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JerryL

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Posts posted by JerryL

  1. Visitor Visa or a K3?

    in General Visa Discussion & First Steps

    Posted

    My mother-in-law, a US citizen, is currently living in China. She recently married a Chinese national.

     

    My wife is expecting and my mother-in-law would like to come to the US for a short period together with her husband to visit with her future grandchild. They are not expecting to live here - just visit for a few months.

     

    My question is... is it going to be difficult to get a visitor visa for her husband? We've heard in cases like this, the consulate doesn't tend to grant visitor visas because they think the visitor will actually want to live in the US. So should she go ahead to apply for a K3 for her husband, or try to get a regular visitor visa?

     

    Thanks,

     

    Jerry

  2. INTERVIEW

    in General Visa Discussion & First Steps

    Posted

    I wonder if they have a bunch of interviews scheduled, but have not sent out the p-4s and that means a lot of running around on short notice or missed appointments.  Our government at work hurry up and wait and then run around like a chicken with its head cut off on a short deadline.

    Yeah, this brings back memories. We didn't get our P4 until about 2 weeks before the interview date, and one of those weeks was the Spring Holiday when everything was closed... It was pretty nerve-whacking for a while there...

  5. VIDEO TAPE PROOF

    in General Visa Discussion & First Steps

    Posted

    I have nothing on which to base this, but I also think that a tentative decision had already been made when Jingwen went to the interview.  Maybe it's the paper trail that we all leave during the long wait.  I was in constant contact with GZ via e-mail.  Jingwen's applications were prepared jointly and had definite clues about my involvement with helping her with the preparation. She had my passport with her.  She carried 20% of her body weight with supporting documents.  My thinking is that if the applicant looks like she is on her/his own during the process, chances are better that she/he will be scrutinized more.

    I wondered about the same thing with Penny's case. Like you we too had a long paper trail with the consulate from that three month wait for a P3. At her interview she was basically asked two or three questions and that was it. You remember how fast she came out, Frank. :lol: (She's finally here by the way. Yea!) They didn't even look at any of the docs I made her drag in there.

  7. Have you ever used a Callback phone service?

    in Culture & Language Discussion

    Posted

    Has anyone had problems with OneSuite and getting consistent busy numbers? I don't know if it's my bad luck or the area I'm trying to call, but lately I've been getting busy numbers when I want to get through, but then when I use another calling card it goes through right away. So now when I get a busy number with OneSuite I don't know if it's because the callee is really using the phone or if their lines are all tied up...

  8. really hate CSC

    in General Visa Discussion & First Steps

    Posted

    Wow, a month to get a NOA1? W year ago it was like two weeks and I thought it was too long then as all the things I read said it should only take a week...

     

    I guess without a NOA1 there is no way to find out the case number is to check online? I don't even know where our original NOA1 went. It's really only useful for the case number...

  10. ALL VISAS are on hold!!!

    in General Visa Discussion & First Steps

    Posted

    GZ got my sweetie's P3 on March 15.  The average time for her to receive her P4 has come and gone.  It had been taking 3 to 6 weeks max to receive the P4.

     

    It looks like no one sending a P3 in March (or April) has received any P4's!

    Don't panic yet.

     

    GZ has been sending out P4's during the first week of the month. If your P3 made it back on 3/15, you wouldn't have made the April mailing window. The next mailing window should be in a week or two. If you've cleared name check, you should be getting your P4 then.

     

    If you want to know the status of your petition, you can call the DOS visa office. You can find out if you're cleared for interview from them.

  13. Bad News!

    in General Visa Discussion & First Steps

    Posted

    Hopefully the word will get out if this is an adminstrative delay to catch up on things or a political move.  Neither is good but an administrative delay is at least not quite as annoying.

    From the sound of the message, it doesn't sound like the US side knows why they were shut down. I wonder if it's related to the recent SARS news...

     

    This is like guessing the origin of UFOs... Lots of theories and likely none of them are right. :lol:

  19. visa denied

    in Notable Posts

    Posted

    Carl,

     

    Logged in expecting to see good news and instead ran into this thread. :greenblob: I just waded through four screenful of messages and I think your plan is a good one. If you don't think you get the hang of the four tones in Chinese, any Chinese that you read from the pinyin will sound really bizarre and would make it clear that you two do not really communicate in Chinese.

     

    The advice from the letter you posted seems like excellent advice. The legal requirements are for you two to communicate, not for you to speak Chinese. Just telling things the way it is, I find, often the best policy.

     

    I think the consulate in San Francisco does one day visa turn-arounds for an extra $30 if you hand it in personally. That would mean a trip down here, I know. :-( Perhaps others know of agencies that will do this for ya.

     

    http://houston.china-consulate.org/eng/vp/...zgqz/t53304.htm

     

    I can imagine you being very ticked off at these folks now, but hold it in until Bing is on American soil...

     

    Hang in there!

     

    Jerry

  21. San Francisco POE

    in General Visa Discussion & First Steps

    Posted

    I am planning on picking Bing up in San Francisco and driving back to Oregon.  How can I find out which terminal to meet her at? Whats the scoop on parking? I want to wait for her as close as they will let me in, meet her, go the car and make a beeline out of town to a motel where she can rest before starting the drive home.

    SFO has a dedicated international terminal, so finding the right terminal is easy. :P There's a parking structure next to the terminal so that's not a problem too.

     

    I remember in Shanghai, the waiting area was separated from the customs inspection area by a tall glass window so you can see the people in the customs area. I liked that design because as a visitor, you could look for the people picking you up while going through inspections, and vice versa.

     

    SFO, unless they've changed it recently, separates the waiting area from the customs inspection area with a wall (and a door), so you can't look in. And of course you can't go in. I have this vision of waiting outside for hours and hours wondering why she isn't coming out... :)

     

    Here is the SFO web site:

     

    http://www.flysfo.com/

     

    Jerry

  24. Lordy lordy at last at last!

    in General Visa Discussion & First Steps

    Posted

    ARGGGGGG!!!!!!!!! I'm going crazy here!  I didn't call Bing to tell her the news this morning because I didn't want to wake her.  I expected her to be online tonight and I would tell her.  She hasn't come on line yet so I tried to call her.  No answer at her home phone and I get a recording saying her cell phone isn't turned on right now.  She still doesn't know and I am just busting at the seams to tell her.

    It's nice to have a different reason for going crazy, huh? :)

     

    Congratulations!

     

    Jerry

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