From DCF to GZ Blue: Our story

[m1chu]

 

In my wife’s pack today were:

• Appointment receipt, instruction letter (sent via email and printed), and sheet for paying her fee.
• DS-230 (listed in the P4 materials, but they didn’t want it)
• Her passport and my passport and photocopies of both (they didn’t look at my passport)
• Two visa photos of herself (they didn’t want them)
• Certified copy of her birth certificate
• Certified copy of our marriage certificate
• Police certificate
  • Note that even though she has lived in the Beijing for the last 4.5 years we didn’t get this done in Beijing. Instead, it was done in her hometown (where her hukou is). They accepted this without complaint…so you may not need (or be able) to get one from each city your spouse has lived in for 6+ months.

    This (and the birth certificate) look nothing like its counterpart in the States, so don't be freaked out when/if your spouse comes home with nothing but a letter.

• Medical exam results
  • Five things: X-rays (didn’t look at them), the big brown envelope that we can’t open, two books for shot records (they didn’t keep them), and another paper about vaccinations. They only kept the brown envelope.
• Evidence of Support
  • I turned in an I-864 with my last two tax returns (didn’t file three years ago b/c I was a student and didn’t make enough money to file – I wrote an explanatory statement). I am employed in China by a Chinese company, so even though I earn more than 125% of the poverty line I took the advice of folks on the forum and (a) included evidence of savings and (b) got a co-sponsor since my employment is in China. Even though I turned in bank records showing $50k+ in savings, they still wanted the cosponsor’s I-864…go figure.
• Evidence of Relationship
  • The CO had the photos from the DCF in Beijing and didn’t want any of the others my wife had brought. (Just as well; the ones she took with her today were picked from the stack the CO in Beijing didn’t want.)
• Resume (Chinese & English version on separate papers)
• CPC statements from her and from me.
  • We really appreciated the information on the site about CCP issues. I printed the Word document and my wife read through it before writing her own letter.
• Evidence of domicile: my expired and current drivers licenses (I renewed while in China), latest AmEx bill with US address on it.
• Her China Merchant’s Bank credit card (Dual currency card, she used it to pay the filing fee in USD.)

 

 

Thanks so much for your detailed description of what to bring. I'm filing DCF for my Chinese husband and we've reached the interview stage. One question I have is, we submitted our translated and notarized marriage certificates (the white books) with our I-130 filing in Beijing. Guangzhou should have those marriage certificates already from the first round of documents, right? It was expensive to get them notarized, so I want to make sure we don't need to bring another copy of each marriage certificate to Guangzhou and that the originals are okay.

[lhp]

I'm not sure, maybe a member who has DCF'd more recently could answer that. I would guess that they will, but hopefully someone else can confirm.

 

When we did our DCF we brought the original notorial marriage certificate along with photocopies. They checked the original to the photocopies and gave the original back to us. My wife then took it along with her to the interview.

 

Best wishes for your husband's interview!

[lhp]

No good news yet. Called my senator's office today after not having heard anything from them since contacting them in September about our case. Hoping to wake up to a reply email from them tomorrow…glad I haven't had to pay taxes the past five years.

Edited December 10, 2013 by lhp (see edit history)

[lhp]

Seven months since the interview and still no visa. My wife got two updates on her file the end of December, getting our hopes up, but no movement since.

 

In the QQ group I mentioned above, people who have gone through AP and have gotten their visas have noticed that they have annotations on their visa like:

Quote

Annotation **

Clearance received on November 20, 2013.

 

In general, these folks have gotten their visas shortly after the 'clearance date' noted on the visa. I guess this means that the current backlog is happening at the name checks, not in GZ.

Called my senator's office and was told that GZ still hasn't responded to their request for information sent back in October…

Edited January 26, 2014 by lhp (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

For a long time now I have watched, and hoped for good news on your case, buddy. It looks as if the worm is turning for you guys. May it all end happily, soon, and successfully for you now.

 

You've been through quite a long wait with the typical no news that comes out of Guangzhou from the jackals that work there, and you've seen as I had to learn, they don't really care about congressional inquiries into your case, often you get the same, and more information yourself than they hand out to your congressman's liaison. Heck, I even had gotten to know personally a two or three congressman from California who told his well connected liaison to help me every way she could. She got no farther than I could, even when she pulled in favors from her DOS contacts. The State Department treats our cases like they were top secret military cases.

 

Good luck with this. I well understand the hell you guys have been through with the wait. Maybe this will end soon and you can get on with your lives.

 

tsap seui

[lhp]

Thanks, pal. We haven't come close to waiting as long as you had to…it should be over soon, just a matter of being patient.

 

Hopefully the next post in this thread will be good news and not another 'monthly update'.

[tsap seui]

I look forward to your success, man. The wait, is just the wait. I know how it affects folks that are forced to go through this and have no answers given to them.

 

When I read of your good news I will be the "3rd" happiest person you know. You and your wife have been through hell, you both deserve happiness and a great life.

 

Good luck

 

tsap seui

[lhp]

Saturday will mark eleven months of waiting. From what we've heard from the QQ group, people who interviewed after my wife have finished AP and gotten their visas. There are some other folks from around the same time who haven't, so it seems that GZ is doing things out of order.

 

is all I have to say about it.

Edited May 20, 2014 by lhp (see edit history)

[scovitz]

lhp,

 

You are exactly correct. I don't believe they are processing folks in a random order or necessarily out of order. I believe what is happening is that the consulate is severely understaffed and likely has a very manual process for these investigations. As a result, different aspects of various investigations take longer than others depending on where your fiancee is from, who they need to speak with, etc. Of course, this is mostly conjecture since the consulate offers less than zero transparency into any aspect of this process. I believe this is done not to "tip off" investigations but leaves folks like us severely in the dark.

 

I have done some poking around and from what I can tell things are moving. People who have been on administrative processing are issued visas every week at a steady rate. I don't have the full estimated numbers yet but I am working on something.

 

In the meantime, I am curious if anyone has considered or actually tried to file a Mandamus claim in a U.S. District Court against the consulate. What this does is force the government (or the district court judge) to make a decision based on the information they have today. This can end the waiting period for certain, but I am curious if anyone has tried it and what was the outcome of such a legal proceeding.

 

-scovitz

[Randy W]

yes - the "investigation" is usually handed off, with only the outcome passed back to the consulate. The decision simply awaits the final report, at which point the visa can be processed. Some investigations simply take longer than others.

 

This appears to be a good paper on the subject of consular non-reviewability, although i didn't read very much of it (I've read others on the same topic). Yes, it has been challenged in court, but the outcome has not been favorable. the consular officials have broad authority in their handling of visa applications.

 

Challenging the Doctrine of Consular Non-Reviewability in Immigration Cases

 

The doctrine of consular nonreviewability has been followed overwhelmingly by
most courts in the United States. Indeed, some courts even go so far as to state that “the
doctrine of nonreviewability of consular officers’ visa determinations is essentially
without exception.”8 In 1996, the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA),9 which was interpreted by some courts to
preclude non-governmental entities from bringing lawsuits challenging consular
actions,10 further strengthened the stranglehold on alien rights at United States embassies.

 

Edited May 21, 2014 by Randy W (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

Yep, broad authority....and NO oversight. Most of the "authority" is based on conjecture, speculation, and who woke up on the right or wrong side of the bed that morning.

 

Some are lucky, some aren't. But ya keep fighting the bastards, you'll get your visa, and the State Department forever out of interfering in your bona fide relationship. Just takes time.

 

tsap seui

[lhp]

Thanks, guys…I just needed to let off a little steam.

 

I'd be curious to keep track of the clearance dates (as mentioned above) on those visas that are being issued. From the QQ group it seems that people with the same clearance date are getting the visas issued at different times…which makes me think that there is a big pile of visas that have come back from the States and are just waiting to be processed. They've also noticed that it seems like visas are being processed/issued in groups, with each group containing one of each type of visa (K1, IR-1).

 

I've seen some immigration lawyers say that they make a federal case out of this, forcing action. I have mixed feelings about doing that.

[lhp]

We received an email today calling my wife back in for another interview. She was told to bring her passport, a new medical report, a valid police report, and two recent photos. We also have to fill out a DS-260, which wasn't a requirement when she had her interview way back in 2013. Another couple who have also been waiting for AP since last year got the same email a week or so ago.

 

The interview is at the end of October (in the afternoon, not the morning), 16 months after her original interview. Hoping that she'll leave this interview with good news, but we'll see.

Edited October 10, 2014 by lhp (see edit history)

[Randy W]

We received an email today calling my wife back in for another interview. She was told to bring her passport, a new medical report, a valid police report, and two recent photos. We also have to fill out a DS-260, which wasn't a requirement when she had her interview way back in 2013. Another couple who have also been waiting for AP since last year got the same email a week or so ago.

 

The interview is at the end of October (in the afternoon, not the morning), 16 months after her original interview. Hoping that she'll leave this interview with good news, but we'll see.

 

 

Generally, when they ask for a passport, it's so that they can put a visa in it. So yes, it's good news, although you won't know for sure until they KEEP the passport.

 

Possibly a little bit premature, but - Congratulations!

[tsap seui]

Man oh man, that is some of the best news I've heard in a long time, IHP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please let us know when she gets her visa. It's been one helluva long wait for you guys.

 

I may just rent out Billy Bob's Roadkill Cafe and have a party for you guys.

 

I'm really happy to hear this news.

 

tsap seui