weregoing

We went to 2 different "Gong Zheng Chu" offices out of the 3 listed in her hometown. The first one immediately frustrated me. There was a lady that couldn't keep her story straight and I just didn't like her attitude from the beginning. She was quoting prices out of seemingly thin air and kept saying "because you're going to AMERICA....it's very expensive." Her quote was around 1200RMB for the 3 documents and she wasn't sure what we actually needed. (Turns out she was also incorrect about what we needed, thankfully we left.) Knowing how China often works (find another person to help or find another location) we rushed over to the 2nd "Gong Zheng Chu". The lady was EXTREMELY nice and we paid 450RMB for the 3 documents needed including 3 copies of each for a total of 9 "white books". She cut out ALL the translation costs by having us work together with her on this part. She also knew exactly what was needed. So shop around if you think it's expensive! Amaro: 5000RMB as an average monthly salary is quite high no matter where you're from in China. Families typically live on MUCH less than that. Quick question I am curious about now - We got a handful of passport style photos for these white books. I thought they used 9 of them (one for each document). Now having gone back and looked at them they only used 3, one for each copy of the Birth Certificate. The "Single Certificate" and the "Lack of Criminal Record" DON'T have photos attached. Should they? Thanks.

Well, of course I did suspect a problem but was trying to stay patient. It wasn't impossible that it hadn't been sent, but last week was a probable estimate. Before finding the # for DOS, I sent an email using the contact form on the Guangzhou website. That was sent on Friday and we got the EMS Sunday. Rather than contacting them again and saying "disregard that first email", I guess I will just wait for a reply. Unfortunately my fiance's interview is on August 11 and I have to go back to the U.S. on the 6th. I am now quite nervous and hope this doesn't affect the outcome. But we kinda expected that she would not get the interview in time. I guess the best she can do is show them some proof of me being here with her the last 4-5 weeks and tell them why I couldn't make it.

"do they use a different EMS label?" For ours, YES. We just got the P4 today and have an interview for August 11th. The EMS guy has apparently been trying to deliver it for quite some time. He didn't think to leave a note until Friday (July 23) and we saw it today (July 25) and called him back. The EMS label attached wasn't in my fiance's handwriting even though they request you send them one with the P3. I asked her if she made some sort of mistake and she said no. The new label written by Guangzhou did NOT have her telephone number written on it in the spot where it says "Telephone number (Very Important)" And I guess EMS doesn't use some standardized "attempted delivery" notice because this guy scribbled a note himself on a blank number on his probably 4th attempt. We got lucky because the delivery guy said if he hadn't called today, he was planning to send it back on Monday (tomorrow). Not a very good system. So if you're worried about your P3/P4 not coming, contact someone. Now we have 2 weeks to get her a ticket to GZ and tie up loose ends.

justinjessica: as far as i know YES you can do that. but this is NOT what we're doing. we are applying for the K1 fiance visa and will marry in China much later when everything in the U.S. is finished apparently if you are already married in China, it is NOT any easier to get a visa to the U.S. and you may actually need to wait longer. so think carefully about why you are getting married in China on such a short visit!

I figured they would call (and thanks for letting me know). Doesn't look like I'm gonna make the interview. I have to leave China on August 6th to go to law school. It is now July 8th and no P4 yet. Hopefully this isn't a problem during the interview.

Sounds good! And to dnoblett, thanks for the advice. Both Notary Offices kept saying "you need to two copies for america" and I wasn't sure why. But I like extra copies anyway. Didn't plan on a total of 3 but if that's what you say, that's what I'm getting. Off-topic question: Will the EMS delivery of P4 require a signature? And will they call her if she's not home and tell her they attempted delivery? She swears they will... The reason I ask is we are not at our home in Shanghai for at least another week and these next couple weeks are the (my) expected delivery time. {edit} Quote tags.

that's very sad! my girl's situation is probably the same but no one will admit it. she didn't even know she wasn't born in a hospital until 2 days ago when her father casually mentioned it on the way to find a birth certificate... i asked why i hadn't heard that one before and she said "well i assumed too i was at least born in some kind of clinic" heh. after getting the police station to type up the birth certificate today, we took it to another department at the same station but they would not stamp it without the mother being there. her mother and father divorced when she was a baby and her mother would never help her. but the police told us the hukou should be just fine for the Notary Office to produce a birth certificate, so we called them back and she said "yeah, we can do it...". it just seems they want you to put every effort forward you can and then they'll show you "another way i guess we could do it" now we gotta wait (probably) all weekend to get those translations back but we're here having a good time in the lackadaisical paradise of Sichuan.

You could be write about this but it's not her English that is the problem, just her carefree attitude toward matters like this in general. Plus she doesn't really use the internet for "research." She would rather ask around until she is happy with the result. Anyway, the solution seems to be working - it just is taking a few days to collect. Better than sending in gobs of money just be told to "wait patiently for a few months..."

Are you talking about the birth certificate in this part? They said the could just do a translation of the Hukou (which she doesn't even have at the moment - had a to print a temporary one at the police station because she left it at home.) But they suggested it would be better to go get this note saying "____ was born on _____. Her father is _____. Her mother is _______." from anyone who can make it. So that's what we're trying to do today. Your story sounds a lot like mine: my girl has the wrong birthday on everything official, apparently. (about a month off depending on the year) Also, the note from the police station and "community center" was also hand-written, which I suggested we type-up and take back for a new stamp, which we did - only to find out that the Notary Office types these up and uses their own stamp anyway, rendering the originals unnecessary. (I'm hoping this is how it's supposed to be done...?) The note also did mention that she had never done drugs nor practiced "bad religion". So I guess that's what must be important in these small cities populated by 1+ million. Heh.

That's what I explained to my girl before going in today, but they said they could NOT provide the birth certificate. They recommended we go back to the police station of her hukou where we went for her makeshift police report - but the police station already said they don't make the birth certificates. So we'll just have to go back and bug them a bit. The papers we gathered for the police report and single certificate were apparently good enough to translate and notarize. I also found there are at least three of these Notary Offices in her town alone and after going to the first one and realizing they were a bunch of idiots who couldn't help (but were glad to take our money), we went to a second office down the street and got much better treatment there. The lady working showed us all kinds of example work and pretty much cut the cost in half from the first place - cutting out all the "translation costs" that consist of writing 2 or 3 sentences in English. So I guess this white "book" is not really a book but rather 4 pages fastened together that include: a retyped copy of the original document in chinese, a translation in english, a page in chinese saying the english/chinese are the same, and a final page in english saying the english/chinese are the same - all 4 pages stamped. This sound about right?

Thanks everyone for the help. We were under the impression that you had to collect all of these documents from the various local offices and then take them to the notary office (gong zheng chu) to be translated. Is that right? Or do these notary offices have the power to issue the certificate and translate it? So the type/style of document issued in Chinese doesn't really matter so long as it can be translated and notarized into one of these white books? And can this white book only be obtained in her hometown or any "gong zheng chu"?

Hey everyone just a few quick questions about documents needed on my Chinese fiancee's end. (near the interview of K1 visa) We are here in here hometown (Mianyang, Sichuan) and trying to get the police report, single certificate, and birth certificate. My question is how much of a standard is there to these things? Have there been cases in the past of people from smaller Chinese cities gathering documents that the immigration officers don't think are legitimate enough? We've already run around and collected what I think will suffice as a police report and single certificate but no one seems to know what to do for a birth certificate since she was not born in a hospital. In order to get the police report, she had to run to a local "community" police station to get a note from what I could tell was the equivalent of getting the preacher down the road from the baitshop to sign a note saying he'd known your family since you were born and you never did drugs. Then we took this back to another police station and one of the head officers there stamped and signed it. Since this is the best we can do (and any govt officer here could think to do) this is surely enough right? Or is there some consistent standard on what's needed for a police report? The "single certificate" worked much the same way - we basically went to the place where one would get married and they gave a note saying that that had no record or her having ever been married - this one seemed a little more legit and I'm sure will suffice. Today we try to tackle a "birth certificate"... I just don't understand why is the hukou not enough? She was not born in a hospital so who would have a different official record? The community station again said they would write a note and stamp it to state that this is indeed her birthdate. Will that be enough? Finally, we haven't found anyone to translate these documents. The police station said they would sign and stamp an English translation (that we wrote on the spot) of the same note they wrote if we wanted. Is that legitimate? Or is it better to have a translation company notarize an official document written in Chinese? I guess what I'm asking is if we take all these documents back to Shanghai after we leave her hometown and get them translate there, is that fine? Or do the English translations also need to be stamped by the local government officers here? I guess everything will work out but it's difficult to be too confident when the papers I'm staring at don't seem like something the US immigration will have too much faith in even though this is all apparently how it's done here. Any help would be great...thanks!

dnoblett: You are a lifesaver! I am helping her complete the forms over the phone right now. She will send it out today and I'll update my timeline soon. She is out purchasing a pen as we speak - yes, a pen. So it's nice to have assurance that someone knows what they're doing, dnoblett. Also, they apparently did only send pages 1&2 of the DS-230 so you were right. Chances are looking better and better that I'll be in China for her interview but maybe I shouldn't count my eggs till they hatch. I will be on a mission to get everything else ready over the next week.

dnoblett: thanks for the info but you've confused me a little bit. What about the EMS label and copy of passport bio? In the link you gave to the P3 instructions it says this: (I don't understand why they're concerned about the cost of postage when they charge you $1000's by the time the process is complete and they send various other documents without purchasing a stamp for them, but I'll play by the rules.) Why were these pages included in the packet labeled "K INSTRUCTION PACKET"? Sorry, I meant the I-134 rather than the I-130. http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/fo...and_packets.htm In that link above it mentions the I-134 under the K Visa Instruction Packet (¡°Packet 3¡±) section. This is NOT sent back immediately but rather taken to the interview, right?? Also concerning the OF-169, should she only check the boxes pertaining to our case leaving the rest empty (ex. leave "Military Records" unchecked since she has never been in the military.) Again, thanks dnoblett for your help but could you clarify a little?

P3 arrived this weekend while my girl was out of town (very quickly after NOA2!) and after browsing this sub-forum for a few hours I would like to ask a few last questions before asking her to go drop it in the box. I am staring at the most current instructions for P3 but want to run through this really quickly - I have four things to send back immediately: - OF-169 - DS-230 (Part 1) - one copy of passport bio page - EMS mailing label My questions: 1) Does she send back the entire OF-169 with the all of the pages of "check-boxes"? And does she "check" the boxes we expect she will need at the interview and leave the others blank? Or is this just for our information and they only want a filled-out "Applicant's Statement" section? 2) Does she send only pages 1&2 of the DS-230 and keep pages 3&4 for the interview? Or fill-in 3&4 (without signing) and send it along with Part-1? 3) A quick one-page A4 scan of the "bio page" of her passport including Name, Info, Signature, etc., is what they're wanting, correct? I am guessing this is simply to check if she has a passport that is valid for the next ___ amount of time. 4) If she fills out the included forms in English, can the Chinese pages be thrown out? (Set aside...) 5) Should the biographical information in the DS-230 be filled out in pinyin expect where specified? For example, her parent's names and current addresses... 6) She said the packet says something about the I-130 which I don't see in the example I have. This is to be taken to the interview, correct? (This is a K-1 visa.) 7) She is not really working at the moment. She does help her friend part-time with her new business (clothing store) but didn't want to bother her friend with hiring her full-time when she knows she will not be there long-term. Would it be worse to write "unemployed" or come off as sugar-coating it by writing "part-time sales assistant? I am pretty sure I know the answers to these questions but some clarification will help calm our nerves and maybe others' who stumble upon this post. Thanks for any help! Sean

I *swear* I posted a reply yesterday but when I just checked now I didn't see it. So frustrating! Forgot everything I said, but yeah Lee VD...that makes sense about about the P3 being delivered after "electronic receipt" because recently there have been some extremely short waits between NOA2 and receiving P3. Quick question about the P3 - I know you mail in most (if not all) of the forms they send to you and I have looked at the example packet posted somewhere that has both the Chinese and English copies and have begun to do some work on it. There is a checklist of 10 items that you may or may not need to give them. Do these gathered items need to be sent back with the P3 or are they taken to the interview? I am talking specifically about the police record and the "certificate of being single". I ask because we planned to go back to her hometown in July and get these together and if she gets the P3 packet before then, will we have to wait to send it until after we get those documents? Also, it seems to me that the time it takes you to send back the completed P3 DOES affect how long it takes until you receive P4 and the scheduled interview. Is this correct? I would love to send that back immediately but we may not be able to do that if she lacks the necessary forms.

For the registration, I even tried using my real name seperated with a "." and though that was fine that I thought finally "stuck." And then when I went to try logging in again yesterday, it didn't work and I freaked out again. Then I tried "weregoingunion" and it worked. There really should be a way to contact an administrator without yet being a registered member if other people are having this problem because I really did attempt to register ~10 times. Hearing that it might get stuck in customs for up to 3 months is extremely disheartening. What is a more realistic, normal wait? I was under the impression that they send it via DHL and it only takes a couple weeks to get to GZ. Are there ways to contact NVC to see if it has been shipped or GZ to see if it has been received? I also remember reading something about this... And concerning the K1 electronic processing it seems like the information is conflicting - according to the US Consulate in GZ's website it says this: "If you are a K visa applicant and you have opted in for electronic processing, you will still have to wait for paper instructions via mail from the Consulate." This HAS to mean that you CAN opt-in for electronic processing. And the "paper instructions" they are referring to are the P-3 packet along with whatever else they send to HER via regular mail. I interpret this as the electronic processing having the benefit of getting the paper from NVC to GZ electronically and then receiving everything else "by hand." Correct me if I'm wrong. And to dnoblett, I will get to that VJ timeline signature when I get a chance soon. Thanks for the responses.

Hello everyone, I have been reading this site for about 6 months now and I tried MANY times to register but for some reason it failed every single time. I tried multiple email address, login names, etc. and, yes, I was using one of the approved email providers such as hotmail. I would not be allowed to post immediately and when I tried to log-in the next day, it would say something along the lines of "there is no user by this name." This was driving me INSANE and I also had no way to contact an admin because the only email address to be found had no domain (if I remember right it was ss@ or something like that.) I kept trying to re-register every few days before it finally took it. I would like to talk to an administrator about this at some point to see what the deal was but that is all beside the point right now. My VisaJourney Timeline My name is Sean and I have been with my fiance for nearly 3 years now. Her name is Ñ©Ù» or Leah. The first 2.5 years we lived together in Shanghai. I was a student at Fudan and later an employee of English First. About 6 months ago I came back to the U.S. alone to begin law school. I start in August. I filed the I-129F for a K1 visa back in March (no lawyer - just advice from this forum and VJ) and this Monday (Memorial Day) I received both an email and SMS from USCIS telling me "we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)". I have yet to receive the physical copy in the mail and getting a little bit nervous (or just anxious?) about receiving that SOON. The wait was not nearly as long as I feared. We'll see how long the rest of it takes. We are both quite anxious as I'm sure most people that go through this are. Right now I am fairly caught up on what I need to do and what is expected of me but I do have and will have more questions in the near future, I am sure. I plan to go visit her by flying into Shanghai for perhaps the whole month of July. I have not purchased a ticket yet because they are *extremely* high right now. We will go back to her hometown in Sichuan (Mianyang) and collect the necessary documents on her end. (I still need to research that a little better very soon.) I don't really want to spend much time in Shanghai and I'm sure she would love to get away from her little lonely apartment over there, so we will hopefully travel around a lot. And if we're very lucky her interview date just might land within that time frame and we would be able to go to Guangzhou together! On my end I still need to take care of the financial support forms (can't remember the form # off the top of my head) and hopefully that will look OK for the interview. Right now I am working for my parents and helping them with miscellaneous computer work like building a website, etc. They are paying me legitimately (taxed, etc.) as an employer would but I don't think I make the 125% poverty line because I am only helping them as needed - nothing more - as I am not trying to take advantage of them. I also expect to receive a very large student loan very soon and even subtracting the cost of tuition, the remainder would still be over the bottom line necessary. I am unclear if and how I should document that and if that counts as "income." Any advice on that would be greatly appreciated! Regardless my parents are going to co-sponsor her and their income definitely meets the demands. But I want to be very thorough and make sure to give the people at Guangzhou a clear picture of my finances and my plans for the future. Right now I basically just want to introduce myself and thank every contributer on this forum for helping me out so far. Soon I will make another post with some clear questions after I have done a little more research. Off the top of my head I can think of a few - 1) As we all know the information regarding "Electronic Processing" is a little bit unclear for the K-1 visa. I just read something in the pinned post about it stating that K~ visas are now automatically sent electronically to GZ. Is this true or should I take steps to make sure this happens so that she could come here as soon as possible? 2) She has a valid driver's license she received in Shanghai a long time ago. What should I do to try to make this work legally in the U.S. while she waits for a local (Oklahoma) driver's license? As far as I know she can NOT obtain a local state driver's license until she has a SS# and from the little I know about those final steps of the immigration process this can take quite a long time. I would *really* like her to be able to drive immediately after arriving because this state seriously lacks public transportation and she will be "stuck" without being able to drive. 3) 90 days isn't a huge window for planning a marriage so would be a good idea fro us to go the courthouse and get married very soon after she gets her and then have the actual wedding later? We want to have the wedding around December after my first semester of school ends. Being forced to do it while in my first semester of law school doesn't sound like a wise idea. And getting married right away would get the paperwork rolling on everything else we will need to do. Common sense tells me this would be perfectly legitimate but if anyone has any knowledge about this, please let me know. 4) Finally I am going to post a screenshot of the info I can pull up after signing into my USCIS account and looking at my case status. The weird thing is that there is a timeline up at the top that skipped right from the second bubble "Initial Review" right to the sixth bubble "Post-Activity Decision". This skipped right over the 3 bubbles "Request for Evidence", "Testing and Interview", and "Decision". I'm wondering why this is but it does say "approved" so I hope I have nothing to worry about. Take a look at it and tell me if it's normal. Very nice to meet everyone and I hope that I can help others in the future as much as everyone has helped me! Thanks again. Sean http://bxpxfurniture.com/images/USCIS.jpg