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We did it !! For those of you who've been there all this time.Thank you. It took three interviews and one month shy of five years but, we were finally successful. I must admit the third interview was hardly an interview. It went something like this: "Wow, you two have a long history together. Looks like mistakes were made. Let's get your Visa so you can go be with your husband." And just like that, the fight was OVER... Yan will join me in the US just after the Chinese New Year. Happy Holidays Everyone ! Terry

Hi all, I am a first time poster but long time fan of the forums! I applied for a IR-1 on behalf of my wife in Beijing earlier this year, back in February, and she had her interview in Guangzhou on May 21st this year. Everything went well, but because she was a party member we had to do the obvious admin processing. I had prepared all the documents for admin processing related to party membership they require for this beforehand (before the interview), after talking to some friends and reading on this forum. My wife let them know about her party membership at the interview and gave them all the documents. They mentioned they needed no other documents and that her case would be processed within 4-6 weeks or so. I followed up with them after 6 weeks (I know it normally takes 60+ days) to see if they needed any additional documents and they mentioned they were good and just to wait. I follow up with them once a month or so but her case is still in admin processing after 120 days or so. I know there are a couple holidays in there, and the consulate move, but is this amount of time normal? I've seen 60-100 days on the forums but 120 days seems long, especially when no other documents were required. My wife joined in College at the urging of her professor and roommates due to her being an excellent student. She never attended a meeting after joining and didn't work in a position that required membership, nor has she worked in the government. Her mother paid her dues on her behalf each year because the local neighborhood party guy would bug them like hell to do it. I understand this doesn't change the fact she was a party member, but it seems odd that it's taking this long. Is this amount of time normal, or does the level of membership in the party not really matter? Thank you for any assistance or advice you all can provide me!

My wife and I are still lingering in AP, but we'd like to go back to the States for Christmas this year (we did a Christmas trip last year, too). Her current B2 expires in November, and we've been wondering if it is (1) possible and (2) worth the trouble to apply for a new visitor's visa. I'm not sure if since she has the AP pending that would mean that she is automatically ineligible for a visitor's visa, or if applying for a visitor's visa might inadvertently screw up (or, worse, cancel!) our immigrant visa petition. Anyone have experience/insight into this? This would be her third visitor's visa and fifth trip to the States.

This is my first post, been following this forum for months now, but I think perhaps our visa case is very unusual. My fiancé and I are both foreigners living in china as study abroad students. We were together 3 years before getting engaged, and are living in china currently. My fiancé is from Pakistan, and We had a baby last year which was born back home in USA. We were still waiting on the K1 when my son was born and my fiancé couldn't be there for his birth. Long story short, my fiancé is from Pakistan and since we stay in china we interviewed here. The interview went fine but he got a blue slip for Chinese police certificate (he already had one from Pakistan which we were informed was the only one he needed) and also work resume. We submitted both documents and they received them on Dec 8. Emailed 3-4 times and always the same "administrative processing" reply. I am unsure how long does it take because the police certificates expire at 6 months and I had to change my tickets back home from winter to summer. How long does this take, is it possible it will take until July to get an answer?

I e-mailed Guangzhou on LiYuan's case They say they have not received her documents yet, that were asked for on blue slip. We have receipt from EMS the day they got the paperwork at embassy. The department of state when I called them say they have the documents but have not processed them. So how to figure out who is correct? Also they have us confused with a fiancé visa. We are CR-1 has been about 2.5 months which I know is not 4 months yet on typical blue slip and AP, but if they don't have the documents I need send them over again. Will they accept a copy of the blue slip since already sent the original in? Very frustrated with all this. Thanks for any advice Paul

Since LiYuan got a blue and we need to submit the documents requested and since most blue's on average take 4 months to overcome. Her Police certificate expires on May 22 2013, should we just attach a new one now with the requested documents to avoid another 4 month delay later? Thanks for any advice and help

Hello, Is there anyone who had the interview in 2012 around Sep.and still waiting due to the CCP? Sorry, came here to vent... I had mine interview at the end of Sep. And during the interview, I turned in the four documents even my passport... But right now still waiting, it is approaching the four months timeline. Stupidly, we booked the ticket, and it got changed for twice now... we changed it to Jan 24th... Even worse, I quit my job... He has been very positive, he said it would make us relationship stronger. And it will all worth it in the end. I just want to get married with him and to start our life together. Why it is so hard... I know my case was not the worst one compared to some other's. But still it sucks... and it hurts...

We are currently about 2 months in for a CCP Blue slip. I have emailed a few times and the response has changed recently. Could this be a different email template or is a sign of progress?

Hi Guys, My adopted daughter was interviewed on 8/16/2011, got an blue slip. The Consulate in Guangzhou did tell us they recieved all the required documents on 10/26/2011. I comtacted on 1/10/2012 asking for case update information. The Consulate replied and said the case is under Administrative Process (AP). Could any one tell me how long the AP will take as the Consulate did not give any time frame on how long we can get an answer. Thanks. Sunny

I received a reply from my inquiry to GUZ last week saying that our administrative processing is now completed for K-1 visa, and they will soon be sending letter of notification to fiancee to inform her how to proceed to obtain her visa stamp. I believe that they will be asking for her to mail her passport back. AP lasted 99 days (from interview approval on March 19 and subsequent change to AP status to end of AP on July 27). Medical exam was completed immediately prior to March 19 interview, so I believe the medical exam is still valid for another 2 months. From what I gather by reading, this part is relatively quick compared to the long wait in AP limbo. We still don't know why our case was changed from white slip to blue slip after interview approval, and we will probably never will. I do think that the Embassy staff are hard-working individuals; they just have many hundreds of thousands of cases to adjudicate. But I also think that our policy-makers should amend regulations to require that petitioners and beneficiaries be given a general idea why they are waiting and an expected time frame for resolution. Even though our case is drawing to an end, I feel bad for the many people who are painfully waiting in the dark, not knowing when or why or what next.

My fiancée had her interview May 17th. She had the CCP membership problem. She went into the interview with her written and signed CCP membership explanation. The interviewing officer said everything was fine, but the case would require additional processing because of her CCP membership. He took the written explanation and told her no other documents needed to be submitted. On the blue slip he gave her, no additional documents were requested. The only box that was checked as for the explanation of the blue slip was that "additional processing" was required. It then advised to contact the Consulate every "few months" to check on the case status. I know better than to wait a few months to contact them, because if they ever have problems with the case, they do not contact you to let you know. If they actually do send you a letter and it doesn't reach you, you're just left sitting there twiddling your thumbs totally oblivious to the problem thinking all is well and being processed. So, I emailed them on June 13th, about a month after the interview - not content waiting a "few months": "My fianceé received a blue slip after her interview due to her Chinese Communist Party CCP membership. She gave the interviewing officer a written explanation as to her CCP membership at the interview. It appeared nothing else was needed by the interviewing officer. We just wanted to check if any other documentation was required. Also, can you please tell us generally how long it will take until we receive a decision about the visa? Their response: This case is still under administrative processing. Though we do not have an exact date as to when we will finish this processing, we will inform your beneficiary by mail once her case is ready for further action. Then I emailed them on July 17th, 2 months after the interview: My fiancée's visa interview was on May 17th. I am writing to check on her visa's progress. Also, will she receive a phone call with the decision? Their response: Please be advised that your beneficiary should follow the instructions on the instruction letter that she was given after the visa interview and submit the requested documents to us first. We will further process the case once receive her supplementary documents. I responded: At the interview, my fiancée gave the interviewer her written explanation as to her CCP membership. He said that he didn't need any other supplementary documents. Furthermore, on the blue slip it doesn't request any further documents. What documents are needed then for Guangzhou to further process the visa? Please advise. Their last response: Please be advised that we will send an instruction letter to your beneficiary indicating what documents she will need to submit. Please advise her follow the instructions on the instruction letter once she receives it. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm raging inside, because I leave China in a week to go back to the U.S. without my fiancée for who knows how much longer. From the Blue Slip and the June 13th communication, the Consulate seemed to be processing the Visa after the interview without needing further documenation. They mention nothing about needing more documents. Then 2 months after the interview, they suddenly tell us to submit the requested documentation that was requested at the interview. I've gotta shout: NO FURTHER DOCUMENTATION WAS REQUESTED AT THE INTERVIEW!!!! It's 2 months wasted! We still don't have any idea what documents they *suddenly* still are waiting for to continue processing the case. You can't call the Consulate. Their email replies are curt and sometimes non-responsive. Why can't the Consulate use email for communication?! I'm afraid my fiancée will never receive a letter from the Consulate in the mail. She had trouble receiving packets 3 and 4, before - and we only found out after several emails that the packets had been sent out and should have long arrived. (Yes we double checked and even re-submitted/updated the mailing address) The communication on the part of the Consulate is so frustrating. Bad communication = mistakes. Even little mistakes = many months delay. [/vent] Here is a picture of the only thing checked/ written on the blue slip:http://i.imgur.com/QoNfp.jpg

It's been 60 days / 2 months since our interview in GUZ and we are still pending administrative processing (SAO I assume because of prior CCP membership). The lack of customer service and unknown is a terrible emotional roller coaster........It has already been over a year since since we started this ride. I am praying my fiancee receives her call in letter around the 90 day mark (Nov 25th) as recent others have and she can finally join me in the USA for a December wedding.........please please please include us in your prayers. Matt and Lili

Found this on wikipedia for those who want to know more about the CCP check process. As I have heard it appears the actual check in DC may be fairly quick, its the processing at the consulate to send it out and get it back, process the visa is the bulk of the AP period in this situation... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Advisory_Opinion As I found when calling the State Dept. all they will tell you is "in AP"... From MITs web site: "Unfortunately, congressional offices are unable to help expedite visa issuance. The Department of State considers this to be a matter of national security and will not circumvent the security advisory opinion process under any circumstances. However, a combination of efforts on the part of congressional representatives, institutions such as MIT, and higher education associations has resulted in high-level awareness of the problems and there are on-going efforts for improvement." Another site, says about the same as Wiki: http://administrativeprocessing.blogspot.com/2008/11/sao-faq.html Really good info! http://am.nafsa.org/knowledge_community_network.sec/international_student_3/international_scholar/practice_resources_17/visas_mantis_security Information on the Name Check Process (done when initially at USCIS): http://administrativeprocessing.blogspot.com/2008/12/national-name-check-program.html Good luck! Lee

One lady we meet while in GUZ said she was approved but required AP due to her previous K1 filing. I had not heard this before but just passing it along. My wife has talked to her quite a few times so I don't think anything is lost in translation; as well, we saw her post on 001 talking about it too. Mostly an FYI.

Hello.my wife jenny is chineese,i am us citizen.we have been hapily married since august 2,2009.i petitioned for her CR1-immigrant spouse visa,first week of october,2009.we have a us immigration attourney who has been very helpful,although jen has actually corrected many of his mistakes along the way. so she finally went to interview in july 19,2010.everything went well,so we thought.the officer told her congradulations,your visa is approved.and as jen told me before oficer even finished that sentence,she was stamping our application denied.when jen seen what had happened she immediately questioned the officers actions,and the officers reply was,oh!im sorry,my mistake,i will cross it out with a pen,and everything will be ok. so then jen was told to go to the post office in guangshou in a few days,and she can pick up her passprt,and visa will be enclosed.well after 3 days jenny got her passport back,but there was a blue letter,instead of her visa as was verbally promised.the consul had requested more information,ie.a much more detailed account of every little thing that we had initially given them in the beginnig,particularly her travel,education,work historys.so jens everything since high school graduation wasnt good enough.so she went all the way back,in detail to her 6 years old,and sent them everything,again! that was august4,2010.the consul recieved the packet,by the way we hired another agent in guangshou.so september10,2010 jen got another blue letter from consul office which,by the way was signed august 14,2010.this time bluu says,consul has everything they need.so,ok? we had our attourney in us send case inquiry september16,2010.15 days later consul replied,this case is not approved yet,administrative processing may take several months,as soon as processing is finished we will notify the benificiary with instructions by ems. so we wait until november9,2010 i send a personal inquiry.a few days later i got email back from consul which says,your case is currently under administrative processing,and blah,blah;blah,just like the first one.well today is the last day of 2010,and guess what,no visa for my poor little jenny. i guess these consulate people must really get a thrill out of tormenting,brutalising,and hurting innocent,fine upstanding, taxpaying us citizens,and there familys.is this what we get for tryin to do the rite things.for paying the consuls salarys to begin with.i mean this is whats wrong with america isnt it.it just makes me sick to know that my own government can take away my rights as a human being to be with my own wife in my own homeland.well i am really kinda upset over this whole mess,which i will call an otrocity that is going on at this particular consul office in guangshou. i would like to get some feedback,and am considering a class action lawsuite,if i can get enough support. together perhapts we could all make a difference and maybe stop some of this hyatus that is happening there everyday.may god bless all of you,and thank you in advance. sincerely,Davy

Hello, its been over 1 year since 1st pink interview. after 10 months guz told us administrative processing was complete. then they send another blue,update meds and criminal records. send em that,and 1 month later another blue. now were at 13 months since 1st pink,and no visa,and no explanation why. see my post "5 months wait since blue-guz brutality" read it to undersand the whole story. hope to hear from you all soon. Davy

Hello, We had our interview in Aug and received Blue due to prior CCP affiliation (strictly work related). We knew this may happen. At the interview we turned in her resume and CCP letter of explanation. VO said nothing else is needed just additional processing. SAO I assume. I hear the process of mailing in your passport to GUZ and getting it back with visa is very slow, like everything else.I'm looking to reduce wait time Question - Assuming my fiancee gets the approval letter in the mail in the next 60 days can she just fly back to GUZ and personally hand in her passport? Airplane/Hotel cost not really an issue Then she can just wait in GUZ and have the passport/visa sent to the post office in GUZ for pick up. Can we/she do this? Where does she turn in her passport and what is needed? What floor? Will they let her in with the approval letter to turn in her passport? Thanks, M & L

My fiancee had her K1 interview and medical exam in May. She got a blue slip due to her CCP membership. They requested more documents in July, which we turned in. Now it's September and we're still waiting. My questions: How long is a Medical Examination valid for? Does it need to still be valid at the time of: 1. Visa issuance and 2. entry into the U.S.? In my case should my fiancee get another medical examination? If anyone knows the law in this area, please advise. Thank you. Robert

Hello, We had our interview last week in GUZ (8/25) and received "Blue sheet" due to "prior affiliation" with CCP. After the questions the VO got out a white piece of paper (approval)and my fiancee was really happy......Then the VO asked "have you ever been a CCP member"? My fiancee said yes, but I resigned in April. Then she was handed the Blue sheet...............My finacee terminated/resigned in April 2011 via letter (and yes she was punished by her employer. They cut her pay, make her work from home and she can't attend any work functions).The CCP was strictly work related (for career advancement)and my fiancee held no leadership positions. We knew this may happen and came prepared to the interview with a updated resume, letter of CCP explanation and a copy of her CCP resignation letter. Other than the CCP issue the interview was very easy and brief. They only asked maybe 6 questions. After the interview the Visa Officer asked for a resume and CCP letter of explanation. My fiancee provided this and the VO said nothing else is needed at this time. The case now just needs additional processing. Has anyone went through this in the last couple months? What was your turn-around time for receiving the Visa? 30 days? 60 days? 90 days? Anything I can do to expedite? Will local Congressman or Senator involvement help? Thanks in advance, M & L

This is a contribution from member Cathy & Bruce who documented their CCP and Consular experience in a MS Word Document. I have provided here as a post so it is searchable well but each page has the full document for download. I am sure this will help other members dealing with the CCP issue. On behalf of CFL and it's members, we all thank Cathy & Bruce for this wonderful write-up. --- K-1 Visas and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Membership Issues So your fiancé is (was) a CCP member? Since 5% of the Chinese population are members, there’s a 1 in 20 chance she is! Having just recently completed the K-1 Fiancé visa process, I would like to share what I have learned about how the US Consulate handles K-1 visa beneficiaries who are (or have been within the past 5 years) members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). My fiancé, now wife, was a long-time CCP member right up until the day of the interview. I hope this information makes the process more understandable and easier for couples facing this issue. Keep in mind that this information is based solely on my personal experience in 2010, I don’t speak for the US Consulate and the opinions expressed are solely my own. I imagine that those applying for K-3 or IR1/CR1 or DCF visas would also find this discussion useful, as would those dealing with this process in Vietnam, Cuba, Laos and North Korea. In case you were not already aware, there are two websites that are particularly useful to people in the K-1 Visa process: http://www.visajourney.com"]www.VisaJourney.com and http://www.candleforlove.com" which focuses on China. I shall use a Q&A format to cover the main points: Download MS Word Document contributed by member, Cathy & Bruce: CCP Essay

My wife received her call-in letter in the mail yesterday =)!! She received a blue slip during her first interview on 7/6, requesting for a more detailed resume. She submitted the resume on 7/14, but was put under administrative leave shortly after (I believe on 7/17 or 7/18). I was expecting a long wait, but much to my surprise, she received the call-in letter in her mail only ~1 month after AP. I am very excited and thank you everyone for the advices I have received or stumbled upon.

We have got some help from this forum for our visa so we have to share our case with everybody here too. Hope it will be helpful to some of you. I went to the company in the States for training in Nov,2008. My fiance was an engineer there. Our jobs were similar, our personalities were similar and our interests were identical. We hit if off as friends immediately and spent a lot of time together at work and some time together away from work. Our relationship quickly moved into an area that was beyond the bounds that we could allow. A month later I flew back to China and there was a strong bond of love between us with no hope that it would ever be more than just a friendship. Very hard time for us then. In Feb, 2010 my fiance became free and he retired from his job and flew to China. I tried to get a travel visa but it was rejected because of our relationship. We hired a lawyer as most of you do. She helped us organize the materials and filled out the forms that were sent to USCIS. We received a letter from USCIS on 6/21/2010 that told us they received our case on 6/9/2010. After a long time waiting we got an email back from USCIS that told us "On 10/21/2010 we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)." For another two months we did not hear anything from the NVC so our lawyer checked with NVC and found out that NVC mailed the file out on 11/12/2010.We assumed that the file was on the way to Guangzhou consulate.Finally on 2/23/2011 we received package 3 from the consulate. However, they sent the package to my old address. The lawyer called NVC to have my address changed in the database on 11/18/2010 but it seems that they didn't really change it. We sent the completed package 3 back to the consulate on 2/24/2011. Something went fast here. We received the package 4 from the consulate on 3/8/2011. That was a total surprise. However, they sent us the wrong package so we downloaded the right forms from the consulate website. Package 4 told us that the interview was scheduled on 3/21/2011 and we should go to the consulate on 3/20/2011 to turn in the materials. The time was pretty close but we were happy with this since we didn't have to wait too long. On 3/20/2011 we turned in the materials. Since lots of people have talked about this process I guess I don't need to talk about it here. 3/21/2011 was a big day for us. A young man was my officer and he was probably one of the nicest officers even though he gave me a blue slip. Here are the questions he asked: 1. Who is your petitioner in the States? 2. On this form you said that your visa was rejected before, do you know why? 3. How did you meet? 4. What kind of training? 5. Do you have a resume?(I handed him my resume and he looked at it but he didn't say anything about it.It was just a very short resume which had some information on my education and work experience.) 6. What is he doing now? 7. He retired? How old are you? 8. How old is he? 9. He is much older than you. Why would you want to be with him? 10.He had a marriage before? 11.When did he divorce? 12.When did she die? 13.When did you start your relationship? 14.When did you start your relationship romantically? 15.Do you have emails or photos? 16.Is this the second time you are applying for an immigration visa? 17.Who is Lorraine?(He looked one email and Lorren was mentioned in that email.) 18.You traveled a lot? 19.Who is Laurie Anderson? 20.You don't have emails of you two emailing each other? 21.Are you a CCP member? Then the VO started to write something on a blue slip and told me I needed to send them a resume and a travel log. Seeing me look so down he told me twice:"I am sorry to make you down but I have no problem with your relationship." My fiance was sitting in the coffee shop on the third floor and he was so nervous that he couldn't help shaking while waiting. I was so upset to tell him that I got a blue slip. We were very upset but we still had to work on the resume and the travel log. We worked on them very carefully and sent them to the consulate by email in a couple of days. On 5/26/2011 we received the call-in letter from the consulate but the next day(it was Friday) was a holiday so we turned in the passport on Monday. We thought we would definately get the passport back in a week so we booked a flight to the States on 6/9/2011. No, we didn't get the passport back until today, 6/16/2011. We had to cancel the flight and lost quite a bit of money due to that but we got the visa finally! All this time my fiance has been with me and we travelled a lot in China and had a lot of fun and made quite a few friends here. We feel that we were still pretty lucky. Good luck to you too!

Hey all, lots of great info here, so much as I have never even had to ask a question that wasnt already answered! thanks! We just sent back our p3 and are waiting for the interview date. After the interview we would like to go to a beach in Thailand but realize that the Consulate keeps her passport to attach a visa correct?? Does anyone know how long this normally takes? Because, of course, without a passport we cant go anywhere outside China. Anyone else have this predicament? Thanks again for all the help here!

I am new to this forum, but have a situation that I hope someone here could provide insight on. We applied for our I-130 in November and had an interview about 10 days ago. My husband said that the interviewer seemed inexperienced and asked colleagues a lot of questions, but nevertheless ok'd the application and we went home happy with a pink sheet. A week later we got his passport back and a request for documents - his resume, travel history, and information on his company. Has this happened to anyone else? Do you know what they are looking for? Our bonafides are fine - we have been married 13 years. And he said we were ok financially - both income and assets. So I am not sure what they are looking for here... Also - we have sent in the requested information. What kind of response time can we expect from Guangzhou Consulate? Thanks.

My fiance is in the CCP and went to the interview and she got a Blue slip. We knew she was going to get a blue slip, as everyone has said before, maybe a few has been pink, but only because they were over looked(only my guessing). We did so much research on this CCP thing that we are willing to help anyone that has any questions of what is needed or how we did it. We were only ask to send in 1 other document which was a new resume stating every job history and promotions and job titles at those jobs and there dates. This will take us a short period of time and we will send it into Guangzhou and they will set another interview date for my fiance, and she will get her pink then and her visa. So if there is anyone needing information or help, we will do our best to help.