lane

Current link/info about Communist Party membership, FYI: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/86972.pdf Basically it looks like membership shouldn't be a problem if it was only "nominal" (i.e., you didn't seriously subscribe to the communist ideology or participate in activities or hold a position of responsibility, but rather only joined in order to obtain academic or economic benefits, advance employment opportunities, etc.) They may have you fill out an extra form to describe the nature of your membership in the party, but my guess is it won't be a big problem as long as it was only a nominal membership and not serious participation.

Follow-up (She emailed the consulate and they gave the NVC case number to her)

Thank you, that was incredibly helpful and even answered all my follow-up questions that I thought of while reading. But now.... um... silly question -- we are having trouble locating the NVC case number. Where did you find this? In order to log in to https://ceac.state.gov/IV/ and fill out the DS-260 online visa application, she needs her "NVC Case Number" and "Invoice ID Number." In the instructions she received in the mail, it says what to put for the Invoice ID Number (i.e., her birthday), but we can't find the case number anywhere. Is it in a separate mailing? Is it also her birthday? Is there not one if you do DCF? We can't find it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Andelu (or anyone else) - do we have any more information about the timeline now? Specifically, after doing the DS-260 online and submitting the photos etc. through CITIC bank, how long did it take before you can schedule your interview? (Also, is it true that you choose your own interview date now, as opposed to being assigned one, and if so, what is the window of time that you can choose from?) I ask because my friends are at this step of the process now -- just got the notice of approval for the i-130 and the instructions to complete the DS-260 and CITIC steps (is this what counts as P3 now?) -- and are ready to proceed, but are trying to plan around a vacation (which could be somewhat flexibly scheduled) so we're trying to figure out whether to go ahead and submit everything ASAP or whether that could tie them into a rigid timeline and affect their ability to leave the country for a couple weeks this winter.

Has anybody seen / could anybody post a copy of the instruction letter that explains the new process? (document delivery, etc.)

My wife's interview is on the 24th. We've already done the medical exam and vaccines in Shanghai. We are trying to figure out when she can go to Guangzhou and when she can return. Along those lines, we have two questions: 1. When/how is payment made? It seems like I've seen that it's supposed to be done "before" the interview. What does that mean, and how does one do it? 2. It seems like I've seen conflicting things about whether or not they mail the visa to you upon completion. We're DCF and heavily front-loaded, so I assume she will pass. But when and how does she get what she needs from them? Thanks

I recognize that you have more experience with all this, but according to my reading of the instructions on the forms, I would have to disagree with the idea that the i-864a is the wrong form in this case. Unless Guangzhou has different requirements or I'm misreading something. Now, it looks like we could also do a joint sponsorship in this case; probably either way would be okay. The main differences between a joint sponsor and a household member seem to be that (1) a joint sponsor must be able to meet the income requirement by themself, whereas in a household member situation the total income of the household must cross the threshold, and (2) a joint sponsor can be just about anyone, not necessarily a family member, whereas a household member From i-864 instructions: How Can My Relatives and Dependents Help Me Meet the Income Requirements? You may use the income of your spouse and/or any other relatives living in your residence if they are willing to be jointly responsible with you for the intending immigrant(s) you are sponsoring. If you have any unrelated dependents listed on your income tax return you may include their income regardless of where they reside. The income of such household members and dependents can be used to help you meet the income requirements if they complete and sign Form I-864A, Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member, and if they are at least 18 years of age when they sign the form. What Is a Joint Sponsor? If the person who is seeking the immigration of one or more of his or her relatives cannot meet the income requirements, a "joint sponsor" who can meet the requirements may submit a Form I-864 to sponsor all or some of the family members. A joint sponsor can be any U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or lawful permanent resident who is at least 18 years old, domiciled in the United States, or its territories or possessions, and willing to be held jointly liable with the petitioner for the support of the intending immigrant. A joint sponsor does not have to be related to the petitioning sponsor or the intending immigrant. Since in my case, my mom's income is enough by itself to sponsor the immigrant, the only question seems to be whether or not she counts as a "household member". The definition seems to be based mainly on residence and family relation, not necessarily who is claimed on whose taxes, or who is a dependent of who(m) (although if you have claimed dependents, they count as household members too). From i-864 instructions: How Do I Count Household Size? Your household size includes yourself and the following individuals, no matter where they live: any spouse, any dependent children under the age of 21, any other dependents listed on your most recent Federal income tax return, all persons being sponsored in this affidavit of support, and any immigrants previously sponsored with a Form I-864 or Form I-864 EZ affidavit of support whom you are still obligated to support. If necessary to meet the income requirements to be a sponsor, you may include additional relatives (adult children, parents, or siblings) as part of your household size as long as they have the same principle [sic] residence as you and promise to use their income and resources in support of the intending immigrant(s). [...] 21g - This question gives you the option of including certain other non-dependent relatives who are living in your residence as part of your household size. Such relatives may include your mother, father, sister, brother or adult children, if they are living in your residence. However, the only reason to include these family members in your household size is if you need to include their income when you calculate your household income for purposes of meeting the income requirement for this form. To be considered, any relative indicated in this category must sign and submit Form I-864A. Or the same idea here: From the i-864a instructions Who May Be Considered a "Household Member" for Purposes of This Form? For purposes of this form, a "household member" is: * A relative who has the same principal residence as the sponsor and is related to the sponsor as a spouse, adult child, parent, or sibling * [...] Since parents can be counted as household members as long as they have the same principal residence, then the question becomes whether or not my mom and I share the same principal residence. At the moment, of course, I'm living in China, but once we get back to the US, my wife and I will be living with her. For the domicile issue, I will hope to establish that I have maintained a permanent domicile in the US based on taxes, driver's license, etc., all of which use that same address: my mom's address. She doesn't claim me as a dependent, and I obviously don't claim her, but she is my relative, and our official permanent residence is the same, and we will be physically residing together when my wife and I get to the US. So I think it will be okay. Maybe the joint sponsor route would be less iffy since there's no requirement that they be a household member, but I think in this case we'll be fine either way. However, my original question about how to report the income still remains, and, by the way, I think this question would be the same no matter which route (joint sponsor i-864 or household member i-864a) we take.

I'm working on P3, and the i-864 affidavit of support. Since my income is in China, and thus (1) isn't much, and (2) won't continue after we make it to the USA, my mom has agreed to submit an i-864a. My question arises from the fact that her taxes are filed jointly with her husband. The i-864a form asks for "total income" as listed on the 1040 tax return. Since they file jointly, that "total income" line is their joint income. However the form also uses the word "individual" income. I assume that this means income for just the one person (in this case my mom), especially since there is only a place for one person to sign the form at the end. My mom and her husband could both file these i-864a forms if it would help in some way, but my mom's income is enough on its own, and besides even if they both did it, it still wouldn't be clear how to fill out the form, given that it still asks for "individual income" and only has space for one person's information on each form. So I think it makes the most sense to ask only my mom to do an i-864a and only count her income. So my proposed solution to this is to just use the income numbers from my mom's W-2's themselves (and attach the W-2s along with the tax returns). Does this seem right? My concern is that the income numbers on the i-864a don't match the income numbers on the tax returns (since the tax returns include two people's income). Either way they're both above the income requirement (125% of poverty line), so it shouldn't matter, I just don't want to delay the process with improperly filled out forms. Another minor concern is household size. When we arrive in the USA, we will be living with my mother and her husband. We are only using my mom's income for the i-864a, so we only need to count her as a member of the household, but it seems strange to count her and not her husband. On the other hand, the instruction page says you don't need to count parents etc as a household member unless you are using their income to meet the income requirement. So I guess we don't need to include him. Any thoughts?

FYI, as far as timeline, we received P3 yesterday, for a grand total of 19 days between filing the i-130 in person in Guangzhou and receiving P3 at our home in Ningbo. (We never got a P1, given that it was DCF. We did receive P2 by mail, one day before P3.)

I just stayed at Yang's last week. The phone number I used is the one given above, 13725270589, which is Yang's wife, who speaks English. (Even though my Chinese is decent, I still prefer English on the phone.) Her English was pretty good, except for misspeaking the price 180 as "one hundred eight" (which is how you would say it in Chinese, 一百八, but that means 108 in English) instead of "one hundred eighty". You can read more about my specific experiences and impressions in these two posts: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/44694-dcf-guz-description-and-pics/ http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/44660-recommended-hotel-near-the-us-embassy-in-guangzhou/page__pid__588010&do=findComment&comment=588010 But the summary is, it was fine, depending on what you're looking for. Probably more important than high luxury or low cost at this stage is having people around who are knowledgeable about the process, and also possibly a location that is convenient to the embassy. So in that sense, Yang's is a good bet.

I just posted about my trip to GUZ here http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/44694-dcf-guz-description-and-pics/ I stayed at Yang's, and it was not spectacular by any stretch, but it was fine. You can read more about the specifics in that post, but I'd say that especially for my first time in the city, it was nice to not have to worry about finding my way to the consulate. If I go back again, e.g. for my wife's interview, I don't think we'll necessarily stay there, now that i'm somewhat familiar with my way around. On the other hand, they do know a lot about the process and help a lot of people with their questions and concerns -- both about the visa process and whatever else. I asked him where I could put money on my phone, and he just did it for me. I even saw him booking a plane ticket for somebody. But the place itself was small and dingy (and somewhat expensive -- at least in Chinese terms -- if, like me, you don't mind small, dingy places, but would prefer something cheaper). But you're not paying for five-star quality here, you're paying for it literally being in the same complex as the consulate, just around the corner. I will say that there are other cheap hotels in the area, but I didn't check any of them out personally. Some you can find online, and given the convenience of the subway system, you might not even need to be really close to the consulate. There are also a couple of places advertising cheap rates (like around 88 RMB per night, if I remember right) right in the same block or two as Yang's, but they might not have websites or anything, and again, I didn't see what they were like on the inside. But you could probably just go there and walk around seeing if they have rooms available, if you're that backpacky kind of traveler. Which is maybe what I'll do next time, although like I said i don't regret staying at Yang's this first time. And, who knows, next time there'll be more to do, what with the medical and everything; maybe we'll have more questions and we'll decide it's worth it to stay at Yang's again.

I just went and filed my i-130 in Guangzhou (that is, DCF) last week. Here is my description of the process, with pictures. (Since there are too many pictures here, some have been converted into links, which you can click on to see the pictures.) I stayed at Yang's, for more information on which you can also see these posts: http://candleforlove...sulate-complex/ http://candleforlove...y-in-guangzhou/ Thursday (4/26/2012) -- Arriving, locating Yang's and consulate I arrive in Guangzhou airport (domestic arrivals). Exit baggage claim and turn right, go to the escalator by door B6£¨6ºÅÃÅ£©(may have to exit and re-enter the building) and go downstairs. Follow the signs for the 'metro' (µØÌú). (Finding the metro inside the airport) To go to the consulate (or to Yang's), buy a token to Linhexi (ÁÖºÍÎ÷) -- which is on Line 3, the same one that leaves from the airport -- for 7 yuan, enter by swiping the token, and board the train (toward Tiyu Xilu ÌåÓýÎ÷·). Get off at Linhexi (ÁÖºÍÎ÷). Deposit the token to exit. (Linhexi metro station Exit C) The most straightforward way to get to the consulate (and to Yang's) is to go out Exit C from the metro station, turn right coming out of the exit (onto Tianhe Beilu ÌìºÓ±±Â·), pass Citic Plaza, and take the first left, onto Linhe Zhonglu (ÁÖºÍÖз). (Going past Citic Plaza on Tianhe Beilu) (The Linhe Zhonglu intersection, where you turn left.) Go up Linhe Zhonglu ÁÖºÍÖз for a couple blocks, crossing Linle (ÁÖÀÖ) Street and going by the Westin hotel; the embassy is not marked in any way except for the address number (136), but it's on the right, just before the IKEA. (Going past the Westin hotel on Linhe Zhonglu) (The intersection with the IKEA, which is where you turn right if you're going to Yang's, and means you've just passed the Consulate (if you're coming from the Linhexi station like me).) Yang's is just around the corner (turn right in front of the IKEA). I just called Yang's wife when I arrived at that street corner, since I hadn't had the forethought to figure out the address more specifically before arriving, but she came right out and met me, and took me in. She speaks decent English; I don't think her husband does, or at least he spoke to me in Chinese. (Yang's: 140 Linhe Zhonglu) (The street names are kind of ridiculous, by the way, in that you go up Linhe Zhonglu, and turn right, and you're still on Linhe Zhonglu, but the address numbers continue to increase accordingly. The metro Line 3 is also a bit weird in that it splits in two at Tiyu Xilu (ÌåÓýÎ÷·) so if you're going through that stop you may have to switch trains there to stay on the same line, or to make sure you're on the correct branch of the fork.) (The metro plan.) It's just an apartment building. Their address is 140 Linhe Zhonglu, apartment 2903£¨ÁÖºÍÖз140ºÅ2903·¿), which is (as you would expect) on the 29th floor, so you could probably just go straight there for check-in, or if you need to talk to them for anything else. But I didn't actually go there (until the next day), because, like I said, she came outside and met me. So then we just went to the room that I was renting; she took me up to the right floor and showed me into the room and gave me the keys. It's basically just one of these shared £¨ºÏ×â) Chinese apartments, I just had a very small private bedroom (with lock); the bathroom (and a small common area with little couches) was shared with the other four people staying in the unit. Which I wasn't expecting, but turned out to be an advantage rather than a disadvantage. (Yang's apartment: 2903) The place itself was alright; kinda dingy; about what you'd expect by Chinese standards (although maybe for half the price if it wasn't right in the same complex as the consulate). I did see several little cockroaches, but the little ones aren't so bad, right? By the way, I paid 180 RMB for a very small, closet-like room; the other people sharing the flat that I talked to had paid 188 for a slightly larger room, or 200 for a two-bed room. There was no wi-fi in the apartment I was in. (I get the impression that they have access to a variety of apartments around there, and put people wherever they can, depending on how many people there are.) There are other places to stay very nearby, which advertise cheaper rates, but may not speak English or know anything about the visa process, or whatever. I heard lots of people asking them questions and getting knowledgeable answers. Yang also helped me put money on my phone, which I needed. (Yang at his desk) So the good thing about staying here, and even about sharing a little apartment like this, is being able to talk to other people who are also staying here because they're applying for visas and stuff, and to be able to head to the consulate together, etc. Which takes us to... Friday (4/27/2012) -- DCF We arrived at the consulate at about 7:30 AM. It's just around the corner from Yang's, maybe a one or two minute walk. The entrance to the consulate's building is at 136 Linhe Zhonglu (ÁÖºÍÖз136ºÅ). (The entrance to the building the consulate is in) When I got there, there were huge lines of people waiting outside the doors, and they had just started letting them in at 7:30. They seemed to be mostly people applying for non-immigrant visas, and they were lined up according to the time of their appointment. The door, however, is open, and you can just waltz right in. Those other people have to wait outside to get their appointment ticket, without which they won't be able to be seen. But since I'm not going to the same section, and in any case I don't have an appointment (and indeed can't make one; they only see people from 8:30 to 10:30 AM on Fridays), I don't need to wait in these lines outside here, and you don't either. (The consulate's address number: 136) So anyway, you can just walk straight into the building. The consulate itself is on the 5th floor, so go up the escalators on the left after you walk in the door. The first floor is the lobby you enter in; the second floor is a balcony overlooking the lobby; the third floor is just another opportunity to go up another escalator. When you get to the fourth floor, there are two lines of people waiting to be let through (although it may be hard to tell, since the space is small and it kind of just looks like a huge crowded mass). Most of the mass is the line on the right, which is made up of the same Chinese people who were just waiting downstairs outside the building; they make a huge long line, at times snaking down the hall and around the corner (but it moves quickly once they start letting people through). In any case, you don't need to wait with them. The other line, which is the one on the left, is the one you want, and it won't start letting anybody through until 8:30 (Waiting on the fourth floor to be let through.) Like I said, I got there at a little after 7:30. To be honest, there's probably little reason to go so early, at least with the security trick I'll tell you in a minute. You can go line up, but they won't start letting through in until 8:30 (in contrast to the hordes of Chinese people going to the consulate for visa interviews, who began at 7:30). When I first found my way up to the third floor waiting area, there were about 7-8 people in line already. I went out and walked around and surveyed the premises, and didn't actually come back and get in line until about 8:00, at which time there were 15 people ahead of me. After another 20 minutes, there were another 7-8 people behind me, and at 8:30 when they opened the gate to start letting us in, there were a total of about 25 people in line. It's not really a huge number, but we're all waiting for just two workers to see us all when the time comes, and of course they supposedly close at 10:30 -- although I assume as long as you get in before that time, they would still see you sometime during the day (but that's just a complete guess on my part, and better safe than sorry, you might as well go early.) After they start letting people through at 8:30, they just check your passport (and in at least some cases ask you what your business is; I said file an i-130 at USCIS) and let you go upstairs to the fifth floor itself, where you then have to wait in line to go through security. Except you don't. The officer who let me through on the fourth floor (and who I told I was going to see CIS) told me when I got upstairs I should turn right. All the signage also says for USCIS you should turn right at the top of the stairs. (Signage indicating you should turn right.) Here's the security trick: Don't turn right. That would put you in the same security line as all the Chinese people, and it'd be a long wait, maybe over half an hour depending on how many people there are at that time. But if you turn left at the top of the stairs instead, you can go through the security checkpoint for the US citizen services area (for people who are adding pages to their passport, getting something notarized, getting a marriageability affidavit, etc., I think) -- and here's the thing, there was literally zero line at that one. And the waiting area is all connected on the other side of security, so it doesn't really make any difference whatsoever. (Here's the secret way through security so you don't have to wait in line.) Even though there were fifteen people in front of me in line on the fourth floor, there was only one other guy that knew about this security trick, and so I ended up second in line at USCIS. (And actually, he figured out he might be in the wrong place, so he actually let me go ahead of him, and I got in first.) So a huge thank you to the friend who tipped me off about this little shortcut. Going through security, they will collect your phone and camera and stuff, and you can pick it up when you leave. After you get through, you'll see a bunch of numbered windows; the numbers increase from left to right. You want to go all the way to the left, all the way past window number 1; there, there are two doors marked A and B, and a sign indicating that this is the USCIS area, which is what we want. There are also two rows of about ten chairs each there, which are the actual lines you wait in. I first sat in the line for B, but the guard moved me to A, and as I was sitting and waiting for a while, it looked like A was mostly for Americans and B was mostly for Chinese. There was also a sign on Door A that said that was the place for I-130. (So to summarize, on the fourth floor, wait in the line on the left. When you get up to the fifth floor, go through security by turning left. After going through security, go all the way to the left.) Now, they didn't actually open the door until 9:00. Maybe they're used to everybody waiting in the security line for half an hour first. In any case, they opened at 9:00. I was the first one they let in, and she apologized for making me wait, so I don't know if that means they usually actually open at 8:30 or if she was just being polite, but anyway that's when I got in. The officer herself was very friendly. She first asked to see my originals -- passports (mine and wife's) and marriage certificates -- then she accepted the huge stack of papers I had, all together, just as I had had it. She was very impressed by how organized it was. Her review of it was pretty cursory, just flipped through the stack for a few seconds to make sure the forms were all there and signed and filled out completely, and pictures were attached, and that's about it. Then she gave me a payment ticket and told me to go to window 16 to pay, which I did. The cost is 420 USD, which I paid as 2688 RMB, cash. Get the receipt, take it back to the officer (don't wait in line again; I just stepped to the front of the line, waited for the person who was currently in the room to come out, and then hopped in and gave her my receipt). The receipt gets attached to the top of the stack of papers I just gave her (and you get to keep a copy for yourself). Don't forget to pick up your valuables from security, and that's it; you're done. She told me USCIS should be done with their role in two weeks, and then they give everything over to the state department, but she couldn't tell me how long that would take or anything. I was done and through and out by 9:15. At that point, I hung around the exit for a while, waiting for the girl who I had walked over with this morning from Yang's to finish her interview, and I saw the guy who had been first in line by rights on the fourth floor but who didn't know about the security trick. He came out at 9:40. And FWIW this is the same place everybody exits, so if you accompany your wife (e.g.) to the interview, this is also where you would wait for her to come out. There's a little cafe and stuff. (The exit and waiting area)

FYI, just in case anybody's reading this, this is probably the most helpful thread I've ever seen on CFL. I wonder if it could be pinned or something? I've been scouring this site for (weeks? months? years?) now and am finally coming across some of this stuff.

The conclusion is: I'm going to go to Guangzhou to file the I-130 in person. It looks like the jurisdictions given on the USCIS.gov webpages (Beijing and Guanghzou) are the correct ones. Perhaps this is a recent change, and the Consulate webpages have not yet been updated. Whether or not it would be possible to do it by mail to Beijing is still up in the air. Beijing is being very cagey about it, not directly answering my questions, and seemingly starting to get a little testy about it; my impression is that they would accept it, but they don't want to. Given that I've already bothered them twice about it, and I don't want to make them angry and potentially cause any problems with my petition (in case they remember me), I'll just go to Guangzhou. Just so everybody has access to the raw data and aren't just relying on my interpretation of these emails, let me post the full text of my correspondence below: to: DHSBeijing-CIS@dhs.gov Hi, I am writing to you to resolve a question that remains after reviewing your websites thoroughly. In fact, I have found conflicting information on the Beijing Field Office page of the USCIS website and the DHS-USCIS page on the Beijing Embassy website. My question is concerning filing an I-130 Immigrant Relative petition for my wife. I am a U.S. citizen, residing in China for over two years, and my wife is a Chinese national. Her hukou is in Zhejiang, which is where we currently reside, which means we are in Shanghai's consular district. Since there is no USCIS office in Shanghai, it is my understanding that I would need to file the I-130 in Beijing. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, and if I should be going to Guangzhou instead.) The conflicting information which I still have a question about is that on the USCIS website it says petitioners " may fee in their Form I-130 at the American Consulates General in Shenyang, Shanghai, or Chengdu. The must then mail in their Form I-130 with the fee receipt to the Beijing Field Office. " But on the Beijing Embassy website's USCIS page, it says " The Beijing Field Office is unable to accept petitions by mail. " So my question is: can I send the form in by mail to the Beijing field office or do I need to make a trip to Beijing? Thank you for your help. From: CIS, DHS Beijing DHSBeijing.CIS@uscis.dhs.gov Since you currently live in Zhejiang province, please contact the USCIS Guangzhou office for filing an I-130 petition. They can be reached at CIS-Guangzhou.inquiries@dhs.gov to: CIS-Guangzhou.inquiries@dhs.gov Hi, I am writing to you to resolve a question that remains after reviewing your websites thoroughly. My question is about where I can go to file an I-130 for my wife. I am a U.S. citizen, residing in China for over two years, and my wife is a Chinese national. Her hukou is in Zhejiang, which is where we currently reside. The websites I have found have conflicting information. The Guangzhou Field Office page on USCIS.gov says that the Guangzhou field office service area includes Zhejiang, but the immigrant visa FAQ page on the Guangzhou embassy website says "For the Guangzhou consular district (Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Guangxi), contact the USCIS office in Guangzhou... For the rest of China, contact the USCIS office in Beijing." I contacted the Beijing field office first. (If you are interested you can read our correspondence below.) But they said to contact you. So my first question is: could you please confirm that I can file the I-130 in Guangzhou (that is to say, that Zhejiang is within your service area)? And my second question is: is it necessary to go in person? I think your website says it is, but I'd like to make sure, since that would add a lot of time and expense for me. And if it is necessary to go in person, I know you take walk-ins during your public service hours, but is it also possible to make an appointment? I see on your website that the public service hours are only two hours a week, and since I will have to be traveling across the country in order to file the petition, I want to make very sure that I am able to be seen. Thank you very much in advance for your help. from: Guangzhou, CIS CIS.Guangzhou@uscis.dhs.gov Yes. Guangzhou has the jurisdiction over your current place of residence (Zhejiang). If you would like to file your I-130 here in China, it must be filed in person and we are only accepting this type of the application on Friday. However, you may file your I-130 petition by mail to our Chicago Lock box. For more information regarding the filing I-130 by mail, please refer to the following site. http://www.uscis.gov...00045f3d6a1RCRD to: "CIS, DHS Beijing" <DHSBeijing.CIS@uscis.dhs.gov> Hi, Sorry to bother you again. Does this mean that (with my residence in Zhejiang), contrary to the information stated on your website, I can't mail in my I-130 petition to the Beijing office, but must go to Guangzhou instead? On the Beijing Field Office page on USCIS.gov, it says: I contacted the Guangzhou office and they said I could file there, but they don't accept petitions by mail, so I would have to go in person. That would require me taking time off work, paying travel expenses, etc., so if I can pay in Shanghai and then mail in the form, as stated above, then I would much prefer to do that. Sorry, I know you're busy and I don't mean to overburden you. Please excuse the inconvenience; I just want to know what my options are. Thanks again for your help. From: CIS, DHS Beijing DHSBeijing.CIS@uscis.dhs.gov Please just follow the Guangzhou CIS’s instruction.

Guangzhou replied fairly quickly, with the answer I was expecting: Yes, Zhejiang is under Guangzhou's jurisdiction, so I should file there. But they only accept petitions in person, not by mail, and only on Fridays. They said if I want to file by mail, I can mail it to the Chicago lockbox. After reading Randy's posts just now, I sent off another email to Beijing, asking if their meaning was that I can't mail my petition in to them, or if I still have that option. (The first time, all they said was "Since you currently live in Zhejiang province, please contact the USCIS Guangzhou office for filing an I-130 petition. ") I'll let you know.

Update: I received a reply today from the USCIS field office in Beijing. They didn't respond to my query about whether it was possible to mail in the i-130, but they said that since we are in Zhejiang, I should contact the Guangzhou office. I just emailed the office in Guangzhou to make sure, since after all the websites still have conflicting information. But so far it is looking like the service areas given on the USCIS.gov webpages are correct. I will let you all know what I hear back from the Guangzhou office.

ERRORS!? According to this page on the Beijing Embassy's website (emphasis added): Problem #1: Let me repeat: "The Beijing Field Office is unable to accept petitions by mail." This is the opposite of the conclusion I just came to a matter of minutes ago, and is in direct contradiction to the information on the "very helpful" USCIS page I quoted earlier. Which is right? The USCIS page says it was updated on 02/23/2012. The Beijing Embassy page has no date. HELP! I have just tried to call the USCIS field office in Beijing, and the recording simply said to send an email. I just sent an email to DHSBeijing-CIS@dhs.gov asking about this issue. I will create another post when/if I get their reply. But has anybody done this? Problem #2: The other question that still remains is whether or not Beijing is the right place to send it to. According to the Guangzhou consulate page I quoted in my previous post, For the Guangzhou consular district (Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Guangxi), contact the USCIS office in Guangzhou ... For the rest of China, contact the USCIS office in Beijing." But the Beijing page, as quoted above, says "The USCIS Beijing Field Office has jurisdiction over the municipalities under State Council of: Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. Jurisdiction extends to the northern provinces of Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Shanxi. The autonomous region of NEI Mongol is also under the jurisdiction of the Beijing office. The USCIS Guangzhou Field Office has jurisdiction over the remainder of China.... U.S. Citizens, with proof of residency in the jurisdiction of the Beijing Field Office of USCIS, (see above) may file an Immediate Relative Petition (Form I-130) by making an appointment to come in to the office during Window hours." In other words, both offices seem to be accepting only their own consular districts, and pushing "the rest of China" -- which includes the consular districts of the Chengdu, Shenyang, and Shanghai consulates, including Zhejiang, the part of China that I care about -- off on each other!! Again, HELP!

Thanks everybody. This page is very helpful. Specifically this sentence: "U.S. Citizens with proof of residency in China or who reside outside of the Beijing or Guangzhou Consular Districts, may fee in their Form I-130 at the American Consulates General in Shenyang, Shanghai, or Chengdu. The must then mail in their Form I-130 with the fee receipt to the Beijing Field Office." I will note, however, that according to the Shanghai consulate's webpage (emphasis in original): "The American Citizen Services (ACS) unit in Shanghai cannot collect petitioners’ Form I-130. However, American citizens residing in Shanghai’s Consular District can pay the US$420 or RMB equivalent filing fee at Shanghai’s ACS office and attach their receipt to their I-130 application as proof of payment." So I may have to mail it in myself to Beijing, to the address given on that page, which I am reprinting here for completeness: U.S. Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services American Embassy Beijing No. 55 An Jia Lou Road Beijing 100600 As far as service areas, jurisdictions, or consular districts, it looks like my confusion was arising from not grasping the difference between USCIS offices (which only exist in Beijing and Guangzhou, and which are where one needs to file an I-130) and embassy/consulates, which there are more of. So for USCIS issues: The Beijing Field Office has jurisdiction over Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanxi, Xinjiang,and Inner Mongolia. (Source.) The Guangzhou Field Office has jurisdiction over the Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Tibet, Yunnan, and Zhejiang. (Source.) From another source: The USCIS Beijing Field Office has jurisdiction over Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia. The USCIS Guangzhou Field Office has jurisdiction over the remainder of China. Note that in the quotation above, however, it says that people residing outside of the Beijing or Guangzhou consular districts may file at Beijing. And consular districts are not the same as the jurisdictions given above. I'm finding some conflicting information about consular districts (e.g. see Anhui below), but my own personal concern is about Zhejiang, which is located in the Shanghai consular district (see below), but served by the Guangzhou USCIS office (see above). And despite the above information, I think the consular districts turn out to be more important (keep reading). From the consulates' own webpages: The Shanghai Consulate's consular district includes Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui. (Source.) The Shenyang Consulate's consular district includes Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang (Source.) The Wuhan Consulate provides no consular services (Source.) From travel.state.gov as of November 2011 (Source): The Beijing Embassy's consular district includes Beijing, Tianjin, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, and Xinjiang. The Chengdu Consulate's consular district includes Guizhou, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan, and Chongqing. The Guangzhou Consulate's consular district includes Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, and Fujian. The Shanghai Consulate's consular district includes Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The Shenyang Consulate's consular district includes Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning. The Wuhan Consulate provides no consular services, except during quarterly outreach events. Now, according to the Guangzhou Consulate's Immigrant Visa FAQ, So I guess the final conclusion is, I have to file through Beijing. Not Guangzhou, since Zhejiang is not within their consular district (even though the USCIS field office says it serves Zhejiang?): (Source.) And not Shanghai, since they don't have an immigrant visa processing section at all: (Source.) Note the distinction between the Immigrant Visa processing, which is in Guangzhou for everybody, and the I-130 filing, which is in Beijing for people residing in the Shanghai consular district (and most of the rest of China), which is a distinction I was not grasping at first. But I don't actually need to travel to Beijing; I can just go to Shanghai to pay (since that's closer) and then mail the form to Beijing. Where it will then apparently be forwarded to Guangzhou: "Please note that in China, immigrant visas are only issued at the American Consulate General in Guangzhou. Therefore, unless otherwise requested, all approved immediate relative petitions are forwarded to Guangzhou for further processing." (Source.) And then we go on to the whole interview process in Guangzhou. I wonder if somebody who knows more about this process than me could look over what I've written above and make sure it sounds sensible. (I'm still a little tripped up, for example, on whether the "petitioning for the CR1/IR1, CR2/IR2, or IR5 visa classes" mentioned in the Guangzhou consulate quote above is the same as filing the I-130, and also about whether I can actually mail the I-130 to Beijing instead of going there myself -- there seems to be mixed info on this CFL page. And any other issues. Because I still feel like I'm trying to figure all this out for the first time, as if nobody's ever done it before, even though I know some people have! Thanks again for all the help.) (Aside to webmaster: I've got seven quotes in this post, but whenever I tried to put in more than three pairs of quote tags, no matter the locations, it gave me errors about the number of opening and closing tags not matching up. So I've put the longer three inside quote tags and just highlighted the others in red here instead. I assume this is some kind of bug.)

OK, I give up on looking and I'm just going to ask you folks. Sorry if this information is posted somewhere else already and I just haven't found it... but I haven't found it. My question is: Which US embassy/consulate do I need to go to in China for my DCF? In all the documentation and instructions it seems like it's very important to go to the right consulate -- the one that has jurisdiction over your location -- and yet it's not easy to find out which consulate that is. In fact, I seem to be finding conflicting information about the jurisdictions of the various consulates, and it probably has to do with them offering different services than each other, so while you might be in one jurisdiction for some particular service, maybe you are in another jurisdiction for something else. At first I was thinking I would have to go to Guangzhou, but now I'm starting to think that's not correct. I think I was getting confused because ultimately her interview will be in Guangzhou, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's where I file the initial documents in order to get her the interview. We live in China, and want to do DCF. Of course, the official websites don't know that term. So what I'm looking for, first of all, is where to file an I-130 (right?). Then, at some point after that, she would have to do the interview in Guangzhou (I think?). So I think that my question is: where do I go to file the I-130? My wife's hukou is in Zhejiang and we live in Zhejiang. It seems like that (might?) make us under the Shanghai consulate's jurisdiction, but it looks like the Shanghai consulate doesn't do I-130s. So maybe I actually have to go to Beijing. But I'm not at all sure about this, and I don't want to take a trip all the way to Beijing and then find out I'm in the wrong place. Surely this question -- of where the consular jurisdictions are -- is one that others have run into before. So, what do you say? A little help? Thanks

Like others said, you don't need the birth certificate to get a passport (my wife didn't even have a birth certificate at the time she got her passport), but you will need it to get an immigrant visa to the US. (So she just got the birth certificate a couple weeks ago.)

I'm having trouble finding information on a specific aspect of the marriage/visa process, namely restrictions on one's freedom of movement. That is, ability to live in the US or China or a third country at different stages of the process. Let me explain my circumstances and goals. My fiancee and I are ready to get married. I already got my Certificate of Marriagability last month in Shanghai. (She is Chinese and I am American.) I have been living in China for the last two and a half years, and my visa (as well as my contract at work, and our apartment lease) expires in about nine months, in October 2012. Our goal is to go back to the USA together, ideally sometime around then -- not before my contract expires, and hopefully in time for Christmas. We don't necessarily want to live in the USA permanently starting with this visit, but I definitely want to take her there for at least some amount of time, to see my hometown, meet my friends and family, etc., and hopefully spend Christmas together with my family. After that, we don't have a firm plan yet. We could stay and live in the US, but we're considering living in another country, neither the US nor China, for a year or two before we settle down. (I figure I could teach English just about anywhere.) I've been trying to do research online about marriage and US visas and all of that, and it just seems like there are so many different approaches (K-1, K-3, DCF, ...?) which take different amounts of time, cost different amounts of money, have different requirements, etc., so my question is basically which approach is best. But of course "best" means different things to different people in different situations and with different priorities. Most of the advice that I can find online seems to be written with the expectation that the two partners are not in the same country, and they are oriented towards how to bring (her) to the US to be with (me). But in our case, we are already in the same country, so our goal is not exactly to be together as soon as possible, because we are already together (though at the same time we don't want to have to be separated for a long time either). I could always stay in China longer, renew my visa and keep working, but I think we'll be ready to move on by then, and I'd like to take her back to meet my family at Christmas. One of my concerns is that applying for a resident visa might require her to stay in the US for a certain period of time and prevent our plans to live abroad; is that true? But of course trying to get her a tourist visa seems silly since she's not going as a tourist; she's going as my wife (or fiancee, if that is better in some way; we could wait to get married later in the US instead of getting married in China). And if we just did a tourist visa, of course, then we'd have to do the whole visa application process over again when it came time to go back to the US again. Ideally, we could just do this visa for her one time, and allow her to come and go as she pleases -- but I don't know if it works like that. But that's what I'm looking for. I think I count as a resident in China (I'm here on a work visa and a residence permit) so DCF should be an option, is that right? Is that best? It looks like that may be the quickest. Basically I want to find the option that will give us the most flexibility in terms of where we need to be and for how long. I can't really find any information about this issue. So my question is, basically, what would be the restrictions (if any) on where we could live or travel to, and for how long, with each of the different approaches? Which would give us more flexibility to plan our schedule? i.e. the ability to go to the US when we want to (that is, between October and December of this year) instead of having to wait longer for paperwork to process or something, or on the contrary having to leave China sooner because her visa is ready and is only valid for a short time, or whatever -- and on the other end, once the visa is processed and accepted and we are in the US, then being able to leave the US (if we decide we want to) instead of having to stay there for two years or something like that to meet some permanent-resident requirement or whatever. These are the kinds of requirements and regulations that I'm not finding much info about. So if anybody knows the answers, or can direct me to a good resource (either a post here on CFL or a government website or anything), that would be most helpful. I'm not really in a financial position to be hiring lawyers or anything, and it seems like all this info should be available somewhere.