Schuller

Thanks for the advice guys, we will have to give it another try. I will post results.

Thanks for taking the time to take a look at this! I am a US citizen, my wife is a Chinese citizen with US permanent residence as of 11/2008 (K1 visa US entry 3/2008, lifted condition 2/2011). She wanted her mother to visit our home for three months and also tour the US. Mom is in her mid/late 50¡¯s retired and living with husband who is steadily working. They live in Guangzhou, my wife is an only child and Mom and Dad have a new home, and lots of other family in the Guangzhou area: parents, siblings, cousins, nephews, nieces. Mom had the interview today for the B2 visa, she was denied. We prepared her support documents by roughly following the advice of this post. Does anyone have any advice on how to resolve this and get the visitor visa? From what I understand it is likely due to daughter being only child and Mom never traveled anywhere before¡­ However after you review the interview transcript below, you will find they didn¡¯t review any of Mom¡¯s China based financial information, property owned or extended family. So does the VO just see "only child" and "Mom never traveled" and give automatic denial? Transcript of B2 US visa interview that took place April 17th, 2012 in Guangzhou consulate: [start interview, conducted in Mandarin] VO: Why are you going to US? Mom: To visit my daughter, tour the US and shop. VO: Do you have any other children? Mom: No. VO: Did you visit any other country before? Mom: No. VO: What does your daughter do for a living? Mom: Works in financial industry. [VO looked up some information in computer, supposedly looking up daughter¡¯s info according to Mom (not sure exactly what this was¡­ perhaps just looking at the e-filed DS-160 application?) VO didn¡¯t review any evidence provided during interview.] VO: Your application is rejected. Mom: Why? VO: I don¡¯t have to tell you that. [End interview]

San Francisco consulate doesn't give much advance notice of when they will visit Seattle. The will give notice through one of the local Chinese language newspapers (not sure which one). You must then register with the consulate for your desired service prior to their arrival in Seattle. My wife is keeping in contact with one of her previous co-workers at CISC for info, I will let you know when we find out. Seems like this might be applicable to Vancouver office as well. See email I received from my inquiry: >me to visa@chinaconsulatevan.org >Dear Sir or Madam, > > My Wife is a Chinese Citizen holding a Chinese Passport that will expire > in > Fall 2009. She is a US permanent resident and resides with me in Seattle > Washington. > > Please advise if she is eligible to use the Vancouver Consulate to come in > person and apply for a passport renewal. If she is eligible, please > advise > the passport renewal process for the Vancouver Consulate. > > The Vancouver Consulate would be more convenient for traveling to in > person > due to it's closer proximity to Seattle than the nearest US based Chinese > Consulate in San Francisco California. > > Thanks, > J. Schuller visa@chinaconsulatevan.org to me Hello, Your wife is not able to renew the passport in vancouver,she has to renew it in USA me to visa@chinaconsulatevan.org Dear Sir or Madam, Could you please advise why a Chinese citizen who is legally visiting a foreign country can't use the services of the consulate of their home country? Regards, J. SchullerWaiting now for their reply... If we have time and there isn't a long line at the consulate in Vancouver... we will stop by and try and renew on our next trip. I can see if my wife can mop slap them into submission. I will keep you posted of any info.

NO mail! My Mother-in-law just checked in Guangzhou applicable govt office about processing time for passport. It was 15 working days! And must apply in person and pickup in person. My Wife contacted the Chinese Information and Service Center (CISC) here in Seattle, which she volunteered at before getting her first US based job. They said that the San Francisco Consulate typically makes 1 or 2 trips up to Seattle each year to handle services such as passport renewal. However this service is not guaranteed to happen each year due to problems for the consulate to find office space; thus their visit is announced very shortly prior to their to arrival. This leaves little time for the required registering prior to their arrival. For these "field trips" the turn around time for passport renewal is 15 working days with passport delivered in mail. In the case of going directly to the consulate the passport is renewed same day. I was thinking of just going to Vancouver to get the passport renewed, I have no response yet: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=34713 So perhaps the city in which you reside also has a consulate that makes "field trips"? Maybe a local Chinese organization/community could provide advice?

Hi All, I was wondering if anyone could share some experience.... My Wife (Chinese Citizen with 2yr conditional green card) and I are currently living in Seattle WA area. Her Chinese passport is going to expire Fall 2009 and will need a renewal soon. The Chinese consulate covering WA is way down in San Francisco. A much closer (about 1/6th the distance) major city with consulate is Vancouver BC Canada. It would work out nicely to renew the passport there as we like to visit Vancouver. Has anyone renewed a Chinese passport in a third party country while visiting, not a resident? Is it allowed by Chinese consulate?

Wasn't a complaint... it was an expression of sympathy.

I was surprised as well on how fast my case processed. I don't know anyone, but one advantage was being able to send my I-129F to the Vermont Service Center back when they did NO2 in around 30 days. However afterwards the fees went up, Service Centers were consolidated and VSC got slower! The sad thing is I really didn't need the case to process so fast! I have planned to live with my fiancee in China through all of 2007 and will leave this month. So getting the interview in Oct 2007 was early. Really screwed up that I got faster processing than couples that aren't lucky enough to be able to live together while case is processing.

Never could see too much... avatar is Edison. I was really looking forward to going there!

Can anyone let me know if they had a good visit to Macau? I am interested in what I missed... maybe i'll be convinced to make a return visit. I was interested to check out the other special administrative region (SAR) in China, since Ive been able to visit Hong Kong a couple times and was impressed. However my short trip to Macau was disappointing. I figured both of these SARs would have a unique character and twist on China's culture. It makes sense as they have there own separate government/economy and strong European influence. I really only appreciated this in Hong Kong. Please tell me, what did I miss in Macau? Is this place just a glorified Reno Nevada? My experience in Macau, I only spent one day, only enough for a first impression: -Overall Atmosphere: I am currently living in Guangzhou(GZ), touring the streets of Macau didn't "feel" much different than GZ. Not that GZ is bad... but I expected more of a different culture. There are some tourist shopping areas that have a distinct European feel, but it feels forced and manufactured. -Shopping: My Fiancee was disappointed with the quantity and quality of shops. Most specifically the cosmetic stores (e.g. SASA), it seemed as if the cosmetics were outdated. Maybe they buy nearly expired cosmetics from other stores for cheap resale? -Casino: we visited the Venitian. This new building was pretty impressive from exterior and also the shopping arcade that is designed to look like the streets of Venice, with a cloud painted sky and gondola rides through some small canals. -Food: probably the biggest highlight of trip. The pork sandwiches are great! My visit to Macau only left me with the taste similar to Disney in Orlando. But I know this can't be the same manufactured tourist trap, I really want to give this place a fair chance. Please let me know your experiences. Thanks, Schuller