The Interview

[Maui & China]

As promised here is interview questions. It took place on May 16, 2005.

 

My MM was selected first for the interview at approximately 1:50pm. This was for a K1/K2 visa, and she went with her 5 year old daughter. Went to window #9. The VO was very handsome caucasian gentleman.

 

MM: Good afternoon.

VO: Good afternoon. Give me your passport please.

MM: OK, here you are. May I put all the other stuff on the counter?

VO: Yes. He reads the passports and says the names.

MM: Yes.

VO: Have you been to other countries?

MM: Yes, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

VO: Oh, good. Who applied for your visa?

MM: My fiance:******

VO: What is his job?

MM: He is a ******

VO: What company?

MM: *******

VO: Good, can you give me his employment letter?

MM: Sorry, pardon? (She could not understand the question)

VO: Asks for the employment letter in Chinese.

MM: Sorry I'm a little nervous. (She told me her legs were shaking!)

MM: Wait a moment please. Finds letter, hands it over and says "Your Chinese is good."

VO: Don't be nervous, very simple. (VO gives a big smile.)

VO: Very good. (My employment letter was paper clipped to my I-134, bank statement, and last 3 paycheck stubs.)

VO: Where did you meet your fiance?

MM: We meet on the internet.

VO: Can you show me e-mails?

MM: Of course. Hands over e-mails, yahoo messages. Gives an explanation of the different dates on the e-mails and messages.

VO: How many times did you meet?

MM: 5 times.

VO: Oh, 5 times?

MM: Yes 5 times, and he is waiting for me outside.

VO: Can you give me his passport to see?

MM: Yes, here is his passport and ticket. (My return plane ticket.)

VO: Oh, very good. Do you have photos?

MM: Yes. Gives him 3 photo albums.

VO: Asks a few questions about who is in photos, where some of them were taken.

MM: Answers and also asks the VO if he has ever been to Shenzhen?

VO: Yes, but only for a short time.

VO: Gives back photos and the rest of the evidence. Hands her the passed letter (It is more lavender than pink in my opinion)

At this point, my MM's recollection of events gets a little hazy as she has become very excited and did not hear to clearly what the VO had to say.

VO: Go to Shamian Post Office to fill out the form.

MM: Thank you very much. Have a nice day. Thank you very much.

VO: You are welcome.

She had some tears in her eyes as she leaves. The other ladies waiting say congratulations. She thanks them and says good luck to everyone.

 

Some Observations.

 

This VO did not have a translator standing by. Apparently his Chinese is good. We met a few other ladies who passed and had the same VO and he spoke Chinese with them also.

 

All questions were given quickly. The entire interview was probably 2-3 minutes, because she found me at Blenz just after 2:00pm.

 

She felt the questions were easy because I had forced her to practice.

 

She had all the info in a clear expandible folder that was labled for easy reference. The individual info (ie. phone bills, e-mails, letters, etc. was in its own clear binding, that went into the folder.) This made it easy for her to get the info the VO requested.

 

GZ lost the DS-230 form (Gee 10 months and that's all they lost! ) So we had to fill it out again in the morning when she turned in the P4 documents. We had made a copy but left it behind in Shenzhen!! So tell your MM to bring copies of everything with her. It's a pain and a heavy load, but it would have been a stress reducer if we had our copy with us.

 

Take an umbrella. It was very hot standing in line. Plus it rained while we waited for the 1:00pm and then it got very, very hot and humid!! B)

 

The VO was always smiling. He was very handsome. He has a 2 year old daughter according to another woman who was interviewed. All the ladies wanted him to be their interviewer.

 

My MM kept eye contact with the VO throughout the interview. (Actually she just kept looking at his nose. Something she learned from 001.)

 

She says to tell all your MM's to relax. Take it easy, no worry if your love is true.

 

After the interview you register at the Shamian Post Office to have the passport delivered or picked up in person. It took 2 days after the interview before it was ready to be picked up. But to pick it up in person you must go to a different post office off of Shamian Island. About 10 minutes walking distance from the Shamian Hotel where we stayed.

 

You can pick-up at 9:00am. We got there at 9:05 and there was a line already. You take a number and relax. They examine the China ID card closely to match the name and number to the passport package. Make sure the passport(s) are correct and your done!! We were out of there by 9:50pm.

 

Hope all this info helps someone and good luck to you all.

[Squid]

Very good and detailed! Thank you! My SO and I are in the "freak out" stage (well, actually me) because our interview is now less than a week away.

 

Congrats and thanks again.

[jtaylo69]

B)

CONGRATS!! I can only hope ours will go that well

[Zingaro]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

And EXTRA props for hanging in there all that time.

 

And many thanks for the interview write-up. It's very helpful!

 

Wishing you all the very best, great good luck, and a long and happy life together!!!!!!!

[david_dawei]

Wow.. she handled all those questions great! Congratulations!!

[cosmiclobster]

Congrats again! Nothing beats being well prepared!!!

Next step, Welcome to paradise!

[johnxiaoying]

Congratulations.........a well earned VISA after such a long wait. Now the best part begins.

[tonado]

Congrats and thanks for sharing.

[perryf]

I also can testify that Fanny and I went thru the list of questions from here several weeks ago. And we repeated the exercie Sunday nite, before her Monday interview.

 

It helped to keep her calm since she knew she could handle all the questions.

 

PF

[mlspyl]

Maui & China:

 

 

Congratulations on the fantastic news !!!! I am very happy the hear about your success.

 

Your detailed report is greatly appreciated. Yes, the information does help !!!

 

 

Mark

[joenamy]

Thanks for the interview discriptions. Best wishes to a wonderful life! Last but not least, congratulations!!

[Dan R]

Great recap Maui, Mahalo! I'd like to go over the questions but she says I make her nervous talking about so we wont talk about it with less than a month and counting. She says to believe in her and fate will decide. Ok I'm willing to do it the way that makes her feel best about it. After all she is the one being interviewed. So we will cast our fate to the wind.

 

Artist: Vince Guaraldi Trio

Song Lyrics: Cast Your Fate To The Wind

[ print the lyrics ] [ more info ]

A month of nights, a year of days

Octobers drifting into Mays

You set your sail when the tide comes in

And you cast your fate to the wind

 

You shift your course along the breeze

Wont sail up wind on memories

The empty sky is your best friend

And you just cast your fate to the wind

 

That time has such a way of changing a man throughout the

years

And now youre rearranging your life through all your tears

Alone, alone

 

There never was, there couldnt be

A place in time for men to be

Whod drink the dark and laugh at day

And let their wildest dreams blow away

 

So now youre old, youre wise, youre smart

Youre just a man with half a heart

You wonder how it might have been

Had you not cast your fate to the wind

 

Well I hope in our case fate has decided to cast us together. So far in our relationship it seems so. Next month could be the start of us chasing our dreams together.

[Maui & China]

Great recap Maui, Mahalo! I'd like to go over the questions but she says I make her nervous talking about so we wont talk about it with less than a month and counting. She says to believe in her and fate will decide. Ok I'm willing to do it the way that makes her feel best about it. After all she is the one being interviewed. So we will cast our fate to the wind.

Try asking a few questions at a time, then work your way up. That's what we did, because she said I made her nervous too. I tried to be act like a mean VO in preparation if she got a tough one. I think we started getting serious about the questions about 3 weeks before the interview. I also mixed up the order of the questions and phrased the same ones differently just so she wouldn't get into rote memorization, that she really understood what the question was about. It was difficult but it all paid off in the end. Just remind her to relax. Easier said than done, but it really does help.