we have the Communist Party in America. Also, she had worked for a company for 18.5 years. In the last two years of her employment there, the government bought the business. So, to be considered for any position, she had to join. And, it was only part of the "Tourism" business that China is trying to develop.

     

    I had been to China 3 times to be with Jinky. I loved being there and it was a joy to be with her and her family and friends. Sadly, I lost most of my speaking Cantonese when I came back and was not around it very long. She can understand me. But, my accent and pronunciation has gone bad and hardly anybody else can understand me. During the entire process, I was in constant contact with GUZ (mostly form replies...grrrrrr) and the DOS. I also kept every chat log since I applied (over 700 since January 2008) separate from my previous chat logs too.

     

    But, on June 15, she received her notice of approval and when to go to show her papers one more time. We are waiting on her new Police Certificate and then she will go with her papers to show. We are looking for her arrival in America on July 23. My whole family and I are ready to welcome Jinky to our family. Once her son graduates from College (I insisted that he complete his education before coming to America. He is studying Business, Japanese and English) we will apply again for him to come too. Fortunately, he says he will not join the Communist Party. He has seen how that delays everything.

     

    My heart is grateful for her approval and that soon we will be together again. Most of our delays were from her not having her papers completely ready. We lost 3 months due to this. But, soon, we will be together, and, that is all that matters.

  7. Interview June 1 PINK!!!!!!

    in Interview Results

    Posted

    congratulations!

    After getting in line at 6:45 am and waiting in the coffee shop till 11:30, we got pink.... I still and in a daze but it is real. Later I will fill in more about her questions and people I sat with at the coffee shop. We sleep very little last night and now will take a great Chinese nap...lol

    Thank you everyone for being here for us this past year.

    John and Siyi.

  9. 5/27/09 interview-PINK!

    in Interview Results

    Posted

    hello, I wanted to add some more details but I can't seem to find the edit button. Wang ZiYi said the day of the interview was quite rushed because one of the fingerprinting machines was broken. He said it was probably lucky because the person collecting the documents beforehand seemed impatient, and therefore didn't ask him the one question we feared, "ARe you part of the CCP?". It was so busy and they were behind schedule, that they did not even have folks do the swearing in thing. He thinks because this lady didn't ask him this question, she checked it off her list of questions, so the VO (thinking this question was asked) didn't ask either.

     

    Wang ZiYi also said the VO only asked for and looked at the I-864. He was the one who showed the photo album, because he got a bit nervous and was afraid she was going to ask the dreaded question. This lady was blonde, and in her early 30's and her Mandarin was quite good.

     

    Hi guys,

     

    Jeffrey went in for his interview today at 7:15am. I'm not sure when he got his fingerprints done, but he thought he was going to get a monster VO because of his experience with a young, male fingerprinter. He got a golden haired woman and he said she was really nice from the start. She kept him at the window 5-6 minutes. He said it was a long time. She asked him:

     

    How did you meet? I met her investigating a case at the Uni

    Why do you love her? She is kind, beautiful...yadayada

    Where did you meet? At the Uni that we both worked at

    Why do you want to go to the US? (he didn't tell me)

    When will you go? (he didn't tell me)

    Can you speak English? A little

    Can your wife speak Chinese? Yes

     

    Then she took her time with the photos, and switched to English to speak with him. Some questions she asked he didn't understand so he asked her to repeat it in Chinese. We weren't sure we were going to get pink since he has been part of the CCP for a year and did not withdraw from it. We had our letters ready and everything. I don't have the specific details yet on the whole interview cause I just got the good news. If there is anything else to tell, I'll let you guys know.

     

    Thank you all for your help and support. We would not have been able to do this without CFL.

  10. 5/27/09 interview-PINK!

    in Interview Results

    Posted

    yeah, i'm really happy with that because we honestly thought we were going to get blue because of the CCP thing. In truth (and it sucks to say this), I will be very happy to be leaving Nanchang. You're definitely right about that. Thank you for your well wishes!

    Congratulations!!! You were lucky he did not get nailed with the CCP membership. I know you are certainly happy to be leaving Nanchang. :Dah:

     

    Good luck for a great future with your new family! :vava:

  13. 5/27/09 interview-PINK!

    in Interview Results

    Posted

    Hi guys,

     

    Jeffrey went in for his interview today at 7:15am. I'm not sure when he got his fingerprints done, but he thought he was going to get a monster VO because of his experience with a young, male fingerprinter. He got a golden haired woman and he said she was really nice from the start. She kept him at the window 5-6 minutes. He said it was a long time. She asked him:

     

    How did you meet? I met her investigating a case at the Uni

    Why do you love her? She is kind, beautiful...yadayada

    Where did you meet? At the Uni that we both worked at

    Why do you want to go to the US? (he didn't tell me)

    When will you go? (he didn't tell me)

    Can you speak English? A little

    Can your wife speak Chinese? Yes

     

    Then she took her time with the photos, and switched to English to speak with him. Some questions she asked he didn't understand so he asked her to repeat it in Chinese. We weren't sure we were going to get pink since he has been part of the CCP for a year and did not withdraw from it. We had our letters ready and everything. I don't have the specific details yet on the whole interview cause I just got the good news. If there is anything else to tell, I'll let you guys know.

     

    Thank you all for your help and support. We would not have been able to do this without CFL.

  14. Filing I-130 Direct with consulate (DCF)

    in General Visa Discussion & First Steps

    Posted

    Hi, we live in the Jiangxi province, so we were required to file our DCF in Beijing. Over there, they only required a 3 month residency(rather than the 6 month). It was really difficult to get ahold of their office and when we finally got through, they would give different answers to the same questions. Here are the Beijing Consulate numbers we called: (from within China) 8531 3726/4576 If you are with the Beijing Consulate, the process is easy once you make the appointment, because payment and application drop-off are now right next to each other. Good luck!

     

    Hello all,

     

    We are new members and just beginning on our visa journey! I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the best area, so please let me know if not!

     

    First a little background: We met about 2 years while we were both completing our Master's degrees in the UK. We fell in love and after the best year of my life, I proposed. (She said yes :unsure: )

     

    I will be moving to China to begin work in August and we would like to get married in her home province. So for visa purposes, we were considering filing the I-130 directly with the consulate (what seems to be known around here as DCF) instead of filing k-1 or k-3. I've been doing a lot of research over the past few months and spoken with a few lawyers and this seems to be the best way.

     

    Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a dearth of information on DCF, here or anywhere on the net. I know I have to be a resident for 6 months, and the process seems rather straightforward, but I'm on the lookout for any traps or pitfalls...

     

    Does anyone have some recent experience filing the I-130 direct witht he consulate? Any suggestions? Tips? Hints? Stories, good or bad? I'd appreciate anything anyone can give me. This seems like a wonderful community and we look forward to getting to know you all over the next few months/years/lifetime...

     

    Thanks in advance

    mp&qw

  15. Interview 5/20 -- PINK

    in Interview Results

    Posted

    congratulations!

    :redblob: She got pink. :)

     

    We got their about 6:30 waited in line till about 8:30 when they finally started calling people in.

     

    She went in and the scared me when she came back down in 30 min we didn't make copies of her passport she need copies. No problem. :)

     

    She was asked the following questions.

     

    After handing in our passports she asked if my fianc¨¦ was here.

    What is your fianc¨¦ job?

    What do you do?

    Where does your fianc¨¦ live?

    Why you love your fianc¨¦?

    How many times has my fianc¨¦ visited?

    When did he visit you last time?

    Please let me see pictures you together? (only had 6 photos of us together). Don¡¯t have more?

     

    When she handed in our passports she also gave my Evolution of Relationship Letter.

     

    When I attended the ACH on Monday I did ask a few questions and the guy also made note that I stopped in and he looked over my EORL and said every looked fine. He was real nice.

     

    When I did try to get the letter notarized I was told I needed an appointment and that I should have enough time to get online and schedule one for Wed morning but she girl at the window did have a clue they was just too busy The sign says you can take a number, but they wont do anything unless you have made an appointment. We did stay at Mr. Yang's (TianYu Garden) right near the consulate it only took a few min to walk back and try to book, already booked.

     

    So for anyone going to ACH on Monday make sure you make an appointment.

     

    Ohh and Mr Yang took her to for her medical exam on Friday that was a big help. She told me that he was very friendly to her. Stephanie did call him and ask if he could look over her paper work he came over to out apt (on the 26th floor) the night before her interview and looked over the papar work. She did have a few mistakes that I had missed (in Chinese so I didn't know).

     

    I did see about I think about four or five other people get PINK that day too. :) I did have most of the typed in my phone but its not their now. If I forgot something I will post more later.

  18. May 27th is our interview date

    in Consulate Process: P-3 ~ Interview

    Posted

    Hi guys,

     

    Yesterday my husband arrived in Guangzhou to get his medical done. He went to the hospital that can also give you your vaccination shots. Sorry, I don't know which one that is. He said he waited there the whole morning until 12pm. At 12, the worker told him he had to come back to get his shots (that was the only thing left he needed). Poor guy was tired and hungry and irritated since the hospital worker told him at the time of closing and not before. He said there were at least a couple hundered people in there doing the same things he was. He will pick his medical results up at 4pm today. Tomorrow at 7:15am, he will go in for his interview. We are thinking pink! Now that this day has finally come, we are almost relieved. Last week, he and I had our wedding banquet and I've just gotten those pics in, I shall try and post them on CFL. Thank you.

  23. Blue overcome!

    in Interview Results

    Posted

    congratulations!

     

    Woo hoo :lol: I am talking to my sweetie, and she just received notice that she can come to Guangzhou with passport on Monday or Wednesday at 2 PM to receive her and the son's visa! Yay!

     

    Unfortunately, I have no vacation left, and really want to come through POE with them, so we are most likely going to delay coming to America until July.

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