How long until visa arrives?

[shaza]

Hello, we dropped off the passport and photos to the citic bank 10 days ago. On the status it states "still in post" on the website.

 

For anyone who mailed in their passport, how long did it take for the visa packet/passport to come back?

 

 

I'm worried because I'm leaving to US on July 24, and I want my fiancé to go with me

[RobertH]

The more you want it the longer it seems to take. took 3 weeks for ours. If she cant come with you it's ok I know your all excited for her to come with you but her coming later by a few weeks could be a good thing. It will give her time to make sure her China life is wrapped up with out feeling rushed and will give you time to go threw your porn collection one last time before Hiding..... errrr... throwing it out. . You can get the house ready for her.

 

If she can't come with you bring allot of the things she will need back with you. Oh on a note of things she will need, if you wife is roughly the same size as mine ( they all seem to be) 5 foot 3 inches and 105 pounds it would be smart to buy ALLOT of underwear and Bra's to bring back, The cut and sizes of the ones in the USA never fit well even the XS ones seen loose in odd spot where as the Chinese ones my wife brought or has her friends bring back for her seem to show off the Tiny Hiney very well.

 

Also a good Wok is hard to find here, in the USA all the woks come with no stick coating that my wife hates so last time we were in Chine she dug a old wok out of a closet at her god mothers house and we brought it back. Hmmm what else, stock up on 5-6 tubes of Chinese toothpaste, just asked my wife and she said Bamboo sleeping mat to put on the bed, Man I love those things in the summer you sleep so much cooler. Anyhoo sorry to ramble Congrats on the Visa and get rdy for a wild ride.

 

Robert

[RobertH]

Oh and on the underwear and Bra's I mean ALLOT like 40-50 pairs or more. She can give them to her new Chinese friends I know my wife dose. It's funny when ever one of them goes back to China they have a huge shopping list from all the other women, Underwear, medicine, spices you name it we brought back a virtual trading post of goods that my wife divided up in the individual order and wrote prices on so the ladies could pay for there goods.

[shaza]

Well, we got a reply from the embassy today. They said they didn't receive our documents at all. It's been 12 days since we dropped them at Citic Bank.

 

Citic bank system is just weird, we had a run around to 3 banks because they refused to take our documents to submit. My fiance, he is a Pakistani national. The stupid bank officials said they only can send Chinese passports to the embassy, even though we had a letter. They said "we don't know about foreigners" and sent us away.

 

We are foreign students studying in China, we've lived here for the last 4 years.

 

So the Citic Bank took our documents and we will check tomorrow if they even sent them, or found some new problem to make them sit there. I'm so stressed out. We have plane tickets on July 24th, I have a one-year old infant and if my fiance doesn't get this on time (which I think will happen) I am stuck making a 24hr journey all alone with my baby.

 

I am unsure on how long this will take, because Citic Bank method for submitting passport is longer than EMS... And as foreign students without our passports we can't do stuff in the bank, registration, no traveling (by train or air), and so many other things...

[shaza]

July 19, 2013 - There is no status update available for the passport number submitted

 

I dont know what this means, I tried to contact them and ask. The operator said she has information about the passport because our case was old, which didn't make sense at all.

 

I doubt seriously we can make our ticket. On CEAS it still says "administrative processing". We were under AP for 7 months, now they say send in passport. Now they hold on to it. We aren't Chinese nationals, all our documents, registrations, banking depends on passport identification.

 

sigh...

[Randy W]

July 19, 2013 - There is no status update available for the passport number submitted

 

I dont know what this means, I tried to contact them and ask. The operator said she has information about the passport because our case was old, which didn't make sense at all.

 

I doubt seriously we can make our ticket. On CEAS it still says "administrative processing". We were under AP for 7 months, now they say send in passport. Now they hold on to it. We aren't Chinese nationals, all our documents, registrations, banking depends on passport identification.

 

sigh...

 

A VERY sad side-effect of the new processing through the CITIC bank system

 

The consulate is closed this week, and will re-open on Tuesday at their new location.

 

In the meantime, you might talk to the PSB about getting travel documentation or anything else you might need.

[shaza]

Well on July 26, they stated they didn't receive the documents (with the passport). Operator stated that no one has opened the mail . Which is weird to me since they have passport tracking as of July 11.

What is PSB?

[Randy W]

Well on July 26, they stated they didn't receive the documents (with the passport). Operator stated that no one has opened the mail . Which is weird to me since they have passport tracking as of July 11.

 

What is PSB?

 

The consulate operations were pretty well shut down around the 10th for the move. They are open for interviews this week, fully open next week.

 

PSB is Public Security Bureau (China). The Entry and Exit Administration folks MAY be able to help you with documentation in lieu of a passport (travel documents, etc.)

[shaza]

Oh really? Well then I guess I don't feel too bad. I just hope they don't say they have the documents, I'm really worried...

PSB? What other travel documents do I need besides a passport with visa?

[Randy W]

Oh really? Well then I guess I don't feel too bad. I just hope they don't say they have the documents, I'm really worried...

 

PSB? What other travel documents do I need besides a passport with visa?

 

Oh really? Well then I guess I don't feel too bad. I just hope they don't say they have the documents, I'm really worried...

 

PSB? What other travel documents do I need besides a passport with visa?

 

 

Nothing - you had said that you had dropped it off at the CITIC bank. You're good to go with the passport.

[shaza]

July 30 - now claim they have the passport and its in final processing. It's almost end of week #5

[shaza]

August 6 - passport still not able to be tracked.

Ceas status - administrative processing.

 

I've about given up on this embassy. No information at all. They put us in AP before for 7 months. im scared they will take their sweet time with us and prolong it for another month. That's how our luck is anyways.

[jrhone]

HI Shaza,

 

Any news on your visa? We are in a similiar situation. I am US citizen, my wife is Thai and we have lived in Shanghai for 5 yrs. My wife had her interview on July 10 and was issued visa acceptance. We shipped the passport back to the consulate and it arrived on July 12. Since then it has been in "Administrative Processing". We have not been asked to submit any documents or anything.

 

We have to leave Shanghai end of August so we are a little worried about the timeline. Is this normal?

 

 

[shaza]

Well on aug 09 - our status changed to "issued" on ceas website. We actually contacted the congressman who did an inquiry. They replied and told them more info than what they told us - that it was in final processing and should be sent in next few days. Then 2 days later it changed to issued.

 

Today aug 10 - passport status changed to "Passport has been received from the consular section, and is currently being processed for delivery"

 

One thing I noticed was that when the embassy received the passport it was July 11 and that was the last administrative processing update until July 29 where the AP message showed the same but the update changed almost everyday.

 

As for timeline I think we had a hard case anyways since we are foreigners and the embassy shut down in the middle of it. Which is also your case As well. If you are really worried contact your congressman - they get better precise answers from the inquiry than we can. And if your flight is in end of aug do it Now because it takes more than a week for them to get back either way. I really think that was the only thing that got us out of AP.

Edited August 12, 2013 by shaza (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Well on aug 09 - our status changed to "issued" on ceas website. We actually contacted the congressman who did an inquiry. They replied and told them more info than what they told us - that it was in final processing and should be sent in next few days. Then 2 days later it changed to issued.

 

Today aug 10 - passport status changed to "Passport has been received from the consular section, and is currently being processed for delivery"

 

One thing I noticed was that when the embassy received the passport it was July 11 and that was the last administrative processing update until July 29 where the AP message showed the same but the update changed almost everyday.

 

As for timeline I think we had a hard case anyways since we are foreigners and the embassy shut down in the middle of it. Which is also your case As well. If you are really worried contact your congressman - they get better precise answers from the inquiry than we can. And if your flight is in end of aug do it Now because it takes more than a week for them to get back either way. I really think that was the only thing that got us out of AP.

This was exactly to the day the period announced for the GUZ shutdown, so I think there may have been a more general behind-the scenes shutdown, as well, aside from just the period when the visa windows were shut down (July 15 through July 22).

 

Thanks for sharing the information.