hypoclear

Hi Carl, I'm a little confused by why the P-3 forms are being sent out from GZ for you? Our's are being sent frm the NVC in portsmith, NH. We have already returned the affidavit of support and because they didn't recieve the check for the DS-230 in St. louis we had to resend. So they recieved it and that form was mailed out on Nov.10 and we are still waiting. A regular letter to friend and family from here in Shenzhen to say mass takes about 10 days and same give or take a day or two from them to us. Most all of our mail from NVC is running 24 to 30 days from date on the letter head. So we are figuring by dec 10 we should have that form and we will FedEx back to NH and they will have it in 2 to 3 business days. From our experience of doing this back to mass.. fed ex is right on with their delivery.. Geeez we would love to push this along but are concerned about the bar code page and others that would be needed but awwwww it sure is tempting.. just concerned that saving a week or so by doing that could cause us months of delays if NVC pushed for that bar code page etc.. I guess than the clock will start ticking on the 6 to 8 week process there which invilves the name check and than on to GZ for who knows how long???

OMG!! no no no.. i'm not suggesting bribes at best in the states you might have a friend in the dept who would maybe move your application along, that kind of thing. What I was thinking is this along with that crazy legislator and the usual middle american slant on how immigrants steal jobs etc truely doesn't give a clear picture of what really goes on. I'm sure 99.8% of people, like us fill out the forms, make the payments, deal with the other frustrating issues and simply wait. Of course this won't make the news as it is just the norm. It's just like the air plane that crashes and X number of lives lost, which is tragic but against the millions of miles and passangers flown it is almost amazing how safe it is. But I do agree with you on a harsh sentence, as in the end we do have to have faith in and the ability to question the people in government.

not a good sign http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/firstglance/...38902830370.xml

This sat we had a short lived suprise. Went to take the rubbish out and there in the mail box was that large white envelope with the blue strip and lady liberty symbol on it. I smiled on the lift ride to the tenth floor and hid it behind my back to suprise Bea with it. Turns out it wasn't the DS230 (biographical data form) but the fee bill form for it. The cover letter was dated Oct 20th. We were a little worried as we had to wait until monday, today to call and see if they had recieved the check for this form. When I looked closer at the envelope it had a Germany post mark on the front and a chinese one on the back. The address in the window was in english, but there was hand written chinese characters on the envelope. When I got thru to NVC in Portsmith, NH they told us the form had been mailed out nov 10, phew! I guess things are back on track.. So now we are wondering, why the other mail went thru germany and if this one will take 2 days to get to us? Also our route seems so much different from everyone else??? We have really filed for her immigration to the states I-130 and are married so our GUZ number from NVC has the CR1 way over on the right hand side. All of our paper work has been going to the states and nothing from GZ. It seems what will happen is this last form along with the support one will be processed in the states in 6 to 8 weeks and than sent over to GZ where we will get the P4?? Anyone have an idea of a time line on that part? Our current guesstimate is around Feb to get all the paperwork to GZ and from there???? So on Feb 12 it will be 1 year and still counting.

Jerry this was a real problem for my wife and I here in China. One letter from BCIS made it all the way over here right up to the housing complex!! but the mailman could not READ.. 1003 building 3..!!! duh duh duh f**** duh!! The address was in English and no chinese or pinyin on it. So after that my wife called the post office and told them what our address was in both languages, explained a little about the problem as they were the ones to tell her what had happened.. the letters was returned to the states. Now get this!!!!! it was only some time later that she found out. oh no... you have to talk to the over seas mail dept... now I'm not going to say people over here are dumb.. i didn't say that did i?? So I'd suggest your wife make a visit in person with her address both in chinese and english, very large and some info about what the envelope will look like.. usualy 8 X 10 with a window and blue offical symbol on it and the state dept etc on it. And tell them topost this on the wall so everyone can see it and perhaps as we have since than... she will recieve the mail with hand written chinese on it. It just shows how hard it is to decide how much to micro manage this whole process??? I mean who would think a letter could get right to your door step so to speak and the person would give up??? Best of luck and I guess if you can think it will be a problem than find a fix for it!! heheeh

Hell!!! the last time I was out to Guangzhou.. it certainly seemed like the afor mentioned 50, heck more were there with their interview paper work!!..??????? makes you wonder what it is they really are doing.. mah jong tournament?? Geeezzz from my quick glance of the figures, it certainly doesn't seem like much of a case load at all.

ohh so you're the boss.. heheh.. must be tough when those annual performance reviews come up ?? Well that is great Rob here's hopeing you do get a letter while there and yes it should be worth speaking to him in ACS even if nothing other than bringing your and your wife's and baby's name up. this really does seem like a bit much, keeping not only a couple but now a family apart, just to satisfy some bureaucratic system. One would think if it were truely a system it would include exceptions and common human errors into it's make up so that different continguencies that came up could be delt with quickly. Sorry for rambling and being on the soap box enjoy your flight and time together!!! Mark

Rob a couple suggestions for what they are worth and no doubt you have thought of them already. When I was out to the embassy the last two times I went to the American services section on the second floor and asked to speak with a manager. He was the vice counsel I believe and his name was unigue carsey ..?? I know this is not the INS unit but he was helpful with suggestions and no doubt speaks with the people in the ins unit. The other thought is perhaps you will become ill while in China and not be able to return as planned if it doesn't cause you problems.. Best of luck and safe travels..

nice idea but better yet, have her either bring her Hard Drive with her so that when you boot up you just need to hold down the delete key to bring up the BIO setup where you can switch hard drives. Or have her bring over a copy of the chinese windows version she uses and just install it to your HD. I believe windows 2000 and windows 98 can be duel booted. not completely sure about this. Best of luck! and yes this is a real problem as Bea knows english very well but often switches over to the chinese version to be more effective and faster in searches etc Mark and bea

Chinese lover, yes you can move to china. You can get 1 or 2, 1 month visa's to stay here. If you get married during that time you can than apply for a 3 month extention in her town. You should be able to do at least 3 of them and it is around 250 RMB give or take a fewRMB. If you go to HK you can ahhh, hmm, ohhh and come back with a 6 month or 1 year mutli entry visa. As for work if you can breath and speak english you can teach! my understanding is there is sure to be someone who will ask Bill Clinton while he is here.. hey! you want to teach english?? Most people teach around 20 hours a week and their pay runs around 8,000.00 to maybe 12'000.00 RMB a month which in US Dollars is only $1'000.00 a month, well under the 125% you need. It will make a comfortable living for you here. If you live on either coast or can get there I'd look into being an Air Courier. It cost me $35.00 to join and from JFK to HK it was $300.00 for a round trip plus a refundable $100.00 deposit. I flew JAL {japan airlines} and had a stop over in japan with hotel for the night included. As for living here.. don't drink the WATER! and as the Chinese say.. there are too many people in China. So it takes added time to do anything here and when you do get the chance to do it.. the person on the other side either doesn't know what you want , how to do it or whom to ask, but they usually are friendly or smile.. And finally you MUST learn that it is OK to elbow that 80 year old woman getting on the bus as she will surely do it to you if she can!.. hehehe It took me roughly 5 to 6 months to adjust to this culture and during those months it could some times be a bit of a roller coaster ride of emotion. I think for me in looking back at this time here I will treasure it as it gives me so much more insight into my wife and her life here. I'm looking forward to sharing the clean air and open spaces, uncrowded towns of the north east east, where I grew up with my wife. She loves the photos we have found about my home town and other bits and peices of info about the area. I hope this info helps inform you and the other great advice others have offered. Mark and Bea

Congrad's ty on making the next step. I called them last night and they had recieved the completed AOS, but nothing on their system from St.Louis about DS-230 payment. She did say it would take 10 to 15 working days for it to process. We are figuring it should be there by now as the AOS was recieved on nov 3 in N.H. from Ma. and both were sent out on the same day. I figure an extra 4 days to make it there should cover it. We are just a little concerned about the 3 week wait to see if they really got it! We did have a return reciept on it so should find out one way or the other. Mark and Bea

Bea and I are doing the same CR1.. I believe. married now and living in Shenzhen. I had to file in the states and was told from my congressman's office, when I was back there before being married, that it would take about 6 to 9 month if we got married and roughly the same for fiance visa. So with the I-130 form in hand I was back in China less than 3 weeks later on Nov 2/ 2002. Married on Dec 12/02 and finally filed and accepted on feb 12/03 in VT. Since than all has gone thru my sister in the states but I am the agent and we are waiting on part of the P3... Ds 230, having already sent in the AOS. From what people are saying 1 year is reasonable and if all goes well they should have all the paper work in GZ by feb 2004. We are hoping they will relent and not push us the 3 to 5 months before interview but than again I think Bea almost believes in Santa also! hehehe oh yes I could not file this here in China as i did not have a resident book or the infamous green book. If i had i think things would have gone quicker

well it seems a round of good cop bad cop.. Lucky for us this time it was good cop.. When I called NVC Friday they had finally updated my wife’s birth date. The woman also explained that they would send our ds-230 form right out after receiving our check, which we are estimating should hit their computer system in a few days so looking forward to the form over here mid nov. From there she assured us it would be 6 to 8 weeks to process our paper work and the name check. phew!! This one had us worried when donasho mentioned it, is completed during this period. She also mentioned they may do another check here in Guangzhou. yes you are correct donahso about GZ not knowing much concerning your paper work until it gets to them, which we are estimating could be some time in Feb. tywy_99 hmmm my understanding is that derivatives are forms of stocks traded on the stock market... my advice is to NOT buy them.. this company is not well run and doesn't seem to have a clue! hehehe but on the other hand you have to admire a company who thinks double billing is a great way to beef up the bottom line.. They may not play fair but they do understand the profit motive. See we read thru the doc for the fee bill for the ds 230 and I understood it to say NOT to send post office money orders which I thought strange as they are all part of the gov.. hmmm lack of trust??? So you should be getting your ds 230 in the next week or so please keep us posted on what happens next. I know we kind of added to the problems by having myself the agent over here in China, we went thru returned mail coz address not in Chinese , but we were concerned there may be some mix ups at my sisters etc. Well tywy_99 if you end up calling them here's hoping you get the good cop!! Mark and Bea

update: It appears your wife's case is being processed by the National Visa Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We have no means of verifying the payment. We also do not have the documents you need. Please contact the NVC to make your requests. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Immigrant Visa Unit We will call the NVC this friday and see if we can have them move this along. After reading more of the posts here we wish all of you the best of luck and god's speed. We are lucky in that Mark is here with me in China while we wait this out. Not much income but adding more photos to his portfolio and finally making contacts in HK after getting a multiple entry visa there in the end of aug.

Hi we are newbies at this so let me explain what my wife Bea and i have done. We were married dec 12, 2002 and filed our I-130 that month but it was returned because the check bounced.. ouch! those monthly fees hurt if you don't track them. We repaid and our date is Feb 12, 2003. We are not up on all the abraviations so i'll write it all out. since I don't have residency here in China I had to file back in the states. the Vermont office. It was approved in june or july. We recieved our fee bill for the affidavit of support and recived this, had it notorized at Guangzhou and just this week fed exed it to my sister who is forwarding all our paper work along. When we called she told us... the funds for check she drew at her bank for the DS 230 fee bill was returned to her account. ouch again! This fee bill form went out the same week as the AOS so we had been looking forward to the last form. We went to Guangzhou monday to see if we could move this along and get advice on how to deal with this missing mail. As this is what the Dept of state told us when we called... "We haven't gotten it.." We could have come back on thurs to the embassy to an FAQ session and ask them but they usually don't answer specific questions.. hmmm? In the end we decided to tell my sister to send the payment in again and get a mail delivered receipt for it. We had hoped to have all our paper work finished by the end of dec and than just waiting for Guabgzhou to notify us but it looks like this won't happen. We are wondering if the email we sent them asking that they send us the ds 230 form from there upon verifing the reciept of payment for this form back in the states will work? We should hear back from them in 5 to 7 business days. We had thought to write my congressman in Mass after we hear from the Embassy. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to get around this issue would be welcomed.