PnL

Yes you can. We travelled to USA one time after we filed the I-130. There was no question about it. Just to be safe we printed all of the documents showing we were returning to China (return flight itinerary, work contract, etc.) In the end, they didn’t ask for any of it.

Thanks Randy. We are in contact with a few shippers. We were told by ANA and Delta that we need to go through an approved shipper now. I think some laws have changed recently because a lot of the snub nosed animals (which we have) were dying in the cargo area. All of the prices we have been given are insane. So we will keep up the search.

We have two cats that are quite noisy so they cannot be brought into the cabin of the plane. For international pet flights, cats must be sent through approved shippers. So far, we have been quoted between $5000-$8000 USD to ship both of them. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any recommended shippers from Shanghai?

You can still use BoA atms to withdraw cash from a union pay bank card. There was a small fee, but nothing big like a USA bank would charge. I could never use a Union pay card in a store though. I did read somewhere that anywhere discover card is accepted you can use union pay, but it never worked for me.

Last night we made the trip to Guangzhou from Shanghai. And as the title suggests, our visa application was accepted and the visa officer said my SO’s passport should arrive in about 2 weeks with a visa in it. I will post a more detailed account later. All of the information here has been very helpful. We were over prepared every step of the way and from DCF to successful interview it has only taken 2 1/2 months. It is much sooner than we anticipated, but I am not complaining!

As we are waiting at the airport ready to head to Guangzhou I realize I forgot to update about the health check. Some of the things that happened during the health check did not mesh with the websites instructions. First, you can use credit card instead of cash. The website said bring ￥2000, but actually the price was ￥1600 since my SO had vaccination records already. You do have to make an appointment for the day you want to do the health check, but like people have said about Guangzhou, the time is not hard and fast, you will get another number when you arrive. You must bring 10 passport photos but my SO got 4 or 5 back at the end. I am guessing if something goes wrong they will need the other ones for some type of documentation. It takes 4 business days to pick up the health check, at that time you will get the sealed envelope and a sealed CD. The CD you do not need to bring to the interview, just the packet. What my SO said of the health check it seemed like any other health check you would get in the USA.

Hey Everyone, I am guessing the procedure has changed here in Shanghai or it is a bit different from the health check in Guangzhou. First off, it is by appointment only. You cannot show up and get a health check for US immigrant visa. Second, the results take four days to be available. Third, the price has gone up to 2000 RMB. And last but not least, you need 10 Passport photos for the health check. Also the website says bring one more application than applicants, so in our case just two copies of the application. We have been pretty proactive about getting things done and we luckily have enough time. Just wanted to let everyone know incase you wanted to get your health check in Shanghai.

Thanks so much! The form is a bit different but handwritten as well. I am sure the forms look different from place to place. I thought that is what it meant, That the embassy will accept it for up to six months. Either way if my SO wants to do the interview in October, just to be safe, I don't mind. I am getting pretty excited to get back stateside.

Thanks for the post. I was looking at CGI, they haven't even posted new appointments.

Hey everyone, just wanted to check in about our police check and see if you all had a similar document or know what I am talking about. So we went back to Hangzhou to pick up the police check from the police station where his original Hukou is from. Weather it can be done at other places or not, I guess it depends on who is working that day. Anyways it was done very fast. A picture of my SO on the paper with everything handwritten saying that there is no criminal record, with the usual red stamp on the document. The paper itself says that it is only valid for 30 days. We dropped it off at the notary to e translated and notarized (White Book.) I tried posting a picture of it but I can't really figure out how to do it. My question is, did your SO's police check look similar, and did it also say valid for 30 days? I am not too worried about the expiration date but my SO is. Should we plan to do the interview within the 30 day time frame, or do you think it would be okay to go in November as we had planned?

So we mailed out the IV pre-interview packet on Monday and Friday it was approved to begin schedule and preparing for the interview. I can't believe it happened so fast! I think it has been helpful to have all the information that all of you have prepared!! We were planning to head to Hangzhou this Monday and Tuesday to get my SO's noncriminal record and to get it notarized before the letter but this is all the more reason. We didn't want to get it too soon as it is not valid after 6 Months. We already Prepared the I-864 sponsor and joint sponsor forms as everyone has suggests so after the health check, I think we are going to be ready for Guangzhou. We will keep you guys updated.

Finally got to mail it. We went to the bank and they didn’t give us a reciept or anything. They just asked what type of visa it was for and then put it in the drawer. So far so good. Everything has been going pretty smooth thanks to all the information from here. Hopefully we can interview before the end of the year. Fingers crossed!

P.S. CITIC bank seems to be the only bank in Shanghai that is closed on the weekend. When you have to mail your package to Guangzhou, Keep this in mind.

Policies vary from one POE to another, and the load they're experiencing at the time, but I would think you'd want to get in the SAME line, and just see how it goes. Yes in Both times we have been stateside since marriage, we entered together. First time was through the foreigner lane and the second time was in the citizens lane. It doesn't hurt to try, you might get to go through the smaller line

Update to my CGI problem. So I emailed them that the system did not recognize my number and either I did it wrong the first time or this is some type of work around. Either way, we seem to be in the clear to send the documents requested. So when you begin registering it ask what kind of visa you are filing for: Non Immigrant Immigrant Or Immigrant Visa Scheduled by NVC-Registration Only Originally I selected immigrant visa and at the end after we selected a pickup location it asked for the case number. That is when it said case number not recognized. Anyways the email told me to select Immigrant Visa by NVC-Registration Only. When you do it this way it does not ask you for your case number. After that you can download the form that you need for the passport pickup. I hope this helps anyone having a similar problem in the future. It is all kind of confusing because the system is set up with only mentions of the DS-160 (for non-immigrants) so even when you are done there is still a big reminder for people using the DS-160 form. And Happy Labor day!

Thanks Randy, I was looking at this one too. I am guessing I will just have to wait until customer service is in. I will keep everyone posted. The thing that worried me is that using the case number on the USCIS case status check, it also says case cannot he found. Anyways, I will let everyone know how it turns out.

I forgot to mention, this summer we had another trip to USA, a place called Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. This time when we went through immigration a person helped us and said I could bring my family member through the Citizen's lane (even though he was on a tourist visa.) It really saved a lot of time this time around. I am not sure if was just for this POE or for all, but it is worth a try!

dnoblett, thanks for clearing that up. I think with the DCF there are some procedure that are different if you are not doing it back in the states. Sometimes when I am reading the info it is for a different process so I get a little mixed up. Thanks for the Help!

So we finished the DS-260. They are really thorough on that one. We were not expecting some of the questions. -Where you have lived since the age of 16? -Employment for the last 10 years. I thought 5 years was pretty thorough but the DS-260 went deeper haha. Anyways, after that we tried signing up with the TravelDocs website. My SO already has a 10 year tourist visa so he already had an account. When we tried to select a document pickup location it asks for the case number at the end. When Entering our case number GUZ********** it says The Case ID That You Entered Cannot Be Found. We entered it a million times and there are no mistakes we are sure of that. And of course it is the weekend and all the technical support is off. I noticed on here some people had problems with this in the past, but was not sure of the resolution. Was it something that you fixed yourself? Was it something they had to do on their end? What I am thinking is We got the email with our case number Friday afternoon and they didn't put it in the system yet. Anyways if anyone has advice that would be great! Either way I will keep everyone posted.

12 days later! We received an email from Guangzhou to begin filling out the DS-260 so we will get on that this evening. From filing DCF in Beijing to this step was a lot quicker than anticipated. Exactly one month from original filing. On this email we got our case number. We did not get it from the the first approval or the original filing.

Hi Everyone, Just wanted to say that we submitted the I-130 petition for alien relative through Beijing and it was approved after only 20 days. That was good news since the person at USCIS in Beijing said 2-3 months. I noticed that some people already had a case number at this point but we did not receive one. The approval letter said that it is being sent to Guangzhou and that the alien relative would receive further instructions, but it did not say how. Did your SO receive an email or a letter? Does anyone have a estimate on how long that took? Thanks for everyone's help so far. We have gathered all of the other documents that we will need for the next part of the process based on everyone's suggestions. I feel the worst part is over now.

Thanks for clearing that up. I am sure some people will find that information useful!

Just got back from Beijing where we filed the I-130 petition for and IR-1 Spouse Visa. When you arrive there is a long line on the left and a place to line up for American Citizen Services (ACS.) You should wait there. The USCIS and ACS use the same entrance and they are right next to each other. The appointment receipt says to check in at window 11, but they just called names. I guess you check in at security or they go down the list based on appointments. When they called my name they went through all of the documents and some things, like spouses passports, Marriage License. If they looked at the original, I noticed that they stamped and signed the page that said "Original seen" or something like that. He was very thorough and very professional about the whole thing. In the end he asked if we are ready to move back to the states and I said "pretty ready" which I second-guessed later, but I am sure it is fine. I then had to go to the ACS side to pay the $535 fee and bring the receipt back so that they could make a copy of it. At the end he said I would hear back from them in 2-3 months. The USCIS says Beijing processing time is one month, so I will expect 2-3 months and be happy if it is sooner. Also, the expiration date for the current I-130 application was for that day 7/31/2018 so if you are currently filling out the forms, make sure you have the most up to date one. Currently they will still accept this one as they do not have a new version yet.

Hey Everyone, The posts here have been so helpful. I will be submitting our I-130 for IR1 visa in Beijing in July and I was wondering a few things. I used the cover letter that was suggested as a guide for all of the evidence that I have collected for this first round. I am wondering for the evolution of relationship letter, who got them notarized? I am thinking that they signature is enough, but want to hear everyones thoughts. Also, did your spouse beneficiaries also write an evolution of relationship letter? the G-325a document is no longer available correct? The new form to be filled out by the spouse is the I-130a? thank you for everyone's help

Hello Everyone, So I am doing a dry run of filling out the i-130 form and I have a question about 5 years of addresses and employment. About 3 1/2 years ago my SO and I were working in southern thailand, at the same school. Our job provided us housing and a small salary, which they were not paying completely and had weird excuses about why we were not getting the full salary. Long story short we lasted only a few months their, they hadn't even finished processing our work visas completely. So as I am filling out the form, I am realizing we never got the address of the place where we lived. I tried google maps and other things to see if I could get a street view or something. nothing panned out. My question is, has anyone had experience with a problem such as this? or with any missing address or employment information? How did you proceed in filling out your application? Thanks everyone for your help!