lukoktonos

If you decide to do the surgery here, and have to pay for it without insurance, make sure they charge you a realistic amount rather than the bloated figures they report to the insurance company, in the back-and-forth game they play to try to negotiate with them. After (or before, i suppose) you get the bill, you can make sure they understand you're not using insurance and they should offer a lower figure.

Maybe switching systems is slowing the process down a bit? Our blue slip docs were handed to the embassy by CITIC bank more recently than yours were mailed, and our status on https://ceac.state.gov/ceac/ was updated today (15th) to "Issued", which makes it about a 2 week turnaround after the docs were accepted for us. You can use that site to check the last update on your case. The link I found on their website linked to https://ceac.state.gov/ceas , a broken link, but changing the last "s" to a "c" fixes it. Maybe there's another link somewhere else and/or it's common knowledge, I don't know so I thought I'd put it here anyway.

Our Packet (Apr 1 Interview, Monday Morning) had these instructions: "You must go to the hospital to have your examination before your visa interview appointment date". So it sounds like they changed it since then. We called the Guangzhou clinic to make sure the (work)day before the interview was OK, and they said it was. It might have changed since then, though.

For what it's worth--they didn't ask for my W2's. I filed back taxes in China and just gave them my 1040s with the other form saying I didn't need to pay for being abroad (2555? Or something like that) They did make me turn in my joint sponsors W2s, however.

Your $640 a month is probably the stipend they give you--your income includes the value any provided housing, air tickets, etc. I get paid similarly to you, university job, but my taxes came out to over $15k USD, requiring me to file legally. My wife's friend's husband made 10k rmb a month as a teacher and didnt file, writing a letter saying he didnt have to (which I know is not really the case), and they didnt say anything about it at the interview. I wouldn't (and didnt) risk it, though.

Sure--they are listed here: http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-loc-documentdropoff.asp (Ustraveldocs.com > immigrant visa > application pending further action > "CITIC bank offices") will lead you there We went to the one in Guangzhou. You can see the Chinese address by choosing Chinese as the language in the upper right corner

My wife passed her interview so I thought I'd write down our experience in case it can help anyone else like I was helped by reading these forums. We are a DCF case--I'm an English teacher and this is my 3rd year in China, which is also my 3rd year out of college. She's a senior student at a different university, and will graduate this summer. For Bona Fide Marriage proof we prepared photos and chat logs. For Domicile proof I had: -a copy of my drivers license -voter registration record -bank account statements -letter from my father (joint sponsor) saying we could live in their house for as long as necessary -property tax proving he has said house For Support: -joint sponsor -joint sponsor's 3 years tax returns (don't forget W2s from your joint sponsor like I did) -1 year tax return for 2011, 1 year tax transcript from 2010, and 1 letter explaining I didn't need to file for 2009 Interview: My wife spoke mostly in Chinese. She was asked: -How did you meet? -Do you live together? -Does your husband speak Chinese? -Is he here today? (She had my passport in hand) -Where are you going to live in the US? -Whats your(ni men) plan after you go to the states (I'm going to look for a Latin teaching job, she's going to look for something related to Art, her major) -Oh you're an art major? Who's your favorite artist? -Do you have any other things to submit for your joint sponsor(referring to the missing W2s)? -Are you nervous? (Yes a little) (don't be! It's the easiest case ever) *see my post in P3 - visa interview forum for some other information about our experience

Visa Interview Day-April 1,2013 Document Intake and Visa Interview Same Day: Our Visa Interview Letter said our appointment was for 7:30am on a Monday morning. Only one time was written, so we weren't sure if that meant document intake only or what. While I was waiting (at the overpriced coffee shop) I saw a few people come out and talk to the ladies trying to promote their lawyer or airplane ticket shops--I overheard they were told to come back the same day in the afternoon for their interview. Y wife and several others had the interview the same morning, directly after document intake without leaving the consulate. So I guess both are possible for anyone with a 7:30am time. No more Blue Slip? She passed the interview, but we needed to submit a couple more things (I accidentally checked that I was the first joint-sponsor instead of the petitioner, oops, and I had to submit my joint-sponsor's W2s for the past 3 years) The slip they gave her, however wasn't blue--I guess they changed it. It's a letter written on white paper that explains their new system. They are adding IVs to the already in place NIV website (ustraveldocs.com). New ProcessSubmitting Additional Docs After Interview: Ours said our visa has been approved, but we need to submit the forms I mentioned. It gave instructions to go to the website and choose a CITIC bank to retrieve her passport and documents after her visa has been processed. Apparently you can do this before the visa interview as well, and it replaces the filling out an EMS envelope. It also gave instructions for submitting additional docs, which we needed to do. After printing out the docs that afternoon, we looked on the website (immigrant visa section) and it said to bring them to a CITIC bank to hand over to a courier to take them to the consulate. My wife and I decided to try to drop them off in person since we were already so close to the consulate, but they wouldn't let her in and vaguely said to use the online system. The security guard talking to the IV guy seemed confused about it all, but anyway we left and went to the official CITIC bank listed on the website (it's not just any CITIC bank, and not every city has an office that can do this, according to the website. Our city, Wuhan, didnt have one, so we wanted to make sure to get it done while still In Guangzhou. We went to the bank and they said they don't do this service for immigrant visas. Finally we made our way upstairs to talk to a manager, and he said they've only ever done non-immigrant visa cases. He called CGI Stanley, the company who runs the website and courier service, and they said they should accept immigrant visas. That wasn't good enough for the bank, though, who didnt want to take the docs without word first from the consulate. They tried to call, but the very nice and helpful manager, Mr. Wang, was still waiting for a reply when the bank closed. We filled out the courier sheet as if it were a non-immigrant visa and left our stuff with him. He said he'd check the next day and submit them if the consulate approved, else inform us to come get the stuff again. The next day he called and said they accepted it. Apparently we were the first case to have documents accepted this way, at least from the CITIC bank in Guangzhou. This was even more confusing since the lady at the consulate who explains the "blue(white) sheet" said to just "send" the documents in to the consulate, underlining the address, making it sound like EMS was wanted, which contradicted what the letter itself said. My wife didnt think to ask for clarification at that time--she assumed it was supposed to be EMS without reading the whole letter carefully. Also, she had a friend with a similar "white sheet" (approved visa, needing to submit something else, but not colored blue) who interviewed the previous week. Her letter was different with specific instructions to use EMS, however. So TLDR; they have a new system; "blue sheet" is now a white letter; go to ustraveldocs.com and use one of their CITIC banks to send in forms if needed after the interview.