Lee VD

Thanks for the advice. We will see what happens on 7/21 but will be sure to ask if there is a way she can just walk-in when the time is right (if the blue slip is appropriately notated or other means). That would be ideal!

The latter yes. There have been cases in other countries where they overlooked or simply blew off the last couple months and let them go. Her J1 expiry date is 7/31/08, just 10 days from 2 years of the date of the interview. A careless VO may let that go and not take into account the actual date of return from the U.S. (8/20/08) and the numerous visits. We are hoping for an overlook but she is circling the YES where it asks as one of the ineligible conditions "not yet fulfilled 2yr HRR". So she is effectively telling her at the interview and will discuss it with her then. I have explained to her to try and see what the process could be to just have the visa postponed. I think one of the problems is the date isn't truly fixed. If she leaves the country between interview and that end date, it changes the date. Hence, I have read that the typical response to this (from VJ) is a blue slip with the note to submit proof of fulfilling the 2yr HRR when it occurs. Hence showing passport stamps proving stay in the country for 730 days. I hope you are right though.... So how does that work? Do they issue a blue slip to say come back on X-date? Can she just come in after she is eligible, or does she need to have a call back letter to come in? I'll check into those cases you pointed out... Also, Shanghai is mail-back eligible. Does she even have to appear in person again at all or just send in her passport, they can see the eligibility and stick a visa in it? That would be the easy way!

The no objection waiver would not gonna happen. Her stay in the U.S. was paid for by the Chinese government. They are going to object. I have heard that at BEST they will ask you to reimburse the government for her stay ( on the order of $10,000-$20,000) and THEN MAYBE you will get the no objection waiver within 2 years We decided to go the more expensive route for two reasons: 1) In the case of a visa rejection we have a chance to marry and resubmit. 2) We wanted more time to get to know each other and make sure it is right yet be able to start the process so that a year later when we know we are truly ready, the process is near completion. A somewhat crazy but viable idea is to abandon the K-1, marry, and do a K-3. She still has a valid B visa which she could possibly renew and come to the U.S. to visit while the K3 is in process and return to interview. There would be issues around POE and her reasons for visiting the U.S. but if we are married already may not be a problem. Her B visa expires in September so we are thinking to go ahead and try and renew it just in case (she is eligible for the express renewal like she did last year). There is the risk they will deny it with the K1 well into the hopper, but may be worth a try as a backup. I'm considering that fall back if we are really delayed by December. But we will probably be in an "any day" mode but who knows how long the CCP waiver and blue slip response will really take. Will know more after the interview and I am preparing her the questions to ask around this, but this is 95% the likely outcome (blue for CCP and 2yr HRR). I have instructed her to honestly circle the dreaded "YES" around the reasons for ineligibility.

I don't believe I have seen it mentioned that a fee was required when this is done in conjunction with a K visa, is that correct?

My fiancee had her medical exam today in Shanghai. They told her to come back in a WEEK to get the paperwork, but we are in no rush. The only odd thing is they requested SIX visa photos?! She said in the documentation it only said 4 were required at the exam and 2 for the consulate. So they took all the photos she had made so she needs to go back and get 2 more copies... not sure what that was about...?

I have been trying to think the best way to approach our likely blue result with respect the fulfilling the J1 2yr HRR. It is almost certain that at the interview on 7/21 she will be given a blue slip requesting that she respond back with proof that she has fulfilled her 2yr HRR. Including all her U.S. visits and her last expected visit in early August we have calculated that she will have completed her sentence on Nov. 9th. We are hoping to at least get married by the end of the year (for tax reasons ) but of course we want to be together as soon as possible. Given that it appears that getting a call back letter from a blue slip response appears to take 4-6 weeks, what would be the best way to try and do something so that she can be called back on or soon after Nov. 9th? Is the delay because your response sits in the "Inbox" for a few weeks before it is processed? If so, then would it make sense to send in our documentation of proof that she is fulfilled as of Nov. 9th a couple weeks prior to that date so that by the time they pick it out of the box its after Nov. 9th? Is it possible to get a call back notice that says "you may appear on or after <date>"? Is it possible to get a visa post dated to be effective on <date>? My other thought is in addition to sending the response a couple weeks prior, send a duplicate response a couple days before Nov. 9th in case they do pick up the first one right away and reject it since they received it before that date. Then they get the duplicate response on or after Nov. 9th anyway. Any other ideas? Any other blue issues that are just time based and how to handle them? Lee

Seattle area for me as well... Will probably do POE in San Francisco as we always fly United. The officers there have been good to us so far...

Recently I have seen long NVC Out to P3 times (up to 3 months someone recently waited!) but then a short P3 to P4 time and then in other cases a very short NVC Out to P3 time and a longer P3 to P4 time (us). The interview dates are now running about 7 weeks from P4. From what I have read, the P3 will go out with the electronic receipt at the consulate from the NVC but the P4 will not go out until the physical file is received.

Important updated fee information! http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/niv_fees2.html Note: As suspected, if you have already paid the fee at the lower amount, you need to go back and pay the difference and show both receipts at your interview.

Important updated fee information! http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/niv_fees2.html Note: As suspected, if you have already paid the fee at the lower amount, you need to go back and pay the difference and show both receipts at your interview.

Well it appears the J1 didn't come into play but surely will in the interview from her GNI-2 response. She did have a 2 week visit back to China during her J1 but from what I can tell that doesn't count towards the HRR although I did see one case on VJ where the consulate did count it towards the HRR. I think the law says that your fulfillment begins after the J1 expires and you return to your home country.

For those not familiar with my case, we have two issues we need to overcome so we are almost guaranteed blue on the interview despite a slam dunk case otherwise: #1) CCP member. We have the letter all written ready to go and its a fairly slam dunk waiver approval but we don't know if they will make her go through the waiver or just "wave her through" at the interview like some have been lucky enough to have happened. She joined while in college as it was highly encouraged for her to get better positions in her field as an educator. #2) She has not fulfilled her J1 2year HRR. The GNI-2 has the question about this so she will certainly trigger a Q&A on this. Her return from the J1 visit was 8/20/08 but then she has numerous U.S. visits. If you do it by the book she has to wait until 11/9/10 until she is free (including another planned U.S. visit in early Aug). On VJ I have seen cases where the consulates in other countries just blew off the last few months but that would be unlikely at GUZ I imagine. The good thing is we have proved you can go through the whole process and interview without the HRR being fulfilled (others have shown this too) and can get the CCP waiver kicked off while waiting for the HRR to time out. That was the plan all along, so far so good. I am most concerned about when to respond to the blue with the proof of HRR fulfilment. Since they take 3+ weeks for a call back letter, it makes me wonder if we shouldn't reply a little early so the call back is sent right on or after 11/9 but that's some tricky timing. What would be ideal is if they could post-date the visa but I don't imagine they would do that. P.S. NO mention of the fee increase in the P4 packet received. A lot of people are in for a surprise. I am anxious to see what they make people do to resolve underpayment? "Go to the bank and write back to reschedule an interview date..."?!!?!

Thats what confuses me "apply". Do they mean the I-129F application, or does apply refer to the DS form that the beneficiary sends in. It doesn't refer to the interview date. I will probably need to email or call to get an explanation since we partially paid. Maybe the P4 has been updated and has more clarification. What would be FAIR is if it is based on the I-129F application date, since it is not our fault it has taken this long.

Wow, they must be backing up there... already deep into July. I called DoS and the interview date has been set for us at 7/21. No P4 yet but it sounds that with that date they just issued it. Lee

But wondering if you already paid $131 I am guessing you need to go back and pay the $219 and then show both receipts at the interview?

June interviewees... note the new fee increase! For those who already paid your fee, let us know what you needed to do to "true up"?

Ohhh kayyy... So. After we got the P3 and it listed the (old) visa fee that must be paid at CITIC my girl went and paid the fee. They accepted it without an interview letter. The P3 says the visa fee may be paid "any time" before the interview. So, she will be getting a post 6/4 interview date. What does she need to do?? Does she need to go back and pay the difference to CITIC? It refers to day they apply but does not refer to the interview date. I guess one could interpret that the "processing fee" is paid based on when they interview? But I don't see it written there.

I wrote into GUZ and think I got the canned response: it can take a few months, try back in 2 months Im wondering if/when they pick up on her J1 2yr HRR. Maybe they won't issue an interview date until the 2yr period has passed? Her 2yr anniversary of the expiration is about end of July but you can stay in the U.S. one month past your J1 expires which she did. Other reports on VJ in other countries allowed interviewing even when the 2yr wasnt up so that's what we are hoping.

United through SFO-PVG and then maybe a domestic China flight to CAN. United has been working on a SFO-CAN flight but it has been delayed and I don't know think it is running yet. Also try Asiana SEA-ICN and then onto CAN. I am sure Asiana flies there.

?! Where/when did you see that asked for? There are many divorced people who have no idea what there ex is up to or where they live.

Wow... already deep into June. It seemed last month that the spread was about 4-5 weeks between receipt and interview, now its running 6 weeks? Maybe a few boxes got out of customs they are catching up on?

Good luck! can you post your timeline or say when you sent in the P3? We are waiting for the interview letter "any day now" so want to see when you sent in your P3...

Yes, tsap has just a pure horror story... it's no wonder he's gone mad

My girl is from Zhengzhou. So far it is my favorite city... it has the best combination of modern style yet not too overpopulated and has city services that allow you to get around comfortably. Its expansion on the outeredges into the farmland is amazing. High rise apts on one side of a new boulevard with farms on the other and the farmers drying their corn on the unused lanes of the boulevard!! Anyway, I just got back to Shanghai from Nanjing and that's just too overpopulated for its own good. The malls, the public transportation, roads, just all way overcrowded despite being modern. We had to abort our trip out to the Mausoleum after being packed solid onto a bus and having it traverse 3 blocks in 20 minutes! We found the Nationalist Presidential Compound anyway which is very interesting re: 20th century history. A must see! Sorry for the diversion... I look forward to hearing the visa interview outcome, good luck!

We're hoping the interview will be end of May as we sent in the P3 about 3 weeks ago but am seeing the wheel of misfortune is dealing some people 3-4month custom delays still ! From what I read in the FAQ, the P3 can go out based on the electronic file sent, but they won't send P4 until the physical file shows up?? (K1 no EP)