Speaking with an Immigration Officer at the Consulate regarding a 221g

[diamondeve21]

Hi,

 

Has anyone appeared at the Guangzhou US Consulate in person and inquired about your spouse's immigration case? If so, how did u do so? I made an appointment for American Citizen Services but when I got there, the Chinese officer at the window turned me away in less than a minute. They said they only do passport services which are totally separate from the immigration unit. I asked to see an immigration officer but they said there is no such thing and I would have to send all inquiries by email. I read it on VJ that sometimes, American Citizens are able to obtain some useful information when they appear in person at the Consulate. I would appreciate it if someone can tell me where should I go and who should I speak with. We been waiting for this AP for 6 month.

 

Thank you very much!

Edited January 19, 2012 by diamondeve21 (see edit history)

[warpedbored]

They used to have an American citizen's hour where you could come and ask questions. I think they canceled it partly because too many people were using it just to show up on the record as having been there. They have a huge case load and it was taking up too much of their time.

[Kyle]

Hi,

 

Has anyone appeared at the Guangzhou US Consulate in person and inquired about your spouse's immigration case? If so, how did u do so? I made an appointment for American Citizen Services but when I got there, the Chinese officer at the window turned me away in less than a minute. They said they only do passport services which are totally separate from the immigration unit. I asked to see an immigration officer but they said there is no such thing and I would have to send all inquiries by email. I read it on VJ that sometimes, American Citizens are able to obtain some useful information when they appear in person at the Consulate. I would appreciate it if someone can tell me where should I go and who should I speak with. We been waiting for this AP for 6 month.

 

Thank you very much!

 

Warpedboard is right, GUZ has done away with the American Citizen's hour. Citizen services performs services such as adding pages to passport, notarizing docs, etc. Full list of services offered can be found here.

 

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

[diamondeve21]

They used to have an American citizen's hour where you could come and ask questions. I think they canceled it partly because too many people were using it just to show up on the record as having been there. They have a huge case load and it was taking up too much of their time.

 

Unfortunately, I found out about this after I got here... Since I still have till the end of the day, I thought I think I will just make one more trip up there to see if I can get lucky and run into an officer.

[dnoblett]

The only option is to call DOS Visa services, they can access the case database that is used be the consulate.

 

(202) 663-1225

 

http://travel.state.gov/visa/about/how/how_1463.html

[diamondeve21]

The only option is to call DOS Visa services, they can access the case database that is used be the consulate.

 

(202) 663-1225

 

http://travel.state....w/how_1463.html

 

Tried that too! Didn't receive much more information....

Edited January 20, 2012 by diamondeve21 (see edit history)

[smokiessky]

Call Your Senator's office they can do a inquiry about your case.

[dnoblett]

Call Your Senator's office they can do a inquiry about your case.

Yes their liason can make some inquiries into what the hold up is.

 

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

 

For example Charles Schumer of NY state: http://schumer.senate.gov/Services%20for%20New%20Yorkers/constituent_services.htm#q9

[david_dawei]

You can really only email GUZ but they are likely to simply say it is still in AP. What was the AP for? 6 months is not uncommon depending on the issue.

[Lee VD]

Amazingly enough, email has been the one method of contact that has yielded the most (although very limited) information. As we have seen time and time again here, with an AP, I don't think anyone has ever gotten more information other than it is in AP, or AP is done, you will get letter soon. I would recommend emailing once a month.

[diamondeve21]

Call Your Senator's office they can do a inquiry about your case.

 

I tried that. They told the senator the same thing. I tried every possible way you can think of.. but not much luck...

[diamondeve21]

You can really only email GUZ but they are likely to simply say it is still in AP. What was the AP for? 6 months is not uncommon depending on the issue.

 

My husband had an interview on July 11th for a missing Singapore police certificate. We submitted it on Aug 21st and our case has been in AP since then. At first, they said it was not recieved. I guess they finally viewed it after a month and it was finally posted. Since then, our case has been in AP. I really don't know what is causing the hold up either. My only guess is due to my husband's criminal background. He commited a misdemeanor when he was 18. He got into a street fight and was sentenced to probation w/no jail time. Also, he has a relatively common name so I am assuming its taking a while to do a background search.

[diamondeve21]

Amazingly enough, email has been the one method of contact that has yielded the most (although very limited) information. As we have seen time and time again here, with an AP, I don't think anyone has ever gotten more information other than it is in AP, or AP is done, you will get letter soon. I would recommend emailing once a month.

 

 

Thanks! I really hope so. I even contacted Eunice (Marc Ellis's assistant) and she said 6 month is a long time for AP. It is outside of the normal time frame.

[david_dawei]

You can really only email GUZ but they are likely to simply say it is still in AP. What was the AP for? 6 months is not uncommon depending on the issue.

 

My husband had an interview on July 11th for a missing Singapore police certificate. We submitted it on Aug 21st and our case has been in AP since then. At first, they said it was not recieved. I guess they finally viewed it after a month and it was finally posted. Since then, our case has been in AP. I really don't know what is causing the hold up either. My only guess is due to my husband's criminal background. He commited a misdemeanor when he was 18. He got into a street fight and was sentenced to probation w/no jail time. Also, he has a relatively common name so I am assuming its taking a while to do a background search.

USCs have SSN... so a common name should not be an issue.

 

Hopefully the next issue is not that they drag this out and then say you need another chinese police certificate (they expire after a year).

 

Is he of Asian descent?

[diamondeve21]

You can really only email GUZ but they are likely to simply say it is still in AP. What was the AP for? 6 months is not uncommon depending on the issue.

 

My husband had an interview on July 11th for a missing Singapore police certificate. We submitted it on Aug 21st and our case has been in AP since then. At first, they said it was not recieved. I guess they finally viewed it after a month and it was finally posted. Since then, our case has been in AP. I really don't know what is causing the hold up either. My only guess is due to my husband's criminal background. He commited a misdemeanor when he was 18. He got into a street fight and was sentenced to probation w/no jail time. Also, he has a relatively common name so I am assuming its taking a while to do a background search.

USCs have SSN... so a common name should not be an issue.

 

Hopefully the next issue is not that they drag this out and then say you need another chinese police certificate (they expire after a year).

 

Is he of Asian descent?

 

Oh no... the issue is he is Chinese and his name in China is fairly common. He doesn't have a SSN yet. I'm the USC.

Edited January 27, 2012 by diamondeve21 (see edit history)