Anyone get their P4 lately?

[Dan R]

I sent an email to the consulate yesterday and they were kind enough to reply.

 

I tried to make it simple, real simple, just 3 yes or no questions.

 

Unfortunately, they could not grasp the simplicity of my questions, and decided to give me a canned reply that had nothing to do with the email I sent or the questions I had asked.

138154[/snapback]

I see some things remain consistent. GUZ still can't tell a question from a statement.

 

I wouldn't be surprised also if many of the VOs take summer vacations. I wonder what percent reduction in interviews one or two off per week through the summer would be. Vacations especially for employees in the service many years who would have several weeks vacation per year could be a large unknown that has not been included in predictions. I wonder how they shift for illness.

 

For all of you waiting I hope the gates open and we see a flood of appoinment dates coming. Call DOS and check regularly. This can get you a big jump in prep time over waiting for mail notification. Many interviewees have had only 2 or 3 weeks notice so August is still possible.

[nygatl15]

we're all in the same boat called, "good things come to those that wait" ...

 

It will be very interesting to see how many Sept interviews we'll have.. we have many P3s ready and waiting and it will be a few weeks after the move.

 

I expect our interviews will fall in domino fashion... just hang in there !

138309[/snapback]

Very true words "Good things comes....", but the waiting is not easy at this point. Still it is hard to beleive the time has passed, it seems like an eternity. I must say I'm very anxious.

 

My fiancee still thinks she needs the police report. because she went to school in usa... I think I will call or email Guz today for clairifcation and to please her.

 

Dave, I'll be looking for your post when you contact the DOS today.

[aquach]

Well I emailed GUZ yesterday and today I received the standard response - the beneficiary is waiting to be scheduled for an interview ... no idea how long due to the amount of cases waiting to be scheduled. yada yada yada. Oh well still in the queue at least

[wulongtea]

One of the things I've tried to understand, and I've tried stretching my poor little brain to try to understand, but I still come up empty. Maybe i am losing some brain cells in the hot weather waiting ...

 

- From every response I have received from the consulate in emails, and also from calling DOS, everything is all set for our case, and we are just waiting for an interview to be scheduled.

 

That is good, and I can understand that it takes someone, some finite amount of time to enter a name and date into a computer. Even when I go to the dentist, it takes a few minutes.

 

- And I can understand that there are many people waiting to be scheduled for an interview. There are not only us waiting for K1 and K3, but there are others waiting for adoption interviews and also the students, tourist and business people from China waiting for interviews to obtain their visas. So I can imagine the consulate is a busy place with all these people waiting for the same thing ... and interview to receive a visa.

 

Here is where I begin to lose it ...

 

I have checked on the Guangzhou consulate website and followed the link

for non-immigrate visas. From this address I see:

 

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/wait/tem...lt.php?post=Gua

ngzhou&x=37&y=14

 

Visitors Visas: 35 Days

Student/Exchange Visitors Visas: 2 Days

All Other Nonimmigrant Visas: 35 Days

 

I've checked the other consulates in China, and they all report something simlar, a few days or maybe 1 month to get one of these interviews and visas.

 

So I've asked myself ... "self ... why does it only take 2 days for a Chinese student or Exchange visitor to obtain an interview and visa at the US consulate that I have been waiting 3+ months now?"

 

How can these cases be processed so quickly, as if by magic! but for us ... we wait ... many months longer?

 

2 days vs 3 months is about 45 times longer to schedule our interivew than it takes to schedule a similar inteview for a Chinese student.

 

So in my mind, I have a different picture of the consulate now ...

 

For the non-Immigrant section, they have 50 people sitting. Most of the time they are idle, and when they get a request for a student visa, they are happy to process it, and can get everything taken care of in 2 days.

 

Then I have another picture of the Immigrant visa section ... They have 10 people sitting there, all trying to process the thousands of visas that come in each month.

 

Maybe the people who can schedule a student visa in less than 2 days, can teach the others how to schedule the non-student visas in the same amount of time!

 

Even if the scheduling software would say that the interview cannot be held for 3-4 months into the future, that would be ok, at least then we can begin to plan our lives for the arrangments that need to be made for the interview.

 

These were generally the thoughts I had shared with the consulate via email the other day, and i think just as a joke, they sent me back the standard reply ... that we are still waiting for the person to schedule our interview, (while they probably just scheduled several students to be interviewed in the next few days!)

 

if it were not so ridiculous it would be sad.

 

you really get the feeling of having just entered the twilight zone ...

 

sorry if this was the wrong place to post this ...

[dailyview]

Called DOS today. No intervew date.

[david_dawei]

Called today, talked to Shawn.. have heard others mention his name.. he is clearly the most helpful guy I have talked to there.. offers any info and insight he can gather off the screen without asking.. makes recommendations, etc.

 

Oh.. no update.. as I expect. too many others in front of me saying same.

 

---

 

 

 

I have often wondered if those locations on the website refering to NIVs are not really including K# visas. I remember once looking at one of the consulate webpages in china (not GUZ), and they grouped the visas and broke them down by category, but K# visas were not lumped into the NIV category ?? They were in their own separate category.

 

So, when I see comments like:

 

Visitors Visas: 35 Days

Student/Exchange Visitors Visas: 2 Days

All Other Nonimmigrant Visas: 35 Days

 

my hunch is the NIV of 35 days is not K#/CR1 visas, but the other NIV types that exist.

 

The other explanation is that at the time of the writing, visas have now changed dramatically in time to process and no udpate occurs to the website.

Edited July 22, 2005 by DavidZixuan (see edit history)

[pkfops]

Called today, talked to Shawn.. have heard others mention his name.. he is clearly the most helpful guy I have talked to there.. offers any info and insight he can gather off the screen without asking.. makes recommendations, etc.

 

I think I may have talked to that kid also.

 

I'll check with GZ & DOS next Wednesday.

 

P4 should be in the mail about that time.

(or maybe this Friday)

Edited July 19, 2005 by pkfops (see edit history)

[Guest DragonFlower]

naixin long naixin

 

I suppose we will drop out of the hopper any day now.

 

Seems like a long time,glad I got over there 4 times already.

 

VO said don't live your life to please GZ(last meeting I went to).

 

Funny,I live my life,waiting on them.

 

Getting close,fingers crossed,hoping no problems.

 

long

[sfarkas103]

naixin  long  naixin

 

I suppose we will drop out of the hopper any day now.

 

Seems like a long time,glad I got over there 4 times already.

 

VO said don't live your life to please GZ(last meeting I went to).

 

Funny,I live my life,waiting on them.

 

Getting close,fingers crossed,hoping no problems.

 

long

138496[/snapback]

As it is easier for my mother to call DOS from Cleveland then it is for me from Yantai, she did so for me yesterday. Same result-"nothing pending, no interview scheduled yet". I know it is very hard for those of you who must be apart from your mates, but trust me it's no picnic waiting in China either. My 3 year anniversary of being here is in August, and as much as I love living and being with my fiancee, between the heat, smell, and basically every single aspect of China I just want this over either way. I had been basically fine here until this interview date started looming, now it's like holding a glass in front of a parched man and saying, "Ummm, no drink just yet..." Anyway, I had no intention of rambling, just wanted to pass along the first 2 sentences.

[BuffaloPaul]

Called today, talked to Shawn.. have heard others mention his name.. he is clearly the most helpful guy I have talked to there.. offers any info and insight he can gather off the screen without asking.. makes recommendations, etc. 

 

138465[/snapback]

Huh, I talked to Shawn Monday - he is most helpful. I've talked to him a couple of times. Seems like a good guy and not the stereotype we have of DOS

[LeeFisher3]

Called DOS today, same story. Due for my email to GZ tomorrow and expect the same.

 

Will just keep racking up the notes on the case each week until they set the date. They won't be able to say I wasn't trying to be involved.

[bubbafred10]

I called DOS this morning. I was told that the name check has been completed, and only need to wait for P4 and interview date assignment which could take a few months. I asked if there are several name checks to be done. The reply was "No, the recipient's name is not common so there is no need to do multiple checks". But GUZ is not doing anything with it. And I was not able to get any estimated date for the interview, or when the P4 will be sent out because it's all up to GUZ and DOS has no influence.

[Inxsfan]

Well today is the 20th and i called DOS, no update, just the same "waiting to be scheduled for the interview" i do know its about 16 weeks from p3 to p4 and for us the 16th week is the week of Aug 18th, so i am expecting a date from DOS either next week or the following week.

there hasnt been any p4's on 001 or CFL lately why??????

[nooneufo]

Simply put, with the exception of those delayed for reasons unknown, there is no data to fill the gaps. This makes it appear as if there is nothing happening.

Alternatively, because the last two flurrys of P4's were on a two week on/off basis, new procedures, or a reflection of the move is changing the schedule. (While I include it as a possibility, too many past similar data gaps have done the same thing as we see today. Then the schedule would resume the usual pattern).

 

While I think it is possible there could be a change, I think based on the numerous past events of similar nature, we simply don't have the many, many CFL lurkers since January posting their good news. Too bad for everyone else who does post. (However, important to note that I usually use the 001 postings to compare, and since a full month schedule was posted in two weeks, this leads me to think there is an indication of a possible change. Again, this change could simply be a time slip backwards towards 180 days.)

 

Here is a quick print of my this week projection chart using this week as a P4 date. Since the last recent average number of days from P3 to Interview is around 170 days, you can see the problem. (Please note that pkfops P3 return was much later than average, so it is a question on whether his P3 letter date will count, or a new wait time will be from the P3 computer entry date.

 

 

Name--------------- P3-letter--P3-GUZ---P4proj---Interview--- P3-to-P4---P3-to-Interview Projected

mild bill------------ 02/07/05 03/08/05 07/19/05 08/10/05 162 184

pkfops--------------- 02/26/05 04/08/05 07/19/05 08/29/05 143 143

baogg---------------- 03/01/05 03/01/05 07/19/05 09/01/05 140 184

benfanfan------------ 03/03/05 03/03/05 07/19/05 09/01/05 138 182

Steve and Qingqing--- 03/07/05 05/18/05 07/19/05 09/07/05 134 184

dailyview------------ 03/12/05 03/18/05 07/19/05 08/11/05 129 152

Barey Jones---------- 03/14/05 03/14/05 07/19/05 08/15/05 127 154

riki3742------------- 03/21/05 03/26/05 07/19/05 08/22/05 120 154

huang---------------- 03/22/05 03/22/05 07/19/05 08/23/05 119 154

buffalopaul---------- 03/26/05 04/15/05 07/19/05 08/25/05 115 152

impatient------------ 03/27/05 04/06/05 07/19/05 08/25/05 114 151

Chinashawn----------- 03/28/05 03/28/05 07/19/05 08/26/05 113 151

billv---------------- 03/28/05 04/02/05 07/19/05 08/29/05 113 154

ngatl15-------------- 03/28/05 04/04/05 07/19/05 08/29/05 113 154

DavidZixuan---------- 03/28/05 04/08/05 07/19/05 08/29/05 113 154

Annie Ray------------ 03/29/05 04/01/05 07/19/05 08/30/05 112 154

xulei601--------------03/30/05 03/31/05 07/20/05 08/31/05 112 154

[bubbafred10]

Too many officers in GZ who are dyslexic or have Alzheimer. That's why it's worse than slow.

 

Same with CSC now.

Edited July 20, 2005 by bubbafred10 (see edit history)