keelec

Well, While the P4 packets have started flowing again and interviews are being scheduled, it is obvious that for some reason GZ had stopped sending them out for about 2 months. If people had just waited patiently for the interviews to be scheduled, they certainly would have eventually been cleared up..... Perhaps in October like some people were being told..... Maybe this is just a "burp" in the system, but every time it happens, I think it is important for people to step forward and say that it is inappropriate. The people in charge at GZ should also realize by now that enough people are watching the process that GZ will receive a LOT of grief whenever they do (or stop doing) something like this. Congratulations, and I hope all goes well for you ------ Clifford ------

The K1 is considered to be a non-immigrant visa. However, you will likely find information about it listed under immigrant visas. Sorry I don't have the exact fee amounts. Original application fee was $110 (now $165?) Medical Exam Fee in China about $100 Interview Fee in China about $100 AOS $300 to $400 Advanced Parole about $150 Permission to work about $150 Social Security Number ????? What else have I forgotten ???? ------------------------------------------- Having your fiancee in the USA ..... Priceless Many of the fees are significantly higher if there are children involved. So, yes, you will have to pay the $350 fee, but not until your fiancee is in the USA. ----- Clifford -----

I am very glad to hear that a lot of the P4 issues are being resolved. It seems as if someone finally realized that no interviews have been scheduled for some time and decided to try to catch some of them up. You have to realize that the Candle and 001 only represent a small portion of the K visa applicants, probably somewhere betweeen 1% and 5%. Thus, you would anticipate that at any one time, at least someone (or a few people) on the Candle would have an interview scheduled, but, not all on the same day. I would assume that GZ has a list of 10 to 20 interviews a day and starts filling the list from the beginning to the end. Moscow posts their list (2 months). All the appointment slots until about 1 1/2 months out are full, then the scheduled interviews are somewhat sparce until the 2 month point. I called Moscow to have our interview rescheduled to a better time for both Irina and myself about 2 weeks later. I was told that they would give us the next available timeslot after the date requested (which was the date I requested).

http://www.001.com.cn/forum/usa/index.html Also, see some of Don & PJ's notes in the help and links section of the Candle: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....t=ST&f=7&t=1804 http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....t=ST&f=7&t=2015 http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....t=ST&f=7&t=2016

Jim, Best of luck with everything. As I understand it, they look at your past relationships and etc here in the USA. In China they will only be looking at your finacee. She will need to bring oiginal copies of any documents that the two of you submitted with the original application. ----- Clifford -----

Uh, yeah... An important step. Does it still have an estimated time on the NOA1? Remember that is only for BCIS. Good luck for a speedy and smooth process. ---- Clifford ------

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!! I am glad to hear they are now scheduling interviews again. Perhaps someone finally noticed that they were getting lots of complaints and hadn't scheduled new interviews for months. Good Luck, Clifford

Don; Growing up we had a bar just down the road in Hadley, MA called the "Dialtone" they had a telephone on each table and at every chair at the bar with a number over head. if you spotted someone you wanted to talk to you just picked upthe phone and dialed. All I can remember of the place is, one night a bunch of us guys stole the big glass pitcher that the beer came in... ohh to be young and an idiot again!! So the more things change the more they remain the same.. You can ask my wife about the idiot part.. mark and bea Hmmm, Recently someone described the new modern way of doing that... Apparently there is something called "toothing".... I am not sure if it is real, but it sounds plausible. Apparently PocketPC's or Palm devices with blootooth capabilities can send brief messages to another device in a close vicinity..... I.E. If a person is on a bus, one can start sending messages seeking others wanting to meet for a date. It sounds strange, but remotely plausible. ------ Clifford ------

We pay about a thousand dollars for immigration fees. We have both a K1 and an AOS interview. It would seem like they might want to spend a little of the money to do a "real" interview. I think I suggested a format earlier: Observe the couple in the waiting room. Bring them into a "private" room and observe them together. Talk to both together. Seperate the couple. talk to each half of the couple. Send them back to the waiting room and observe them a little longer. Hmmm, The scary thing.... WHAT IF THEY MAKE THE WRONG DECISION? ----- Clifford ------

Interesting idea.... Don, do you have Kevin Cook's e-mail. It would be interesting to have a continuation story..... Show his trials getting his wife here, then show him and his family a year later (assuming they are doing well), then show all the progress (or lack there of) today. ------ Clifford ------

It is hard for me to believe that anybody would committ fraud against the US Government for a mere $150. I wonder if any of those men ever fell in love with their wives, or visa versa, any of the women ever fell in love with their husbands? I guess that a fraudulent arranged marriage would likely end up badly. I wonder what one can do to tell for sure if a relationship/marriage is real? Look at the number of international trips? See how the two interact? Munchkins? Who is taking care of who (mutual?)

Whoever was writing that must have been smoking dope!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully this is a sign that the "Log Jam" is breaking up, and other P4 packets will be soon to follow. ----- Clifford -----

The truth is.... TIME COSTS MONEY. The delay has cost me $3000 in tax deductions, as well as an extra trip to Russia that I would otherwise not have taken..... Planning it now, but I will put down about $2000 for the trip expenses...... Plus Irina's computer..... Plus other expenses. Overall, it is costing me at least $5,000 because the interview and visa was not granted in a timely fashion. Granted, in our case, we might have saved $5K to $10K in college tuition with her studying in Russia last year rather than studying here (perhaps slightly increasing expenses). However, other couples miss out on thousands and thousands of dollars of income. Hypoclear has estimated that the delay they are experiencing has cost them on the order of $50K - $100K. When we started, I would be very pissed off if we had to pay $1000 to $5000 in fees upfront. But, in hindsight, it would have been a bargain. What would POINT OF ENTRY Processing be worth? I am a little upset now that I have discovered that fees are not the $110 that I expected, but rather the total amount will be nearly $1000 (and, of course, rates have gone up while I've been waiting for the visa). This immigration thing is a HUGE Monster.... But, I think it would be a stretch to justify the $1000 or so that we are being charged now. ----- Clifford -----

See, There are some things I haven't found on the Candle yet: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....ct=ST&f=1&t=674 http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....ct=ST&f=1&t=677 Thanks for transcribing the report. ---- Clifford -----

Ok, I sent an e-mail to Moscow last weekend to try to schedule the interview for July 21 which would be more convenient for both Irina and myself. No reply to the e-mail in nearly a week. So, I decided to call the 1-888 info line at $1.75 / minute. I know how to get around the "back door" (8 cents a minute for bigzoo), but I decided that I might as well do it the "proper" way since all I want is the interview, and not to rattle any cages. Of course the line was busy..... I tried nearly a dozen attempts and just about called the embassy instead, but finally got through. It is picked up by an automated attendant, but as soon as one gets to the point where one says "yes, I want to talk to someone", someone actually picks it up immediately (maybe they have 1 person working the phones and a single line. Well, we spent half the call verifying the visa.... (no, the one to pay them for the call). I then asked for the change of appointment date. Of course, the call center couldn't make the change, because they had to get the information and relay it to the embassy (scheduling the interview for the first available date after the date requested). Anyway, the lady at the call center thought it would be VERY IMPORTANT THAT I CALL BACK TO CONFIRM LATER.... I tried to tell her that I would just look it up on the www, but she thought it would be better for me to call back (and presumably spend another $5 to confirm the date). The new date (and all 5 interview slots) is now posted on the web for the 21st. I can't see any reason to call back to verify that. ----- Clifford ----- P.S. I asked why our number was listed 5 times and she couldn't answer that one (I guess they aren't trained to field the "hard" questions.

Uh.... Mark, The story came from a site called www.VisaDelays.com It existed last fall, but then disappeared around Christmas. It had some good, but somewhat dated reference material. Anyway, I started thinking about it based on some of the recent discussions on the Candle. So the big thing was to hunt for it on my computer... Yep, it was right there buried among a thousand other icons on my desktop. I had forgotten about the Moscow thing until Don had brought it up. ----- Clifford ------

Se Lang, Thanks for mirroring a copy: http://www.gabthis.com/cnn_story.wmv

You must have been adopting a kid in the "Terrorist Twos" :o

I just don't think the process of namechecks should extend FOREVER. I realize that after all of the computer crunching, there may be need to have an agent look at the cases. And, those cases that involve significant delays are the ones that need to be looked at.... (thus, the 15 day rule was kind of stupid). If they began all of the namechecks on day-1 of the application process, that would give them several extra months to do the checks..... I can't imagine anything could take over 6 months to resolve, but they could even schedule the interview while awaiting the results of the check. If they conduct the interview before it is completed.... Well, that would be a good opportunity to add additional input into the process as well as getting the fingerprints and police reports. Actually, I have always wondered why the fingerprints and police reports came so late in the process. ----- Clifford ------

Here is a story I downloaded a while ago from the www.visadelays.com site which no longer exists. WAR BRIDES It is a story that apparently aired on CNN about the visa delays about a year and a half ago (wow, not much has changed). It also discusses the American who lost his life in the Moscow Theater attack in October 2002. Hopefully you won't wipe out my Yahoo bandwidth for the whole month. Someone else may want to mirror this, or I can send the original 7MB file for mirroring. I think they may limit the bandwidth hourly so try again later if you have problems. http://www.geocities.com/clkeele/cnn_story.html Se Lang has kindly mirrored a copy for us (apparently 2 or 3 users wiped out my entire bandwidth on Geocities). http://www.gabthis.com/cnn_story.wmv

Ok, The attack was in October 2002 (just about the beginning of the Candle. Apparently Sandy Booker (I think) had gone to Russia to be with his fiancee. According to the CNN story, the visa had actually finally cleared and they went to the Russian Theater to celebrate when it was attacked. I am working on uploading the CNN story somewhere now. ----- Clifford ------

Kim, That is quite the story. I guess they took all spring off in New Orleans for their spring party thing, and are just now getting back to work Have a good trip to Texas, and I hope all goes smoothly. ----- Clifford ----

Oh, I have questions all the time.... I am just one of those types of people who would rather drive around in circles all day than to stop and ask someone for directions And, I must say the discussions here have been very interesting. Hopefully everything that is written on this board is correct as it is the source of all my information I had never thought about issues like what to do if one's girlfriend doesn't have a birth certificate. When I look at a globe, China looks kind of small (about the size of an orange, depending, of course, on the size of the globe). I am not even sure where GZ is located, but I assume asking some people to go to GZ for an interview is like asking someone to drive from Oregon to Missouri just to talk to a RUDE Visa Officer (and repeat the trip 3 times).

I would have to think that the Candle represents a small number of the K visa applicants, perhaps 1% overall. If you take the Candle, 001, K1K3.com, and a few others (then elimiate redundancy), then we might represent 5% of the K visa applicants. However, the Candle alone represents a large enough percentage that one might expect at least 2 or 3 INTERVIEWS a month, and at least a half a dozen people having P4 packets at any one time. Adding in the rest (Turtle's list), one should expect to see at least a dozen interviews a month..... still a small percentage overall. Shear randomness could potentially give a false illusion of a several month "dry spell" without interviews. Yet, the likilihood of that happening is extremely rare. And, with the elusive responses that GZ has been sending out for the last month or so, I believe that this is a very real issue. ----- Clifford ------