johnxiaoying

The dreaded interview for my wife was a slam dunk, I think due to being overly prepared with about 15 pounds of photos, emails, letters, documents, etc. and my wife promptly displaying my passport. One year with CFL had us overly prepared, having read of Carl & Bing and others blue slips and difficulties the past year. We had a tape speaking English prepared, I had email addresses for Congressional offices, legal wording for open record requests, etc, everything I could find if we had any difficulties. We had practiced about 150 interview questions for the last two months and the actual interview boiled down to about 6 questions in two minutes time, after my wife had stood waiting for about 4 hours. The interviewer was a pretty caucasian woman who asked the questions in Chinese, my wife responding in English. Many of the other women being interviewed made remarks about the large amount of evidence my wife had. Some of their interviews lasted 15 - 20 minutes and they had little 1" or less stacks of supporting documents. The questions my wife was asked were: When did you meet your husband? Have you been married before? Do you have any children? Does your husband have any children? Does your husbands son live with your husband? Your husband is here now? The only document the interviewer asked for was the I-134 form. Some comments on Guanghou: We stayed at the Victory hotel.......watch out when taking a shower, suddenly I was hit with boiling water, I knocked down the shower curtain getting out. Then there was nothing but cold water. The hotel apologized and said this was an ongoing problem with some of the rooms. My wife had negotiated (haggled till they gave in) with the hotel and received two complimentary breakfasts for each nights stay. Getting a start on the day with a fairly good western breakfast saved me in Guangzhou. Now I am in the outback (Guilin) wondering how long the cheese and crackers and jerky will last. Especially after seeing the cages of chickens, ducks, pigeons, and fat Garfield looking cats at the Guangzhou market I have less and less appetite for the local eats. We ate at the Moon Carol Cafe and they had very good food at what I considered reasonable prices. I had a fish fillet and shrimp for about 40 renminbi. I mistakenly ordered a coke without checking the price and was charged 28 renminbi for a 12 oz can, about $3.25. We had lunch at Lucy's which caters to westerners, down the street from the White Swan. I mistakenly ordered the chicken basket. It was cooked in the most god-awful batter and grease, damn near died of heart burn. If you eat at Lucy's try something else. If you want fried chicken find a KFC. Good luck to all those with upcoming interviews. My advice, go overly prepared and shorten the interview.

Congratulations. The end of those painful goodbyes is past!

Why doesn't your friend just give her the I-134? It's nothing to have an argument over. If she feels better having it then I would just give it to her.

Congratulations!

I've been elbowed, left outside but on occassion I have gotten the price reduced further after her haggling for so long by saying something like "damnit, I'm tired and hungry, let's go". Then I give the shopkeeper a final low ball before we walk. The 6 taxis takes the cake, love it!

The cheapest way to use Western Union is to call them at 1-800-CALL-CASH and to pay using a debit card, this avoids the cash advance fees you would be charged using a credit card. If I recollect correctly the fee is $12 to send up to $1,000. My bank had a limit on my debit card of $1000 so I could send a maximum of $988 this way. If you send the funds online the fee is quite a bit higher. You will tell them your SO's name as given name, family name. Their system will reverse the name so it comes out correctly in China. I had given my wifes name as family name, given name, then it reversed when received in China and she was denied on picking up the funds until I contacted Western Union and had them reverse her name. They nit pick in China. After you have "wired" the funds call your SO and give her the amount you have sent (I send as USD's, you have the option to send as renminbi but you get a little lower rate than the banks will give on conversion) and give her the confirmation number. She will need her ID to pick up the funds.

My wife has purchased about $100 of Chinese medicines to bring to the USA with her. I'm afraid this could pose a problem going through customs. I would think many SO's would want to bring products with them that have relieved their ailments all their lives. I know that any medications which are prescription medications in the USA and manufactured in the USA cannot be brought into the USA, even if you have a prescription for it. I think it has to do with the Pharmaceutical lobby and whose pocket the money is going into. Has anyones SO brought OTC medications to the USA and encountered any problems?

My wife and I recently had this conversation regarding the family composition sheet. From what I find on the Guangzhou Consulate website it is required for a category V visa but is not listed as a requirement for a K3 visa. I think it is required for K3 when doing the adjustment of status. To ease her mind I gave her all of my information.

Congratulations! Thanks for taking the time to post the interview experience.

I miss a good American style breakfast the most, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, pancakes, etc. I also miss seeing soap in the WC at the restaurants. I took Jasons advice and began the series of hepatitus shots.

The GZ hospital doesn't know much about the paperwork required and they are the ones to put it all in order in the sealed envelope for the interview. ??? My wife had called the hospital because she thought she needed a family composition sheet, the hospital said yes she did. I've had a hard time convincing her that the hospital is wrong, that the consulate website for the K-3 P3 packet does not list this form. Once somebody in China tells them something they get it in their head and it is difficult (if not impossible) to convince them otherwise. My wife has the family composition sheet ready to go. Better to give them what they want and avoid a disagreement over nothing.

DITTO, DITTO, DITTO.......................Unless you have money to burn and can find the best forgot the attorney.

I'm gambling on a visa so I purchased my wife a one way ticket for eleven days after the interview. Any change to the ticket results in a $250 fee plus any increase in airfare.

Welcome to CFL, Bill. I'm in Oklahoma. My wife has the same interview date as yours does. I will be in Guangzhou to wring my hands while my wife is in the interview. It is considered a good thing to be there and for the wife to take your Passport into the interview with her. If anything comes up like a request for a video of the two of you communicating it can be handled quickly. Being present does not guarantee a Visa, several CFL members have had their SO's refused the Visa. I think it is always overcome. Best wishes for a successful interview.

As far as taking your SO into the American Citizen Services Section of the consulate, my SO was not allowed in while I got the papers which would allow us to marry. Getting married in China is as good of proof as anything that you have met in person.

I bought a money belt to carry the large bills in. I cash a few hundred dollars at a time, at any bank, and have my wife handle the cash transactions.

Congratulations on the successful interview. Apparently your lady can think on her feet. Thanks for the information. Best wishes and the best Christmas ever!

This thread has opened a new can of worms for me and I thought I was finished with the I-134. Question #10 I wrote in "none" thinking it reference #9 however, #10 does not say "previously" but "have". This is a notarized form. If my wife took in one with "none" and one with her name on it the VO could say I lied on one of them! VISA denied! Let's get a show of hands on how this question has been answered by successful applicants.

My wife will be arriving in Guangzhou the evening of the 19th, perhaps a day or two sooner. I'm sure she would be very happy to meet Jun as she will be there stag until I arrive late on the 21st. She could possibly be going to visit a friend in Guangdong or Shenzhen after her hospital exam, it's undecided as yet. I'll mention it to her this evening. I'll email you later tonight after I talk with her and she and Jun can email each other.

Someone else had previously posted here on CFL that you can find a business on the 2nd floor of the Shamian hotel. I think the fee was $50 -$60.

I bought a few DVD's at Wal Mart and took them to my wife. They played with no problems.

Is there a requirement to have a paper ticket as opposed to an e ticket to leave China? I would think the e ticket is fine or Fly China would have said something.

After shopping around the best deal for me was at Fly China. Round trip from Oklahoma City to Guangzhou is $839. One way for my wife it is $729.

My wife wishes to take my last name. That is how she refers to herself. She will have her family name, given name, and soon a new last name. Everyone will be honored and we are a blending of two cultures.

Congratulations! We filled however many forms we received. I don't specifically remember but I think we did one of each in Chinese and English. You can always fill out one set and photocopy them and then she can sign them. I'd err on the side of safety and send back as many as you received, it does seem like you received one too many set. Are you taking the train to GZ or flying? My wife is in Guilin and just got some plane tickets to GZ, 5 tickets in all. Supposedly she got the last two tickets to Guilin for the 28th. They're selling out fast because of the spring festival.