Interview Day is Here

[Lee VD]

After nearly 2 years of anticipation, the interview day is here. She flew to Guangzhou from Shanghai yesterday and will interview tomorrow morning. She checked into the hotel and did a trial walk down to the building to make sure she knew where she was going. One thing I thought about that could be trouble is that she needs her passport to check in for her flight (I had put her passport ID# in her reservation when I booked it in the states and it has her pinyin name on the record). However, if she gets pink, she will need to turn in her passport and she will have them mail it back to her so she will not have it when she checks in for her return flight! So she checked on this and she said that she will be able to check in with a photocopy of her passport and her original national ID (which has her name in Chinese characters) that will establish linkage to her reservation (which has passport # only on it). Odd complication!

 

For reasons you can read in my previous numerous posts, getting pink is highly unlikely for us at this time, but we can always hope. Based on what has happened in other consulates in other countries according to VJ, its within the realm of possibility but the strictness of GUZ makes it very unlikely, but we are happy in knowing that at least we will have more information that can allows us to plan around.

[screamneagle]

Good luck with the interview! I hope you get your "pink" in spite of everything. We are still waiting for our interview date. Don't have much left in the way of finger nails though. Think positive! I hope it all works out for you and your lady!!

[Rob and WeiLing]

After nearly 2 years of anticipation, the interview day is here. She flew to Guangzhou from Shanghai yesterday and will interview tomorrow morning. She checked into the hotel and did a trial walk down to the building to make sure she knew where she was going. One thing I thought about that could be trouble is that she needs her passport to check in for her flight (I had put her passport ID# in her reservation when I booked it in the states and it has her pinyin name on the record). However, if she gets pink, she will need to turn in her passport and she will have them mail it back to her so she will not have it when she checks in for her return flight! So she checked on this and she said that she will be able to check in with a photocopy of her passport and her original national ID (which has her name in Chinese characters) that will establish linkage to her reservation (which has passport # only on it). Odd complication!

 

For reasons you can read in my previous numerous posts, getting pink is highly unlikely for us at this time, but we can always hope. Based on what has happened in other consulates in other countries according to VJ, its within the realm of possibility but the strictness of GUZ makes it very unlikely, but we are happy in knowing that at least we will have more information that can allows us to plan around.

 

I flew a couple domestic Chinese flights without my passport. What I used in place of it was a photocopy of my passport information page and a receipt from the Chinese Exit and Entry Bureau stating that I was still awaiting my second residence permit. Airport security was super lax and didn't give me any trouble. In fact, I went through the VIP and staff line one of the times. In short, she should be fine with passport copy and ID card.

 

Best of luck today! (CFL shows you posted yesterday... I hope I'm not too late!!)

[Lee VD]

... and the results are in!

 

Blue! As expected, but not for entirely the expected reasons. In fact, the big issue, the J1 2yr HRR was NEVER brought up! It was a serious overlook because she answered YES to the list of all the possible issues to make you ineligible including being an axe murderer and they never asked her to explain that response. Hopefully they don't see that later, we shall see.

 

The blue issues were two: One, the CCP, as expected. The VO was very surprised she had a letter ready to go, so she gave it to him to start that process. The other issues was that her single certificate for some reason only mentioned back to 2001 and they said it needs to show back to 1995 (when she was 20 years old). We are trying to figure out why the civil bureau in Shanghai only listed back that far. At first she thought maybe it was because she moved there from Zhengzhou but that was later than that date. She thinks she can get it straightened out in Shanghai and said she can get a certificate from her university that has all her personnel records as well that can say she has been single that she can bring to the civil bureau to get the certificate the consulate needs. So she hopes to get this together and sent out before she leaves to visit me in the U.S. next thursday.

 

Nothing unusual about the interview itself, all the standard questions and review really. The VO was a white man, not really in a good mood. The doc checker was a chinese guy who she found to be mean. He noticed the single certificate problem and flagged it and of course asked her if CCP, so it was all his doing

 

So we will have to try and track the CCP progress. Unfortunately I haven't seen any recent cases to go by. There was one at the end of last year but he disappeared off CFL during the wait and hasn't responded to my emails about when it got resolved. I did see someone had some success tracking it more closely with calls to DOS in the states. If they do pick up on the J1 later then she can respond with the eligibility date which is 11/9 and hopefully get a call back letter that says she can some any time after that date.

 

She will attempt US entry next week for a visit. I do think that with her solid record, a good B visa (and she asked there if it was still ok to enter on it and they said, sure...), and a copy of the blue slip showing conditional approval essentially, I don't expect trouble. I will be there at SFO just in case.

 

Another thing... is it possible in any way when she gets the call back letter to mail in her passport since she is a mail-back eligible city? I haven't seen anyone here on CFL get a blue and do the mail-back to their home city. With the new mail back option you would hope that you should be able to mail IN! Are there services where you can mail it to them and they can bring it in (like getting a Chinese visa in the U.S.?). It would be nice if she doesn't have to fly down to GUZ just to hand over the passport!

 

Now she is just dealing with the flight delays and madhouse at the Guangzhou airport trying to get home...

Edited July 21, 2010 by Lee VD (see edit history)

[Rob and WeiLing]

... and the results are in!

 

Blue! As expected, but not for entirely the expected reasons. In fact, the big issue, the J1 2yr HRR was NEVER brought up! It was a serious overlook because she answered YES to the list of all the possible issues to make you ineligible including being an axe murderer and they never asked her to explain that response. Hopefully they don't see that later, we shall see.

 

The blue issues were two: One, the CCP, as expected. The VO was very surprised she had a letter ready to go, so she gave it to him to start that process. The other issues was that her single certificate for some reason only mentioned back to 2001 and they said it needs to show back to 1995 (when she was 20 years old). We are trying to figure out why the civil bureau in Shanghai only listed back that far. At first she thought maybe it was because she moved there from Zhengzhou but that was later than that date. She thinks she can get it straightened out in Shanghai and said she can get a certificate from her university that has all her personnel records as well that can say she has been single that she can bring to the civil bureau to get the certificate the consulate needs. So she hopes to get this together and sent out before she leaves to visit me in the U.S. next thursday.

 

Nothing unusual about the interview itself, all the standard questions and review really. The VO was a white man, not really in a good mood. The doc checker was a chinese guy who she found to be mean. He noticed the single certificate problem and flagged it and of course asked her if CCP, so it was all his doing

 

So we will have to try and track the CCP progress. Unfortunately I haven't seen any recent cases to go by. There was one at the end of last year but he disappeared off CFL during the wait and hasn't responded to my emails about when it got resolved. I did see someone had some success tracking it more closely with calls to DOS in the states. If they do pick up on the J1 later then she can respond with the eligibility date which is 11/9 and hopefully get a call back letter that says she can some any time after that date.

 

She will attempt US entry next week for a visit. I do think that with her solid record, a good B visa (and she asked there if it was still ok to enter on it and they said, sure...), and a copy of the blue slip showing conditional approval essentially, I don't expect trouble. I will be there at SFO just in case.

 

Another thing... is it possible in any way when she gets the call back letter to mail in her passport since she is a mail-back eligible city? I haven't seen anyone here on CFL get a blue and do the mail-back to their home city. With the new mail back option you would hope that you should be able to mail IN! Are there services where you can mail it to them and they can bring it in (like getting a Chinese visa in the U.S.?). It would be nice if she doesn't have to fly down to GUZ just to hand over the passport!

 

Now she is just dealing with the flight delays and madhouse at the Guangzhou airport trying to get home...

 

I doubt that she'll be able to mail in. WeiLing had her visa delivered to her sister in Shanghai and they required her to fill out most of the EMS label herself--including the sender's signature. That said: It wouldn't hurt to ask the consulate, and you might find out something useful.

Edited July 21, 2010 by Rob and WeiLing (see edit history)

[Lee VD]

Another thing about CCP. He never mentioned anything about a check being done and delay but I assume that is the case. He saw the "CCP" on the form and said "I see you are a CCP member, unfortunately..." and then my fiancee cut him off and said "Oh, I have a letter here for you explaining..." and he was surprised she had it prepared and took it. The blue didn't mention CCP but of course there is nothing to send in. So I presume it will go through the check process and she will just wait... and wait.... I am hoping its more closer to 3 rather than 6 months but who knows. I will try and keep tabs with called to DOS I guess... About a month after she sends in her corrected single certificate I will call and check and see if its in that process.

[dnoblett]

Another thing about CCP. He never mentioned anything about a check being done and delay but I assume that is the case. He saw the "CCP" on the form and said "I see you are a CCP member, unfortunately..." and then my fiancee cut him off and said "Oh, I have a letter here for you explaining..." and he was surprised she had it prepared and took it. The blue didn't mention CCP but of course there is nothing to send in. So I presume it will go through the check process and she will just wait... and wait.... I am hoping its more closer to 3 rather than 6 months but who knows. I will try and keep tabs with called to DOS I guess... About a month after she sends in her corrected single certificate I will call and check and see if its in that process.

4 Months tends to be the norm.

 

Look up Mama bear and Paula's CCP overcome stories.

[Lee VD]

4 Months tends to be the norm.

 

Look up Mama bear and Paula's CCP overcome stories.

 

Yeah, problem is we don't see this here too often so the timelines may not be up to date. I forget who it was, but the most recent I saw here I think took 3 months, so maybe it is getting better, or maybe they were just lucky. I also read with someone they were able to track by calling DOS and apparently the actual check at DOS was only about 2 weeks! Its just that GUZ takes about a month to get around to sending it out , and a month or more to check and re-check and send out the call back. So the majority of the time is just the backlog of taking the next step which varies based on the load and how many people they have working on it. So the range is 3-6 months. I saw one or two people at 6 months back in 2008. I'll probably read back some more and see what the deal was.

 

One of the more recent cases was "Tom and Hongyan" but he went radio silent in January so we never got word back as to how long the check took.

After she sends in the updated single certificate, I will wait a month and call DOS and see where it stands. By then it may be with them and I will get a data point. Then call back every month to see, maybe an email to the consulate once it is back in their hands. Not that I expect it to push it along but you never know.

 

She also needs about a month to quit her job and get ready to come to the U.S., so we're hoping for a visa by November, but we can't set GUZs schedule I know... we could also get a follow up blue for the J1, but by then we may be able to just explain it away, but yet another delay. Ho hum....

Edited July 22, 2010 by Lee VD (see edit history)

[Lee VD]

Well, she was able to get a certificate from her University (employer) stating that she has been single since birth. Now she says that it is very common that you get this information from your employer since they often hold your personal records. I just think from a U.S. standpoint that's a secondary source of information and the civil bureau is primary. Her current Hukou says their records can only go back to 2001 when they converted to electronic. So, I don't know if she has to go back to her hometown or if the University is essentially her Hukou? She did her post-graduate studies there and now works there. She will take that and the civil bureau document (for 2001 to present) and get them both notarized and send in and I guess we will see what happens.

 

Anyone else do it this way successfully?

[HelloWorld08]

Well, she was able to get a certificate from her University (employer) stating that she has been single since birth. Now she says that it is very common that you get this information from your employer since they often hold your personal records. I just think from a U.S. standpoint that's a secondary source of information and the civil bureau is primary. Her current Hukou says their records can only go back to 2001 when they converted to electronic. So, I don't know if she has to go back to her hometown or if the University is essentially her Hukou? She did her post-graduate studies there and now works there. She will take that and the civil bureau document (for 2001 to present) and get them both notarized and send in and I guess we will see what happens.

 

Anyone else do it this way successfully?

 

Every Chinese family has a family book, you bring this book to this office called Gong Zheng Zhu, this is a notary office, and with the family book, they are able to generate a single certificate, this is how we did it...

[Lee VD]

Every Chinese family has a family book, you bring this book to this office called Gong Zheng Zhu, this is a notary office, and with the family book, they are able to generate a single certificate, this is how we did it...

 

Yeah I heard something like that and talked to her about it, but we aren't sure where this would be. She had to get her parents birth records and they got them from their nearest town which I guess is their Hukou. She has moved a few times so I don't know if and how her records followed her. The Shanghai could verify her back before she moved to Shanghai but only to the limit of their electronic records. She said that typically your employer maintains your "archives" she said. I don't know if she would check back to Zhengzhou where she went to college and worked for several years or back to her county seat to find such records. Her University issued a certificate saying she was single since BIRTH and the Gong Zheng Zhu notarized it, so we sent that in, in addition to the Shanghai civil bureau 2001-present letter notarized. We hope they accept it, if not, we will take it from there I guess.

[Randy W]

Yeah I heard something like that and talked to her about it, but we aren't sure where this would be. She had to get her parents birth records and they got them from their nearest town which I guess is their Hukou. She has moved a few times so I don't know if and how her records followed her. The Shanghai could verify her back before she moved to Shanghai but only to the limit of their electronic records. She said that typically your employer maintains your "archives" she said. I don't know if she would check back to Zhengzhou where she went to college and worked for several years or back to her county seat to find such records. Her University issued a certificate saying she was single since BIRTH and the Gong Zheng Zhu notarized it, so we sent that in, in addition to the Shanghai civil bureau 2001-present letter notarized. We hope they accept it, if not, we will take it from there I guess.

 

This is EXACTLY what they're looking for. The available records are determined by the Chinese authorities - the consulate accepts what they produce.

 

 

Chinese Notarial Documents - see DOS China Reciprocity Schedule

Most of the documents needed

can

be obtained from one of China's Notarial Offices (Gong Zheng Chu). All Chinese documentation to be used abroad is processed through the notary offices and issued in the form of notarial certificates. Notarial offices are located in all major Chinese cities and in rural county seats

 

The documents required are the GongZhengShu ¹«Ö¤Êé

 

Sample application for documents (your province or

hukou

may vary):

http://www.bnpo.gov.cn/upload/file/200872115331419.doc

 

http://www.bnpo.gov.cn/guide/detail1.asp

A discussion of the huji (or

hukou

»§¿Ú) system

can

be found at

Hukou

System

. Chinese residents should go to their

hukou

for all notarial documents (birth, divorce, and/or single certificate, and police records). For the police record, one obtained at the

hukou

will cover all of China.

 

A notarial document will be in the standard white notarial booklet, have an official red seal, an English translation, and an attestation to the true translation.

 

Note that police records and single certificates are valid for one year from the date of notarization. Others are valid indefinitely.

 

Marriage certification for

I-130

or

K-3

must be in the same format.

 

If ANY document is unobtainable, you should submit a statement of WHY it is unobtainable, and what effort you made to obtain it.

[Lee VD]

Thanks Randy! I also wrote a cover letter for her explaining that the University has her archival records and the notarization of that was included. I guess we are good

 

Now, on her attempted B2 entry on a K1 in process.... for the 2nd time we have had success! But this time she did get quizzed much more but was prepared... it went something like this:

 

He started off a bit grumpy and noticed the Washington state address she put down on the declaration form (my address)

IO: Where are you going today?

Her: To San Francisco and then to Seattle in a few days

IO: What is the purpose of your visit?

Her: To see my boyfriend during my summer break from the University [i instructed her to say "boyfriend" first but if they led her into asking about marriage to be honest!]

IO: Are you a student?

Her: No , I am an assistant professor there, here is a letter from my University approving my leave. [iO very surprised she had this prepared and reviewed it, she had it in english and chinese]

IO: Are you planning on getting married?

Her: Not right now!

IO: Has he filed a petition for immigration on your behalf?

Her: Yes, in October.

IO: When will you get married?

Her: Not until my K1 is approved, so I am entering on my B visa now.

IO: Good for you!

............

 

She was prepared to talk about her consulate interview and had a copy of her blue slip with her as well to try and show she was close to approval...

 

Many more questions on her plans and ultimate destination... she showed her itinerary printed by the airline and he was so observant to notice that the booking class (NY) indicated that it was a miles award ticket so it was likely obtained on her behalf so she explained that I got it for her. She wondered if it was possible she got the ticket herself on her own miles and I pointed out it was a special code that only someone with my status could book into, she would get an XY code. I guess they see alot of them so they even know the booking codes. Very clever!

 

She said the IO was very pleased that she was familiar with and following the legal process. She said it appeared that her solid record of visits over the past 2 years pleased the IO that she was going the (harder) legal route so that was a big factor in allowing entry. I pointed out to her that if she was going to go illegal she had numerous opportunities to do so but didn't and that spoke volumes.

 

Her B visa expires in September and I don't think we will attempt to renew. It may be blanket rejected since her K1 is so close. We don't really need it anyway. Our next meet up will be in Hong Kong/Shenzhen in October.

 

So she is here sleeping now after her long flight (extended 2 hours due to ground hold in Shanghai from a thunderstorm) and we will enjoy our 12 days together.

Edited July 29, 2010 by Lee VD (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Wow! VERY impressive! Congrats!

[Lee VD]

Update: Called State Dept and they just said "in additional processing"... but then I asked if they had gotten the requested document sent back and I was asked what document? I said it was an updated single certificate and they said, yeah, they got it. Then I asked if it was undergoing an SAO and she said, "its just undergoing additional processing...". So she said they didn't know anything further, but clearly they knew about the other document and its return when I queried so they know more but cannot say Oh well, just wait it out!

 

Her B visa expires in September so we will let it expire and not renew.

My Chinese visa expires in late October but I will be meeting her in Hong Kong / Shenzhen in early October. Then we will just hope for the K1 sometime after that...