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They will hold the visa over. At least for one day, as I have done that. I would be reluctant to tell them at the interview that she would not be able to pick it up the next day as the IV unit may postpone preparing it until she actually shows up.

Yesterday, China time, DHL delivered 20-25 boxes to GUZ. I think they are boxes of files.

A couple of saying comes to mind about asking about your food in China. "Don't ask me any questions and I won't tell you any lies." "Don't ask, don't tell." The Chinese people I work with and go out to eat with used to do that with me all the time, don't tell. The only thing I don't know even now is whether they had me eat dog meat.

I think the IV unit will try to maintain the staus quo as long as possible before the move, but unless it brings in new people for the move it will most likely have to devote some officers to the move. Like death and taxes, I think disruption for some cases is a sure bet. My guess is the Consulate will buy new equipment. The space was a shell and the Consulate is building it out from bare interior walls, hvac and all.

Two items of some importance: 1. There is a new temporarty IV unit chief. Randy Townsend, who moves in from the NIV unit. Michael Yen left unannouced, due, as I was told, because he had been out of the US continously for too long, so he had to go back. A new permanent IV unit chief is supposed to come in in the Summer. 2. The whole Visa Section itself will move this Summer to the Tianhe area of Guangzhou. That also includes the CIS office and adoptions I am told. The new office will be close to (3 or 4 blocks) the East Railroad Station (the rail link to Hong Kong). There are a variety of hotels close by too.

Probably that is "98%" correct. My experience is that the IV unit does get out most of its decisions on overcome submittals the next day. There have been many instances of one or two of my cases not being finished at the time every other beneficiary has obtain their decision and gone, but the IV unit does continuing working on the case and I get it later that day. Several times I have waited outside until (from 2:00pm) 4:30pm to 5:30pm to get the results.

Trigg. Would you please e-mail me the letter draft that has been chosen to be send to Harty. Have you thought about sending a copy of the letter to William Martin and Michael Yen at GUZ? They are the ones that need to make the adjustments to deal with your complaints and suggestions. They are the ones who will take any heat from DOS. I have battled with the CIS offices at GUZ and Beijing, they were worst than useless. I got so I would call and fax the regional BOSS of the CIS in Asia whose office is in Bangkok. With persistence, follow-up and clearly stating the facts involving in my complaints I think I did get some reaction from the two local CIS offices. But believe me, they never say, "oh sorry, we were wrong" and we will do this or that to corrrct the situation. I have assumed from the subsequent actions of the local, GUZ and Beijing, CIS officers that had heard of my complaints and were sort of dealing with them, kind of like "grudgingly." I think you all deserve "attaboys" for doing the letter. I wish you all well and that the letter is effective.

Trigg. Would you please e-mail me the letter draft that has been chosen to be sent to Harty. Have you thought about sending a copy of the letter to William Martin and Michael Yen at GUZ? They are the ones that need to make the adjustments to deal with your complaints and suggestions. They are the ones who will take any heat from DOS. I have battled with the CIS offices at GUZ and Beijing, they were worst than useless. I got so I would call or fax the regional BOSS of the CIS in Asia whose office is in Bangkok. With persistence, follow-up and clearly stating the facts involving in my complaints I think I did get some reaction from the two local CIS offices. But believe me, they never say, "oh sorry, we were wrong" and we will do this or that to corrrct the situation. I have assumed from the subsequent actions of the local, GUZ and Beijing, CIS officers that they had heard of my complaints and were sort of dealing with them, kind of like "grudgingly." I think you all deserve "attaboys" for doing the letter. I wish you all well and that the letter is effective.

The following quoted text is from a AILA lawyer. As you will read, she is expressing her professional frustration with GUZ. I don't know if she willgo ahead with a Mandamous action. If anyone want s to pursue an inquiry into this with her I would be willing to act as a go-between to see if she has any interest in discusing any of your cases. As to the situation in general about the telling people to wait for further processing, it has several aspects. One is that the SO is told on a blue sheet to wait until GUZ gets back to the beneficiary, then the next thing they hear is that the case has been/will be sent back to the US more processing/investigation or revocation. The other situation is, as has been occurring recently, issuing the white visa pick-up sheet and then when the time comes to supposedly pick up the visa GUZ issues a blue sheet plus maybe others instead. In both types of situations I generally do not see any explanation for why there is a hold up, except for "need more time," "need further processing" and the like. In some cases, I have been able to break down GUZ's wall of silence with persistence and perhaps properly phrased arguments, to get more information as to what is going on with the specific case, but not often. This situation has been happening for some time. I have several cases bringing the situation to the IV unit's attention. No answers yet from GUZ to the challenges made to the handling of those cases. The following is from an AILA member lawyer to other lawyers: Hi all, I filed a K-1 visa on behalf of a China national in 2003 which was sent to Guangzhou in 07/2004. Guangzhou is finally interviewing the fiancee in March 2005, even though the validity of her I-129F has long expired. I filed a K-3 for another China national in 2004 which was sent to Guangzhou in 05/2004 and my client was just interviewed last month (Feb. 2005). The interviewing officer asked for cassette tapes of the petitioner/husband's voice & Chinese-speaking ability and useless things like used calling cards (since husband and wife do not maintain telephone bills). It seems that Guangzhou is sitting on or delaying cases on purpose. Has anyone else out there dealing with Guangzhou experienced the same unreasonable delay of their cases? Clients are anxious to have their fiancee/spouse enter the U.S. to join them. What is going on w/Guangzhou? Do you recommend filing a Mandamus action? Is there anything else that can be done to push the cases forward? I have done numerous inquiries and in every response, Guangzhou states that they need more time to review the cases. Frustrated,

It depends on what happens to the case file. If the Consulate refuses the K1 visa and says it will send the file back to the US CIS for revocation, then the petitioner has a right to notice and hearing to dispute the Consulate's recommendation to revoke the petition and argue with the CIS that it should not revoke the petition. There may be other avenues to pursue depending on the case and the parties.

Pingme: I just came across this announceement for helping people with human and constitutional rights issues. I am not sure if it would be helpful to you, but is another source for you. To: Immigration Attorneys and Advocates From: Peter A. Schey, President CHRCL Foundation Re: Announcement of Immigrant Litigation Fund (ILF) Description of the Fund and Application Process Date: March 5, 2005 The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law has for over 20 years engaged in major impact litigation, including numerous class action cases, on behalf of immigrants and refugees. As a result of this work, the Center has won significant court victories and nationwide settlements requiring that all apprehended immigrants be informed of their right to counsel and to contact their consular officers, all immigrants appearing before Immigration Judges must be advised of available local free legal services, all detained immigrant minors are eligible for release to licensed shelters and responsible third parties other than their parents, and all undocumented children are permitted to attend public schools. To learn more about the Center’s work, please visit any of the web sites listed above. Because of the successful outcome of these cases, the Center has won the largest attorney’s fees awards ever issued by the federal government. We plan to use a portion of these fees to establish the Immigrant Litigation Fund. By creating the Immigrant Litigation Fund, we hope to encourage immigration attorneys in private practice or working with non-profit organizations to pursue remedies in the courts on behalf of low-income immigrants and refugees whose rights are being violated under federal and/or state laws. At least in some cases, the cost of litigation is a barrier to low income immigrants and refugees actively pursuing available judicial remedies or appeals of adverse administrative decisions. The Immigrant Litigation Fund will provide financial support for the costs and expenses associated with challenges and appeals on behalf of immigrants and refugees. Structure of the Immigrant Litigation Fund The ILF grants are made in the form of no-interest loans to be used to pay costs and expenses in court cases brought on behalf of low-income immigrants and refugees. ILF grants are only paid back if the legal case is successful and the plaintiff or petitioner recovers his or her legal costs. If the legal case or appeal fails, the loan is forgiven. Grants will only be made in cases in which the prevailing party is entitled to recover his or her out of pocket costs. ILF grants may not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per case. The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law will evaluate grant applications to determine the importance of the issue being litigated, the likelihood of success, and the ability of the plaintiff or petitioner to pay the costs and related expenses of the litigation or appeal. ILF grants may be used for all litigation costs including, for example, filing fees, transcripts, attorney travel, deposition costs, expert fees, etc. ILF grants may not be used to pay for attorney’s fees. In some cases in which the expertise of its attorneys would increase the likelihood of success in a case, The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law may require that its attorney become co-counsel in a case or appeal for which an ILF grant is made. This may be done in cases in which the experience of the Center’s attorneys and the resources of the Center would enhance the likelihood of success of the case on appeal. How to apply for an ILF grant Lawyers in private practice or non-profit legal service providers may apply for ILF grants. There are no application deadlines. Decisions will normally be made within thirty (30) days of receipt of an application. Applicants will be advised in writing of the decision made in response to an application. Materials sent in support of applications will not be returned to the applicant. To apply for an ILF grant, please provide a cover letter including the following information: (1) The issue(s) to be litigated in the case; (2) The procedural history of the cases; (3) The facts pertinent to the case; (4) A summary of the legal argument that will be made in the case; (5) Identify the lawyers who will work or are working on the case; (6) Briefly explain why the client(s) would have difficulty paying for the costs of the case; (7) Explain what costs (e.g. filing fees, transcripts, attorney transportation, depositions, expert fees, etc.) will be incurred in the case, and your estimate of the amount involved for each cost you identify; (8) Attach to your letter copies of any prior administrative and/or judicial decisions in the case; (9) If briefs have previously been filed in the case, attach copies of the most comprehensive brief written for the immigrant and the most comprehensive brief written by the government. Forward letter applications and attachments via email to pschey@centerforhumanrights.org or via regular mail to Peter Schey, President, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, 256 South Occidental Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057. If you have any questions regarding the Immigrant Litigation Fund, please email Peter Schey at the e-mail address above. ?/p> PDF version of this document

I would direct you to AILA, the immigration lawyers association, 202-216-2400, www.aila.org. It may have some direction for you. It is a constant battle to thwart the GZ Consulate from activities or decisions that I consider as a lawyer to be violating the law or the constitution. However with good facts and law the IV unit has changed it position on individual cases. You are proposing a wholesale change in how the VISA Section in GZ works. There maybe a law or regulation that gives adoptions priority over other cases. That would need to be checked. From experience I know that Consulate visa people think they can control the process. When the V visa law was first passed into law, the IV unit chief told me that EVEN THOUGH the V visa was supposed to help people get to the US faster than the normal processing, there was nothing in the new law to require the VI unit to process the V visa application with any priority over other cases, so he was going to put the V visa applications at the bottom of the pile of things to do and process them when the unit could get around to it. Frankly, I do not know if your kind of claim can be pursued effectively without a great deal of time, energy and money or unless you can get the ACLU or AILA interested.

There are several YMCA/YWCAs in Hong Kong. A YM is located right next to the Pennisula Hotel on the Kowloon side. Its prices are reasonable for a hotel in a prime location, a block off Nathan Road. There are money changers around there. The best rates for Changers I have found is at the Chungking Mansions, I think it is the third Changer on the right side from the entrance. It is on Nathan Road a block or sofrom the YM I mentioned. The Chinese money is called Yuan.

Thank you all for the comments and compliments. My thinking about posting my company information was to decline as I thought it might commercialize your site. However, with the suggestion that a list of U.S. licensed lawyers be given to you I could see doing that. I will contact other U.S. licensed lawyers in Guangzhou to see if they would want to have their information posted. If several or more will do it, I will forward the info to Candle and let you deal with it as you decide best.

Don Thanks. I am getting back into the grove here. Today, I happened to see 20 or so more boxes being delivered to the Consulate by DHS. I checked with the outside supervisor of the Chinese guards and he said the boxes were case files. Lele It is hard to give much guidance as each case is personal and based on its own facts. However, I would say for the applicant and the petitioner not to panic if there is a refusal. Intelligent response to the IV unit is the most effective. Study the refusal (blue) sheet careful and do what is needed to answer the questions or concerns the IV unit has (sometimes, a lot, not stated directly). If you do not understand the situation or do not know how to respond, see a competent U.S. immigration lawyer.

I would like to clarify somethings about the "lawyers" that that are claimed to be providing visa legal services or representation around the Consulate in Guangzhou or at other places in Guangdong. First of all, there are legitimate U.S. licensed lawyers beside myself praciticing U.S. immigration law at the Consulate who have offices in Guangzhou. I came to Guangzhou about 5 1/2 years ago to work full time in Guangzhou as an U.S.lawyer with a Chinese visa consulting company doing immigration law. Because this was a big compeitive edge for the company I work for, many other consulting companyw started claiming they had a "lawyer" too. What I have learned over the years is that these companies do not have a U.S. lawyer on site if they have one at all in reality. Those consulting companies might say they have a "lawyer," but who might turn out to be a Chinese lawyer that certainly is not allowed to practice U.S. law or to interact with the Visa Section for clients or they might have some connection with a "U.S. lawyer" in the States who lends her/his name for use by the consulting company , but never or rarely shows up in Guangzhou. There are only a handfull of these consulting companies that have a license or permit from the national Chinese government to do this kind of consulting. The company I work for has such a license/permit. Most of the other "consulting companies" in Guangzhou do not have such a license/permt. It is a very competitive situation here especially with the gyp joints all around promoting their garbage services. I have nothing but disrespect for them as most of them are like jackels and have no ethical standards. The one in particular I detest is known as USA Consulting right across the street from the Consulate entrance with its entrances just next to the barrier to go into the space for the visa applicants to congregate. It is the one that has its sales agents all over entrance/exit area shanghaiing people into their offices. I have heard many complaints about how they treat clients or more to the point ex-clients. It claims to have a "lawyer." I have never seen its lawyer. If you or your SO is being persuaded to use these companies, ask to see its lawyer, so you know it actual has one. Don't be put off if they said the lawyer is not in. That is probably a lie. If the company introduces you to its lawyer ask to see his/her Bar Association card or license to practice or Bar Association membership number. Check them out.

Some points on the poverty guidelines. As I read the print out from the HHS they go into effect on the date they were published, which was February 18, 2005. There is a question whether those guidelines go automatically into effect for immigration purposes. I don't have an answer to that at this time. Note HHS is the Dept. of Health and Human Services, a diferent department than either DOS or DHS. Secondly, the Poverty Guidelines for 2005 apply for services and benefits from HHS. To know what the income minimums for Affidavit of Support purposes (immigration) you need to multiple the poverty guidelines BY 125% to get the figure to determine your income requirement would be for support of the beneficiary/ies.

All nonEnglish documents or papers you intend to submit at the interview or on "overcome" (blue sheet) submittal are supposed to by translated into English by the IV unit's rules. Some definitely are required to be notarized such as official documents and others like letters and statements written in Chinese will be accepted without a notary if the translation reads like normal English (American style).

Copies of your tax returns are sufficient for the interview if they are legible and properly prepared.

Right now B2 visas are hard to come by in Guangzhou. As one of my assistants says, "next to impossible." Then as Trigg points out the son has some of the wrong circumstances, unless he is married, owns real property, has a good job and has children, otherwise he would be a risk to stay in the US from the NIV unit's point of view making the issuance of a B2 visa even more unlikely. I think the long range point of view is necessary. Is he in college? He could try to apply for an F1 student visa. The mother could apply now for an F2B if the son is not now married. It takes a long time, but at some point he will be able to go on a permanent basis.

This observation may or may not be useful to you all. Yesterday China time, I observed outside the GZ Consulate entrance DHL deliver about 20 cardboard boxes into the Consulate. I could not tell from the markings if they were filled with case files, but the boxes were about apple box size. My educated GUESS is that they contained case files.

There are at least two things you should consider here. 1. How old is the daughter.?If she is 14 years old or more, there could be a name clearance check on her. Depending on other circumstances of your case, it could cause some delay in the prossessing. 2. It is probably not worth arguing about (those forms are easy to prepare), except with regard to the clearance check for the child, if over 13. I suggest you make the record clear, in writing, the situation about the daughter. I suggest you just tell CIS that the daughter will stay in China for the time being. I mention this as something could change and you might want to bring the girl to the US later and you might be able to use the existing petition to do it and not have to file a new petition.

The additional documents or evidence may be submitted from 9:00AM to 10:00AM, Mon through Thur.

I would like to weigh in on this. With both student and B1/B2 visas requiring the visa beneficiary to intent at the time of applying for such visas and at the time of issuance to return to China, practically it doesn't seem very likely the woman would be able to get such a visa. She is now married to the American guy. How does she convince an Con/off that she intends to return to China? Common sense says it does not appear likely in most cases, unless she leaves the guy in China, they buy a house in China, he stays to run their own business based in China, etc. Perhaps they should hunker down to the reality of next year or two of being in China One of the honchos at Consular Affairs, Maura Harty, wrote a piece on the need of the U.S. to hold the door open again for foreign students in October, 2004. She said, "Even the loss of one qualified student to another nation is one too many." With the current administration one has to wonder it that is the real story as it so often means or does the opposite of what it says.

This comment is not meant to question Lele's suggestion to exchange money with returning Chinese, but as a few words of caution. If you intended to do it without a proper check for counterfeit money, you would be taking an unnecessary risk.