Long term residence permit REALLY necessary for DCF?

[blue.rock]

Unluckily though, tuesday and thursday coming up are their holiday days, so the next "tuesday walkin" would be October 8,.. or I could go October 4 on friday.. but until then I'd just be in a hotel for a week being bored out of my mind.

[dnoblett]

Unluckily though, tuesday and thursday coming up are their holiday days, so the next "tuesday walkin" would be October 8,.. or I could go October 4 on friday.. but until then I'd just be in a hotel for a week being bored out of my mind.

Happened to my wife and I back in 2006 Interview was on the Monday after Spring Festival week we go there on the Thursday before hoping to do medical, and some paperwork prior to the weekend, ended up waiting til Sunday to do medical, and waiting til the end of week for the visa to arrive after interview, fairly boring time.

 

Goes with the territory.

[Andelu]

Blue Rock - When we made our appointment in mid-August it only showed appointments for the next two weeks. There might not be any appointment availablity showing because of the holiday next week. Just keep checking. Note the same appointment availaibilty applies for ACS (American Citizen Services) for those who need passport pages, renewals, etc...

 

As for walking in - I wouldn't try it on Tuesday or Thursday unless you want to get frustrated. My name was not on the list and they were not going to let me in for my appointment. Luckily I had the printed confirmation of my appointment time and insisted they check and confirm my appointment. It took 10 minutes before the security guard verified I had an appointment and let me in the building. There was an American citizen who wanted to renew his passport and he was not allowed in without an appointment - you wanna talk about being frustrated... If you want to take your chances with a walk-in I would only suggest doing so on the days listed - which is currently only Friday.

[blue.rock]

Thanks for all the help everyone. It really sucks that guangzhou is closed oct 1-3, I emailed them though and they said they'd be open Oct 4 a friday, but it seems like lthat will be a hassle, and long lines, i might just come back Oct 8 if I can get an infopass apointment (I'm checking multiple times all day long).

By the way, Andelu also congrats on being first at guangzhou! More power to ya man.

[mfpthebronze]

To answer the original question:

 

I have never had a Z-visa in the 5 years I've been living in China. I have alternating Tourist and Business visas in my passport. I e-mailed the Guangzhou consulate asking if I could direct file. They had me send them photocopies of my passport and visas, and sent a reply e-mail saying I could DCF.

 

Went into Consulate in June to begin IR1 process, and handed over passport and e-mail. The woman at the window was a little incredulous at first, but after about 1 minute, I was given the go-ahead and the petition was accepted!

 

Based on my own experience, I'd stat some dialogue with the consulate via e-mail before you go, and try to get approval of DCF that way. Good luck!

[dan1984]

I found this blog, and it seems to be a pretty good resource for China-America visa issues, on both sides of the pond.

 

Anybody ever read this before?

 

In this blog post bullet point 3, he states that a residence permit is not needed for DCF-ing:

http://lawandborder.com/uscis-beijing-filing-instructions-and-checklist-for-form-i-130-petition-for-alien-relative/

[Randy W]

I found this blog, and it seems to be a pretty good resource for China-America visa issues, on both sides of the pond.

 

Anybody ever read this before?

 

In this blog post bullet point 3, he states that a residence permit is not needed for DCF-ing:

http://lawandborder.com/uscis-beijing-filing-instructions-and-checklist-for-form-i-130-petition-for-alien-relative/

 

 

It's always interesting when a lawyer tells you his own interpretation, when it's the Visa Officer behind the window who makes the determination. In this case, he's correct.

 

The change in requirements was noted on their (the consulates') web site in Dec., 2011. - NOT due to a change in the law, but due to a change in policy at the consulates.

 

It's still somewhat discretionary as to what constitutes 'residence' at the time the application is submitted, so a lawyer's opinion is misleading.

 

It's also discretionary at the Chinese PSB's as to whether they will issue a long term residence permit, or a long term visa.

Edited October 3, 2013 by Randy W (see edit history)

[blue.rock]

FYI everybody's information, I went and did DCF without having gotten the long term residence permit, and it was no problem. They saw I had years of Chinese visas, made copies of those, and moved ahead with the DCF. Quick and painless.

[dan1984]

FYI everybody's information, I went and did DCF without having gotten the long term residence permit, and it was no problem. They saw I had years of Chinese visas, made copies of those, and moved ahead with the DCF. Quick and painless.

 

Just curious, where did you file?

[dnoblett]

 

FYI everybody's information, I went and did DCF without having gotten the long term residence permit, and it was no problem. They saw I had years of Chinese visas, made copies of those, and moved ahead with the DCF. Quick and painless.

 

Just curious, where did you file?

 

From the first post in this thread, they indicate doing this in Guangzhou.

[dan1984]

 

 

FYI everybody's information, I went and did DCF without having gotten the long term residence permit, and it was no problem. They saw I had years of Chinese visas, made copies of those, and moved ahead with the DCF. Quick and painless.

 

Just curious, where did you file?

 

From the first post in this thread, they indicate doing this in Guangzhou.

 

Ahh yes, duly noted. Thanks!

[warpedbored]

As I understand it whether or not to allow DCF is at the discretion of the consulate. Vietnam consulate for instance doesn't do it. I have heard other instances of GZ allowing DCF for husbands who have been living in China on a tourist visa.

[Randy W]

As I understand it whether or not to allow DCF is at the discretion of the consulate. Vietnam consulate for instance doesn't do it. I have heard other instances of GZ allowing DCF for husbands who have been living in China on a tourist visa.

 

This doesn't pertain to China, but for informational purposes -

 

Filing of visa petitions is through the USCIS. The USCIS doesn't have an office in VietNam.

 

In certain cases, the consulate can request that the USCIS process a locally filed petition - I think this would go through the Bangkok field office. The cases are military or medical emergencies, threats to personal safety, cases close to aging out, cases where the petitioner has recently naturalized, or adoption of children.

 

http://hochiminh.usconsulate.gov/iv/filling/petition.html - http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/AFM/HTML/AFM/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-3481/0-0-0-6254.html

 

The Bangkok Field Office has jurisdiction over U.S. immigration benefits for the following countries: Australia, New Zealand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor, Taiwan, Macau, and Hong Kong.

 

Back to China here - Whether they accept your proof of residence is dependent both on the USCIS policy, and the policies of the Chinese government in allowing foreigners to reside in China - and yes, is somewhat discretionary. I believe, though, that once it gets past the guy at the window (the one you interview with when submitting the petition), you're home free as far as residence.

[Andelu]

FYI everybody's information, I went and did DCF without having gotten the long term residence permit, and it was no problem. They saw I had years of Chinese visas, made copies of those, and moved ahead with the DCF. Quick and painless.

Congratulations Blue Rock! Did you end up doing the walk-in on Friday, October 4th? Already received your approval?

[blue.rock]

Yeah we did walk in on October 4th, they were very not busy, maybe 1 other person there at the time (about 9am, they opened at 8:30 am). Didn't get approval yet, they also mentioned that they wanted my wife's ORIGINAL birth certificate, we only had a copy.. they said they might approve it anyway, if not they'll request it ot be sent via EMS. I am pretty sure that for initial I130 filing I read that only a copy of birth certificate was required... also they didn't want 90% of my evidence that I had provided to prove bona fide relationships. They didn't accept any of our emails, or airplane stubs, but took our passport stamps of travel together.. it was strange.

 

they said expect an EMS either way in 1 to 2 weeks

Edited October 9, 2013 by blue.rock (see edit history)