mari

Mark, just out of curiosity and since I'm interested in following the timelines that are similar to ours, have you checked with the DOS if your namecheck had been completed already?

Hi Louisa, I'm glad to hear that there are other women in my same shoes. I haven't met my future parents-in-law yet even though I've been 4 times to China, their house is in the southwest and my fiance is living in Beijing now. Somehow I think they're not very thrilled about their youngest son marrying an american, his older brother used to date a british girl some years ago and they were not very happy either. Qi Sheng is an electrical engineer and he's always travelling because of his work, so he doesn't have much time to hang out with friends on his free time, so when I visit him we just dedicate the time to be with each other. My greatest challenge is that I don't speak any chinese at all, and nobody will offer mandarin classes in my place it's really frustrating because I'm a very outgoing person and I can't communicate as I wish when in China. At this moment we're awaiting P4, we started this process 8 months ago (today), and we're stuck in the second name check, so we've decided to visit cold Beijing at the end of this year. I've noticed that most of the people are surprised to see a couple like us, I've even seen chinese women who are fiancees of american men who can't believe this happens, but I really don't care, I got a wonderful relationship and have experienced in this past 3 years that there are many cultural obstacles that can be overcome when love is present. Please keep in contact.

I agree with many of your thougths here, meeting Qi Sheng had been one of the best things that ever happened to me, we choose to be together for the rest of our lives and we knew from the beginning that this process was not going to be easy for us. The system will not change because of our complaints and/or suggestions which they don't care to hear, so we must deal with our minds. I almost went nuts when I realized that GZ kept sending our P3 and it was not reaching its destination, once they registered the P3 it was sent back to him asking for a P3 for his daughter when we clearly stated she was not an intending immigrant, and finally the second name check...... I thought I was really going to lose it here, it's been more than 4 months since it started and it's still "pending", contacted Congressman, GZ, FBI, no idea on when it will be completed. I've come to realize that this is truly a test of love and faith, and it's not easy to see many others who should be behind us who are in queue now for an interview. If it were not for you Candle friends and of course by the open communication I have with my SO, I don't know how I could have survived this terrible times in my life. My best advice is to be assertive when you contact DOS and/or GZ but kind, you have every right to inquire about your case, never ask for a status on your case, because you"ll always get a canned response, let them know that you know exactly where your case should be at any point, and when you get a non-cooperative visa specialist, hang up and call again!!!! In order to keep your sanity, it's very important that you know that you've done everything within your circle of influence to speed up your case and be informed, and keep your mind busy, it's the key to survival. Good luck to all of you in the waiting.

Congratulations to you and your wife-to-be Vaughn, and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. I wish you both a happy life together and many many blessings.

I do respect the fact that they believe so much in "chinese traditional medicine" and I agree that some of them may help only as a supplement to our medicines. I remember last winter I got the most terrible cold while in Beijing, and my dear boiled some strange, thick and smelly stuff in a pot and then passed it it thru all the house, I guess trying to disinfect the air. Well, all I can say is that he never catched the cold And of course I got my dosis of penicillin also.

Hi Billy, you can send the consulate an e-mail and/or fax notifying on the change of address, it should be no problem. My fiance's P3 was lost in the mail for two times before I sent GZ the e-mail and fax changing the mailing address, and they were very reponsive, they even called my fiance to make sure the third P3 arrived. Good luck.

Anyways, I still would prefer to visit Beijing again, there's so much to see there. And I was hoping to eat that tasty Peking duck again.

Thank you so much to all, now I feel more comfortable about travelling to HK. I"ll look for air fares tonight in the web.

I've concluded that the problem is with his last name, it's really a very common one. It just feels better to know that the Consulate is answering our inquiries, even though it's so frustrating to know that once we pass the name check we"ll have to wait around 5 or 6 more months.

Do they speak english in those booths? What's the exchange rate for hkd? Do you know the time they close?

Thanks guys, I"ll look into both options. Do I need a visa to Hong Kong? For one thing I don't speak any chinese, do you think it might be a problem to go from HK to PRC using a bus? I'm still not sure if GZ will be the destination, but I want to be prepared in case it is. I don't feel comfortable with going to HK first, as I've never been there, so I need some advice from the experts here.

Hi all, I'm planning a trip to Beijing for New Year's Eve, but now my SO told me that maybe he"ll move to GZ before then, it all depends if he gets a transfer from his current company. Í always book my flights with American for the convenience of accumulating mileage, but when I tried GZ as the destination, it shows no flights available on that date. Any suggestions on this matter?

My fiance received a call from GZ explaining that they splitted his first name because that's supposed to be the correct format. The man spoke chinese and said that a 4 month wait is not abnormal, even though some name checks are cleared much faster, and that the case that had taken longer took one year to clear!!!! Just to be fair, so far they have responded to us and had assisted us in many ways, like when the P3 was lost in the mail and they kept sending it to us, and they even called him at the time as requested by me. Clearly there aren't enough resources to deal with all the different type of visas that are worked there, not to mention the bureaucratic process in USA.

Jason, have you checked with DOS if your name check had been completed yet?

Why did tGZ refused the shipment, some clearance problem maybe? Our first name check only took 10 days, I just can't understand why this one has taken such long time. One thing I noticed when I got my NOA2 in the mail was that my bf name was splitted in two, but I just didn't minded at the time as all our paperwork had his name spelled correctly.

I got a response back from GZ, and they still insist to split my fiance's first name into two, even though it's spelled as one name in his passport. I guess there's nothing else I can do concerning this matter but to keep my fingers crossed and hope the name is cleared soon. The one thing that keeps me going is my next trip to Beijing, which will be on New Year's Eve.

Thanks God my last name is not a coomon one, if this is the case.

Jon, tell Ling she's not alone, and that some time in the future we will look back and see all this from a different perspective. Keep having fun and once you get back to Maui and all this political thing is over, contact your congressman again and the FBI. The Consulate has to respond to their inquiries and my congressman's aid told me that once a congressman inquires about a case, it gets flagged. I'm not sure if it's of big help, but at least GZ knows that someone is following on the case.

Neal, thanks so much for the advice, my bf agrees with your suggestion, and I already sent the e-mail to GZ. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope they do something to resolve this terrible error.

Thanks guys, really appreciate your support in this matter. I just finished writing an e-mail to GZ explaining them the situation concerning the name split, but I haven't send it yet because I'm afraid that they will start a new name check which will take even longer that this one because my bf last name is a common one in China. What really keeps bugging me is the fact that the FBI guy told my congressman's aid that when his correct name is passed thru their system, the results are a " no record for this person". Do you think I should clarify this for the Consulate? Anyways, my congressman's aid said she will send another e-mail to the FBI explaining the issue with the first name.

Taz, it's good to hear the outcome on your case, and I sincerely hope that you and your husband can recover what existed some time in the past, not only for the sake of Maiya, but also for yourself.

Yessssss, great news, Neal.

Our case has been stuck in the infamous second name check for almost 4 months now, my congressman inquired about our case to GZ as well as to the FBI. GZ says interview can't be scheduled until they receive response from the US authorities, FBI says that my bf last name is very common so this always happens and they can't give us a definite date for resolution, then today I realized that the consulate spelled his first name incorrectly: they divided his first name into two parts, which I made sure not to do it in our paperwork and I now recall that it has caused many troubles to applicants in the past. The congressman's assistant promised to write back to the FBI's congressional liaison explaining this new issue, as when the man passed my fiance's correct name thru the database, it came back as "nothing to report". This whole process has taken the best of me, sometimes I think I don't have any energy left, what really keeps me going is the promise I once made to my better half that I will do whatever was needed to bring him home. We've had so many bumps on the road, first the P3 lost in the mail for 2 times, then the P3 was returned erroneously to him because info for his daughter was missing (we clearly stated she will not be applying for a visa), and now this...... It's all so frustrating...

It's good to hear Kim, great holidays coming your way.

Does anybody knows the difference between the name check performed by the NVC and the one requested by the Consulate? Our first one only took 10 days, the second one is 103 days old and counting...... I already contacted my Congressman for help, this process is so unfair.