3/10/2009 --- pink too

[Friday7]

Congratulations!!

[fungusho]

no thats it!its a service number especially for the ems,then after you talk to them give them your mail number,which is right above your case number on the ems cover,then they can tell you where is your packet at.

 

thanks pokie. just called, and they still haven't sent it yet. i'm starting to think about changing my flight to a later date (it's now for the 19th). even if we get the visa early next week, it barely leaves any time at all for us to visit my fiancee's family before we go...

 

My fiance went on the 12th to pick it up but not there. Friday the 13th turned out to be lucky for us

[DannyFendy]

Congratulation!

[cguo7]

thanks for sharing and congratulations!!

Thanks to everyone here who has helped us in preparing our application! I¡¯d like to share a little of my and my fiancee¡¯s experience at the consulate (as well as a few details about how we prepared) to help others as I¡¯ve been helped through this forum. Hopefully later I'll have some time to share some other thoughts (both mine and my fiancee¡¯s) that might differ a little from the conventional wisdom.

 

Below are the questions my fiancee was asked (most likely some are in the wrong order):

Fiancee: Ni hao.

Consular Officer: Ni hao. Can you speak English with me? (still in Chinese (i.e., putonghua, not baihua, yueyu, or whatever else people around Guangzhou sometimes speak))

Fiancee: No, I can¡¯t.

Consular Officer: (so continues for whole time in Chinese) Give me your passport.

Fiancee: Here is my passport, my fiance¡¯s passport, and a letter my fiance wrote for you. (the letter, an updated ¡°intent to marry¡± letter, was notarized in the US and had a handwritten Chinese version on the top page and a handwritten English version on the second page. I wrote them both extremely neatly. Both were about a full type-written page long)

Consular Officer: (Looked briefly at Chinese version and then carefully read the English version.) Have you gone to the US before?

Fiancee: No.

Consular Officer: Can your fiance speak Chinese?

Fiancee: Yes.

Consular Officer: How did he learn Chinese?

Fiancee: He probably had a few classes years ago, but then he just studied by himself. We¡¯ve talked on the phone every day since the beginning of 2007.

Consular Officer: When did your fiance first come to China?

Fiancee: 2005

Consular Officer: What did he do in China?

Fiancee: Research with his professor.

Consular Officer: What is his research on?

Fiancee: Economic psychology.

Consular Officer: How many times did he come back to see you?

Fiancee: 4 more times.

Consular Officer: When?

Fiancee: (Fiancee named each year and season when I was back to see her, Consular Officer counted on his fingers as she named each one)

Consular Officer: What does your fiance do in the US?

Fiancee: Graduate student.

Consular Officer: What is the name of his university?

Fiancee: (fiancee answers)

Consular Officer: What do his parents do?

Fiancee: (fiancee answers)

Consular Officer: What is his father¡¯s name?

Fiancee: (fiancee answers)

Consular Officer: Does your fiance have a brother in China?

Fiancee: No.

Consular Officer: Are your fiance¡¯s parents in China?

Fiancee: No.

Consular Officer: Do you have work in China?

Fiancee: Yes, I¡¯m an English teacher in a kindergarten.

Consular Officer: Can I see your pictures?

Fiancee: (fiancee gave him booklet with two pictures per page and a caption underneath each photo giving the names of the people in the picture, place and date it was taken. There were probably about 45 pictures, some with fiancee¡¯s family members, some with her and my friends, but most just the two of us. Consular officer starts from back of book (most recent photos) and pages through toward the front. He types on the computer after looking at each page, maybe writing places we¡¯ve gone together or things we did (e.g., I volunteered for about a month at a place she worked, and we got this place to write and stamp a short letter for us; then we put this letter in with our pictures.))

Consular Officer: ûÓÐÎÊÌ⣬Äã¿ÉÒÔͨ¹ý. There are no problems, you can pass.

Finally, when my fiancee came down from the interview, I was waiting there with a rose for her.

When we got outside, there were some Chinese people standing there and when they saw we got pink, they wanted to know what questions the consular officer asked.

 

Thanks again to all who helped!

[baobeizhu]

thanks for sharing and congratulations!!

I’d like to share a little of my and my fiancee’s experience at the consulate (as well as a few details about how we prepared) to help others as I’ve been helped through this forum. Hopefully later I'll have some time to share some other thoughts (both mine and my fiancee’s) that might differ a little from the conventional wisdom.

 

Fiancee: Ni hao.

Consular Officer: Ni hao. Can you speak English with me? (still in Chinese (i.e., putonghua, not baihua, yueyu, or whatever else people around Guangzhou sometimes speak))

Fiancee: No, I can’t.

Consular Officer: (so continues for whole time in Chinese) Give me your passport.Consular Officer: (Looked briefly at Chinese version and then carefully read the English version.) Have you gone to the US before?

Fiancee: No.

Consular Officer: Can your fiance speak Chinese?

Fiancee: Yes.

Consular Officer: How did he learn Chinese?

Fiancee: He probably had a few classes years ago, but then he just studied by himself. We’ve talked on the phone every day since the beginning of 2007.

 

Consular Officer: When?Consular Officer: Do you have work in China?

Fiancee: Yes, I’m an English teacher in a kindergarten.

 

First of all, CONGRATS!

Secondly, question, if she's an English teacher & the interview was conducted in Chinese, what is the actual language you two use to communicate, if I may ask? I am actually surprised this question wasn't asked by the VO...

Edited April 2, 2009 by baobeizhu (see edit history)

[weiaijiayou]

thanks for sharing and congratulations!!

I¡¯d like to share a little of my and my fiancee¡¯s experience at the consulate (as well as a few details about how we prepared) to help others as I¡¯ve been helped through this forum. Hopefully later I'll have some time to share some other thoughts (both mine and my fiancee¡¯s) that might differ a little from the conventional wisdom.

 

Fiancee: Ni hao.

Consular Officer: Ni hao. Can you speak English with me? (still in Chinese (i.e., putonghua, not baihua, yueyu, or whatever else people around Guangzhou sometimes speak))

Fiancee: No, I can¡¯t.

Consular Officer: (so continues for whole time in Chinese) Give me your passport.Consular Officer: (Looked briefly at Chinese version and then carefully read the English version.) Have you gone to the US before?

Fiancee: No.

Consular Officer: Can your fiance speak Chinese?

Fiancee: Yes.

Consular Officer: How did he learn Chinese?

Fiancee: He probably had a few classes years ago, but then he just studied by himself. We¡¯ve talked on the phone every day since the beginning of 2007.

 

Consular Officer: When?Consular Officer: Do you have work in China?

Fiancee: Yes, I¡¯m an English teacher in a kindergarten.

 

First of all, CONGRATS!

Secondly, question, if she's an English teacher & the interview was conducted in Chinese, what is the actual language you two use to communicate, if I may ask? I am actually surprised this question wasn't asked by the VO...

 

we use chinese. but now that she's in the united states, we speak english if we're with other people (aside from when i have to translate something she doesn't get). i think the vo didn't ask about this because i had already told them at ACH the day before.

[baobeizhu]

we use chinese. but now that she's in the united states, we speak english if we're with other people (aside from when i have to translate something she doesn't get). i think the vo didn't ask about this because i had already told them at ACH the day before.

 

 

 

Nice, I see. Thanks for your follow up ( I am a bit worried about this issue when my husband interviews since he really knows very very very little English so we speak Chinese too, so that's why I was curious about the VO's questioning. )

[weiaijiayou]

we use chinese. but now that she's in the united states, we speak english if we're with other people (aside from when i have to translate something she doesn't get). i think the vo didn't ask about this because i had already told them at ACH the day before.

 

 

 

Nice, I see. Thanks for your follow up ( I am a bit worried about this issue when my husband interviews since he really knows very very very little English so we speak Chinese too, so that's why I was curious about the VO's questioning. )

 

from my experience, his english won't be an issue as long as you show evidence that you speak chinese with one another. when i first sent our petition to uscis, i included email logs (sender, recipient, date, and subject) showing communication in chinese over the course of a few years. also, i sent copies of some letters my fiancee had written me in chinese, along with my english translations of them. this stuff got forwarded to GUZ and the vo used them for the interview (my fiancee saw him looking at them).

 

the other two things i'd recommend doing are 1. go to ACH (on Mondays at 2:30, i believe) and request that the interview be in chinese. when i did this, the vo said "that's no problem." 2. handwrite a letter to the vo in chinese, explaining your relationship (e.g., your feelings, your history together, your hopes). this is what i did, and then i took the letter to ACH to request that they put it with the other materials for the vo to see before the interview. the vo said she couldn't take the letter then, but she did look at it and, i'm sure, made a reference to it in the notes she made for the interviewing vo to see. you could also ask the vo if he or she wants you to read the letter out loud, in case they have any doubts it was you who wrote it. finally, give the letter to your husband when he goes for the interview. he can hand it to the vo when he or she requests your husband's passport. (also include an english version of the letter, in case the vo can't read chinese).

 

good luck! let me know if i can help in any other way...

[baobeizhu]

 

from my experience, his english won't be an issue as long as you show evidence that you speak chinese with one another. when i first sent our petition to uscis, i included email logs (sender, recipient, date, and subject) showing communication in chinese over the course of a few years. also, i sent copies of some letters my fiancee had written me in chinese, along with my english translations of them. this stuff got forwarded to GUZ and the vo used them for the interview (my fiancee saw him looking at them).

 

the other two things i'd recommend doing are 1. go to ACH (on Mondays at 2:30, i believe) and request that the interview be in chinese. when i did this, the vo said "that's no problem." 2. handwrite a letter to the vo in chinese, explaining your relationship (e.g., your feelings, your history together, your hopes). this is what i did, and then i took the letter to ACH to request that they put it with the other materials for the vo to see before the interview. the vo said she couldn't take the letter then, but she did look at it and, i'm sure, made a reference to it in the notes she made for the interviewing vo to see. you could also ask the vo if he or she wants you to read the letter out loud, in case they have any doubts it was you who wrote it. finally, give the letter to your husband when he goes for the interview. he can hand it to the vo when he or she requests your husband's passport. (also include an english version of the letter, in case the vo can't read chinese).

 

good luck! let me know if i can help in any other way...

 

Thank you, this was extremely helpful already!