avastar

The journey is almost over. Lan will finish teaching her summer school, which her son is attending this week, then will return him home 1000 miles away and visit the rest of her family for a week. Then she will resume our journey by flying here, tentatively on 8/9/03, after an almost one year hiatus. I last saw her on 8/12/02 the day we got married. Her interview appointment was at 8:30am 7/29/03. She arrived at approximately 7:30am got in what was already a long line and waited for almost 4 hours for the interview. At 11:20am she was called in to her interview. The interviewing officer, a gentleman, asked if she spoke English as well as Mandarin. She said yes and spoke only English from that point. He asked her how we met and when we physically met and got married, then he said "all set." She said the interview took almost 2 minutes. He did not look at any of the tons of paraphernalia she brought with her. She recommended that you speak English and act poised and confident, of course it could be that it was just lunch time. Be that as it may, we now have the VISA, and shortly she will be on her way.

You can throw me into the mix PJ, our interview is next week, so we're not home free, but I like our chances. Also, I'm not sure I can be that nice to Ms. Harty, after all this process is taking more than twice as long as it should, but if it will help, I'll bite my tongue.

Hey everyone, I think the word on CFL is to believe the Guangzhou Consulate. I sent a namecheck status request to Guangzhou on the "new" e-mail page Sunday evening. Then I called DOS Monday afternoon for the weekly/biweekly call and got the standard "still pending" response. Late last night an e-mail arrived from Guangzhou saying that our interview has been scheduled for 8:30 on July 29th. I was hoping for a namecheck clearance, but out of the blue was the interview. I don't think I'm going to complain. I just hope its really valid.

I guess I can "jump" in also: U.S. Military Academy (West Point) '71-'75, U.S. Army '75-'81, U.S. Army Reserve '81-'86.

This has been my contention for months, its the only thing that makes sense. The Patriot Act and Immigration and Nationality Act told the State Department to do 2 things. The 1st was to join the law-enforcement integrated computer system and the 2nd was to submit namechecks for all visa applicants. Someone high-up panicked at the delays and decided to submit the namechecks prior to having the computer system up and operating properly. Thus creating the need to "rubber stamp" through the various agencies. Namechecks for standard nonimmigrant visas still happen quickly and probably take up most of DOS's resources to complete, hence the 80% that get completed in less than 2 weeks. Immigrant visa namechecks naturally take longer, as expected by the applicants, and are probably the ones getting farmed out to the outside contractors. However, its us nonimmigrant immigrants that get screwed over, because we expect quick namechecks due to our government's promise to reunite us quickly. Yet they treat us the same as the immigrants and farm out our namechecks that have no priority with the contractors performing the service.

Sure Mark, that would be great, but I'm not sure what the CUC site is. How about e-mailing me the info when you get a chance? Thanks. Its nice to have something to smile about.

What's different? DOS stopped K1/K3 "nonimmigrant" visas over a year ago. They have been treating K1/K3's as immigrants for at least a year. Why do you thnk its taking us this long to get the visas?

Sorry people , but I can't figure out the quote. Sarah36, I'm sorry , but I don't necessarily agree. You could be right about many of them. However, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon are very politically active, and there are others, and both took a black eye over the war in Iraq. They may be looking for just the right opportunity to get back at this republican regime. And this is a good emotional story that could get them plenty of press and attention from the public. Nothing is wrong with the unified letter or fax, but it has been tried with mixed success. Why not try something new also, how much harder would it be to write a second unified letter appealing to someone who has the media and the public's eye. I don't see were it would hurt. And I can guarantee they would have more compassion about our heartache than anyone in the government anywhere so far to date. Also, sorry guys, but I agree Yao Ming does not carry much credibilty, but I bet Jackie Chan does.

Hey guys and gals I think we are moving in the right direction. I have had an additional thought. Would it be possible to find a spokesperson from the entertainment industry to plead our cause? Someone like Tim Robbins or Susan Sarandon , I don't always like their politics, but when they speak people listen. Or maybe a Chinese spokesperson like Jackie Chan or Jet Li or Michelle Yeoh or Zhang ZiYi or even Ang Lee, some one who would be recognizable to the american public. Or can anyone think of an "A" list actor/actress married to someone with a Chinese background. Just a thought.

rocksplit, when you say "open letter" are we saying a letter to the editor or are you talking about taking out an add or finding a friendly reporter. We will also need to distribute the respective e-mail addresses of the powers to be for all who sign up. I think a couple people on here have most of them. I'm willing to participate once we find a consensus. warpedbored, sorry I'm in the midwest, but its Indiana and too far for Minneapolis.

Sorry I've said this before, but I don't think Christy's idea is so far fetched. I don't think the suit should have anything about emotional turmoil, except if it ever got so far as damages. The real issue, still, is that Dos is breaking / subjugating the law. The Immigration and Nationality Act, which is a combination of the LIFE Act and the Patriot Act, says that K3's and K1's are too be processed as nonimmigrants, there was no suggestion there, its very plainly stated. And very simply that is not happening. There has been no law or amendment to change that fact, just an arbitrary determination at some level of DOS that said change them to immigrants. Even if it was Powell or Bush themselves, they are not above the law. That is the real issue for a law suit. The question is, what is our goal? I've received some recommendations from a lawyer who's interested in our issue, but has nothing to do with immigration. He made many good points such as frivolous lawsuits, being blamed for potentially aiding terrorists by both the government and the media, length of lawsuit AND appeals, maybe utilizing house subcommittees to make inquiries, and the fact that these people are not gods...they work for us. From my perspective I see 2 options as far as lawsuits go. One to get attention and one to go the long haul, dealing with the real issues and trying to effect the real change that needs to take place. We keep hoping they'll staighten themselves out, but it just doesn't seem to happen. Unfortunately, I personally don't have the resources to pursue the long haul, However, I think I can deal with the consequences of trying to get attention. We can all file the same lawsuit at the same time on a specific day. We do not need a lawyer to do that, so it could be 25 federal lawsuits in 25 states with the same appeal. The lawyer said that the judges would probably frown on "frivolous" lawsuits that are filed and then abandoned and that there would be a good chance we would have to pay court costs and the government's cost. And he highly recommended that we don't do that, but in this manner we should get the media attention that we seek. The court case is just another option I think we should consider. I would also be more than willing to join in a demonstration in front of the State Department. I live in the midwest, but would be happy to make the drive, if we could coordinate an effort.

Called yesterday, 40 min. on-hold, still-pending, call back in 2 weeks. B)

Powell's memo was to implement the K3 Visa of the LIFE Act.

Robhon, you are right, but I'm not sure who it is, I'll try to find out. R2D2 you're right about the time and it may have been initiated during the Clinton years, but Bush wrote a memo on it, which I can't readily find, similar to this Powell memo which was supposed to implement the LIFE Act. Notice the memo date and what happened 4 days later: http://travel.state.gov/state167548.html Looks like I'm unable to get the link to work, so maybe you'll have to paste. Of particular interest is Items 19 & 25. The LIFE Act apparently is no longer in effect, but the new Immigration and Nationality Act is in effect and has virtually the same wording. The only difference is the addition of the namecheck, which is supposed to be a speedy security check with the "new" judicial integrated computer system, which apparently isn't up and running yet.

Donasho, I'm not trying to fight, but how can you say that the K3 is working as intended, if its taking as long or longer for my wife to get here than it does your fiancee. Neither is working as intended, both are taking way too long. The intention of the K3 was to dramatically increase the reunification process of spouses. And fiancee K1's were supposed to fall in line with the speed of the K3's via the nonimmigrant status also bestowed on them. Robhon you are exactly right in your accessment of what the law says. That's why I say someone, somewhere has messed up. And that's why we have grounds for a law suit that may get the attention we need to get off this merry-go-round.