sachinr

Hello, I got an email from USTraveldocs : Your document(s) have been collected from the US Embassy/Consulate The status on USTraveldocs is : Your passport is ready for pick up but I think it is still in transition But CEAC status still shows Refused so I dont know what went. Last date updated on CEAC is 28 August but the status is still refused/Admin processing condition They also gave an airwaybill number. Do you know how and which website do I use to track the passport? Thank you.

Hello, I am confused about the following conflicting messages unless CEAC hasn't updated it from their end. Does anyone have any idea about it? Thank you When I check the CEAC status it hasn't changed and says Refused and the same note on Administrative processing since March, but US travel docs says "Passport has been received from the consular section, and is currently being processed for delivery" I Hope they are not sending it back without issuing a visa. No email or anything from their side yet. Regards,

UPDATE: Went to Guangzhou, got my re-exam medical done and sent the medical report through the Zhujiang New town Citic bank. Flew back to Henan and then sent my passports. So consulate has received what they asked for and after inquiring replied back -- " Your case is currently under review. Once the review has been completed, we will notify you of the next steps" So hopefully that is something positive and they would process my IR1 soon and dont ask for anything else.

Hi Randy, Thank you for the information. Yes, You are correct. That particular address is a 10 minute walk north of the US consulate in Guangzhou. So I can send it from that particular branch. Do you think I should send everything together once I reach Henan or Is it ok to send separately (Medical report from Guangzhou Citic and passports once I reach Henan) from different Citic bank locations? I don't know if you have heard of anyone sending it separately. Thank you.

Hello , I wanted to know if there is a CITIC bank close to the US Consulate in Guangzhou. After I collect my Medicals from Hauli road , I was thinking of sending the report to the consulate through CITIC bank the same day. I would send the Passports later because I need them to get back to Henan Province. This way at least , the consulate has my medical report and I don't have to carry it all over the place. Thank you.

UPDATE: So received I was told my medical could be extended by 1 month upto August 9 but my visa would be valid only till August 9 or to get a new medical if I wanted a longer validity period. I opted for longer validity period because they are quarantining people for 14 days even at transit airports (a few of my colleagues are stuck at different transit airports for 14 days). I don't want to get stuck somewhere and then my visa expires... and the flight situation from China to the US is not very good right now So I plan to go and get my medical done in Guangzhou because thats where I did it in January. Hopefully everything goes well.

UPDATE: So I asked the consulate to send back the passports in Early June for me to process my Chinese resident permit and they did so. So I got my chinese resident permit valid till end of the year and I sent an email yesterday asking the consulate if I need to send back my passports for issuance of visa and if there are any extensions granted for expired medical reports due to Covid-19. (You never know, these are extraordinary times) Good news is that I have my passports with me. With US diplomats returning to China in phases I am hoping that they will start some operations by August. I will keep you guys updated

UPDATE: I wrote to the consulate on Friday and they confirmed the same day that they would send back the passports without processing IV in order to renew my Chinese resident permit. I just hope they dispatch it soon. The passport tracking page of ustraveldocs still says There is no status update available for the passport number submitted. Does anyone know how long would it take from the Consulate to Citic bank for passport pick up? Thank you. Its been giving the same message in Red for months now. Regards,

Thank you for all the encouragement @Randy, Yes That is my highest priority right now to get back my passports. Spoke to my employer and they told me I need to renew my chinese resident permit by end of June if I have to stay in China beyond the automatic 2 month extension. I hope they send it back on an urgent basis and like you said if nothing is happening at the consulate they should just send back the passports anyway. Once I get my chinese resident permit in the passport, I would send the passports back to the consulate (if they are open and accept it). I mean they would still process it at a later date, correct? They would collect or receive my passport a second time for processing when the consulates open??

UPDATE: So I got the same reply from the consulate, in fact this time it was even shorter. " Please refer to the previous email and follow the instructions as per that email" which basically says they wouldn't accommodate my request and will resume processing once things open up. Wife is writing to her Senators and representative. I think all consulates are understaffed and heard some news that it may be possible they won't open till the elections in November (I hope that isn't true). I would get an automatic extension of my Chinese resident permit for 2 months till September 5 due to Covid-19. Well if the US consulate are not willing to do anything , I would need my passport back to get a new residency permit from my university. Hopefully they do process it before that.

Hello, @Barfus: Yeah my wife is a US citizen. I am going to send another message first week of June and see what they say. In their previous reply they also mentioned that they were aware of my case and situation (I assume concerning my chinese visa expiring in July) I guess I am a man of hope and hoping they would process it in June. If their reply is negative then I would ask my wife to reach out to her representative and senators. I have waited so long, no harm in waiting another week unless if you guys have any other suggestions. (I have been hearing a lot of talk about consulates opening by June 4 or 5, lets see.... ) I will keep you guys updated.

Hello, Hope everyone is doing well and are safe. UPDATE: It has been more than 4 months now that my passport is stuck at Guangzhou consulate. It is a little frustrating because in my case they only need to approve and issue the IV sticker in my passport along with the immigration packet, since they had asked for my passport. I have been in touch with the consulate every month. They said they can't do anything right now and I will have to wait. I told them my Chinese visa expires 5 July but they were not able to accommodate my request to expedite even though I am under the proclamation IR1 exception. I think there are very few staff at the consulates. I will be sending another message beginning of June. My medical will expire 1st week of July. I wonder if they will put in an exception for that so that I don't have to do the medicals again. Does anyone have any news or information about when the embassy and consulates will open in China? I just wanted to update my situation. I am sure many are in a similar situation. Regards,

I posted this segment earlier as well in a different topic but sounds appropriate to post it here as well. CEAC status: There is a new update concerning CEAC status starting 3 March. All Administrative processing status has been changed to Refused https://travel.state...tus-change.html When I checked my status it said Refused with the following Note: A U.S. consular officer has adjudicated and refused your visa application. Please follow any instructions provided by the consular officer. If you were informed by the consular officer that your case was refused for administrative processing, your case will remain refused while undergoing such processing. You will receive another adjudication once such processing is complete. Please be advised that the processing time varies and that you will be contacted if additional information is needed. For more information, please visit TRAVEL.STATE.GOV or the website for the Embassy or Consulate at which you made your visa application. For more information, please visit TRAVEL.STATE.GOV. It did put me in panic mode the first time I checked but after reading some articles and youtube videos , I dont think it of any major concern and I hope that is right. IF anyone knows anything about it or can shed light on it, please do let me know. Thank you.

UPDATE: Here is an update since my last post. Let me recap and let you guys know the current situation incase there is anybody in the same situation. Sent passport to Guangzhou 17 Jan 2020 Consulate received passport on 22 Jan 2020 Chinese New Year break from 23 Jan to 29 Jan 2020 Consulate closed on 30 and 31 January Presidential Proclamation effective 3 Feb 2020 suspending all visa services indefinitely until further notice because of COVID-19. Received Email from consulate telling us to contact them about the case and further process of visa once the proclamation is lifted After receiving the email , We tried calling the US consulate in Guangzhou on the phone multiple times and though our call was transferred to speak to a consular officer, there was no reply on the other end. Therefore we sent another message through webform requesting them to process the immigrant visa since I am an immediate relative of a US citizen and as per the email they send am eligible to request the exception incase of an emergency. At which point the US consulate did call me on my phone and My wife and I spoke to them for approx 30 minutes. They were very helpful in answering our questions and I will highlight the main points as follows:- (it was a Chinese staff working at the consulate, very patient, understanding and answered all our queries) 1. They called to ask what was the emergency and we told them that since my wife was leaving China for good , I wanted to fly with her and we wouldnt be returning back to China. The staff told us it emergency travel would mean if someone was hospitalized or of a situation of the most urgent matter and it was upto the discretion of the consulate. Even if it is urgent travel it doesnt mean they would process the visa , they would just return the passports without processing it( They said since I already had a B1/B2 visa I could travel on that if it was an emergency) We didnt want them to send the passport back without processing the IV visa , so we asked them to keep it. 2. The staff told us they had no ideas when the proclamation would be lifted. It all depended on decisions made in DC. Infact it could go well into Fall if things dont change on the ground concerning Covid-19 3. If the above happens, I would just need to sign a new contract with my company and live here for another year till all of this is sorted out. 4. The staff also said that we also had the option to request the case transferred to the US for AOS or to India and continue the process there if we plan not to live in China anymore , albeit that I would need to go through the interview process all over again and maybe provide some more documentation. (We surely want to continue the process in China) 5. My medical expires the beginning of July , so the staff said I would need to do the medical again if it carries forward till July but looking at the Covid-19 situation there may be some relaxation but that again is at the discretion of the US govt and that we need to be prepared for any eventuality. 6. My wife was nervous and didnt want to leave china without me since she needs to take care of her mom stateside and for us to complete the process, at which the staff said that my wife could go ahead because at this point the whole process only concerns me(The principle applicant) which put my wife at ease. 7. I have to renew my Chinese residence permit at some point if nothing gets resolved by June and the staff told me to contact them through webform in the month of May if I dont hear anything from them. 8. Oh sorry one last point I forgot to mention. Another reason they said that they couldnt process my visa was because the Interviewing officer needs to review the case and then it would be approved and issue. They said all consulates are short staffed and gave the impression that most consular officers are stateside. I was also told that there are hundreds of cases are on hold like my case. So that was the gist of the conversation and my passports is with them at this point and I can't travel anywhere, but atleast it is safe with them and not in limbo somewhere in China. CEAC status: There is a new update concerning CEAC status starting 3 March. All Administrative processing status has been changed to Refused https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/visas-ceac-case-status-change.html When I checked my status it said Refused with the following Note: A U.S. consular officer has adjudicated and refused your visa application. Please follow any instructions provided by the consular officer. If you were informed by the consular officer that your case was refused for administrative processing, your case will remain refused while undergoing such processing. You will receive another adjudication once such processing is complete. Please be advised that the processing time varies and that you will be contacted if additional information is needed. For more information, please visit TRAVEL.STATE.GOV or the website for the Embassy or Consulate at which you made your visa application. For more information, please visit TRAVEL.STATE.GOV. It did put me in panic mode the first time I checked but after reading some articles and youtube videos , I dont think it of any major concern and I hope that is right. IF anyone knows anything about it or can shed light on it, please do let me know. Thank you and I hope the above post would be helpful for people who are looking for some clarity.

The consulates have also been closed since the Chinese new year. My passport reached the consulate on 22 January which was before the beginning of the Chinese New Year.