Charlotte

Tony, Did not know that you are that poetic!!! I will send you a German version soon! Merry Xmas!!!

Are you from NJ with a daughter in Shanghai???? With so many people it is getting hard to keep track of who is who.. Saw the pictures, the one of your company picnic could be me in a few more years.. They all look great!!!! Bob, yes. we emailed a couple of times. I am in PA with a daughter in Shanghai, who might not be able to make her spring semester here. I saw your webpage before you post picture ; very nice layout and love your pictures. By the way are you going to Shanghai in a month?

Hi and thanks: to clarify my status here: I am a USC applying for my daughter's visa, who was interviewed on 8/29. I came to US as a graduate student and met my husband on campus who was a dean of Foreign language department at the time (a soap opera story behind all this). All of you are applying for fiancees's visas, but I am for my daughter. I was in the same shoes like all of you, only 10 years ahead of you. Have a wonderful holiday!!

Bob- I added mine. I believe mine is there earlier than yours, the 4th ablum. Obviously, it did not leave any impression on you

Congratulations, Bob. Did Lili only make one trip to GZ consulate?

Today was the most difficult day to dial through, busy signals or got cut-off before reaching anyone. Finally I got through and guess what - Greg again! He was very sympathetic about the situation and helped me go through a list of 35 people. He did confirm to me that GZ should know first. He said he did not see any calls that show clearance today. Obviously GZ is very behind. All of you who sent me the name and case numbers were at least checked once today and 2-3 times this week. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE NAMES. Not all people follow the instructions and it is very time-assuming to get each case on my call list so that I won't miss anyone. At the same time I need to work 50 hours/week to keep up the year-end finishing up at work. Believe me (although my own case still pending) I would love to be a good-news bearer to you. Greg is the most wonderful guy you can get in a situation like this. (I myself would hate that job!!!) I have decided not to call any more. I just wait for GZ to send us the notice. It is useless to beat up guys like Greg, cleared or not, there is not a thing he can do to speed up. (He told me he is a contractor.) Let us pray to the Good Lord that everything will work out in the end and soon. Sorry guys! You may want to keep calling yourself. I think I am exhausted and won't want to bother DOS any more. But I will call Greg when my daughter gets here in PA with me. I will let her thank him in person on the phone. Good luck to you all and for those who will travel, pleasant journeys to and back from China! God bless you (and Budda will too)! Looking forward to hearing more good news from y'all! Charlotte

Who said there is fairness in the world? If there were, none of us would be in this mess now.

Please respond if any of you: 1. who had called DOS many times 2. was told pending several times 3. finally cleared, but 4. the cleared date was earlier than a few phone calls ago. If this is the case, then DOS is right. GZ has the list and takes time to input into the DB, otherwise we still don't know for sure who is feeding whom the list of cleared cases. Thanks, Charlotte

I got Greg again today - lucky me! My daughter's case still pending - unlucky me! Greg is nice and recognized my voice right away. He instantly said: "Let us go through your list." He said I saved him 9 phone calls. But anyway, my list gets longer. If you want me to help, I will (if I get Greg), but please do not stick your note here because I don't read all of them. Send me to cxi11@yahoo.com and with your Last name, First, Case# in the subject line. This will be easier to find you again if I have some good news to tell you. I don't want to post your # here. This will save me some time too. Thanks, Charlotte

It looks like name clearance is coming at randam, but no actual notice from GZ yet. All your valued rational analysis is based irrational/irregular information from DOS. Name cleared is a wonderful news, but a visa in hand can finally claim victory!!! Let us all pray to the "good lord" (Washington DC) for them not sit on our visas. Charlotte

Those who have sent me the case numbers: I called twice today. A (African American accent) Jenette answered: she was reluctant to help me with others, and was busy chatting with her co-workers about the hairdo. She did let me fax her the list and called back. None were cleared according to her. At 4PM, I called again, luckiy I got Greg, this time. He checked all 8 for me , one is from MOS, he was very nice about it; better one call than 8, he said. He said "you must belong to the webpage group." I said,"we are in the same shoes." "You should get paid for doing this." he teases. "That's my X-mas present for everyone." I joked. He said let's hope you daughter will be here in Jan. GZ received awful a lot of cleared names. Call me on Friday and I will check for you again. So here is my who day result. I am so happy to be able to bring this good news to Zhao, Fen.

What is CUC? Eric and Yulin, I thought your Yulin has interview on 8/01.

By accident, I am a good cook too. I have found some American, german recipes that would please both Chinese and Amercian's taste (share with you later). Any Chinese food I like, I would try it out on my husband and if he likes it, I will make it for the potluck with Americans, usually a huge success. I don't like the American Chinese food in many restaurants here, but my hubby likes Chinese buffet, so I had to go sometimes. But he likes me to give parties, this way he can sample everything I make like a buffet for him. For two of us daily I can't cook too much. Just something funny for you guys, last Xmas, I made some egg rolls for the potluck at work, I dropped some for the some people that I used to work with, before I reached my office, I got a voice mailing saying: "I have eight men in my office; 4 want to marry you and other 4 want to place lunch order for tomorrow." There goes the saying: "Love goes through stomach." For girls whose hubby can cook, you are lucky. My daughter may be one of them!!! Charlotte

I think we should this site going after this mess is all over (hopefully soon). We can post some useful information as to how to adjust into this Amercan culture,etc and for the American partners to understand the Chinese culture. I stumbled into this whole visa delay situation because of my daughter, but I am more than willing to help you build up a support group around this site (someone mentioned to me). My personal experience in this country for 13 years and married to a German-American husband certainly can help you with some do's and don'ts in a mixed culture environment. This page is nicer than G7 more readable than 001 since our American friends are mostly not bilingual. You guys did a very good job on this page. This page certainly has helped me in dealing with the delay situation. I was very depressed before I found G7 which led me into here. My daughter was crying on the phone when I told her she could not join us for Thanksgiving.... Thanks guys for all of your work. It is nice to know that you are not alone! Charlotte

No action necessary. She needs to have that letter from NVC with her green card all the time when she applies for employment. They are delayed in process, but she does not need to leave the country. I was there once myself. Charlotte

Could mine by IR-1? I am a US citizen applying for my daughter of 19?

How many of you are from Shanghai area? My daughter is 19 (looks like 15) and I was with her when she went for interview on 8/29. I hate to see her go alone. I wonder why GZ can't mail it like in Russia saving all of us trips to GZ? If we have to go, maybe my daughter can follow any of you if we have similiar time frame. I don't like the idea of letting her go there alone. Sending a relative to go with her is another pure way of wasting my after-tax money. We can coordinate if we happened to receive the notice at the same time. You may email me at following address: chklein@comcast.net FYI: I have been in this country for 13 years and married to an American husband for a long time. If you are heading the path of inter-racial marriage, mine could be a success story to tell (so far), although there has been a lot of adjustments and comprimises on both sides. However, it is well worth the effort! Good luck to you all. Charlotte Pennsylvania/Shanghai

Can they just put Case# on there web page for visa ready to pick up? This is certainly faster than the notification by mail.