finenn

My lawyer strongly suggested against any attempts at bribery. Because that's all it is. If someone walks in the Consulate with a 1000 bucks, and your visa is there processing, then it's a someone knows someone deal, or a flat bribe. There was a guy on another board who insisted that by sending money, (as for example, a contribution to an important cause), to Washington DC along with a pleading letter, would speed up INS/BCIS wait times. I wouldn't do it. On one of my Guangzhou visits, we were approached, right near the Consulate, by a very nice woman who invited us to her office, which had about 5 or so office workers, who for a fee, could ensure and expedite her visa. But the fee turned out to be twice what I would pay for an attorney here in the US. And it just didn't feel right anyways. The streets of Guangzhou and other cities in China I've been feel safe really, but there are a lot of scams waiting, just like anywhere else. Which brings to mind another scary scam, some hotels in China will suspect or claim prostitution, when an obvious white foreigner checks in with a chinese lady. So what happens is, they'll send the police to the room at 2 or 3 am, and since you cannot prove you are married, they may write a report anyways, even though they may agree you are not committing a crime. The point is, this has not happened to us, and I pretty much stay with her in her apartment instead of a hotel, but last time we ventured off deep in the mainland to visit her parents, and stayed in a hotel. Thank god no one messed with us. Well back to the point, a police may write a report anyhow, and the Consulate may just see that report, and therefore could make her look real bad, possibly denying the visa. Solution? Pay off the cop and/or hotel worker(s), so I have heard. AZwolfman says: BE CAREFUL!!

I know it too well, 603.334.0700 First menu press 1 for english. Second menu (wait until the second menu option starts) press 2 for K1 & K3's. If the message states to call back due to the volume of heavy calls, 9 times out of ten if you immediately call back and try again, the message will state an average hold time, usually between 2 - 5 minutes. They'll ask for your case number, beneficiary name & birthdate, sometimes your birthday and name, too.

Thanks for the reply. You read a lot of posts. But since no one knows for sure exactly what Washington DC is doing for the NVC that may be the same thing Guangzhou used to, or still does, is not clear. All I've heard about Guangzhou's side of it, is that after the beneficiary receives the P3, the Consulate initiates some sort of background check on the petitioner as well. No one knows exactly where that agency(s) exist, if in the USA at all. But it's just hearsay at this point. It's apparently not been made public yet. So there's really no 2 & 2 to put together. I'm not sold on any part of the process making sense. People receiving P4 or P3 or whatever phases faster or slower than others is still unexplainable. Because of no certain pattern can be uncovered, or the sources are off. I've just heard from another online group that someone else reported the same thing without any proof. I've called NVC 3 times a week for the past 1 -1/2 months, and have been told more than once by the NVC staff that the new NVC/Washington DC process does not replace nor supercede any of Guangzhou's processes, to the best of their knowledge of course. If P3 - P4 timelines decrease, that explanation will also probably be hypothesized, at least until Washington decides to just say so. Of course I'm all for speeding things up, but what's worse is waiting even longer than hoped for. BTW, the 2 checks you've referred to twice, do you know exactly what those 2 checks consist of?

Where exactly did you get this information? How do you know that the NVC's new processes replace anything Guangzhou does?