Stale forms on USCONGUZ website

[AmericanRooster]

Hi USCONGUZ,

 

I'm curious about the number of old forms that remain on the official USCONGUZ website... these old forms can cause quite a bit of confusion for US Citizens and their families.

 

One example that bit me was "Letter to K1/K2 Applicant". As of right now I can find four copies posted on the website... at least two or three have different requirements...

 

Letter to K1/K2 Applicants (Example 1)

 

Letter to K1/K2 Applicants (Example 2)

 

 

Letter to K1/K2 Applicants (Example 3)

 

 

Letter to K1/K2 Applicants (Example 4 - May 2009)

 

I am very glad that the USCONGUZ publishes these on the official site, but leaving older copies laying around can cause signficant challenges... immigration forums like CFL and VisaJourney link to your pages as the authoritative source. Currently it seems that the webmaster simply creates a new HTML page when the list of required forms changes, and he leaves the old pages online at their original hyperlinks. Since people have hyperlinks to your site and the obsolete pages are still lying around, it is easy to mistake obsolete information as the most current available.

 

I would like to suggest a new method... let's use http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/vi...ket_forms2.html as an example.

 

Today visa_packet_forms2.html retains the original content, even though forms_and_packets.htm seems to be newer (but even this page is missing the May 2009 copy of K1/K2 applicant letter).

 

Instead of visa_packet_forms2.html retaining its original content when it is obsolete, could you either designate a permanent page that is always the most recent copy or html-redirect (please see URL for how to do it) obsolete pages to the most recent copy?

 

Sorry if this is a bit technical... I'd be happy to elaborate further if you like.

 

Many thanks for the valuable services you provide to US citizens and their families.

Edited June 17, 2009 by AmericanRooster (see edit history)

[Zachary And Lychee]

Believe me please when I say I'm not trying to come down on the consulate by stating - I also agree that the site is confusing. For example - DS-157 on Consulate Site expired as of 9/30/2008, but there is a new one on the state.gov website that expires 11/30/2011. This does not have the Chinese fields as the one on the consulate website, but it is not expired. We all fear slowing the process by doing something wrong and use the website as a reference so it is important that things be clear.