HongKong2LA

Interview, schminterview....good chance it will delay my wife's flight.

I have a colleague (sp?) at work and his wife's job (as I understand it) is pretty much processing student visa's for people attending USC ( , sorry but I'm a Bruin), talking to her a couple times at social events it sounds like there is not much they can't overcome if the sponsoring institution wants them. It sounds like in your case it should not be a problem and talking to her a week ago at another colleague wedding, she was mentioning that many following visa's were issued for spouses and children and it sounded pretty easy according to her. I will reach out to her and ask specifically regarding your sister in-law circumstances and let you know what I find out.

Great news! When will she be here?

Congratulations!!!!

LA has several. The official Chinatown is off of the 110 freeway at Hill Street in downtown LA. Chinatown LA http://www.chinatownla.com/ It's pretty cool. Southern Cal. covers a lot of area though and depending on where you will be in "so cal" there are other areas with large Chinese populations that have very vibrant Chinese communities. The largest probably being the San Gabriel Valley, which I'm not very familiar with because it's ways away from where I live. I think there are members in that area that may respond to you. As far as the beauty salon goes, can't help you there unless you just want a great stylist. I have a great lady that does my hair here in Torrance. She is Korean and an artist with hair in my opinion. Torrance has a large Asian population though it is prodominantly Japanese and Korean although there is still a faily large Chinese population too. Sounds like you will be here about the time my wife arrives from Hong Kong. She gets here on the 24th. We would be happy to meet you and your lovely wife for lunch or dinner if the opportunity is there. If you're interested, send me a pm. Hope you have a great time here in So Cal.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and wishes. Now who needs the leftover porn and cheetoh's....

I want to thank you Randy for all the great pictures you post, seeing them actually makes me feel a little bit closer to my wife while we are geographicallly so far from each other. Thanks again. yeah boy Kyle, Finally, you ain't just whistling dixie...

Great news Jeff!!! I'm really happy to see you guys get your dreams come true for you. tsap seui Thanks tsap. Your day is coming soon. The wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly but they are turning for you and I know lil rabbit will one day in the near future realize her dream of seeing America up close thanks to your strength, loving devotion and perserverance to your wife and son. I can't wait to send congratulations to you on that day.

Great news Jeff!!! I'm really happy to see you guys get your dreams come true for you. tsap seui Thanks tsap. Your day is coming soo. The wheels of bureacracy turn slowly but they are turning and I know lil rabbit will one day in the near future realize her dream of seeing America up close thanks to your strength and loving devotion to your wife and son. I can't wait to send congratulations to you on that day.

Thanks Dan and I owe you a special thank you for bringing me to CFL. Thanks very much Mick. I hope all is well with you and your beautiful wife and daughter.

Dude, take some advice from an older (not old though...hehe) guy on this, don't let them or anything get into your head right now, the delay is just one of those things, definitely somebody, somewhere waiting longer than you are. Enjoy your time together, check that, savor your time together waiting for the package to come. It will come but no matter, you are together now with the one you love in China. Experience it to the max. Before you know it you will be headed home, to your new life together and these few days will be precious memories. Don't let anything take even one second away from your focus on this time together in this moment.

Consulate called her yesterday to bring in the passports, they're ready to issue the visa!!!! We should get them back next week. Barring any unforseens, wife and daughter will be here in less than a month, just in time to go trick-or-treating!!!!

Hang in there Turbo, seems like your NOA1 is taking a little longer than usual, if you have online banking it's easy to see when they cash your check and it will come shortly after that, and most likely it will be on the one day you don't check your mailbox.... but this is the short part. Speaking of Sam....where is he? Haven't heard from him in a while.

Congratulations!!!!

Good stuff. Thanks for putting it up.

I can confirm this. They do take it seriously in HK and from what I've learned they look at cases in much the same way as they do in GUZ. In HK, in my experience they look at two things very closely, one is how you met and two is how you communicate. Be prepared to address both of these issues thoroughly and up front. That said though, there are advantages to going through HK if you can. First, the case load in HK is much less than GUZ, which means communication with the consulate is a lot better and easier than GUZ. All of my emails were answered in very specific terms, no form letter responses. Second, and this is huge, as a USC, you may be able to attend the interview. Unfortunately for me, I learned this too late but at least was able to rectify with a follow up interview that both my wife and I attended together, although we were interviewed seperately.Read this review for tips on how to attend the interview with your girl.My link A caution though not to get ahead of yourself. It's great that you're doing your research, but this is your first meeting and no matter how great it has been with emails and web cams and phone calls, the meeting in person will be the telltale. Obviously, you already know that but but just a word of caution from one who has been there. Good luck and have a great time in Hong Kong, it is truly a fantastic city. I'm sure you'll have a great time. Feel free to pm me if you want and I can give you some tips on things to do while you're there.

Congratulations on your citizenship!!!!!

I have to agree with the others...there is no "there" there. In other words, all of the signs are clear, this is not the one for you. Find a (the) guy who thinks you are the most beautiful girl in the world for many reasons...he is out there somewhere looking for you. Good Luck and listen closely to your heart...it won't mislead you, but sometimes your head can.

Congratulations!!!

I see the topic is dated 2005 and the evidence of joint interviews looks to be third person and anecdotal at best. Beyond that it directly contradicts the VO's very words that I heard with my own ears that it was rare for them to get both together. Maybe once upon a time but I even doubt that for the same reasons the GUZ CO stated.

Really? I'm surprised to hear this. It's the first time I've heard that in my 2 years of researching the process. It doesn't hurt to ask, you never know until you try. With the stakes so high, I would try everything I could think of. They would not have talked to me if I had not asked.

If you are going to China anyway, I would try to get an appoitment with the consulate to discuss your case. They may or may not give you one but it's worth a shot. I did that very thing with the Hong Kong consulate and the VO actually thanked me for being willing to come in and talk to them. He said they really appreciated it because they rarely get a chance to talk to and see the petitioner and the beneficiary togther. I don't know how GUZ works but I just kept in contact with the consulate through emails and when I knew the dates I would be in HK I emailed them and requested an appoitment to discuss our case and they scheduled the appointment for me with no fuss. It might have been just to get me off their back and out of their hair though. Good luck and hang in there, sounds like maybe you are nearing the tail end.

One way ticket? You must be going for a considerable stay. Good on you, I'm jealous, but will it really save you money? I've been shopping for one way tickets and and so far they seem to run quite a bit more than half of a round trip ticket price. Sorry, can't help you with the consulate question because we have a Chinese consulate here in LA and I just go drop off the visa app. there. Never had any trouble with the generic passport photo though and yes the multiple entry is the same price as the single so you are better off getting the multiple in the case that you to travel to Hong Kong or Macau or anywhere out of mainland while you're there. Enjoy your stay and give us updates from time to time.

Mods, Not sure why this posted twice. Can you delete one. Thanks

After nagging the HK consulate almost weekly with emails since our blue slip in May, they agreed to see me while I was in HK to visit the wife. When we got to the consulate they wanted to interview us seperately, which we agreed to. Three consulate investigators spoke to me for about 45 minutes and asked me just about every question under the sun. Then they spoke with qizi for about 15 minutes. At the end I asked if we would have a decision soon, the lead investigator told me that they (the investigators) don't issue the visa but that they were going to write a favorable report recommending the visa be issued and he added congratulations. He said we should hear in about a week from the consulate to bring the passports in for the visa's. We were on cloud 9 when we walked out of there. Hopefully it happens as quickly as he said it would. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but not holding my breath.