king

Yesterday I had a chat with Martha Hutchens at the Consulate by chance meeting. Regarding the fingerprinting she said "things are in chaos." She went on to say the day-before instructions were not longer the plan. The good thing about it is the IV unit is self-aware that they are causing much confusion and many people need to travel great distances to get to GZ. They trying to be helpful by instructing "overcome" applicants on how to do things vis-a-vis "overcomes" and fingerprinting. This is what I think the deal is from what Martha and a clerk said: If overcome documents are to be submitted and the family has not had fingerprints taken all family members between14 and 76 should go to GZ to have fingerprints taken and they will need 2 photos each, the large size and a smaller one. I will try to clarify this later today.

As of this morning, 4/26, the IV unit says do not need to have fingerprints taken at the time of the overcome documents are submitted. Only if the case is approve, will it ask beneficiaries to come to the Consulate to have their fingerprints taken. Can't at this time, tell you happens next after fingerprints are taken as to when the visa may be picked up. Hope to be able to say tomorrow.

ALERT As of Monday, April 26th all IV visa "overcome" beneficiaries who have NOT had fingerprints taken will have to have them taken AT the Consulate when "overcome "documents are submitted or when any other action is attempted to continue processing the case. My take on this is that these beneficiaries will have to come to the Consulate again, if they did not previously have fingerprints taken. "Overcome" beneficiaries are those who received the refusal sheet, the "blue" sheet plus. The Consulate will be closed from May 1st to May 5th for the May 1st Chinese holiday. On May 6 and 7 it will be open, but will not take overcome documents.

Carl: I haven't read all the replies on your situation, so I might be covering old ground here. If you are coming to China to do battle, be sure you understand the situation at the IV unit. Generally, you can only go to the IV unit on Thursday afternoons at 2:00 and listen to a statement and maybe ask general questions, but not /repeat/ not ask about you individual case. My advise is not to get upset over this. Take it in stride, so if you do get an opportunity to talk to a consular officer or write a letter anger with the system and the decision does not show through. It can be a point in your favor to come to China and let the IV unit know you have. Be sure to sign in if you go to the Thursday deal. Otherwise, they pretty much have frozen people like you out of the direct face to face contact. There is a new set of consular officers here now and some seem to go way overboard on refusals. If you do come try in a nice, humble way to get in contact with Martha Hutchens, the supervisor. PM me and I might have other thoughts.

I taught American law to Chinese lawyers back in 1997-98 and 2002. If you would let me know what city/town you married your wife I might be able to direct you to an "English" speaking Chinese lawyer close by.

Yesterday, I received a written notice from the Consulate putting out a new requirement about immigration visa photos. It is requiring 2 different sized and angle photos. One photo at 1 and 1/4 by 1 and 3/8 inches with the face turned left so the right side clearly shows and the right ear is fully exposed. The other required photo is 2 by 2 inches full face one. I am not sure when this goes into effect. I talked to Martha Hutchens the other day and she explained they have received a lot of clearances and they are backed up a bit so the interview dates will be scheduled out farther. In two different cases I received notice yesterday that the IV unit had received clearances. In one case it said an interview might be scheduled in June or July and the other case said maybe it would be scheduled in August or September.

If I were you, I would level with the State authority indicating that you are already married and ask if you can get married again in a US jurisdiction. To me it seems you would not be able to. My opinion. You can do a court ordered name change. It is not complicated or time consuming, at least in the State of Washington

How are you finding out that the name clearance has been completed? Thanks for any info.

Do the numbers on se lang's list represent tracking numbers? When se lang mentions "delivered" does that mean delivered to the White Swan Hotel or delivered and signed for by the Consulate? Thanks for any answers.

Hanging in, Donahso. Battling the bad guys, read that as the CIS and IV unit here in GZ, and paying attention to U.S. politics and wars via the Internet. I think it would be good if those who bring us wars without meaning, greed at any price, environmental degradation and stealth government would disappear from the political scene. My opinion; not looking for a war of words here. Thanks for asking.

In the post of Eric and Yuhui of September 19, 2003 a guideline from the Shanghai Consulate is posted. That guideline only deals with non-immigrant visas. Yes, I know K1s and K3s visas are non-immigrant, BUT the IV unit at the Gaungzhou Consulate treats K1s and K3s the same as they do immigrant visas. So if there is a refusal of a K1 or K3 a new visa application does NOT need to be filed or a new fee paid. More importantly, the IV unit will accept supplemental evidence to support the application. On the age-difference issue, I have obtained visas even though there have been great age differences. One U.S. citizen was over 40 years older than his fiancee who received a K1 visa. The man lived in China with her for a year or so. The situation depends on how the ground work is prepared.

I would like to post a correction as to what is known as the 3 and 10 years bars to re-entering the U.S. after an overstay. An overstay is when an alien remains in the States after his/her visa or other permission to legally be in the U.S. expires without any further permission to remain legally in the U.S. This is what the law provides: a. overstay up to 180 - a grace period with no penalties b. 181 days to 1 year - if the overstaying alien leaves the U.S. in this time frame overstay then they could be barred from re-entering the U.S. for 3 years (there is a waiver process available, but not easy to get out of China) c. over 1 year over- - the bar is 10 years, again a possibility of a waiver, but stay don't count on it

The situations I have had have been like you wrote. A visa approval with a "white" visa pick up sheet, then when the person went to pick up the visa they were given a blue refusal sheet with a yellow sheet attached and sometimes also a pink sheet and/or a green sheet. This kind of situation seems to mean that the IV unit found some kind of problem that needs rectifying. The IV unit does not say on the yellow sheet what the specific problem is. If a pink and/or green sheet is included it will say what more is required.

This is a possibility. It has been happening recently. The "yellow" sheet could be telling the person "to wait" as the IV unit needs to do more investigation. That kind of "yellow" sheet would be attached to the blue refusal sheet, the OF-194.

Going back to the basic need, to get the PIT people petitions moving. I am not sure why there is a PIT. Maybe some of you know or have indications why. My thought is because of the additional security checks in the U.S. when there is "hit" on the alien's name. I have several cases that are long delayed in the U.S. because of such checks. I received an inquiry today from an American lawyer with a long delayed file at NVC. Her client recently received a visit from the FBI. In any case, first try to identify the cause and location of the problem, so the effort can be direced at the right target. A protest directed at Guangzhou may get attention, but if the Visa section is not making the decisions any effort there may not be very effective. The new IV unit chief is a Martha Hutchens. By the way it would be very interesting to see a protest at the Consulate if you all can get some benefit out of it. If you would do that, get as many USCs and PLRs as possible inside the consulate compound before you bring out the signs and done have any signs outside the compound, that way you will be on "American soil" and technically out of China's jurisdiction.

"documents used to obtain the Notarial Divorce Certificate " There seem to be several possibilities for the RFE. One is asking what you individually supplied as documentation. Or, what you and your fiancee collectively used. It seems to me, if you have correctly quoted the RFE, it is asking for the papers your fiancee took with her and presented at the request of the Notarial to be able to get the certificate and whatever you may have supplied on request. I assume that would include the actual Chinese divorce paper, ID, maybe her birth certificate, whatever the Notarial asked as documentation for preparing the Notarial Certificate.

Yes, it will matter whether a divorce or an annulment. Every case I have seen here in Guangzhou, hundreds of CR1s and K1s by now, requires a certified copy of the court papers terminating a marriage. You can go to the King County Courthouse in Seattle to get it. The Clerk's office has all older court records on film, so it is not a big deal to get the certified copy. Your lady should be aware about this history of yours, in case of questions. An amended I-130 or a letter for the record to CIS or NVC might be a good idea. Good luck to you.

Will you tell me how you contact the FBI to see if their clearance has been completed?

In Guangdong province snake is popular. Along with the live snake, killed fresh for deep frying or other means of cooking, you get the blood and bile. Restaurants will serve it up in two shot glass with alcohol in each with either the blood or bile. The blood is okay and the bile is a nice looking green, but it tastes like hell.

My experience has been that having two K-1 petitions on file at one time can create problems. This situation arose when the first relationship fell apart and the Chinese fiancee met another USC and he filed a second K-1 petitioner for her. At the interview a problem came up about having two K-1 petitions on record. The first petition had never been cancelled and the woman did not know how to reach the first fiance. The lady is jumping through hoops.

I believe there is a museum in Mass or Conn that has a lot of historical material on China. Sorry I don't remember the name. You also might try asking Prof Jonathan Spence at Harvard, a China scholar or the China/ east asian department at Yale. Yale has a long history of connection with education in China.

It is hard to say, not knowing what you have. I have a Fujitsu and use a Fujitsu brand adapter. I think in general you will need one. I brought a recorder phone from the U.S. with me and forget to use its adapter when I had moved apartments - burnout. The Chinese system is 220V.

I want to step back into this line of chat as I think Chinadave2001's comments highlite what might be a potential trap for the unaware. China is controled by a Communist government. "...in name only..." is meaningless as far as the U.S. immigrant law is concerned. A communist gov't is a communist gov't is a communist gov't. China has the strips to prove it. Ask the unground Christian churches, Falun Gong and the Cahtolic Church in Rome that cannot operate in China without being under the control of the Chinese government, look at the censorship, look at the treatment of independent labor organizers, look at promoters of democracy; in name only, I doubt it. Of course the Chinese government and the CP wants you to think it is a good gov't and the CP is munificent. What I am suggesting is not to take the issue lightly. In some, maybe many, cases it is not going to be a problem, but it can be a problem, making an applicant ineligible for an immigrant visa for up to 5 years after she/he quits the party or can otherwise get a waiver. I would also say the Guangzhou IV unit takes such membership more seriously than in the past. I have had 2 refusals on that ground plus several others who had to jump through hoops to get the IV unit to see the CP membership issue should not bar a iv for them. This is a heads up, not a worry bead. Be prepared to deal with it if the situation exists.

I do not know which number you called for the Guangzhou Consulate, but if you haven't tried 011-86-20-8121-2000 do. When you get the machine voice hit "0" and you will get the receptionist. ****************************** Sorry, King. I deleted the name until I can find it on GZ's public site or the DOS site. The number above is publicly listed. I will PM Dave with the info you provided.

In a way the preceeding comments might be right in specific cases. However, it would not be a good idea to assume there will be no problem with CP membership in China. I have had several cases where it was the ground for refusal. There is a specific statute that makes membership in a CP which controls the government. eg., China, reason for being inadmissible for 5 years AFTER the person quits the Party (that period is 2 years only if the CP does not control the government, eg., Italy). Here are some of the nuances and variations. If membership was in a CP solely while under 16 years old, by operation of law (you might need to consult a lawyer on the meaning of this one) or to obtain the essentials of living it does not make the person inadmissible. I refer you to 8 USC Sec. 1182(a)(3)(D), the specific statute on membership in a totalitarian party.