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Start of Sept Wave!

wulongtea

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wulongtea

wulongtea

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I posted this earlier, before the crash, so i thought i would post it again, since I included details that might be helpful to others.

 

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Details of the Day:

 

We arrived at the place at around 7:15am. We were planning on arriving around 7:30 but we were a little excited, could not sleep and so just headed over early. We found there was already about 100 people waiting in the non-immigration line.

 

At the consulate address, it did not feel like a consulate, just an office building. There were 2 lines, one for non-immigration, one for immigration. So just make sure you queue up in the non-immigration line.

 

At around 7:45, someone came out with a bull horn and starting to say things in Chinese. Talk about feeling like cattle. Those who had 8am appointments would like up in two lines on the outer side of the pen, and those with 9am appointments would line up down the center. Most were 8am appointments.

 

Then you proceeded one by one to meet the person with the bull horn, he checked your appointment letter, my fiancee’s passport, and then gave her a purple card. Those in the immigration lines received a blue card.

 

Then we proceeded into the building. You can take the escalators to the 4the floor, or use the elevator. I think the escalators are easier.

 

At the 4th floor, they only let those with the blue or purple cards through the first security person, and then they are checked again by someone sitting at a table, then they go up the escalator.

 

That was the last I saw of her … and the waiting begins.

 

I passed my time walking around the 4th floor, and waiting outside in the park. It as a nice day, and it was interesting to see all the people walking around.

 

The 4th floor is filled with travel agents, visa agents, etc all business focused on getting visas, passports, photos, tickets, and also making VHS tapes. So if you are missing anything, that is the one stop shopping for anything you could need. But I would beware of the “Companies” that help you get your visa. More on that later.

 

While waiting outside in the park, I started to see the first of the people coming out of the building at around 9:30am. I could tell they were finished with their interview, since I saw people running to greet them.

 

So I went back into the building, up to the 4th floor to wait for my fiancée to come out.

 

They exit, by coming down an escalator on the opposite side of the 4th floor, so it is not easy to miss.

 

As people were walking out, there were several of the “business men and women” who were waiting there to offer them any “assistance” they might need. I put that in quotes, since they were really like sharks waiting for the kill!

 

They would run up to the people, ask them if they passed, check inside any pages, trying to get a glimpse of the color paper they received. And God help the poor soul who exited with their blue slip showing. I assume that is the color you get now when you did not passed. For one poor girl, she looked like she was about to cry, looked bewildered, and was showing her blue slip. There was no fewer than about 5-8 people who rushed up to her, took her by the hand and try to have her follow them in 8 different directions!

 

And there was one girl who had someone waiting for her in the coffee shop located right there. She quickly walked to the person in the shop, while several of the sharks kept circling around, seeing if they could get a bit to eat!

 

At about 10:30 my fiancée walked out … I could tell she was smiling, looking happy, so I knew everything went ok. When I met her, she tried to joke with me about how she forgot my name and how she did not get the visa. But she is a very poor liar, and she quickly said everything is ok!

 

Details about the Interview:

 

So now for her account of what happened after she went up the escalator and before she came back down …

 

I am not sure of the order of things, but these are the major events:

 

- she gives the appointment letter and medical package to a clerk. There were many clerks who all spoke Chinese and they took care of the papers in the medical package. It was there that she did the final signatures on the forms that say do not sign until the interview. (I had thought this was done with the VO)

 

- they have their finger print taken digitally, just the pointer finger, not a full set. I was not sure if it as all finger or if it would be using ink.

 

- They are giving a number, which seems to be assigned at random. At least she said the order that they were standing in line outside has not relation to the order of the number for the interview. So it really does not matter how early you get in line

 

- They did have to say the pledge of allegiance in Chinese. I think this is really very strange, since these are not US citizens, and for many of these people, they may never choose to become US citizens, but here they are being asked to pledge their allegiance, their lives to a flag of a country that is not their own. I can just imagine what an American would think, that in order to get a Chinese green card, they would have to swear my allegiance to the Chinese flag and the Chinese government. She said that not everyone was saying the words, so I guess it really does not matter.

 

- Then they waited for their number to be called to go in for the interview.

 

She had heard of the black pearl, and she said she saw here there, and she was asking the people a lot of questions. She was afraid she would get her, but I encouraged her that it did not matter who she got. We had all of our evidence, we had completed all of our papers and there was really no reason for anyone not to give us the visa. The only reason would have been if the VO was having a bad day, or if they just had a problem themselves, and could not perform their job properly.

 

So when it was her time for the interview here are some of the things that transpired:

 

- The VO greeted her in Chinese, but she quickly answered in English, hi or good morning, and said she could speak English. I’m sure this put the VO at ease, since she said his Chinese was really not very good. Even my Chinese was better then his.

- She said he seemed to speak with a different English accent, so she was not even sure if he was American. But maybe she had not heard too many localized accents so I’m not sure.

- The questions all seemed to be pretty easy ones for her. Things such as:

- How many times have I come to China, and so she said 4. He said oh, that seems like a lot for less than one year. She said oh… he works very hard so his company let him take extra time off to come to china. He had also heard of my company, so I guess that was also a good thing.

- With our P3 package, we also returned some pictures, as well as an updated “Letter of Intent” that I had notarized after my second trip. So he was looking through the pictures, and she offered, to show him more. He just said that he was “Good”.

- He asked where I lived, and she told him where, and also pointed to her shirt. I had bought for her a t-shirt from my home town, where there is a nice beach, so I’m sure that make a good impression J

- She asked if he wanted to see my passport, and he said that was not needed, he was still “Good”

- He asked if I was married? Which seemed strange, but she answered that I was divorced, probably just to see if she knew that answer.

- He asked how many children I had, and I said 3.

- He asked if they lived with me or his ex-wife, and she said his ex-wife.

- She asked if he wanted to see any phone logs or emails, and he just said no, he was good and that he believed her. She was armed with two 6-inch carrying folders, holding several hundred pages of documents, emails, photos, video tape, etc and I guess he did not want to get started with it, otherwise he could have been there all day!

- She said he did not even look at the most recent i-134, or my latest “Letter of Intent” and just said you pass or you get the visa.

- In the end, she said, he did not even ask my name!

 

She then asked him, since it was Friday and the holiday on Monday, when we might receive it, since we would choose to have it sent to her home. He checked with a few other people and they were sure we would receive it by Wednesday, but I’m still hoping they sent it to the China post on Friday and so we might receive it in hand either today Saturday, or tomorrow, Sunday.

 

She paid the fee before she came down to the 4th floor, so there must be a place to pay for it “up there” The cost was 50 yuan I think to have it delivered, less if you are planning on picking it up yourself.

 

After the interview, we went to buy a white wedding dress, she wants to have pictures in both red and white clothes. There is a whole section in Guangzhou for wedding dresses, and there are much less expensive than in the US. She found a nice one for about $130 US. My guess the same dress in the US would cost around $300-$500 or more.

 

Then we went to the hospital to get the vaccination shots. Though not needed for K1 to enter the country, I thought it would be simpler to just have the done there, so that is one less thing to think about once we are back in the US.

 

I’ll post some other information about tips to do while in Guangzhou in the thread about first hand experiences in GuangZhou.

 

So the Sept wave has started with a success! Hopefully others find it just as easy and successful.

 

Even thought we both knew were had everything and there was no reason not to get the visa, the night before it was still a little hard to sleep, thinking of the “what if “ possibilities.

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tucsonjim

tucsonjim

Posted
Posted
I posted this earlier, before the crash, so i thought i would post it again, since I included details that might be helpful to others.

 

==================================

Details of the Day:

 

We arrived at the place at around 7:15am. We were planning on arriving around 7:30 but we were a little excited, could not sleep and so just headed over early. We found there was already about 100 people waiting in the non-immigration line.

151821[/snapback]

Congratulations!!! I'm jealous!! Thanks for the great summary of what transpired!!

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