Mr. French

My wife opted to pick her packet up from the post office. They sent her a text message when it had arrived, in addition to her having the tracking number. I don't know if she bothered to check the tracking number in the end since she got the text message. Additionally, she paid a fee of 31RMB to the post office when she picked up the packet. She was given her waybill at the interview so I'm afraid I can't be of help on the first question. Edit: Regarding efficiency, I think my wife and I both wish she had opted to return home to have it delivered rather than having her wait in Guangzhou. She interviewed on Tuesday the 8th and picked up her visa on Monday the 14th. I'd imagine the decision to pick it up probably meant she got it a day or two earlier than if it had been mailed but, given our situation and when she will fly to the US, that time could have been better spent preparing to leave China. There's also no guarantee, as I understand, when the visa will actually be issued so if hers had been delayed for some reason she might have been sitting in Guangzhou for God knows how long without anything to do. But, that's just our experience.

Wonderful, thanks for the reply. I had assumed RT would be cheaper than one way because it has been every other time I've flown from Detroit->Beijing/Shanghai or vice versa. It was a rather pleasant surprise this morning to find out that we could save $600 by getting a one way ticket. Hopefully she gets her visa in the next couple of days or it may be a moot point...

So I live in Cincinnati, but the cheapest and easiest city for my wife to fly into is Detroit. A one way ticket to Detroit from Shanghai costs $1,100, but a flight from Shanghai to Chicago with a stop in Detroit costs $800. Detroit is closer to me than Chicago (not to mention Detroit is my hometown and would be more convenient for me). Are they going to question it at Detroit customs and immigration if she has a connecting flight to Chicago but tells them she plans not to take the flight? I've also heard that opting out of a connecting flight can cause problems with the airlines but I'm less concerned about that either way; on principle I take issue with them charging us more for less flight.

Congratulations!

No, she's not CCP. Sorry, I should have included that in the original post!

Just wanted to add our experiences here in case the reference is useful for anyone. And, more data available is always better when trying to figure out what to expect I think. Also wanted to say thanks to everyone here for their help. Unfortunately I found this site really late in the process but the information and people here have been incredibly helpful. First, the questions the VO asked my wife, not necessarily in this exact order: How are you doing? Who is petitioning for you? Who is your joint sponsor? Are you a member of the Chinese Communist Party? When and where did you meet? When did you get married? Where did husband go to college? Does your husband speak Chinese? How did he learn it? Where does your husband live now? Have you met his mother? (At this point my wife answered that my mother had attended my wedding over the summer and the VO asked for pictures). Do you have any kids? Documents my wife took with her: Financial: I-864 from myself as the petitioner I-864 from the joint sponsor Letter from myself explaining why I had not filed taxes in the last three years (undergraduate/graduate student, no taxable income) Student loan statements as evidence of enrollment and how I supported myself Bank statements from past 12 months Letter from joint sponsor stating that she understood legal ramifications and explaining why she was joint sponsoring. Joint Sponsor¡¯s 2008-2010 tax transcripts and tax returns Copy of Joint Sponsor¡¯s passport biographical page Civil: DS-230 parts I & II Notarized documents (marriage, birth, police) Passport (my wife¡¯s) Sealed health forms X-Rays 20 Passport Photos (I just found this out, no idea why she took so many) Appointment Letter Evidence of Relationship: Photos from my three trips to China to see her (including wedding ceremony this past summer which had pictures of my mother with my wife and in-laws). Plane tickets Train ticket from first time I visited her and accompanying news story (see explanation below). Letter explaining relationship from myself Letters from my mother and cousin, both of whom have met my wife and in-laws in China 40 pages of QQ chat between me and my wife switching between both English and Chinese (selected out of about 4000 pages) Skype records of calls from me to my wife and from my wife to me or my mother E-mails between my wife and my mother 20 pages of QQ chat between me and my mother in law Photocopy of my passport Now, for what they actually asked for. It might be worth noting at this point that we did electronic processing through the NVC. At document intake my wife was asked for: The I-864 forms for myself and the joint sponsor. 2008, 2009, 2010 tax transcripts for the joint sponsor. DS-230 P3 Supplement Information page Notarized documents (marriage, birth, police) 2 passport photos Medical exam The individual doing her intake looked at but did not keep photos from our wedding. At the interview, the VO asked for: My wife¡¯s passport The appointment letter The photo albums which she flipped through for about 5 seconds before handing back Overall, my wife says the interview was extremely quick (she says a minute, though I think that might be a slight underestimate). A little background on our situation is probably in order for context. I¡¯m 25 and my wife is 23. I am in my second year of law school; my wife is unemployed as she is a recent college graduate. My undergraduate major was Chinese Studies, and I¡¯d spent about 2 years studying in China prior to meeting my wife. My wife¡¯s major was Business English. I mention that to point out that there might not have been much question about our ability to communicate. We met on QQ in November 2009 while I was in the US and looking for Chinese individuals with whom to do language exchange while I finished undergrad. We met in person in China right after I graduated in 2010. The train I was on when I was going to meet her derailed and about a dozen people died (hence the news article mentioned above) and, for various reasons, the experience made me rethink my long term plans and we got engaged not long after we met in person for the first time. Altogether, we were together in China three times, each time for 6-11 weeks. I met her parents and stayed at their home for a portion of each visit. We registered the marriage December 2010. Sent the I-130 to the USCIS in March of 2011. We had an actual wedding ceremony in her hometown in July and my mother (who was our joint sponsor) was able to attend. A cousin of mine came to China shortly after and met my wife, and we had pictures of our families together. Wow that was longer than I'd hoped. If I think of anything else I'll edit it in.

Thanks, I'm definitely leaning towards not filing after reading your reply. The joint sponsor is my mother; she makes a bit over double the income requirement. We also have photos of her in China for our wedding ceremony this past summer, though I can't imagine photos will make a difference for joint sponsor purposes. Ahh, I don't know, I'm going to drive myself insane in the next week I'm sure...

This is similar to a topic I started about a month ago, so I apologize if I should have bumped that rather than starting a new thread. I'm a law student and haven't had taxable income for the past three years, so I haven't filed taxes. My wife's interview is on the 7th/8th and I'm contemplating filling out back taxes using 1040EZs (0s in every field because again, no taxable income), emailing copies to my wife, and sending them into the IRS. I included a letter with the I-864 explaining why I haven't filed taxes as well as evidence of loans for school and bank statements for the past year. I obviously also have a joint sponsor who meets the income requirements, and my wife has the joint sponsor's tax returns and tax transcripts for the past 3 years. My wife is concerned that it will raise a red flag with the interviewer if they ask for my tax returns and she has them after I included a letter stating that I had not paid taxes the past three years. She's also concerned that since the IRS will probably not have processed my back taxes by the time of her interview, the interviewer might check the IRS records and conclude that I still haven't filed back taxes and am just giving tax returns that haven't been filed. Thoughts? Should we just let it ride without the tax returns (again, I really haven't been required to file these past three years)? Am I being paranoid? If it is just paranoia, it's probably not going away until after the 8th. Any input is appreciated!

Hey, Mr. French, I'm in the same boat as you, Nov. 7th for my wife too. We're just finishing up some last-minute touches on all of our documents, getting everything copied/printed/scanned and so on. Since it's a Monday, we're going to Guangzhou the prior Wednesday to take care of the health check. That'll give us some time to relax and rehearse. How about you? I'm actually going to be in the U.S. unfortunately. I'm a law student and it's the middle of the semester (not to mention that as a law student I really can't afford a ticket to Guangzhou haha). My wife is going to be getting to Guangzhou Thursday evening and doing the health check on Friday. She interned in Guangzhou when she was in university, so while I feel pretty bad that I can't be there with her, she'll be ok on her own. Hope you enjoy the weekend in Guangzhou with your wife though! Personally I'm going to be a nervous wreck for the next week and it would probably be a bit better if I could be there rather than on the other side of the planet figuratively biting my nails until the 8th...

We just received notification that my wife's interview is scheduled for November 7th. I'm more than a little nervous, though I believe we have everything in order.

Has your spouse sent or emailed to NVC a DS-3032? See this post regarding e-process with NVC, China is different than all other consulates around the world in that there is an electronic process with NVC that will save some months getting around the customs hold in China. http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/37703-i29fk3-changes-and-nvc-electronic-processing-for-i-130cr1/ Yes, we sent the DS-3032 back in early August and we have paid the IV fee. And we did opt in for electronic processing, so everything is being done online. My wife is in the process of scanning various documents for the DS-230 now.

Thanks for the replies. I just called the NVC and they said they wouldn't be sending the I-864 until they receive and review the DS-230 so we're just going to hold off on sending that until I've got my joint sponsor's 2008 and 2009 tax transcripts so that I can e-mail those in. I'm debating whether I should file back taxes for the last three years even though neither I nor my wife have had any taxable income... Thanks again for the information. So glad I found this website before we got any further in the process, or I would have had no idea they'd be asking for all three tax years.

I'm the petitioner for my wife's K3 case. We're currently at the DS-230/I-864 steps. Unfortunately I stumbled upon this community a day after I submitted my I-864 documents electronically and now, having read a number of threads, I'm a little bit worried and not sure what I should do. So, here are a few questions I hope someone here can help me with before I go insane. My taxable income for the past 3 years has been 0. I've been a dependent, unemployed student for the past 3 years and thus have not filed taxes. I submitted with my I-864 a letter explaining my situation, some evidence of having received federal student loans, and evidence of family support for the last couple tax years. I've read here that I should file back taxes despite not having received any income and submit that. Two questions regarding that: Is it necessary for me to do so having submitted the letter and evidence of student loans? And, if so, can my wife take them to the consulate when she goes for her interview or do I need to resubmit the I-864 electronically to the NVC before they send it to the consulate? Is that even possible? Second issue: My mother very kindly filed as a joint sponsor. Her income is and has been high enough for the past 3 years to meet income requirements (42,000-45,000). Following the instructions for the I-864 she only included her most recent year's tax transcripts and not all three prior years. Now I've been reading on here that the Guangzhou consulate actually requires all three? So, once again, will I need to resubmit the entire I-864 when she obtains those tax transcripts or can my wife just take those to the consulate? I know some of this has been discussed elsewhere but I'm having trouble putting it all together. I'm just so ready for this process to be over so that my wife and I can actually be together again... Thanks for taking the time to read this.