Robert S.

This is where I would have pulled out my 8-inch razor sharp pocketknife and applied it to his throat while telling him to stop. Well, he was going so fast you would not have been able to control the blade. Maybe you should have slipped off your belt and wrapped it around his neck. Yeah, that would have worked. In Abu Dhabi they have some crazy taxi drivers but at least they have a number on their car and you can call up the taxi authorities and report a really bad driver.

looks who's talking !! LOL Ahem... Rob.. minor problem.... I need a visa first .... can you help or are you just gonna sit there and play smart ass ? Can I help? I am thinking about writing another letter but am not sure I can. The way I feel the thing would be largely a lot of accusations, bitterness, expletives, and other vitriolic exclamations. That would not be any help. Is there any help for this situation? No. Because the whole thing is based on the false idea that these name checks were necessary for security. We and our loved ones are being mistreated for no good reason. I had taken some hope from Maura Harty's statement that she was working to "rationalize" the process--my wishful thinking was that somehow they would wake up and realize that applying this process in the wholesale manner they have is actually irrational--guess I can dream on.

You guys need to get a life.

Eric, it would be very difficult for her even though her English is so good, but I would like for YH to read Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I think it would be therapeutic for her. - Doctor Robert

Jennifer, Please try to be strong. At least you are doing something! You can be expecting the reply to the letter that you and your lady friends sent. Maybe it will come tomorrow or even on Saturday (I got a reply on a Saturday one time). There can be no doubt that Consular Affairs will reply to you. - Robert

Mick, Thank you for your well wishes but I am in the same boat as you. I am waiting for my wife's visa. My point, again, is that if the FBI name check process had caused a halt to AOS processing and now the INS tells the lawyer's association that processing will begin again, then the processing of OUR cases may not be as hopeless as some of us here may have felt it was. - Robert

Yesterday I had a problem calling my wife's mobile. It did not make a ring for me to hear. I tried three times and could hear nothing. Then on the fourth time I tried she answered. I told her I had been trying to call. She said she did not hear it ringing before so it must not have been ringing then it did ring and she heard it but I still did not hear a ring on this fourth call either.

Don't get me wrong, I am just about as angry about the visa delays as anyone else but I am still not beyond grasping at straws for a little hope. In checking the doc steen K1 board I just noticed where this immigration lawyer posted that he had received word from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) that the headquarters of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has indicated to the AILA that the problems the INS had with the "FBI checks" (the lawyer's words) "have been resolved, and that approvals of adjustment of status and naturalization applications are proceeding." This lawyer, Matt Udall, goes on to observe, "Of course, I'm sure quite a number of these have piled up while the halt was in effect, so who knows how long it will take for an approval letter to arrive, for example, in an Adjustment of Status (AOS) case where the interview has already occurred." I have been so fixated on just the visa delay problem that I was not aware that this halt in processing of AOS had been taking place. Apparently there has been a gigantic delay in processing of all kinds of immigration related matters due to this name check process. Now, according to this lawyer, the INS is informing the AILA that a problem has been resolved. This may be a good indication for us.

Yes, AARP must be the ones!!! They have all these geezers in a damp, chilly basement.....they are wracked with arthritis, cataracts, and wheezing......the light is dim as they attempt to page by hand through massive printouts.....moving at a glacial pace while losing their concentration moment by moment. Suddenly there is a power brownout.....the lights are restored within seconds, but the name check crew have all fallen asleep.

I want to ask CA who, what office specifically is supposed to be doing the name checks. Why should it take two weeks or 10 working days or 80 working hours to do a name check? WE have given them 10 days already while holding off and "letting them work" and very little seems to be getting done. They are going to have some very angry people to deal with if something does not happen soon.

Today makes 10 long days since the Grand Resubmission of 01/04. Two weeks is almost up already and we are seeing very little progress in clearing out the backlog, just one here and there every once in a while. Could it possibly be that we have been fed misleading statements again?

I'll have you know that I was the one who first posted this on G7 and you failed to give me credit for my alertness. Well, okay, just be that way.

Robert and Ping-ping case resubmitted Jan 04

Oh, this is wonderful news! I am so happy for you! Now I hope she will be with you very soon. Excellent!

Jennifer, I sent the fax to Maura Harty's office and then called and confirmed that they had it in hand. - Robert

Forgive me for pointing out something that is so obvious but in defense of Janis, remember, she was being SARCASTIC.

Jennifer, I will do as you ask. - Robert

Enight, Thank you very much. I have 5 photos posted on the photo album at the www.visadelays.com site. Yes, it is hard to overcome your basic fear and get onto an airplane. I have to tell myself that I understand the principle of LIFT and that if the plane gets going fast enough the wings MUST lift the plane up off the ground, then it is just a matter of keeping on going. There are all kinds of other arguments you can make in your mind including the safety statistics.

Air China has only crashed one time in its history, the one in Korea recently. There are a lot of cruise ships that stop in Hong Kong. If she won't fly then take the slow train to HK and then cruise to America in style. Once you get on the road in the US the most dangerous part of the trip will begin, assuming you survived the taxi ride to the train station in Shenyang in one piece. I have been wishing I had a used Brinks truck to drive. Maybe you could rent a tour bus for you two to be really safe inside.

Good for you, Mark!!!!! It is hard to believe the wait is coming to an end when it has been so long but I am happy for you that it will be only a few more days until you see her again.

I don't see how you had room on your forehead left after "they" stamped the bar code there. I must have asked my old best friend from high school his phone number at least 100 times over the last 30 years so don't feel like you're the only one who loses numbers. B) Hey, Eric, I enjoyed seeing your photos on the visadelays site. Good luck to everyone and I hope we are all reunited with our sweethearts very soon.

Thank you, Mark, you are doing a good job providing helpful information and I like your analysis. I wish we had a civilian contact on the spot in Guangzhou.

Hey Owen, would you mind telling where you get your cool avatars?

No need to apologize, SnowB, we are just playing because we have nothing better to do with our waiting time. Eric, when someone says "resemble" in place of "resent" they are just making a play on words, because of similar sounds, but it is also what you might call a double entendre, because they are also admitting that the remark they could resent might be true to a degree. Capice?

It could be hieroglyphics. No wait, I got it -- Snowbeast, are you a doctor?