approved at NSC

[robhon]

Bob,

I'm finding your posts a little strange in the references to the frustration level with the GZ IV unit. I, personally, was far more patient with the NVC process because I could see that, as it's set up, it's a rather cumbersome security check system involving several agencies. I know China can be particularly difficult because of the few number of family names. All of this was confounded for those on the old system as well, since everything was being processed through GZ.

 

On the new system all the complicated work is done before it gets to GZ. The fact that some cases were delivered by DHL in 3 days and others in 30+ days is ridiculous, and my guess is that has nothing to do with DHL or customs. The fact that GZ can't even acknowledge the arrival of a petition, even though DHL shows it's been delivered, is utterly ludicrous. I think the randomness in the system pre-GZ is mostly due to procedural matters. After cases are leaving NVC it seems to be mismanagement.

 

I believe the current pitch of frustration is over the fact that many of us felt we may have been standing at the P3 door and may now have had that door slammed in our faces until the holiday season has passed.

 

I know I'm making the most noise here on this issue. I've been waiting over two months for my P3 and, if the door has been closed, I may not see it for another 2 to 3 months!! And then it may be another 4 to 8 weeks for an interview!! My worst nightmare is, maybe since I've ended up on the bottom of some stack of papers somewhere at GZ, I might even get passed over next time GZ makes a P3 push!! This is what I guess happened in last year's black hole.

 

This whole thing is eating holes in my stomach, and not because it's taking so long. It's a horrible situation because of how bad the system is.

[Bob & Minglian]

Rob,

 

I am merely asserting an opinion here as is everyone else. I am also trying to distance myself some to see if I can capture a more objective and whole view. I think much goes on at every level that we don't know about and I think if we did know we would probably unlikely classify those delays as simply "procedural." Bottom-line is, we do not know. It's clear to anyone viewing the P3 window of it's apparent unfairness. Just as I believe it is with others who have waited a long time at other stages in this process. If you find my "posts a little strange in the references to the frustration level with the GZ IV unit" then you, too, are asserting your opinion and I will honor and respect that. You would be much less emotionally involved if your case were not delayed at the P3 stage. You are emotionally charged now because it directly and personally affects you. And as much as I feel badly that somehow your P3 has yet to be sent I also feel badly that Carl (warpedbored) had to wait 187 days for his NOA2 or that John (johnnybill45) had the longest wait of all to reach his wife's interview date of December 10. And these are just two recent examples that come to mind.

 

Maybe there is something that can be done to get these cases waiting for P3's moved. I don't know. But as with every stage in this process there are those who have waited longer and those who have waited less. This isn't just about you. Let's hope that a lot more P3's will be sent this next week, including yours! I am not against you. In fact, I want yours to especially be quick because of your wife and newborn son.

[keelec]

At least six more months? Earlier today I was so happy now I want to cry.  I'm not sure I have six more months of patience left in me.  Six months at NSC pretty much drained it dry.

Carl,

 

Welcome to Nebraska!!!!!!!! Does Portland mail it's appliccations all of the way to Nebraska? Perhaps that is part of the problem, covering all of the terratory from the Mississippi to the Pacific......???????

 

The next chinese woman you marry, I would recommend moving to Vermont.... At least buying a house there and using that as your mailing address.

 

Yes,

I know your feeling......

I waited for 5.5 months for my application to clear Nebraska, only to be told that I had made a minor semantic error on my application..... Then, once I fixed the error, I was told that it could take an additional 180 days of processing.... Fortunately, it was fixed and forwarded on by 6.5 months. I was about 2 days away from driving across 3 states to knock on their door and ask what was happening when I received the acceptance notice.

 

That was before I joined the "Candle".

 

When I read that my application was accepted at BCIS, I was walking on water!!! Their notice makes it look like everything is DONE & Ready!!!!

I bought plane tickets to go to Russia to pick up Irina, and return plane tickets for both of us...... I figured that we would have plenty of time to schedule the interview for when I was visiting........

 

I had a wonderful trip, but it hurt to leave her there, and return to the USA by myself (and pay the $200 to postpone the airline tickets).

 

Welcome to the crowd.......

It feels a bit like college initiation doesn't it..... You have passed the first hurdle, and only now see the full impact of the process......

 

AND TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH, ALL OF MY PATIENCE WAS USED UP 4 MONTHS AGO...... ALL THAT IS LEFT IS THE PAIN..... (and some wonderful new online friends). I definately don't want to spend another Christmas alone..... The only one I want to spend it with is Irina.

 

----- Clifford -----

 

P.S.

I may try to look you up the next time I make it "home" to Oregon.

[JerryL]

As was recently posted (referring to the GZ IV unit) cases seem to be randomly processed and I agree (who wouldn't) that is the worst possible system. 

Actually, a uniformly random distribution wouldn't be so bad. It's the LIFO algorithm that has the first-in people (count me among them!) teed off...

 

I do understand your point that on average, you'll be ahead of the crowd on some stages and behind the crowd on others, so therefore the entire processing delay, taken as a whole, should work itself out.

 

Incidentally, this is my philosophy to life as well, that the pluses and minuses will balance themselves out over my lifetime. This is why I don't want to win that state lottery!

 

Jerry

[JerryL]

At least six more months? Earlier today I was so happy now I want to cry.  I'm not sure I have six more months of patience left in me.  Six months at NSC pretty much drained it dry.

I think a lot of us here understand that feeling, unfortunately. It feels like you've just run a 100 meter dash, only to have the finish line moved another 100 meters when you get to the end...

 

The only thing I can think of to add is that the future is uncertain. It may be another 6 months, but for all you know, you may sail through NVC in a month and get your P3 in another. My Chinese upbringing would say it's all up to fate or the heavens, and my Christian beliefs would say that God has a plan for all that happens. Either way, it's out of our hands...

 

Jerry

[Mick]

At least six more months? Earlier today I was so happy now I want to cry.  I'm not sure I have six more months of patience left in me.  Six months at NSC pretty much drained it dry.  

I think a lot of us here understand that feeling, unfortunately. It feels like you've just run a 100 meter dash, only to have the finish line moved another 100 meters when you get to the end...

 

The only thing I can think of to add is that the future is uncertain. It may be another 6 months, but for all you know, you may sail through NVC in a month and get your P3 in another. My Chinese upbringing would say it's all up to fate or the heavens, and my Christian beliefs would say that God has a plan for all that happens. Either way, it's out of our hands...

 

Jerry

Not to wax too religious here, but I have found that patience is aided by prayer. It has worked repeatedly for us. Couldn't have made it through that eighteen month wait for the visa without it.

[Patrick & Li]

At least six more months? Earlier today I was so happy now I want to cry.  I'm not sure I have six more months of patience left in me.  Six months at NSC pretty much drained it dry.  

I think a lot of us here understand that feeling, unfortunately. It feels like you've just run a 100 meter dash, only to have the finish line moved another 100 meters when you get to the end...

 

The only thing I can think of to add is that the future is uncertain. It may be another 6 months, but for all you know, you may sail through NVC in a month and get your P3 in another. My Chinese upbringing would say it's all up to fate or the heavens, and my Christian beliefs would say that God has a plan for all that happens. Either way, it's out of our hands...

 

Jerry

Great Post Jerry!

 

Patrick

[warpedbored]

Thanks everyone. I think it would be real hard to get through all of this without the support from CFL. When I first got NOA 1 and it said 150-180 days I remember thinking that if I could just get past that the rest would be smooth sailing. Surely they would have improved the system by then. The new system was coming into place and it would be much better. Perhaps it is better now but I have lost all faith in the process. I have no trust that they won't screw something up or lose my petition. I am still angry that I had to wait 187 days for NOA2 while I watched countless petitions processed through VSC pass me by. Today I feel a little better. I am still happy that I finally got NOA2 and angry I have so many more frustrations to endure. I will pick up my cross and bear it for the duration. The alternative is unthinkable. Thanks again all.

Carl

[keelec]

I think a lot of us here understand that feeling, unfortunately. It feels like you've just run a 100 meter dash, only to have the finish line moved another 100 meters when you get to the end...

Great analogy Jerry,

 

Except it feels much like finishing a Marathon, only to find the finish line was moved out another 26 miles.

 

I was beat a couple of miles BEFORE the finish line in the last marathon I ran.... Pure willpower carried me on for those extra couple of miles, at which point my body completely failed me.... What if the line was moved? You would have seen me collapsed in the middle of the road a half mile away....

 

------ Clifford ------

[robhon]

Bob,

 

I very much appreciate your comments on the topic. I do think I am being freakish about the situation and forgetting what other's have been through. Honestly, this whole thing with the potential delay of P3's has me at my wits end. I miss my wife and child so incredibly much. I've been in a terrible depressive funk all day long.

 

This next trip to China will be my sixth trip there this year. Sure, I'm lucky that I can actually afford to do this but, beyond how the time change wrecks my body each time, it also rips my heart out every time I have to leave. And every time I come home I am instantly planning how soon I can go again. With the thought that it might be 4 more months before they come here is like swallowing metal filings. How many times can I do this? Leave and return, leave and return...

 

My apologies if I've not been sensitive to other people's cases. My heart and brain are just aching in their own private P3 torture chamber.

[robhon]

Thanks Don.

 

Youyue and I have always said to each other, "No problem, we have a whole lifetime together ahead of us." It smoothes over a lot of the frustration of this process. And I felt that we were doing pretty well that way. As difficult as it is to travel so much I really have been lucky to visit her so often.

 

But now I'm finding a whole other level of difficulty in missing my little boy. He and I don't have a whole lifetime of childhoods together. He changes so quickly and those moments are gone forever when I miss them. The idea that I very well could miss large chunks of the first 6 months of his life is horrifying to me. I think this is what has me so freaked out and depressed at this stage in the game.

 

Hey, Carl, I'm sorry for posting all this crap about me in your thread about how ridiculously long your wait has been at the service center. I'm being very selfish.

[warpedbored]

No problem Rob. Maybe we should change this to the co-miseration thread. I kinda know how you feel. Even though Bing and I have a whole lifetime together neither one of us are spring chickens. Im 49 and shes 46 and the longer it takes the larger percentage of our remaining life spans gets wasted by the BCIS. This whole process should not take any longer than six months but it's bogged down by red tape and bureaucracy. With an unsympathetic public it's not likely to change anytime soon.

[Bob & Minglian]

Rob, thanks for your most recent posts on this subject. I think that's the real Rob coming out. And I do empathize with you, especially you! It is so difficult going through this emotional roller coaster ride not knowing what's next. For me, I have yet to have any stage of this process go through smoothly, let alone in record time. So when our P3 was sent in a mere 7 days we, of course, were absolutely elated. But it was also doused by the fact that somehow we stepped out of the queue, thereby leaving others still waiting, still wondering. I'm happy you and your wife and newborn son will be together soon. And I hope you and your wife will be working on the P3 together while you're there. Hey, maybe she will have already sent it back to GZ and you'll be waiting for P4! I will be traveling on business for the next 10 days and will not likely have much time to post on Candle. But do know, Rob, that I wish you only the best!

[keelec]

I think everyone has a reason why their application should be on top of the stack, and perhaps another reason why someone else should be prioritized above them.

 

According to my research this weekend, I believe that Robhon is part of a very exclusive group. I would estimate that there are only about

 

100 Spousal Visas with Minor Children (K3/K4) that are issued in China each year.

 

If only half of them are pending... That would make about 50 or so that are still in the system, and perhaps less than 25 that are still waiting for the P3.

 

It would hardly have any impact on the whole system to track down those 25 to 50 applications and push them through to get visas immediately.

 

Of course, I would be hurt if they put the simple K1 visas, no children onto the bottom of the pile and left them there.

 

----- Clifford -----

[robhon]

I think everyone has a reason why their application should be on top of the stack, and perhaps another reason why someone else should be prioritized above them.

 

According to my research this weekend, I believe that Robhon is part of a very exclusive group.  I would estimate that there are only about

 

100 Spousal Visas with Minor Children (K3/K4) that are issued in China each year. 

 

If only half of them are pending...  That would make about 50 or so that are still in the system, and perhaps less than 25 that are still waiting for the P3.

 

It would hardly have any impact on the whole system to track down those 25 to 50 applications and push them through to get visas immediately.

 

Of course, I would be hurt if they put the simple K1 visas, no children onto the bottom of the pile and left them there.

 

----- Clifford -----

To be completely accurate, we aren't K3/K4. Sonny is, officially, a US citizen. Or, at least he will be after this next trip and we register him with citizen services.