any US citizens living in China?

[rw86347]

I am a US citizen living in Beijing with my wife. I just submitted my I-130. I will not be filing a K-3.

 

Can someone fill me in on what comes next. I get confused on the timeline because everyone else is filing more paperwork than me.

 

Rodger

[david_dawei]

Did you file directly to the consulate in BJ? If yes, we often call that by the street term, "DCF" for 'direct consular filing'. This is the fastest possible filing method since it bypasses all the US based stops.

 

You'll get a notice of receipt (we call P1 or NOA1) and then a notice of approval (P2 or NOA2) and then your lady will receive P3 with some documents to turn around and send back.

 

There are some who have gone through the DCF here, I'm sure you get some good advice from them as soon as they see the post.

[rw86347]

Yep I just filed with them yesterday. I used a lawyer in the states to organize the paperwork. I just don't need any hiccups. They said it was beautifully organized.

 

What does P1 mean? Has it been shipped to GuangZhou?

 

For that matter what is P2 and P3?

 

My lawyer also gave me a packet to hand the consulate in Guangzhou. When do I give them that?

 

Rodger

[david_dawei]

P1; notice of reciept; means they got your petition. I seem to remember for DCF, this is hit or miss if you really get that.

 

P2: means they approved the petition.

 

P3: is simply the next stage of the petition moving to Guangzhou for Dept of State to start processing.

 

P4: would be the interview letter.

 

You'd have to describe the contents of the packet; usually the best time to hand anything over is with the petition; they can refuse it or ignore it later. Possible to send with the P3 documents but depends on contents and if it makes sense.

[Kyle]

Just finished doing this. You may not receive a NOA in the mail because they do not send it through EMS. They send it through the regular and unreliable China snail mail. We never received ours.

 

After filing our I-130 in Beijing and receiving our receipt of payment (at the same time) we didn't receive anything until Packet 3. From Packet 3 on, mail is sent through China's EMS (registered letter) service.

 

Our total wait time (from filing to interview in Guangzhou) was a little under three months. You can click my signature for more information. Good luck.

 

You can get a great head start (getting a feel for the process) by checking out the Guangzhou consulate website. Here's a link to the process overview.

 

http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/cr...nd_cr2/ir2.html

 

http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/fo...and_packets.htm

 

The above link is great for downloading the most recent forms. You can start preparing them now. I've found that the forms on their website are sometimes more recent then the ones they send in the mail. If this occurs download and use the ones off of their website.

 

http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/iv_faqs.html

 

The FAQ section of their website has been recently updated. There is a lot of new and useful information there. It's worth a read.

 

This should be enough to get you started.

[rw86347]

Are you still living in Beijing?

[rw86347]

Are you still living in Beijing?

 

 

Wait you got everything done in 3 months ... really?!

[Kyle]

We live in Wuhan. We'll be here until next Tuesday. Then we're off to the US.

 

EDIT:

 

Yup: 8/26/09 - 11/25/09

Edited February 26, 2010 by Kyle (see edit history)

[rw86347]

We live in Wuhan. We'll be here until next Tuesday. Then we're off to the US.

 

EDIT:

 

Yup: 8/26/09 - 11/25/09

 

Congrats,

 

Well if you are waiting in Beijing with nothing but time on your hands I would love you invite you to dinner/lunch

[Kyle]

We live in Wuhan. We'll be here until next Tuesday. Then we're off to the US.

 

EDIT:

 

Yup: 8/26/09 - 11/25/09

 

Congrats,

 

Well if you are waiting in Beijing with nothing but time on your hands I would love you invite you to dinner/lunch

Thank you! Actually, we'll be flying out of Shanghai this time so we might not be able to that this time around. Again, thanks for the offer. You can send us a message if you have any questions. There are people more experienced than I on this site. You should be fine.

[rw86347]

My wife was wanting to know why you were able to do everything so quickly?

[david_dawei]

My thought is: All the time frames have sped up; even those in the US.

 

For DCF, BJ filing has always been the fastest of the DCFs.

 

There is nothing any one can do to make it go faster, other than have good documentation that is accepted. Once you get P2, it means the petition is approved and it goes to Guangzhou. Then just need to plan for the interview and prove you have US residency and can support her immigration request. Many need to use a joint sponsor for the financial threshold issues.

[Kyle]

Dunno. Maybe it was just an easy case.

 

1. My wife and I have been married for over three years.

 

2. Jingjing has visited the United States three different times (B-2) visitor's visa.

 

3. I've lived in China for about six years.

 

We also turned in a lot of extra documents while in Beijing (when we submitted our I-130). Maybe that helped speed up the process. To be honest, who knows? Maybe we just got lucky

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=520652

Edited February 26, 2010 by Kyle (see edit history)

[Kyle]

Once you get P2, it means the petition is approved and it goes to Guangzhou.

A lot of us never receive the P2 in the mail. This is what I was referring to in my previous post. I think I called it "NOA"

 

Don't want you to get confused.

 

EDIT:

 

We emailed Beijing concerning this and they sent us a reply confirming that our case was approved and sent to Guangzhou.

Edited February 26, 2010 by Kyle (see edit history)

[Randy W]

My thought is: All the time frames have sped up; even those in the US.

 

For DCF, BJ filing has always been the fastest of the DCFs.

 

There is nothing any one can do to make it go faster, other than have good documentation that is accepted. Once you get P2, it means the petition is approved and it goes to Guangzhou. Then just need to plan for the interview and prove you have US residency and can support her immigration request. Many need to use a joint sponsor for the financial threshold issues.

 

I tend to agree with David here - that petitions are processed in an order (whether it's the order we expect or not) - and that they will all tend to follow more-or-less the same schedule, unless something kicks it out of line (and I believe that even ones kicked out of line will fall back into place if reasonable).