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VIDEO TAPES

WADEISNO11

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WADEISNO11

WADEISNO11

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I HAVE BEEN READING CFL SINCE NOVEMBER AND HAVE ONLY SEEN A FEW CASES THAT A VIDEO WAS ASKED FOR. WHAT IS THE REASON FOR BEING ASKED FOR ONE? I AM GOING TO CHINA IN JULY TO SEE ZHUZHEN AND PLAN ON MAKING A VIDEO. SHE SPEAKS VERY LITTLE ENGLISH.WE SEEM TO BE ABLE TO GET OUR MESSAGES TO EACH OTHER UNDERSTOOD OK. ANY GOOD REPUTABLE PLACES TO RECORD VIDEOS? THANKS EVERYONE.

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david_dawei

david_dawei

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Here is what I have collected on this infamous topic:

 

 

VIDEO TAPE:

 

WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT A VIDEO TAPE?

 

[CFL] A blank VHS tape is the same whether you buy it in the US or China. It's the encoding format you use to record it that determines where it can be played back. There are two formats, NTSC and PAL.

 

The US Consulate in Guangzhou uses NTSC, even though the rest of China uses PAL.

 

Have a backup master made on VHS/CD/VCD/DVD ...in case you need to make another one.

 

 

IS A VIDEO TAPE REQUIRED TO BRING?

 

[CFL] The response Guangzhou gave my Congressman when he posed the question for me. The letter is dated Sept 13, 2004, so its represents the current thinking......Here is the quote:

 

"Contrary to the information your constituent has been given, petitioners are not "required" to provide a videotape of the petitioner and the beneficiary having a conversation in order to establish a bona-fide relationship. During the interview a question arises as to how the couple communicates if the petitioner speaks little or no Chinese and the applicant speaks little or no English. In such cases, the interviewing officer may question the relationship if the couple is unable to communicate meaningfully. Only in such cases will an officer ask for evidence regarding the couples ability to communicate."

 

 

 

WHAT SHOULD WE DO IN THE VIDEO?

 

[CFL] Your face and hands should be showing in the video.

The information officer at GZ put it this way. "you only need to prove you can communicate. This can be done with pencil and paper, electronic translator, whatever as long as it shows the relationship works."

 

[CFL] On the tape you can speak any language you choose, or a combination. You can also use gesture electronic translators...anything to demonstrate there is communication. My fiancée speaks little English, so the above description gives a good idea of what our tape is like. Oh yes, it should be at least 5 minutes long (mine is 10), unedited, and hands should be in full view at all times. It also helps to have a date on the video and use something like a paper to further prove when video was made...

 

[CFL] You just need a video showing the 2 of you communicating. It can be with a electronic translator, dictionary, or language, just so long as it shows you can communicate with each other. On my last visit to China in Sept, we did a video in case they ask.

 

 

 

IF I BRING A VIDEO FOR THE INTERVIEW, WILL THE VO ACCEPT THIS?

 

[CFL] The VO told me they very rarely ask for a video and they will not accept a video on the day of the interview even if you have one and they want one. is only if you are returning with a yellow slip will they even consider a video (vhs format). and the last item of importance is your fiancée attitude the VO's look for confidence and speed in answers and getting information.

 

 

WHERE IN GUANGZHOU CAN I GET A VIDEO DONE?

 

[CFL] XYZ was issued a yellow sheet and we had to submit a tape showing us conversing in English.

We went to a "service" at the Shamian Hotel (catty corner from the White Swan) and had a 40 min tape done for 500 RMB (steep, but it passed the test).

 

[CFL] The conversions / taping production can be done on the second floor of the Shamian Hotel

 

 

SUBMITTING THE VIDEO?

[CFL] That night, I gather up everything and even prepared the video and sent it out the next morning on USPS, priority mail. She got it within 4 days. As soon as she received my packet of information, she submitted it the next day. She did not see any VO. She just gave all the information to someone in the embassy. That person asked her to come back the next day at 2:00PM for the results. The next day she went back and was called into a different room with a different window (not the interview VO). At that window, they handed her all the evidence back and in the end handed her the "white" slip; and that was it. She did not require a second interview. And there wasn't much talking either.

 

DO YOU HAVE AN EXAMPLE OF THE VO REJECTING A VIDEO ?

 

[CFL]

Interview #1..(boyfriend not in Guangzhou for interview) . VO says he is not convinced fiancée can speak enough english, so he requests a cassette audiotape of her having a conversation with fiancée DENIED

 

Interview #2 fiancée returns with cassette and is told by VO that audiotape recording is not enough, then requests a video of a conversation between her and her fiancée DENIED

 

Interview #3 fiancée returns, but this time her boyfriend is waiting outside the consulate...She has carried his passport, credit cards, social security card, drivers license, and blank check into the interview......ACCEPTED!

 

 

DO YOU HAVE EXAMPLES OF YELLOW SLIP INTERVIEW?

 

[CFL]

EXAMPLE #1:

The interview went something like this:

VO: "Do you speak English?

Mm: Yes but sometimes I have a hard time hearing English."

Vo says something XYZ doesn't understand, takes the folder out of her hands, rifles through it pulling out the I-134 fills out a yellow slip and ends the interview.

 

YELLOW SLIP ISSUES: Requests a video

 

OUTCOME: Beneficiary flew to China. Together made video and turned in video. White slip given.

 

 

EXAMPLE #2:

1. Can you speak English?

2. How can we communicate? We write to each other every day and we talk on the phone two times every day.

3. Show me the phone bills at once?

[All questions where asked in Chinese with a translator speaking the Chinese the vo could not speak Chinese.

He told the translator he found it difficult to believe we can communicate and he gave her the yellow slip.

She tried to show more proof and he did not answer. She has to bring a video tape of me speaking some Chinese ]

 

YELLOW SLIP ISSUE: Requests a video

 

 

EXAMPLE #3:

What is your fiancée name?

What is his job?

Where does he live?

Does he have children?

When and where did you meet?

How many times did you meet in China?

When did you meet in China?

 

VO: Why did your fiancée only see you one time in China he makes so much money each month?

 

She showed him a notarized letter from me explaining that because my company is in the middle of a large expansion I have been very busy training new light rail operators and could not get any time off. I have been also training some one else to fill in for me and I want to save all my vacation time to use for when she arrived.

 

YELLOW SLIP ISSUES: Requests a video

 

OUTCOME: Beneficiary turned in video. White slip given.

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david_dawei

david_dawei

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What's a video good for?  I take activity scenes in which only one of us will be in the video. I have plenty of photos, but hardly any video.

In the military, there is a saying: "when your told to jump, you respond, 'how high'"...

 

If they ask for it, give it... that's what it is good for...

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