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New consulate procedures and experiences

wulongtea

By wulongtea,
in GZ Info

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king

king

Posted
Posted

One question that came up on one of my previous posts was whether the main building lobby on the 1st floor could be used for waiting space. It appears not. :rolleyes: Not even when it is raining which it has been daily for the last week.

 

The bright spots are that there will be a fast food restaurant on the 1st floor; they are putting the finishing touches on it now. And on the 4th floor there is a coffee shop. And soon there will be a espresso style coffee cart in the lobby with seating and tables.

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chef4u

chef4u

Posted
Posted
One question that came up on one of my previous posts was whether the main building lobby on the 1st floor could be used for waiting space. It appears not. :rolleyes:  Not even when it is raining which it has been daily for the last week.

 

The bright spots are that there will be a fast food restaurant on the 1st floor; they are putting the finishing touches on it now. And on the 4th floor there is a coffee shop. And soon there will be a espresso style coffee cart in the lobby with seating and tables.

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Wow, I better see what it would take to open a western style restaurant.

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warpedbored

warpedbored

Posted
Posted

King are you saying that American citizens waiting for thier fiancees to come out of the interview can't wait in the lobby out of the weather? At least the beneficiaries don't have to stand outside in the heat anymore.

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Mild_Bill

Mild_Bill

Posted
Posted

I hope I can share a little bit here that others can find helpful. My wife just had her interview last week.

First of all, the 8am appt is not only for your SO, but also for maybe 100 or so other visa hopefuls. These applicants are divided into 2 groups: immigrant visas and non-immigrant visas. The non-immigrant visas must wait until their names are called to enter the building. But the immigrant visas (K1,K3,CR1 etc.) do not need to wait until their names are called. They do however need to wait in the Chinese style line of hurry up and push everyone away to get there first. When they show their appointment letter and passport to the inspecting officer, he will give them a small card which will allow them to pass through the actual consulate entrance on the 4th floor. American petitioners can enter the consulate beginning at 9am, but the citizen and non-citizen sections are separated by a glass door. It is possible to enter the non-citizen section, but after being warned 3 times by a guard, I decided I should wait elsewhere. On the 4th floor there is a coffee shop with several tables and chairs to sit and wait. There was alot of other construction going on at the time, so hopefully there will be more places to wait because the coffee shop was full. I am not sure about waiting in the 1st floor lobby, but there were no places to sit at the time, although it did seem like there were several people standing and waiting in many different places in the building.

I hope my experience can help out anyone with questions. If I can answer anything else, please ask. Having just completed this process, I would like to pass on the help that was shown to me by this website by helping those to follow me. Good luck to everyone with upcoming interviews. :huh:

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HanLi

HanLi

Posted
Posted (edited)
I hope I can share a little bit here that others can find helpful.  My wife just had her interview last week. 

First of all, the 8am appt is not only for your SO, but also for maybe 100 or so other visa hopefuls.  These applicants are divided into 2 groups: immigrant visas and non-immigrant visas.  The non-immigrant visas must wait until their names are called to enter the building.  But the immigrant visas (K1,K3,CR1 etc.) do not need to wait until their names are called.  They do however need to wait in the Chinese style line of hurry up and push everyone away to get there first.  When they show their appointment letter and passport to the inspecting officer, he will give them a small card which will allow them to pass through the actual consulate entrance on the 4th floor.   American petitioners can enter the consulate beginning at 9am, but the citizen and non-citizen sections are separated by a glass door.  It is possible to enter the non-citizen section, but after being warned 3 times by a guard, I decided I should wait elsewhere.  On the 4th floor there is a coffee shop with several tables and chairs to sit and wait.  There was alot of other construction going on at the time, so hopefully there will be more places to wait because the coffee shop was full.  I am not sure about waiting in the 1st floor lobby, but there were no places to sit at the time, although it did seem like there were several people standing and waiting in many different places in the building.

I hope my experience can help out anyone with questions.  If I can answer anything else, please ask.  Having just completed this process, I would like to pass on the help that was shown to me by this website by helping those to follow me.  Good luck to everyone with upcoming interviews.   :lol:

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Bill, Thanks for the info, and congratulations to you and your wife. How long was the interview time and what kinds of questions were asked? Hope your story will continue to be a great one, keep us posted on the transition....

Edited by hankhoude (see edit history)
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king

king

Posted
Posted

Warpedbored

I think the answer is no, people aren't supposed to wait in the lobby, but they do. When the numbers get large I think the guards move people out. Many of those people standing around the lobby are touts who have permission is stand in front of the company they work for.

 

From my point of view the set up for visa processing is a lot better than at Shamian.

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