ch1ch1

without sounding like an a$$, i am somewhat relieved to hear this kind of responses from folks who applied before the rate change. at first i was shocked by how much the government is now charging for AOS. it doesn't sound too bad now. as someone else pointed out, i guess our love toward SOs worth much much more than whatever we are paying to get them here to be with us. :-)

thanks all for replying! I have a follow up question: let's say we are applying for the AP right now (along with AOS). it's 11/07. let's assume we get our AP approved in 01/08. as folks are saying, the AP is valid for a year. so our original AP will expire in 01/09. let's assume again that Fiona and I don't get a chance to go back to China at all in 2008. by the Chinese New year rolls around in 09, she decides to go back. but at that point, the (original) AP's already expired. with that in mind, we apply for AP renewal (probably a couple of months earlier). ok, that's my scenario. my question would be, should we be better off wait to apply for AP until, say 04/08? that way, we will get our (original) AP in 06/08 and it won't expire until 06/09. so for our new year trip in 09, we will only need to apply for AP once, rather than applying for it and not use it then renew? by the way, does anyone know how long the renewal process would take? someone mentioned that the EAD renewal takes about 6 months. what about AP renewal process? thanks again!

hi, all: my then-fiancee-now-wife (yayy!!) Fiona and i are going over documents to apply for AOS. upon the new price change recently to the process, and base on the fact that $1010 application fee covers EAD and AP application fees as well, we are tempting to submit all three (AOS, EAD and AP) applications at the same time. do you think it's wise to do so? Fiona doesn't plan to work for at least another 5,6 months; and she doesn't mind staying here with me, not going back to China for another 6 to 8 months. i read somewhere on this forum that both EAD and AP expire after a year. so base on your experience and knowledge, what should Fiona and I do? should we wait? you guys supported me throughout the whole I-127F process. thanks very much!

hi all: my SO had her interview on 24th this past Monday. the consulate told her to come back and pick up her passport along with visa on 26th. and that's today. she arrived at the consulate about 9:10 am and was told that her visa wasn't "shipped" in yet. so she had to wait for another day and come back tomorrow. she then waited a little bit to hear if others' in similar situation. it turns out, there were a lot of people didn't get their passports back today. my first question, where would the passports be "shipped" from? aren't the visa printed and issued in the consulate?? secondly, it's more of a poll i'm trying to start here. how many people actually get their passport with visa back today? i'd like to get some stats if you don't mind. (my SO's little worried since it's says the consulate can still reject her visa request between the pink slip and visa being issued. she's worried that her case is being reviewed once again and may be turned down.)

thanks all! to answer "I love sunshine", i think i listed engineering as my job. i'm a system/technical support engineer at a software company.

Congrats on your SO's interview success. Have a safe flight back to the US. As my wife (SO at the time) is from Shanghai as well, I looked into this in depth (with DavidZ's help) and it seems there are VERY FEW--perhaps only one case on CFL--where a Shanghai SO was issued a blue slip. Almost everyone's SO from Shanghai has passed very easily and received PINK on their first try. In our case, my then-SO didn't even get to give my I-134 to her VO. He asked 8 quick questions, looked over some of our photos and asked for my taxes and then issued her PINK. All told, it took less than 5 minutes for the entire interview. It does royally suck for some SOs from other parts of China who have to endure much greater scrutiny, but there is good evidence from CFL that SH SOs have a very easy time at the GUZ interview. that's exactly what happened to my SO as well! Fiona's from Shanghai and her VO asked her 8 easy questions, no i-134 and only photos and taxes. how interesting!

congrats! be a little careful with the actual visa pickup process. i just called my SO, who passed her interview 2 days ago (Monday GUZ time). she was told to pick up her visa today, however she didn't get it. in fact, a lot of people didn't get their passports back today. you may have to wait an extra day or so.

thanks all for the replies! that's a relief.

sorry, i should clarify. i was applying for k1 fiancee visa. thanks for reading and replying!

[reposting from VJ] hi, all: i just want to express my joy here. i just called my fiancee. she's in Guangzhou right now, just finished her interview with the VO. the result, pink (or rather red-orange-ish) slip! i can finally have a good night sleep. yayyy! while i was on the phone with her, she realized that VO didn't take our I-134 form. she's a little bit worried that this "mistake" may delay getting her passport back in two days. can someone who's been through the interview (in China) tell me whether the consulate takes the form away or not? thanks very much and good luck to you all who's still waiting! [edit: i just saw a couple of "pink slip" threads. looks like the VO took their i-134s in both cases. could it be that my fiancee's VO forgot to take the form away?]

thanks all for the information and encouragement! when i get a chance, i will update (add) my timeline. i have a timeline written on VJ.

oops, this may be posted in the wrong section. would the admin please move to the p3-interview or appropriate section for me? thanks!

hi, all: I was wondering if anyone knows if the Consulate in China follows any kind of rule when assigning interview date. i'm asking this question because it seems that Fiona's (my fiancee) interview was scheduled at a much later time than everyone's else who's in the same P3 time frame. for example, i know that several people sent in their P3 around the time same time as Fiona; some even sent theirs later than Fiona did, but they all got interview date prior to hers. I've been in this K1 thing for a quite long time (longer than almost all of you). it seems that every step takes way longer than others. am i just this unlucky?? i'm the worrying-type. i always thought to myself that there is something suspicious with my or fiona's files. the consulate needs more time to investigate everything. and this in turn means potential visa rejection. am i worrying too much? i know there is an old Chinese saying, basically goes something like everything good will eventually come, at a (much) later time. i just hope my long wait time would eventually translate to successful interview and getting the visa quickly for Fiona. thanks all for reading.