From DCF to GZ Blue: Our story

[dnoblett]

16 Months! If you were shortly married before filing the petition, I guess that wait certainly changes it from CR-1 to an IR-1 visa.

[lhp]

Thanks guys, we're keeping out fingers crossed. Just finished filling out the DS-260, and have an appointment for the physical.

 

We celebrated our third anniversary last week. The original plan was to enter in October of last year, just after the second anniversary. Ha, ha, ha.

[lhp]

Physical in Shanghai done. I've got to make a trip to Shanghai this week to pick up the results.

 

The Canton Trade Fair is going on at the same time as my wife's interview, so hotels in GZ are expensive. We're going to stay out by the airport…the better to catch our 8 am flight back home. Got a pretty good rate via Booking.com.

 

In other news, there's a Dengue fever outbreak in Guangzhou. So the sites of GZ might be a little different than usual:

http://www.thenanfang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/fumigation-gz-dengue-fever-02.jpg

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

[lhp]

My wife had her second interview today and was approved. Her first interview was in late June, 2013. That's 492 days (16+ months), for those of you keeping score at home.

 

My wife's first interview was at the old GZ consulate. The new one is even easier to get to. Take exit B1 from Pearl River New Town stop. The Consulate is literally across the street.

 

If you're looking for a place to grab a bite beforehand, or a cafe to wait in while your own SO is in the consulate, turn right out of exit B1 and walk a block. There are a number of cafes and restaurants.

 

Glad this whole experience is coming to an end, and glad to have some good news to share.

[Randy W]

My wife had her second interview today and was approved. Her first interview was in late June, 2013. That's 492 days (16+ months), for those of you keeping score at home.

 

My wife's first interview was at the old GZ consulate. The new one is even easier to get to. Take exit B1 from Pearl River New Town stop. The Consulate is literally across the street.

 

If you're looking for a place to grab a bite beforehand, or a cafe to wait in while your own SO is in the consulate, turn right out of exit B1 and walk a block. There are a number of cafes and restaurants.

 

Glad this whole experience is coming to an end, and glad to have some good news to share.

 

Amazing! Wow! And awful that they would put you through that

 

but, Congratulations!

 

Congratulations !!

[tsap seui]

WOW!!!! I've been waiting a long time for your good news. This is GREAT!!!!! SOme of us they put through the ringer, but they can't break our spirit. I'm very happy for you both, IHP.

 

tsap seui

[Mick]

That is such fantastic news! I have been wondering how your case was progressing and so happy to hear the positive results. :greenblob: :greenblob: :greenblob:

[dan1984]

Glad to hear!!! Congrats!!

:victory: :victory:

[lhp]

Thanks, everybody. It's a huge relief. I've really appreciated all the support here, thanks for listening!

[lhp]

Finally, the update we've been waiting for:

 

Pretty quick visa issuance, just two days after the interview. I guess the figured we've waited long enough.

 

Just for fun, here's a picture of the crowd outside the Consulate on Tuesday. Folks were pretty upset, apparently there had been a snafu with tourist visa interviews in the morning, and these folks hadn't been able to go in as scheduled. The guards were nice about letting my wife go in for her appointment, she didn't have to wait in the crowd.

 

[lhp]

And now the status has gone back to Administrative Processing!!!

[lhp]

Passport (with visa) arrived at the bank this morning. Turns out our status went from Issued to AP to Issued because the first visa they printed for her was CR1. That visa was cancelled (the stamp says "Cancelled Without Prejudice"), and an IR1 visa was stuck on the next page. Issue date was the 5th, and we weren't able to track it in the CG Stanley system until the day before yesterday.

 

The "Immigrant Data Summary" sheet in the package has some incorrect information on it, so I'll be emailing GZ about it. Hopefully that won't be a big deal. I double-checked it against the forms we filled out, and the incorrect info isn't anything we submitted.

[lhp]

We entered on the 24th. POE in Seattle was very friendly, and since our flight got in early in the morning there were no immigration cases in front of us. It took no more than thirty minutes to go through passport control and immigration. Pretty good!

 

There was no problem changing incorrect info on the Immigrant Data Summary sheet. We had written out corrections ahead of time and gave them to the officer.

 

It was a great experience.

 

This morning we're going to the SSA office to get my wife's SSN early. Hoping for a similarly fast and positive experience there!

[Randy W]

We entered on the 24th. POE in Seattle was very friendly, and since our flight got in early in the morning there were no immigration cases in front of us. It took no more than thirty minutes to go through passport control and immigration. Pretty good!

 

There was no problem changing incorrect info on the Immigrant Data Summary sheet. We had written out corrections ahead of time and gave them to the officer.

 

It was a great experience.

 

This morning we're going to the SSA office to get my wife's SSN early. Hoping for a similarly fast and positive experience there!

 

Don't be surprised though, if she isn't yet in the SS computers. She will not be isuued a number until they are updated from the DHS.

[tsap seui]

The SSA workers have to go find the immigration info on the DHS's computer website. Sometimes the DHS workers take a few days to enter the immigrant's info into their computer, its not like the DHS worker clears you at the airport and immediately enters your info into their main DHS computer system. If they are slow entering the info, the SSA worker on your case won't be able to find your wife in the DHS system. That happened to us. Fortunately, our SSA worker was very nice and she kept checking the DHS site daily until the DHS posted my wife and son's info, then the SSA worker made up SS numbers and cards and sent them to us at home.

 

IHP, it is probably a moot point at this time but when you go into the SSA office you will most likely have to ask for a person familiar with immigration issues, and who can get onto the DHS site...not all of the workers at a local SSA office are trained in that area. It took us half an hour or so to wait for a worker who knew what to do, and how to go about it. The typical teller at the windows aren't usually trained on immigration issues for SS cards.

 

Glad to see you guys finally make it here.

 

tsap seui