frank1538

"...the land of the free and the home of the babies who wear diapers."http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/24.gif Now that's a good one. Welcome to CFL. The mysterious second security clearance is one of those areas where there is scant information on the process. One of the posted questions to the consulate actually asks about this: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...ndpost&p=174733 USCONGUZ has not posted a response yet, but the conventional wisdom suggests that this second name check is a bit more pro forma - a little like a query whether anything has changed since the first one. Most, but not all, second checks make it through relatively quickly, and I doubt it would take a year. My recollection is that Jingwen's second namecheck took about a month or so. Good luck.

Welcome to CFL. Based on your timeline, you may be here for only a short period of time. There are a handful of members who processed through Hong Kong, and they should be able to shed some light on the process. Don't hold me to this, but I seem to recall that the USC might even be able to attend the interview. As far as a stressful process, I would bet my last dollar that it's a lot less stressful than going through Guangzhou, particularly when you consider the efficiency that is often exhibited by the Hong Kong consulate. Good luck.

Apparently, that's the way it's done in Hong Kong. Take a look at Adam's post: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...ndpost&p=148083 You might want to confirm this with him.

174 - yi qi si. yi qi shi - toegther die. Not a good number to have on your license plate.

A happy ending indeed! Congratulations and best wishes to you two.

Ah, the benefits of going through VSC. Good luck at the interview.

On paper, the K-1 process is simple; in reality, it sucks. The process involves two governments and at least two US Departments. On the US side, there's USCIS where you file the I-129F. Processing at the Service Center will take anywhere from a month to 6+ months. For whatever reason, the paperwork shufflers are nit pickers, so it's possible to get an RFE (Request For Evidence) for the smallest thing such as providing non certified copies of documents when called for or forgetting to fill in a blank on the application, to sending in the wrong fee. At this level, there are also background checks performed on the petitioner (yet another agency) Once the I-129F is approved, it's sent to another governmental agency, the Department of State's National Visa Center where more background checks are performed on the beneficiary. For whatever reason, the US can't get it's act together in checking Chinese names in an efficient manner, and with the use of many common surnames, it's possible for the beneficiary to be confused with someone else. Consequently, just the background check itself can take anywhere from 30 days to six months. What makes this phase difficult is that information is virtually non existent, so you as the petitioner, are at almost a complete loss when it comes to helping out with snags. When NVC finishes, it sends the files to Guangzhou via DHL and another roadblock confronts you. DHL won't deliver the files to the consulate until the consulate provides the required paperwork, and trying to understand why files take 30 or more days to just reach the consulate's mailroom can be frustrating. Again, you have very little control. After the files are physically delivered to the consulate, they can sit for a month or longer just waiting to be uploaded into the computers. At this point, the actual visa application process hasn't even started. Eventually, the consulate will send the Packet 3 (P3) to the visa applicant. Remember that I-129F you filed up to six months ago? You were supposed to put your fiancee's address on it in Chinese characters, and the consulate is supposed to use this address. Sometimes they do; sometimes the don't. As a result, P3s get lost, and it's very frustrating to track down the lost P3 or to get the consulate to send out a new P3. Does she have children? Take what's going on and double it for each kid. Eventually, your fiancee will receive the P3 and hopefully with your assistance, will complete it and return it to the consulate. Maybe she makes a mistake; maybe she forgets to answer a question. Any number of things can happen that will slow that snail even further. At some point, the consulate will acknowledge receipt of the paperwork, but only if you press them on it. After even more waiting, the consulate will send out the P4, and the real fun begins, gathering the required documents and proof of relationship, completing the medical exams, paying the visa fees, etc., all in advance of the actual interview. Ah, that interview. You've been waiting for about a year just to get her foot in the door of the consulate where one screw up can result in a "blue slip" or an outright denial (non appealable). Typically, interviews take about 3-5 minutes, and the Visa Officer (VO) has either already made his/her decision or has an idea which way to go, or throws a dart at the "yes-no" dartboard. No one really knows, but, after a year of waiting, it boils down to this short interview. If the VO's gut is churning, he/she might give her that dreaded "blue slip" - a kind of request for more information to prove some aspect related to the visa. It may be relationship related, it may be financial - any number of things. Usually, it's relationship related: "Prove you can communicate - give me a video tape (which format?) of you two talking." It may be some pissed off individual your fiancee met along the way who is trying to de-rail her visa with a letter (unknown to you or her) to the consulate claiming your relationship is fradulent. Even if the interview is sucessful, there is still the risk that the VO might change his/her mind, and when you go to pick up the visa, it's not there. Starting to get the picture? Nothing is guaranteed until she arrives, not in the US, but in the US outside of the airport. The Chinese government is also involved. She'll need a passport, birth records, police records, maybe divorce records, and maybe other documents. Portions of the country are a tad more money conscious than other parts, and getting some of these documents may require a little palm greasing. In some parts of the country, record keeping isn't the best, so some of the documents might not even be available. If she has children, the ex may also be involved if his consent is needed to allow the children to leave the country. Again money can have a greedy smell to it. After a year or so of what will likely be one of the most frustrating years in your life, she'll arrive the the Point of Entry (POE) at some US airport. Her K-1 visa gives her the right to seek admission to the US, but it's the Immigration Officer (IO) at the POE that has the final say. Most visa holders make it through without a problem, but until she clears the POE, it ain't over. Actually, it isn't over even after she clears the POE. Marriage, adjustment of status, work authorization, social security numbers, drivers licenses are all ahead of you - not to mention the significant cultural adjustments both of you will go through. They're enough horror stories out there where smallest thing de-rails the process (or the relationship). The financial and emotional investment is significant, but the government doesn't really care about that. If it were only a matter of a few months from beginning to end, it might not be as much of a worry, but having to wait a year just to allow your fiancee to come to America adds so much pressure when that one omission or "bad hair day" can force you to start from scratch. Is the process easy? On paper, yes. Is it frustrating? More than you'll ever know.

This is one of the stupidest aspects of the AOS. Your wife's AOS is approved. Her daughter's K status is derivative, but not her LPR status, so she still has to go through a separate AOS interview. Query, is it possible that the mother can pass and the daughter not? Why shouldn't the interview be pro forma or why have one at all? "Sorry, Mr. tywy, we cannot approve your daughter's I-485. She'll have to leave the country. Oh, her mother has already been approved? Well, I guess it makes sense for the daughter to be approved as well, but I just don't like not having the power to screw you, so I'll just make it as difficult as possible and force you to jump through all these hoops...just because I can." Hang in there. It'll be over one day, and may the IO be the recipient of the south end of a north-facing camel . Since this is a public forum, I won't post what I really think should happen.

As warpedbored says sometimes, time for the happy dance. Best of luck to you two.

There is very little guidance out there on the I-134, so most people use the guidance for the I-864 which is much more detailed and restrictive. The thinking is that if it would pass muster for I-864 purposes, it would also pass muster for I-134 purposes. The guidance on the I-864 suggests that the income of the sponsored applicant can be used if the applicant meets the residency requirements (living in the sponsor's residence for at least the previous 6 months). The guidance also suggests that the assets of the sponsored applicant can be used, apparently without having to meet the residency requirements. Here is one link that discusses this: http://www.immigrationlinks.com/news/news214.htm This may be one instance where the question might better be posed to USCONGUZ.

There seems to be a bit of confusion here, so let me add to or subtract from it. Since chrisasta's wife was born and lived in Hong Kong where they got married, I don't think the consulate in Guangzhou would be involved at all. He is one lucky man in that visa processing in Hong Kong is much faster than in GZ. As far as filing the I-129F now, the only drop dead date is the "priority date" for CR-1 visa issuance. A K-3 cannot be issued if an immigrant visa is immediately available, and availability is usually established by the priority date. So, if the I-130 has not yet been approved, I would think that the I-129F could be filed. Whether it would move faster than the I-130 is anybody's guess, but others have gone ahead and filed just to have two petitions running in the race. If the I-130 reaches the consulate first, the K-3 (I-129F) is usually cancelled, and the applicant finishes processing the CR/IR-1 immigrant visa. If the K-3 reaches the consulate first, the applicant usually has the option of cancelling the K-3 and waiting on I-130 or continuing with the K-3. If the K-3 is approved and the applicant enters the US on that visa, he/she will then have the option of adjusting his/her status to legal permanent resident while in the US or returning to the interviewing consulate to finish the CR/IR-1 processing. If the CR/IR-1 is approved, the applicant then re-enters the US as a legal permanent resident and no adjustment of status is necessary. I always found http://www.k1k3.com/list.php to be a pretty good resource for finding out how fast the various consulates process the visas. I assumed Hong Kong would be listed.

Congratulations.

Since you've got the same topic going twice, both with responses, I'm merging them into the GVD forum.

Sound like you're off to a wonderful start. Best wishes.

Don't confuse a visa's validity with its duration. Most nonimmigrant visas are valid for 180 days from issuance. In other words, you must use the visa to gain entry into the US during this timeframe or you're SOL. Once you are admitted to the US, the duration of stay is established via the I-94. For K-3 visas, this is 2 years.

I know of several Chinese individuals have secured visas to the US but never a tourist visa. It's usually a work or schoold related visa (B-1, H-1, F-1, O-1, etc.). It's really tough for a young single Chinese woman to secure a tourist visa.

When Jingwen and I were corresponding via Yahoo Messenger, I was not using Windows IME since I couldn't tell which of the offered hanzi characters corresponded to my pinyin input. What I did was use translation software for my English input. Unfortunately, when I pasted the Chinese translation into Yahoo, it displayed as ??????? despite the Chinese encoding. My solution was a two step process. Once translated to Chinese, I copied the sentence to a program called CquickTrans ( http://www.coolest.com/ ). From there I recopied it to the instant messenger window, and everything worked fine. CquickTrans also gave me the added ability to see how a particular word was constructed. I still use CquickTrans, and find it a valuable study tool.

Jingwen went a week or so in advance of the interview because of holiday closings. Had the holidays not intervened, we probably would have gone a few days before the interview. In retrospect, I think it is wise to give yourself a little breathing room just in case something unexpected comes up during the exam. If it is convenient to make one long trip or even two trips, I think that would be the safest course. A month is probably not needed, but more than a day or two in advance might be prudent.

It's true that a K-2 needs an EAD in order to get an "authorized to work" SS card. Here's the joke though. The SSN that she will get for her "not valid for work" SS card will be the same number that she will use for the rest of her life, even when she gets her green card and is authorized to work. Go figure. Sounds like the SS employee was bending over backwards to help out.

I agree with Lee particularly when you consider that the most important document in adjusting from K-1 to LPR is the marriage certificate. Don't worry about having to file the AOS within the 90 days shown on the I-94.

Ditto. This is from the consulate's website - http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzhou/iv/kvfaq.html "What if my petition expires? Consular officers have the authority to extend the validity of petitions that have expired. Because many petitions often expire before an applicant can be interviewed, officers at the Consulate routinely extend the validity of K-1 petitions." I used the upcoming expiration of the I-129f petition as a reason for contacting GZ and to add to the paper trail of my involvement in the process. I asked them if anything was needed to formally request an extension. Their response was "no" - didn't need to do anything.

I'll go a bit further. Jingwen has two kids, and we filed two separate AOS packages for them.

It's been a long time coming, but it's finally over. Congratulations.

Rule number one: Always do what you say and do it quickly. Don't slough off your commitments. Rule number two: See Rule number one.

I know all about immigrant intent, and while there may be some truth in it, I think it's arrogant and presumptuous for our government to deny tourist visas for fear that the person won't leave, particularly in this case where the USC is residing in China. The US is nice, but it's not everybody's cup of tea. I don't want to get political here, but it reminds me of the movie "Minority Report". Since they can't prevent a possible violation of the law after the person arrives, they prevent the person from entering the country before he/she has a chance.