June Interview Group (Common Posting Thread)

[Da Niao]

Here we are in GUZ, category K-1, things are going smoothly so far, tomorrow is document turn-in day for us. I went through the whole procedure four years ago, my fiancée sailed through with pink but the marriage didn't work out. Now with a new fiancée we are trying to repeat that pink-slip success, with a red flag or two lurking in the background, but those details will come later. For now an interim report about the medical exam

 

Staying at the Yangs (again), always a good decision, but the full Yang report will come after we have left Guangzhou. The weather here was incredible the first few days, no heavy, unrelenting rains, no typical oppressive heat and humidity. We have hardly needed our umbrellas, and there have even been a few cool breezes. Thanks to the Yangs we were escorted to the new International Travellers facility for medical exams at 59 Huali Road, about a ten minute (and 15 to 20 RMB) ride from the consulate. http://goo.gl/maps/QEWJ. If we had been on our own, I would probably have gone back to Shamian Island and lost a half a day wondering what was going on.

 

The building is just another office building, with no sign of being a hospital or clinic. There is an East entrance and a West entrance (both facing the street). If you go in the west entrance you will be in some kind of government tax advisory agency, so go in the east entrance and take an elevator to the fifth floor. We got there early, before 8 AM, and my fiancée was out by 10 AM, we came back to pick up the report at 3 PM, waited about 30 minutes for that. The cost was 900 RMB and they took four photos. Other instructions and postings have said six photos and seven photos, but yesterday it was just four.

 

The waiting/registration room was peaceful when we got there, with one clerk barking out instructions for getting a number. She was the only one at a counter with places for several agents to process applicants. Over the next hour the room rapidly filled with people, different kinds of visas, surely all of them going to the USA (where else in the world do you need a physical examination to get in?). Although the P4 letter/email said to download the medical forms, it is true that they are generated at the examination registration desk. We brought a set anyway, because in this business, you never know! You do need your appointment invitation letter to take the exam, but they do not stamp it or change it in any way, they just look at it to get the name and GUZ number, so you don't have to bring the same copy of the letter to the consulate later in the week.

 

Dan Noblett's suggestion about getting all the shots there at the medical exam, instead of later at a civil surgeon in the US, is very sensible; however we had reasons which I cannot state here (yet) for postponing her shots until later.

 

By nine o'clock the place is really a madhouse, there are five registrars, a calculating-the-cost cashier and a take-the-money cashier. I could hardly hear the numbers being called (they have illuminated signs showing the next number, but most of them were not working), but my fiancée could hear them. After she registered, she went to a desk at the far right of the room where they gave her a slip to take to the money cashier, who was the last position on the right of the long registration desk. Then she went into a room where she put her purse and upper clothing into a locker and put on a pink gown which identified her as a testee. There were not nearly enough chairs for everyone to sit down, so I went downstairs to find a coffee shop. There is nothing in the building, but at the corner there is a Starbucks, also a few other places to sit and get a bite to eat. By mistake, I ended up with both of our cell phones, so she was unable to call me when she was finished. Since it went so fast, I wasn't expecting her when she came out looking for me, and we lost time finding each other. At ten AM the place was incredibly full and noisy.

 

When we came back to pick up the report at 3, things had calmed down, leading us to suspect that if one arrived for the test in the afternoon (but not later than 2), the whole procedure might be somewhat calmer, because the big mob had come earlier.

 

As I was leaving at 8:30 to go find a place to wait, a man came up to me with a handful of forms and said he needed help. He was a Chinese man, naturalized American citizen and living in the USA for over 20 years. His fiancée was taking the medical exam, her interview will be Friday and they are both divorcees hoping for new happiness together in the land of the round doorknobs. He had been to an immigration lawyer in the USA for advice. Here he stood, with all the forms in his hand. He hadn't started to fill them out yet. They were forms dated 2006, 2009, the old 157, and so forth. I told him I couldn't possibly help him fill out his forms in an hour or two, when it had taken me weeks to prepare my fiancée's packet. But we sat down and plunged into the GNI-2 anyway, just to get him started. I told him he should download new forms (did his lawyer give him those old ones from his archives?), and then I saw his 134, where he had listed his annual income as $10,000. I didn't have the heart to tell him what I really thought of his chances, but I told him that the ten grand did not look so good with no co-sponsor. I wonder who his lawyer was. Well, in Guangzhou, you never know. Maybe she will get pink and my fiancée will be singing the blues in spite of our weeks of preparation.

 

I hope to be able to update this report after the interview, but, pink or blue, we are whirling off to Hong Kong for the weekend. Someday this fall I hope to post a blog with all of my experiences at the US Consulates in China from 2004 to 2012, with three fiancées and some unbelievable consular officers. But being a little superstitious, I won't put anything in writing until my current fiancée has her feet firmly planted on American soil.

[tsap seui]

Here we are in GUZ, category K-1, things are going smoothly so far, tomorrow is document turn-in day for us. I went through the whole procedure four years ago, my fiancée sailed through with pink but the marriage didn't work out. Now with a new fiancée we are trying to repeat that pink-slip success, with a red flag or two lurking in the background, but those details will come later. For now an interim report about the medical exam

 

Staying at the Yangs (again), always a good decision, but the full Yang report will come after we have left Guangzhou. The weather here was incredible the first few days, no heavy, unrelenting rains, no typical oppressive heat and humidity. We have hardly needed our umbrellas, and there have even been a few cool breezes. Thanks to the Yangs we were escorted to the new International Travellers facility for medical exams at 59 Huali Road, about a ten minute (and 15 to 20 RMB) ride from the consulate. http://goo.gl/maps/QEWJ. If we had been on our own, I would probably have gone back to Shamian Island and lost a half a day wondering what was going on.

 

The building is just another office building, with no sign of being a hospital or clinic. There is an East entrance and a West entrance (both facing the street). If you go in the west entrance you will be in some kind of government tax advisory agency, so go in the east entrance and take an elevator to the fifth floor. We got there early, before 8 AM, and my fiancée was out by 10 AM, we came back to pick up the report at 3 PM, waited about 30 minutes for that. The cost was 900 RMB and they took four photos. Other instructions and postings have said six photos and seven photos, but yesterday it was just four.

 

The waiting/registration room was peaceful when we got there, with one clerk barking out instructions for getting a number. She was the only one at a counter with places for several agents to process applicants. Over the next hour the room rapidly filled with people, different kinds of visas, surely all of them going to the USA (where else in the world do you need a physical examination to get in?). Although the P4 letter/email said to download the medical forms, it is true that they are generated at the examination registration desk. We brought a set anyway, because in this business, you never know! You do need your appointment invitation letter to take the exam, but they do not stamp it or change it in any way, they just look at it to get the name and GUZ number, so you don't have to bring the same copy of the letter to the consulate later in the week.

 

Dan Noblett's suggestion about getting all the shots there at the medical exam, instead of later at a civil surgeon in the US, is very sensible; however we had reasons which I cannot state here (yet) for postponing her shots until later.

 

By nine o'clock the place is really a madhouse, there are five registrars, a calculating-the-cost cashier and a take-the-money cashier. I could hardly hear the numbers being called (they have illuminated signs showing the next number, but most of them were not working), but my fiancée could hear them. After she registered, she went to a desk at the far right of the room where they gave her a slip to take to the money cashier, who was the last position on the right of the long registration desk. Then she went into a room where she put her purse and upper clothing into a locker and put on a pink gown which identified her as a testee. There were not nearly enough chairs for everyone to sit down, so I went downstairs to find a coffee shop. There is nothing in the building, but at the corner there is a Starbucks, also a few other places to sit and get a bite to eat. By mistake, I ended up with both of our cell phones, so she was unable to call me when she was finished. Since it went so fast, I wasn't expecting her when she came out looking for me, and we lost time finding each other. At ten AM the place was incredibly full and noisy.

 

When we came back to pick up the report at 3, things had calmed down, leading us to suspect that if one arrived for the test in the afternoon (but not later than 2), the whole procedure might be somewhat calmer, because the big mob had come earlier.

 

As I was leaving at 8:30 to go find a place to wait, a man came up to me with a handful of forms and said he needed help. He was a Chinese man, naturalized American citizen and living in the USA for over 20 years. His fiancée was taking the medical exam, her interview will be Friday and they are both divorcees hoping for new happiness together in the land of the round doorknobs. He had been to an immigration lawyer in the USA for advice. Here he stood, with all the forms in his hand. He hadn't started to fill them out yet. They were forms dated 2006, 2009, the old 157, and so forth. I told him I couldn't possibly help him fill out his forms in an hour or two, when it had taken me weeks to prepare my fiancée's packet. But we sat down and plunged into the GNI-2 anyway, just to get him started. I told him he should download new forms (did his lawyer give him those old ones from his archives?), and then I saw his 134, where he had listed his annual income as $10,000. I didn't have the heart to tell him what I really thought of his chances, but I told him that the ten grand did not look so good with no co-sponsor. I wonder who his lawyer was. Well, in Guangzhou, you never know. Maybe she will get pink and my fiancée will be singing the blues in spite of our weeks of preparation.

 

I hope to be able to update this report after the interview, but, pink or blue, we are whirling off to Hong Kong for the weekend. Someday this fall I hope to post a blog with all of my experiences at the US Consulates in China from 2004 to 2012, with three fiancées and some unbelievable consular officers. But being a little superstitious, I won't put anything in writing until my current fiancée has her feet firmly planted on American soil.

 

Best wishes on the lucky ducky draw they call an interview. Hope it works out.

 

tsa pseui

[lilacblues]

She's not in Guangzhou, though she lives only an hour or two by bus from the city. She got back in time for work after her interview.

 

Was reading through the posts about the before and after interview processes. Now I have a silly question to ask. For a non-Chinese citizen (like me) who flies in from Shanghai, does that mean I have to wait till I receive my passport before I can leave Guangzhou? As far as I know, passports are required for airport check-ins.

 

I realized that people normally spend a few days before and after the interview get things done (medical check-up, document submission, interview day, etc.).

My imagination up till now was that I would fly in from Shanghai for the interview 2 days before, then leave right after the interview as I have to get back to work and I will wait for the return of my passport via EMS. But now thinking of it, this doesn't seem to work out.

 

Any comments?

[dnoblett]

That is an interesting dilemma, I know in the USA passport would not be needed when flying domestic, only a photo ID such as State ID or Green-Card, same in China, a Chinese citizen would use their national ID card to board the flight. Your situation is different, not sure what other ID would acceptable for boarding a domestic flight in China other than a national ID or Passport.

 

You may be right and have to hang around Guangzhou a few days after the interview for it to arrive at the near by China Post Office.

 

Only thing I can find from an initial search:

 

Q: Which types of identification documents shall be presented during check-in?

 

A:Air passengers must show a passport, any necessary visas and other valid travel documents. Please be sure that these documents are carried with you and not packed in your checked baggage.

 

Important note: Identification documents No., e.g., passport number and ID number must be the same as the No. you offered in the booking information. and Please make sure the first and last name match the name(s) as stated on the valid identification document which will be presented during check-in.

 

 

http://www.chinatraveldesigner.com/faq/domestic-flights.htm#q14

[dnoblett]

We know the outcome of Bobber's fiancee interview, and she is flying to SFO today acording to Bobber205.

 

I am unpinning this thread today.

 

Any last remarks?