I love Sunshine

That is excellent! Sounds like you were well prepared. Congratulations!

Does anyone know if it is possible to make some sort of formal statement to "denounce membership" in the Communist Party (aside from Senator McCarthy)? I am trying to think if there is a way to distance Watingguy's SO from the CP in the eyes of GUZ... It seems to be a formal white and black category, so trying to think of how to get her over to the white if possible...

I called DOS at: (202) 663-1225 I immediately hit "1" and then hit "0" Wait time was about 10 minutes at the time I called. They prompted me for her GUZ number and name. Hope you can get good news too!

I called DOS today and found out my fiancee has been "cleared for interview". For most of us that received our P-2 approval in May, it seems DOS is really working at a fast clip. Now we are expecting an interview sometime in October, and P-4 most likely in early September. I had called DOS on Thursday, and told that GUZ was still waiting for P-3 to be returned. Huh? Sunshine called the White Swan Hotel (the address where EMS delivers for GUZ) on Aug 10 and was told it was indeed picked up by GUZ on Aug 9. We returned our P-3 after getting notification it was sent, but prior to actually receiving the form from GUZ. This presents two postulates for CFL: 1. DOS actually does do updates on the weekends, and Mondays are the best days to call. There are no real-time updates -- at least not yet. 2. Sending back P-3 once we have notice that it has been sent out, but before actually receiving the physical paperwork, seems to work. We had a similar experience with updates at P-3 time; on Thursday, they were waiting for it to arrive from the customs warehouse; the following Tuesday, their systems noted that P-3 had been sent out the previous Thursday. Michaelt, Clayton and Illinois Dave might want to call DOS soon, since they returned theirs around the time we did as well. ILS

Many people fly from China to the USA alone without too many issues. It seems to be far less pressure on her to take a 14-hour flight and show up at the right USCIS line at Detroit than, say, for her to get a medical check in a strange city and go in front of a VO and vouch for her right to be with you and make sure she has all the correct forms, is prepared, etc. My thinking is you want to be with her when the pressure is on her. She will probably remember that for a long time. And I'm sure you would rather see her sooner rather than later.

Hmmm... you are in Detroit, she is from Harbin. At least she won't have to adapt much to your winter weather Welcome aboard, Ron!

Tsap seui, when I read your story, I cannot help but imagine the immense frustration you must have felt, especially when they give you little idea of what happened or what you can do to overcome. All through our lives we are taught that if we didn't do something correctly, someone such as a teacher, coach or boss will teach us how to do better, then hold us to this higher standard. But when we are not given any direction, the feeling is hopelessness. I admire the courage of you and your fiancee. I wish you can put this behind you very soon and get the pink!

Nice indeed! Did they have East Indians playing the Native American Indians? Boy, that would confuse the audience...

Hi Gordon, I would bet that even your P-3 arrives late, your interview will be within a week of the rest of us. I know how you feel. But over a lifetime, this 1-2 weeks will seem inconsequential. Just imagine she will be here by Christmas! When I submitted my paperwork in March, this was my big goal. No guarantee yet, but I remain hopeful!

Hi L, I'm curious, where do you see these "touches" on CFL? Are you referring to posts on VJ? Mostly, we don't use "touches" on CFL. As Randy indicated above, once you receive your NOA2, USCIS is done and over with for this part. There will be no more updates from USCIS. It's all NVC and mostly GUZ from then on. ILS, I'm curious how you arrived at the conclusion that DOS system is "not updated too regularly"? It is generally stated on here that DOS computers are very much updated in real-time. DOS should know exactly what GUZ proper knows in realtime. In fact, I further suspect DOS and GUZ are operating on the exact same back-end database, so they both see the same information. Given your time line info of "06/14/07: NVC approved, GUZ# assigned" I would say you still have at least a couple of weeks to go before GUZ will mark your files as being received. It would greatly surprise me if your SO suddenly received her P3 this week or next. Just as a follow-up, I called DOS on August 2 and they said my file had yet to be received by GUZ. On August 7, I called again, and they said P-3 had been sent out on August 2. Clearly, there is not a real-time system. My background is in databases, and such a real-time system is hard and expensive to implement globally and is rarely used, except in situations that truly need it (financial systems, stock market trading systems, etc.) The once or twice a week synchronizations for them seem to be a more accurate explanation.

8 is your lucky number... 8 questions on 8/8! Time to celebr8!

It's kinda like building a house. Once the framing is done, you can see it a bit more clearly. But once everything is done but the paint, you can really see it start to feel like home. Bring some pink paint to finish that house up! Congratulations!

I originally piggybacked this question on a different thread I just called DOS and they told me that GUZ received my file, and sent it to SO in Shanghai on August 2. We are both excited, but she hasn't received it yet. Does anyone know if she can return the P3 info before actually receiving the physical documents? Any possible hitches to this?

Man, are you in the fast lane or what? Show us the way!

I also tried calling today and was told that my case has not been received by GUZ either. But I know that the computer is not updated too regularly (based on other people's experiences on CFL) so I am not too worried. But seeing that P3 show up in my fiancee's mailbox unexpected would be excellent!

I believe there were a few cases for this earlier this year, and the explanation from the consulate was that they had some printing problems on their end. However, there should be an explanation provided to you. At this point, I wouldn't worry too much (I know, easy for me to say! ), and the question in GUZ speaks can be found here. Hope it helps!

Let me add my congratulations! Thanks for following up with your interview questions. I think we can all feel more comfortable after hearing your recap of her time with the VO.

Thanks all for your input and responses. I appreciate knowing this information and it helps us make a good plan. Yes, my Sunshine is proud of being frugal (it's the Shanghai in her), so it would be an easy sell. I had to tell her it wasn't appropriate to proudly tell others she was a "cheap girl" and to instead use "frugal" or "thrifty". Jim, I like your plan to do it before she leaves China. Your banquet looked very nice. However, I will go back to school again to work on my PhD in a few weeks, and my time is limited before her interview. We might have time for the studio pictures when I come to pick her up, but it is all dependent on GUZ's timing. I want to be there for her interview, but only hope it is not during my final exams.

I'm a K-1 filer. As we are planning for our future and talking about where to have our big wedding ceremony, China is looking more clearly as our best option. One thing we need to consider is when is the earliest my then-wife can return to have our reception in China, presuming all goes well? It is some point after AOS, but exactly when? A very quick search on CFL resulted in no direct answers to this question, but I apologize if this question was responded to in an earlier post.

I think your approach is a winning one. Please be sure to update us after the visa is in hand and let us all learn from your experiences. Good luck to you and your fianc¨¦e!

Sorry, Michael, to piggy-back on your topic here, but I have a related question for those who have been through P3: It seems that with the P3 there is a bar-coded letter that comes in the packet. Is it required that this bar-coded letter be returned with the OF-169 and DS-230 part I? Or do we only need to return the OF-169 and DS-230 part I and no other papers? Thank you!

I also would anticipate an explanation of how you met each other in the beginning. If in the USA or even in China through business or university, it might lead them to give more credibility to your overall situation. This is particularly true in your case since this is more common way for people in your and her education and financial position to meet as opposed to through a marriage broker. Just make sure she can explain this. I am sure you put it in your evolution of a relationship letter, so maybe I am telling you what you already know.

For those who want more data points to see how long others are taking in the K-1/K-3/CR-1 pipeline, please visit the following over at 001: http://001family.001.bank.cn/timeline/all_timeline.asp Column 1: sequence id (not important) Column 2: 001 username Column 3: visa type Column 4: service center Column 5-9: P1, P2, P3, P4 and interview dates Column 10: notes It's a big page, so might take a little while to fully show up. It is in order by visa type, service center, then P1 date and cannot be reordered. This gives more data for those who like to run statistics on this.

August 29 will be here before you know it. Let's hope the VO's are thinking about their Labor Day holiday and are in the pink slip mood!

I did a poll on CFL recently, and using CFL as a sample size, roughly 70% of those USC applying for a K visa for their SOs are either divorced or widowed. A smaller but still significant (about 50%) of their Chinese SOs also are divorced or widowed. This sample size probably matches the overall demographic seeking a K visa fairly well. This implies VOs encounter the "ex" situation frequently. However, most do not get white-slipped. The failure rate is small considering the number of visa seekers with an ex. This year they seem to be scrutinizing the ex's a bit more, as blue slips for ex-related information is higher than in past years. So please don't sweat the ex thing too much. Try to be prepared for the basic information and you should do fine.