sacman24

for what it is worth I have flown all three airlines to HK out of SFO...I flew Northwest once (DC10) and there was a layover in Japan (major drawback) the service and comfort was average...I flew United once (747) this was a direct flight and was not very happy with the food or service overall I would rate the service below average and the comfort average...I flew Cathay 5 times (all direct flights-all 747's) I think that their food and service was the best...the flight crews really are super...also, instead of centralized movie screens they place screens on the back of all of the seats, in this way you can choose to watch any of the movies or programming available pretty much anytime you want...however the major drawback to this is the fact that the screen is very small and the quality at times can be quite poor...so for my money if the price is reasonably close I would prefer to fly with Cathay...

Hello all...I have read almost everything I can find here about the vaccination process required for the "adjustment of status," however I am still confused...we plan on having the vaccinations done with our HMO (Kaiser Permanente)...can the doctor there fill out the vaccination supplement or do we have to go to the Civil Surgeon to have this done...if our HMO can fill in the paperwork and this form is not included with the I-693, how do we go about getting this form...by the way, Amy's physical was done in China so we do not need to have one done here

Hi all. Well Amy arrived here in Sacramento 3 weeks ago and all is going well. She is in school and considering part time employment. She was here once before and already has a SSN. Her SS card has the following printed on it, “valid for work only with INS authorization.” Does this mean she must have a Employment Authorization card from the INS. If so, then from what I have read she needs to turn a completed I-765 form (Application for Employment Authorization) into the INS office. Is this correct and if it is, does she have to take it into the office or can we just mail it in or fax it instead? We really would prefer to avoid going into the INS office if at all possible.

In just three minutes, 10 plus months of waiting have come to a joyous conclusion. Amy passed the dreaded interview this afternoon. The VO asked only four very routine questions and did not bother looking at any of our evidence. They say, “Good things come to those who wait.” Then, I am guessing that all of us here at the Candle have many...many good things coming our way. And one week from Thursday, Amy will be coming my way! Thanks again for all your help. And if you are still waiting for your visa, I hope your tomorrow will arrive very...very soon. Sac

Well Amy is inside the Embassy now. Everything went fine this morning, but apparently the Embassy folks did not put the copies I faxed to them into Amy's file yet. If you recall "The Great FedEx Fiasco" necessitated my faxing a number of documents to both Amy and the Embassy. Hopefully, that will have no bearing on the outcome. It should not be long before Amy calls me. I promise to update you good folks as soon as I get the good news. Sac

Congratulations!!! Enjoy the good life!!!

Sounds great!!! By the way, my fiancee goes tomorrow. One fellow here said that they need to take the 156K with them in both Chinese and English...but Amy says she was only given one form and it was in English...what can you tell me about that? Thanks Tim

Congratulations and I am sure that this information will help my fiancee who has her interview on 9/3...hopefully we will be as fortunate as the two of you....

I did call FedEx. It appears that you are correct. Although, they seem a bit confused about the policy as well. I called two different times. The first representative immediately confirmed that China customs will only allow documents to be delivered to a business and not a private address. The second representative at first said otherwise, but upon further inquiry from me she found the regulations stating this procedure. However, she said that this procedure must have just recently been changed. As far as my documents are concerned, they did clear customs in Anchorage, but will not be shipped until Tuesday, whish is the same day as the interview. Now, weather they will clear customs in China is another thing. Hopefully, since Amy already has the most necessary documents in hand we will come out of this alright. By the way, I have faxed the other documents directly to the Embassy.

Who knows...FedEx....customs? But, here is my tracking info. By the way, FedEx told me to call customs and try and put the heat on them to process the parcel. Aug 26, 2003 9:18 am Package status ANCHORAGE AK Regulatory Agency Clearance Delay 6:37 am Arrived at Sort Facility ANCHORAGE AK 2:18 am Left FedEx Sort Facility MEMPHIS TN 1:17 am Arrived at Sort Facility MEMPHIS TN Aug 25, 2003 7:55 pm Left FedEx Ramp SACRAMENTO CA 7:16 pm Left FedEx Origin Location SACRAMENTO CA 6:27 pm Arrived at FedEx Ramp SACRAMENTO CA 6:06 pm Left FedEx Origin Location SACRAMENTO CA 1:12 pm Pickup status SACRAMENTO CA Payment Received

Yes, I am perplexed as well by what FedEx told me. The contents were just listed as “documents” with a value of $1.00. And they were addressed to my fiancee in Shenzhen. I, too, did my fair of shouting. At first they just tried to tell me that they could not get through to their Anchorage location. Something about the fact that it is not setup to deal with customers! It was not until I mentioned the contents of the package that the representative told me that they have had problems clearing documents bound for embassy or regarding visas. Upon further questioning he said that customs randomly (or maybe not so randomly) takes a certain percentage of all parcels sent to China for further investigation. He was not sure why they select certain parcels over others. However, he did say that had this been a t-shirt it would have most likely arrived on schedule. Do I feel comfortable with the explanation, certainly not. Does something smell fishy, absolutely. Hence, all of my shouting. But, at a certain point it seems that you just have to accept the fact that the package will be delayed. As far as FedEx is concerned, they are sympathetic but say that for the time being it is out of their hands. As our good friends at DOS would say, “It is pending!” And to all of you that have offered me advice on how to deal with problem I thank you! Your help, as always, is appreciated.

I am not sure if it was “on time” or not. How do you tell. What I can tell you is that I visited the Embassy on 8/5 and was informed that Amy had cleared her security check and was now on a waiting list for her interview date. Then on 8/6 I received the following reply to an email I had sent on 8/1. Thank you for your inquiry. The subject mentioned case is about to be scheduled for a visa interview. Once we schedule the case, we will mail an appointment packet to the applicant. Sincerely, Immigrant visa unit Then, without any further notice the EMS containing the P4 showed up on 8/21.

Just about the time we think it is over....wham....the government sticks it’s big head into our business one more time. After ten months of waiting Amy finally received her P4 on 8/21. This gave us less than two weeks to prepare for her 9/3 interview. Although, I had taken over many of the most important documents ( including: tax return, affidavit of support with all accompanying documentation, and significant evidence regarding our relationship) on my July trip to China there were still a few items I needed to send her. So on Monday I sent her a FedEx containing copies of my passport, her email history to me, recent phone logs, and a notarized letter concerning her prior visit to the US. In September of 2000 Amy was here on a K-1 visa. It did not work out between her and her fiancee. Last Saturday she read at her website about one girl who also had been here once before. During the interview she was told that she had to secure a notarized letter from her fiancee to the effect that he was aware of her prior visit to the US. So just in case, I also included a notarized letter in my FedEx. I sent all the documents out on Monday 9/25. They ended up in Anchorage and now are being held there. They have been there since 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. Almost three and half days now! Upon rattling the cages at FedEx, come to find out that it is customs that is doing the holding. Apparently they routinely take parcels that are visa oriented and hold them for up to five days. Checking them for what, I have no clue. Of course, the holdup will be just enough time to virtually ensure that Amy will not get the package before she must leave for the embassy. This, of course, begs the question. Can the government do anymore to interfere in the visa process than they already have? Let me see here, that makes the INS, US Embassy, DOS, FBI, IRS, US Customs, and probably a few agencies I have left out that get their hands into our business. Whew....when will it ever it end? And an even bigger question. How will this all washout at the interview?

Hi all! This is my first post here. Just wanted to let you know that my fiancée Amy just received her P4 yesterday 8/21. Her interview is less than two weeks from now on 9/3. Our timeline is as follows NOA1 11/02/02 NOA2 12/21/02 P3-4/4/03 Name check submitted-4/4/03 Name check completed-Around 8/1/03 P4-8/21/03 Interview-9-/03/03 Visa issued-? I would just like to share a few thoughts at this time. First, thanks to all of you here who help shed light on how this visa process from hell works. Before I came to this website I was completely in the dark about the visa process. For months I wondered what was taking so long. For instance, I could not understand how the INS could forward our application to GZ and yet over three months later upon my visit to the Embassy being told that, “we have no record of your application at this time!” It was not long after that that I found out about the Candle. Finally, I realized with a bit of relief and even more dismay, that we were not alone in our quandary. I found that there were others just like us. Since that time I have read with equal parts encouragement and frustration the stories of the Candle members. I appreciate the efforts that many of you have made and our making to bring your loved ones to this country. I have done many of the same things that you have. I have: dotted my i’s and crossed my t’s, emailed the embassy regularly, called DOS weekly, contacted my state senators, and visited the embassy on two occasions. I am not sure what affect any of this has really had. But in the end, after all is said and done, it appears that we will finally be together. Of course, just as everyone here does, we also have a story. Along the way there were a number of twists and turns. For example, I called DOS just two days ago in an effort to confirm what the embassy had told me a week before, that Amy’s name check had cleared. They informed me that it was still pending! And then the following day we received the P4 from the embassy! If I had it all to do over again I probably would not have called DOS at all, it seems to be just a waist of time and money. However, on the other hand, I would email the embassy often. I might say to those of you who are still waiting to be patient, but I hated it when others said that. However, what I will say is that all of us hear know the frustration and suffering you are going through and I for one can only pray that for you too, it will end soon. Tim