After 2yrs and 3months - Pink

[judorex]

I will start by saying it was very nice to find such a useful and friendly community as CFL. In order to give back a little I'll share our experience that it might help others. Plus it feels good to rant a bit.

 

I moved to China in Apr of 06 and married my wife. After almost a year we decided it was time to move to the States (she has never been there, denied visitor visa 3 times). Wanted to apply in Shanghai, went to consulate in Feb 07, told they were no longer accepting applications there (although I was living in Shanghai, I did not have a resident permit at that time, I was on a business visa) and I would have to file in the US. I filed in US in Mar and everything went smoothly and just as the schedules on this site indicated. NVC finally approved our petition in April of 08. I had a friend who filed in Shanghai in May 07 (apparently they started accepting applications again 2 months later, GRRRR) and his wife had her interview in Nov of 07!!! I was a bit irritated about that, but had no idea what was in store for us.

 

This is the part where it starts to suck. It was six (very frustrating) months before our file showed up in GUZ in Oct, during which time we got pregnant. Our interview was scheduled for Nov 4th and we had to decide if we would be ok to leave before the baby was due (Jan 1). We decided to go for it and had everything prepared to leave short of buying a plane ticket. Good thing we didn't cause she got a blue slip.

 

As suggested on this forum I had gone in the day before to ask some questions. I had what seemed to be a very friendly VO who reassured me that everything seemed to be in order and we didn't have anything to worry about. For whatever reason, it didn't occur to me to mention that my wife was pregnant. I want to note here that during college my wife had joined the cccp. As recommended on the consulate webpage and other places we prepared a statement explaining that she had not participated in any capacity and her membership terminated before she even graduated. When the VO saw this she asked me how I had known she was a former member and how I knew to prepare a statement. I told her, and she seemed to indicate that it would not be a problem. She was nice, we made some jokes, and she really put my mind at ease.

 

The next day, my wife was interviewed by the same VO, but who seemed to have pulled a Jekyll and Hyde. My wife said she was almost hostile and she knew from the get-go that it was going to be trouble! The first question she asked was if I knew she was pregnant! WTF? Just the day before I had told her I had been living in China with her for the last 2+yrs! After that she began asking rapid-fire for every conceivable document, and the one thing we didn't bring was her resume. That's right, they denied her because she didn't have her resume! Which, as she didn't work in a technical field nor had she worked at all in the past 2yrs she shouldn't have needed one. So I recommend everyone to bring a resume, no matter what!

 

I'm not sure what the real reason for her blue slip was, because I seriously doubt it was her resume. It could be they did another background check due to the CCCP thing, but I suspect if I had not shown the VO the explanation letter she might not have even asked. The VO was very friendly to me, so it is puzzling why she was so hostile to my wife the next day. My wife thinks she was just being spiteful.

 

A devastating setback to be sure, we went back to Shanghai and found a new apt. They told us that it would take up to three months for "administrative processing" and after three months I started calling and writing emails trying to find out what was going on but I got NOTHING. I even wrote to my congressman and senator, but never got a response from either.

 

I was calling the DOS every other week and around the first of June I was told by a somewhat surprised phone operator that GUZ had sent us TWO notices, the first dated May 9th!!! She couldn't tell me more than that, so I email GUZ again and their response was to wait for the letter to arrive in the mail (it was June 7th at this point). The next day we received the letter dated May 9 but the EMS envelope was dated June 6.

 

The letter stated that we needed to get a new police report because the previous one had expired (because it took them so freakin long!!!). That took over two weeks thanks to the wonderful Chinese bureaucracy but finally we got it, went to GUZ, turned it in, got the pink slip. So I'm writing this from a hotel room in Guangzhou as we are now just waiting to pick up her visa tomorrow.

 

To sum up:

File in China if you can

Bring a resume

Prepare a CCCP letter, but don't mention it unless they ask

Be prepared for long delays with no explanation whatsoever

GUZ sucks, I hates them

 

Hope that helps somebody out there. Good luck to all. End of rant.

[whome?]

Great news for today but sad it had to take so long.

 

I have never heard of needing a resume at the interview before....

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Wow! That's one helluva story. Good job for hanging in there through all the hoops you were forced to jump through.

 

Congratulations!

 

To both of you!

[cguo7]

hi there,

 

so sorry to hear you went through so much trouble, but now--- you've got pink so congratulations!!! Take cAre.

 

I will start by saying it was very nice to find such a useful and friendly community as CFL. In order to give back a little I'll share our experience that it might help others. Plus it feels good to rant a bit.

 

I moved to China in Apr of 06 and married my wife. After almost a year we decided it was time to move to the States (she has never been there, denied visitor visa 3 times). Wanted to apply in Shanghai, went to consulate in Feb 07, told they were no longer accepting applications there (although I was living in Shanghai, I did not have a resident permit at that time, I was on a business visa) and I would have to file in the US. I filed in US in Mar and everything went smoothly and just as the schedules on this site indicated. NVC finally approved our petition in April of 08. I had a friend who filed in Shanghai in May 07 (apparently they started accepting applications again 2 months later, GRRRR) and his wife had her interview in Nov of 07!!! I was a bit irritated about that, but had no idea what was in store for us.

 

This is the part where it starts to suck. It was six (very frustrating) months before our file showed up in GUZ in Oct, during which time we got pregnant. Our interview was scheduled for Nov 4th and we had to decide if we would be ok to leave before the baby was due (Jan 1). We decided to go for it and had everything prepared to leave short of buying a plane ticket. Good thing we didn't cause she got a blue slip.

 

As suggested on this forum I had gone in the day before to ask some questions. I had what seemed to be a very friendly VO who reassured me that everything seemed to be in order and we didn't have anything to worry about. For whatever reason, it didn't occur to me to mention that my wife was pregnant. I want to note here that during college my wife had joined the cccp. As recommended on the consulate webpage and other places we prepared a statement explaining that she had not participated in any capacity and her membership terminated before she even graduated. When the VO saw this she asked me how I had known she was a former member and how I knew to prepare a statement. I told her, and she seemed to indicate that it would not be a problem. She was nice, we made some jokes, and she really put my mind at ease.

 

The next day, my wife was interviewed by the same VO, but who seemed to have pulled a Jekyll and Hyde. My wife said she was almost hostile and she knew from the get-go that it was going to be trouble! The first question she asked was if I knew she was pregnant! WTF? Just the day before I had told her I had been living in China with her for the last 2+yrs! After that she began asking rapid-fire for every conceivable document, and the one thing we didn't bring was her resume. That's right, they denied her because she didn't have her resume! Which, as she didn't work in a technical field nor had she worked at all in the past 2yrs she shouldn't have needed one. So I recommend everyone to bring a resume, no matter what!

 

I'm not sure what the real reason for her blue slip was, because I seriously doubt it was her resume. It could be they did another background check due to the CCCP thing, but I suspect if I had not shown the VO the explanation letter she might not have even asked. The VO was very friendly to me, so it is puzzling why she was so hostile to my wife the next day. My wife thinks she was just being spiteful.

 

A devastating setback to be sure, we went back to Shanghai and found a new apt. They told us that it would take up to three months for "administrative processing" and after three months I started calling and writing emails trying to find out what was going on but I got NOTHING. I even wrote to my congressman and senator, but never got a response from either.

 

I was calling the DOS every other week and around the first of June I was told by a somewhat surprised phone operator that GUZ had sent us TWO notices, the first dated May 9th!!! She couldn't tell me more than that, so I email GUZ again and their response was to wait for the letter to arrive in the mail (it was June 7th at this point). The next day we received the letter dated May 9 but the EMS envelope was dated June 6.

 

The letter stated that we needed to get a new police report because the previous one had expired (because it took them so freakin long!!!). That took over two weeks thanks to the wonderful Chinese bureaucracy but finally we got it, went to GUZ, turned it in, got the pink slip. So I'm writing this from a hotel room in Guangzhou as we are now just waiting to pick up her visa tomorrow.

 

To sum up:

File in China if you can

Bring a resume

Prepare a CCCP letter, but don't mention it unless they ask

Be prepared for long delays with no explanation whatsoever

GUZ sucks, I hates them

 

Hope that helps somebody out there. Good luck to all. End of rant.

[Bill & Li Hong]

Thanks for the information and Congratulations!

[Yuanyang]

:cheering: :cheering:

Congratulations!!!

:cheering: :cheering:

[Randy W]

Good advice, good write-up - helluva story!

 

Congratulations.

[Guest jin979]

very good.

 

good infomation for those to come

[N&J]

congrats

 

but if you only got asked for was a resume, you got it easy.

on a scale of 1 to 10, you got a one.-count your blessings.

 

GUZ has been a horror story. Seems like they have changed their outlook on life. Maybe B.O. is 'a change you can believe in'

 

congratulations again

[NUWORLD]

I will start by saying it was very nice to find such a useful and friendly community as CFL. In order to give back a little I'll share our experience that it might help others. Plus it feels good to rant a bit.

 

I moved to China in Apr of 06 and married my wife. After almost a year we decided it was time to move to the States (she has never been there, denied visitor visa 3 times). Wanted to apply in Shanghai, went to consulate in Feb 07, told they were no longer accepting applications there (although I was living in Shanghai, I did not have a resident permit at that time, I was on a business visa) and I would have to file in the US. I filed in US in Mar and everything went smoothly and just as the schedules on this site indicated. NVC finally approved our petition in April of 08. I had a friend who filed in Shanghai in May 07 (apparently they started accepting applications again 2 months later, GRRRR) and his wife had her interview in Nov of 07!!! I was a bit irritated about that, but had no idea what was in store for us.

 

This is the part where it starts to suck. It was six (very frustrating) months before our file showed up in GUZ in Oct, during which time we got pregnant. Our interview was scheduled for Nov 4th and we had to decide if we would be ok to leave before the baby was due (Jan 1). We decided to go for it and had everything prepared to leave short of buying a plane ticket. Good thing we didn't cause she got a blue slip.

 

As suggested on this forum I had gone in the day before to ask some questions. I had what seemed to be a very friendly VO who reassured me that everything seemed to be in order and we didn't have anything to worry about. For whatever reason, it didn't occur to me to mention that my wife was pregnant. I want to note here that during college my wife had joined the cccp. As recommended on the consulate webpage and other places we prepared a statement explaining that she had not participated in any capacity and her membership terminated before she even graduated. When the VO saw this she asked me how I had known she was a former member and how I knew to prepare a statement. I told her, and she seemed to indicate that it would not be a problem. She was nice, we made some jokes, and she really put my mind at ease.

 

The next day, my wife was interviewed by the same VO, but who seemed to have pulled a Jekyll and Hyde. My wife said she was almost hostile and she knew from the get-go that it was going to be trouble! The first question she asked was if I knew she was pregnant! WTF? Just the day before I had told her I had been living in China with her for the last 2+yrs! After that she began asking rapid-fire for every conceivable document, and the one thing we didn't bring was her resume. That's right, they denied her because she didn't have her resume! Which, as she didn't work in a technical field nor had she worked at all in the past 2yrs she shouldn't have needed one. So I recommend everyone to bring a resume, no matter what!

 

I'm not sure what the real reason for her blue slip was, because I seriously doubt it was her resume. It could be they did another background check due to the CCCP thing, but I suspect if I had not shown the VO the explanation letter she might not have even asked. The VO was very friendly to me, so it is puzzling why she was so hostile to my wife the next day. My wife thinks she was just being spiteful.

 

A devastating setback to be sure, we went back to Shanghai and found a new apt. They told us that it would take up to three months for "administrative processing" and after three months I started calling and writing emails trying to find out what was going on but I got NOTHING. I even wrote to my congressman and senator, but never got a response from either.

 

I was calling the DOS every other week and around the first of June I was told by a somewhat surprised phone operator that GUZ had sent us TWO notices, the first dated May 9th!!! She couldn't tell me more than that, so I email GUZ again and their response was to wait for the letter to arrive in the mail (it was June 7th at this point). The next day we received the letter dated May 9 but the EMS envelope was dated June 6.

 

The letter stated that we needed to get a new police report because the previous one had expired (because it took them so freakin long!!!). That took over two weeks thanks to the wonderful Chinese bureaucracy but finally we got it, went to GUZ, turned it in, got the pink slip. So I'm writing this from a hotel room in Guangzhou as we are now just waiting to pick up her visa tomorrow.

 

To sum up:

File in China if you can

Bring a resume

Prepare a CCCP letter, but don't mention it unless they ask

Be prepared for long delays with no explanation whatsoever

GUZ sucks, I hates them

 

Hope that helps somebody out there. Good luck to all. End of rant.

 

 

Nice to hear that you stuck to your guns on this one.

 

congrats and enjoy your new life.

 

BTW: Nice write up and good advise.

[judorex]

Thanks Everybody! It is nice to hear your feedback.

 

I had not read anything about needing a resume before either but my wife and I think that wasn't actually the real reason we got a blue slip anyway. We think it was the only thing the VO could think of to justify not passing our case. My wife said it was pretty apparent from the beginning that the VO was looking for something to stop us up. She didn't even look at any of the documents she asked for and stopped as soon as she found one we didn't have (a resume). Despite my repeated attempts to find out what the issue was (I asked every time I contacted them) we still don't know what the real reason for our holdup was. My wife thinks it had something to do with the pregnancy, but I don't see why that would have had anything to do with it.

 

At this point, we are so happy to be done with it we don't really care anymore. Moving back to the US in less than two weeks! yay!