Waiting times and clarification for next steps

[Randy W]

I was actually referring to the Green card process, otherwise, I have no need in it. From your knowledge, the consulate doesn't require a Chinese certificate from foreigners? Even if I have been living in China for the past 4 years?

 

 

That line that says, "You WILL NOT need one for the US visa process, unless you are notified otherwise." applies ONLY to a US citizen petitioner. You ARE the beneficiary. Sorry for the confusion there.

 

The consulate WILL require a police certificate from for each jurisdiction he/she has lived in for over a year from the age of 16 - including China.

[dnoblett]

I was actually referring to the Green card process, otherwise, I have no need in it. From your knowledge, the consulate doesn't require a Chinese certificate from foreigners? Even if I have been living in China for the past 4 years?

Unless unobtainable, you need a certificate from China in order to get your visa.

 

Green card is automatic upon entry to the USA on a spouse visa, no additional paperwork other than paying a fee.

[talsi]

Thanks for the clarification. In that case, I guess I need to contact the Shuang Xiong company.

Do you have any idea why a working visa and an employer's letter are a condition when requesting this certificate? I don't see how the two are connected. For instance, I'm not working, does that mean I won't be able to obtain the certificate?

[dnoblett]

Thanks for the clarification. In that case, I guess I need to contact the Shuang Xiong company.

Do you have any idea why a working visa and an employer's letter are a condition when requesting this certificate? I don't see how the two are connected. For instance, I'm not working, does that mean I won't be able to obtain the certificate?

Check with the local PSB, in many cases they simply issue a letter indicating no record.

[talsi]

Alright, thanks for everything.

[ken1000]

 

DCF

• File petition
• USCIS (Beijing or Guangzhou) accepts it, sometimes requiring an interview before approving.
• USCIS (Beijing or Guangzhou) forwards the case to the Immigrant Visa Unit in Guangzhou Consulate.
• GUZ sends out instructions as to what to do next, usually directing you to the US Travel Docs ( CGI ) site for the next steps. http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-visaapplyinfo.asp
• Prepare Documents and Medical per CGI http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-preparedocuments.asp#PrepareDocuments
• CGI Stanley instructs to gather apropriate documents (Police reports, Birth Cert, Marriage Cert, Medical and Vaccination reports etc.) and bring them to a CITIC bank branch to be packaged and forwarded to the consulate.
• Pay Visa Fee at CITIC bank: http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-immigrantkvisa.asp
• Schedule interview on CGI site: http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-appointmentschedule.asp
• Interview at consulate
• Consulate will send documents and Visa to address specified on CGI site: http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-documentdelivery.asp
• Depending on situation consulate may need additional time after interview to complete processing ( AP ) for example if beneficiary had to join communist party ( CCP ) for work reasons, some professional jobs require party membership, do not lie about this, be honest, and you will get the visa after the normal AP process.

 

 

My Chinese wife and I live in Beijing and are shortly scheduling her interview. CGI Stanley requested and recieved via Citic Bank our DS-230 in August (we'll also fill out a DS-260 just in case), along with a copy of my wife's passport and 2 pictures. We have been told to prepare our documents and make an appt in Guangzhou. But we were NEVER requested to send money or any other documents, as indicated in #6 and #7 above. Did they make a mistake ? We plan to have my wife bring these documents, with $ and medical packet to the appointment. Is this a new policy different from your experience, perhaps?

Edited October 23, 2013 by Randy W
fix quote tags (see edit history)

[Randy W]

 

 

DCF

• File petition
• USCIS (Beijing or Guangzhou) accepts it, sometimes requiring an interview before approving.
• USCIS (Beijing or Guangzhou) forwards the case to the Immigrant Visa Unit in Guangzhou Consulate.
• GUZ sends out instructions as to what to do next, usually directing you to the US Travel Docs ( CGI ) site for the next steps. http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-visaapplyinfo.asp
• Prepare Documents and Medical per CGI http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-preparedocuments.asp#PrepareDocuments
• CGI Stanley instructs to gather apropriate documents (Police reports, Birth Cert, Marriage Cert, Medical and Vaccination reports etc.) and bring them to a CITIC bank branch to be packaged and forwarded to the consulate.
• Pay Visa Fee at CITIC bank: http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-immigrantkvisa.asp
• Schedule interview on CGI site: http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-appointmentschedule.asp
• Interview at consulate
• Consulate will send documents and Visa to address specified on CGI site: http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-documentdelivery.asp
• Depending on situation consulate may need additional time after interview to complete processing ( AP ) for example if beneficiary had to join communist party ( CCP ) for work reasons, some professional jobs require party membership, do not lie about this, be honest, and you will get the visa after the normal AP process.

 

 

My Chinese wife and I live in Beijing and are shortly scheduling her interview. CGI Stanley requested and recieved via Citic Bank our DS-230 in August (we'll also fill out a DS-260 just in case), along with a copy of my wife's passport and 2 pictures. We have been told to prepare our documents and make an appt in Guangzhou. But we were NEVER requested to send money or any other documents, as indicated in #6 and #7 above. Did they make a mistake ? We plan to have my wife bring these documents, with $ and medical packet to the appointment. Is this a new policy different from your experience, perhaps?

 

 

 

Visa fees need to be paid IN ADVANCE - the Visa Officer at the interview will not be able to accept any money on your behalf, nor will it be possible to find someone to accept the money.

 

Visa issuance will be delayed until the fee is paid. It's not a policy, so much as a SNAFU. Communication and coordination between the CGI Stanley website and the consulate is NOT what it needs to be.

 

Be prepared - they are not.

[msittig]

We're still a little bit earlier in the process than ken1000, but my experience has been the same as what he described up to submitting the DS-260. So, borrowing from dnoblett, something like this:

 

DCF

• File petition
• USCIS (Beijing or Guangzhou) accepts it, sometimes requiring an interview before approving.
• USCIS (Beijing or Guangzhou) forwards the case to the Immigrant Visa Unit in Guangzhou Consulate.
• GUZ sends out instructions as to what to do next, usually directing you to the US Travel Docs ( CGI ) site for the next steps. http://ustraveldocs....saapplyinfo.as
• Submit DS-260 and other docs to CITIC bank, wait for notice from GUZ to schedule interview.
• Prepare Documents and Medical per CGI http://ustraveldocs....repareDocuments
• CGI Stanley instructs to gather apropriate documents (Police reports, Birth Cert, Marriage Cert, Medical and Vaccination reports etc.) and bring them to a CITIC bank branch to be packaged and forwarded to the consulate.
• Pay Visa Fee at CITIC bank: http://ustraveldocs....igrantkvisa.asp
• Schedule interview on CGI site: http://ustraveldocs....entschedule.asp
• Interview at consulate
• Consulate will send documents and Visa to address specified on CGI site: http://ustraveldocs....entdelivery.asp
• Depending on situation consulate may need additional time after interview to complete processing ( AP ) for example if beneficiary had to join communist party ( CCP ) for work reasons, some professional jobs require party membership, do not lie about this, be honest, and you will get the visa after the normal AP process.

[talsi]

msittig, thank you for your response. So if I understand correctly, there are two separate times at which documents need to be submitted at the CITIC bank?

Would you mind sending me a detailed list of the documents which need to be provided in step 5. I would be happy to get a head start.

 

Thanks again!

[talsi]

A question regarding the proof of domicile- my husband, who is the petitioner, has never lived in the States as an adult. Therefore, he does not have a US address, bank account nor driver's license. (He will be visiting the US next month, he could theoretically open a Bank account). He will be filing all his tax returns soon, so that will provide us with one form of proof. Also, we have family in the US who are US citizens and will act as our joint sponsors (don't know if that serves to help the proof of domicile at all... we could use their home address if needed at any point). Most importantly, my husband and I will be relocating to the US through the company he is currently working for, and so we will also have a formal letter from his employer as proof. Should we have a reason to worry or does all of this seem like it should be enough?

Edited October 29, 2013 by talsi (see edit history)

[Randy W]

A question regarding the proof of domicile- my husband, who is the petitioner, has never lived in the States as an adult. Therefore, he does not have a US address, bank account nor driver's license. (He will be visiting the US next month, he could theoretically open a Bank account). He will be filing all his tax returns soon, so that will provide us with one form of proof. Also, we have family in the US who are US citizens and will act as our joint sponsors (don't know if that serves to help the proof of domicile at all... we could use their home address if needed at any point). Most importantly, my husband and I will be relocating to the US through the company he is currently working for, and so we will also have a formal letter from his employer as proof. Should we have a reason to worry or does all of this seem like it should be enough?

 

A U.S. address is good - it won't matter if you actually move to that address or not. The formal letter of employment is excellent. I'm sure you have the domicile issue covered with that.

[msittig]

Would you mind sending me a detailed list of the documents which need to be provided in step 5.

 

I'm going to private message you with the e-mail I got from Guangzhou, but here is the complete list for other forum members:

 

□ COMPLETE FORM DS-260 online at https://ceac.state.gov/IV

□ COPY OF THE PERSONAL INFORMATION PAGE OF APPLICANT'S PASSPORT

□ TWO US-PASSPORT-SIZE PHOTOGRAPHS of the applicant

□ DOCUMENT SUBMISSION LETTER online at http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/DocumentSubmissionLetter_IV.pdf

 

A disclaimer: I completely agree with someone on the forum (Randy?) who has been saying to not take any of this information as set-in-stone, as the procedures are changing with the move to the new consulate, change to the CGI website, new laws, etc; and to FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS YOU RECEIVE FROM GUANGZHOU/USCIS/DHS/whatever. For example, when I went to CITIC to submit these documents as instructed to by e-mail from GUZ, the bank clerks were perplexed as they had never taken papers from an applicant at this point in the application process; I should add that they were very professional in facilitating my "special case" and made sure my documents would get sent. But that's why I can't say whether step 5 might be something new, a stopgap measure until everything can be done online(?), or even something specific to my wife's particular application.

 

However it's a good idea to start preparing early and it can never hurt to prepare a document that you might not need later (for example, I filled out the DS-230 before being instructed to do the DS-260 instead, but a lot of the information was directly transferable).

 

Also: I've been writing up my experiences with this DCF, and I don't see anywhere on the forum where it would be appropriate to post with updates as the process moves along. Is there somewhere in particular I could post it? General visa discussions?

Edited October 29, 2013 by msittig (see edit history)

[Randy W]

 

Would you mind sending me a detailed list of the documents which need to be provided in step 5.

 

I'm going to private message you with the e-mail I got from Guangzhou, but here is the complete list for other forum members:

 

□ COMPLETE FORM DS-260 online at https://ceac.state.gov/IV

□ COPY OF THE PERSONAL INFORMATION PAGE OF APPLICANT'S PASSPORT

□ TWO US-PASSPORT-SIZE PHOTOGRAPHS of the applicant

□ DOCUMENT SUBMISSION LETTER online at http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/DocumentSubmissionLetter_IV.pdf

 

A disclaimer: I completely agree with someone on the forum (Randy?) who has been saying to not take any of this information as set-in-stone, as the procedures are changing with the move to the new consulate, change to the CGI website, new laws, etc; and to FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS YOU RECEIVE FROM GUANGZHOU/USCIS/DHS/whatever. For example, when I went to CITIC to submit these documents as instructed to by e-mail from GUZ, the bank clerks were perplexed as they had never taken papers from an applicant at this point in the application process; I should add that they were very professional in facilitating my "special case" and made sure my documents would get sent. But that's why I can't say whether step 5 might be something new, a stopgap measure until everything can be done online(?), or even something specific to my wife's particular application.

 

However it's a good idea to start preparing early and it can never hurt to prepare a document that you might not need later (for example, I filled out the DS-230 before being instructed to do the DS-260 instead, but a lot of the information was directly transferable).

 

Also: I've been writing up my experiences with this DCF, and I don't see anywhere on the forum where it would be appropriate to post with updates as the process moves along. Is there somewhere in particular I could post it? General visa discussions?

 

 

Yes - please start your own topic, either there, or in the Consulate process forum. That would be very helpful to have a summary of your entire experience in either of those two places.

 

Thanks

[talsi]

Once again, thank you for all the help and info!

[Randy W]

 

We're still a little bit earlier in the process than ken1000, but my experience has been the same as what he described up to submitting the DS-260. So, borrowing from dnoblett, something like this:

 

DCF

• File petition
• USCIS (Beijing or Guangzhou) accepts it, sometimes requiring an interview before approving.
• USCIS (Beijing or Guangzhou) forwards the case to the Immigrant Visa Unit in Guangzhou Consulate.
• GUZ sends out instructions as to what to do next, usually directing you to the US Travel Docs ( CGI ) site for the next steps. http://ustraveldocs....saapplyinfo.as
• Submit DS-260 and other docs to CITIC bank, wait for notice from GUZ to schedule interview.
• Prepare Documents and Medical per CGI http://ustraveldocs....repareDocuments
• CGI Stanley instructs to gather apropriate documents (Police reports, Birth Cert, Marriage Cert, Medical and Vaccination reports etc.) and bring them to a CITIC bank branch to be packaged and forwarded to the consulate.
• Pay Visa Fee at CITIC bank: http://ustraveldocs....igrantkvisa.asp
• Schedule interview on CGI site: http://ustraveldocs....entschedule.asp
• Interview at consulate
• Consulate will send documents and Visa to address specified on CGI site: http://ustraveldocs....entdelivery.asp
• Depending on situation consulate may need additional time after interview to complete processing ( AP ) for example if beneficiary had to join communist party ( CCP ) for work reasons, some professional jobs require party membership, do not lie about this, be honest, and you will get the visa after the normal AP process.

 

 

# 8 here needs to be modified. The link highlights the "New USCIS Immigrant Visa fee" that is NOT what needs to be paid at this point.

 

What needs to be paid at this point in the process is the DOS visa fee of $230 (a DS-260 visa application fee) - http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1263.html#perm

 

This page is linked to from the Ustraveldocs page, but it's hidden under "More Information". Perhaps that's why so many are missing it. They also leave out any directions on how to pay the fee.