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I-130 Petition Questions


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I just married my Chinese wife and I am getting started with the necesary paper work so she can come with me to America next summer.

 

I believe I have all the documents ready for the I-130 petition. I just have a few questions.

 

1. We dont have any documents showing co-mingling of our finances. Is this a problem?

 

2. I have a sworn affidavit from my wife's uncle where he stated he has knowledge of our marraige. Unfortunately, he spelled my name wrong at the end. Does this matter? He spelled me name correctly in the beginning.

 

3. I am planning on getting another sworn affidavit from my mom. Is this OK. How many is enough?

 

4. Is it worth it to include QQ conversations and QQ zone photos of my wife and I dating back to last year?

 

5. I was told by someone I can mail the I-130 petition to Chicago. Is this OK? I live in Jiangsu, China with my wife. Do I need to deliver the documents in person in Guangzhou. This would be inconvenient.

 

I would appreciate help with any of my questions! I hope to help more people here in the future as well.

 

-Dave

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1 no

2 no

3 Showing support from an immediate family member can be helpful to your case. You'll know that it's enough when you get the visa. You are responsible for the overall presentation in your application, and the impression it will give the Immigration Officers who look at your file.

4 See # 3

5 Yes, you can mail it to the U.S., but processing time will be much longer. To submit a DCF (Direct Consular Filing), you would submit it to the USCIS office in Beijing. The petition will be processed there and then forwarded to Guangzhou - http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/visas/immigrant-visa.html

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1) No, they do understand in situations of a recent marriage this is not possible. USCIS will have opportunity later after two years of conditional residency to see this again.

 

2) Should not matter, misspelling can be common Kris or Chris for example, the affidavit is secondary evidence of relationship.

 

3) Is a good idea.

 

4) Yes, is part of the whole showing evidence of relationship, in my case I sent email and chat logs showing dates and times we chatted, and some samples of the chats and sample emails.

 

5) You could, but stateside processing involves USCIS 4 - 6 months, and then NVC processing 1-3 months and then some further processing in China 1-2 months. Filing in Beijing or Guangzhou USCIS office tends to be a 4-5 month process filing to getting the visa.

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Do I need to file the documents in Guangzhou in person? Can I mail everything to Guangzhou or Beijing?

You have to file in person, no mail in service.

 

"An appointment is necessary to file an I-130 petition with our office"

http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/i-130-petition-for-alien-relative.html

 

Also, does it matter if I file it in Guangzhou or Beijing? What is the difference?

 

Thanks for the help guys!

 

Yes, depends on where you live in China.

 

"The jurisdiction of the Beijing Field Office includes: Beijing, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanghai, Shanxi, Tianjin.

 

For people residing in other regions of mainland China, please contact the Guangzhou Field Office at CIS.Guangzhou@uscis.dhs.gov for further assistance."

http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/i-130-petition-for-alien-relative.html

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Also, does it matter if I file it in Guangzhou or Beijing? What is the difference?

 

Thanks for the help guys!

 

Yes, depends on where you live in China.

 

"The jurisdiction of the Beijing Field Office includes: Beijing, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanghai, Shanxi, Tianjin.

 

For people residing in other regions of mainland China, please contact the Guangzhou Field Office at CIS.Guangzhou@uscis.dhs.gov for further assistance."

http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/i-130-petition-for-alien-relative.html

 

 

The website for the Shanghai Consulate indicates that it would be filed in Beijing - you may wish to call in advance to verify. The USCIS jurisdictional areas have changed more than once. But the Beijing web site is more likely up to date.

 

The Guangzhou Consulate web site says - http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/i-130-petition-for-alien-relative.html, so I'm guessing this is correct - that you WOULD need to go to Guangzhou.

 

The jurisdiction of the Guangzhou Field Office includes: Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shandong, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Tibet (Xizang), Xiamen, Yunnan and Zhejiang.

For people residing in other regions of mainland China, please contact the Beijing Field Office at DHSBeijing-CIS@dhs.gov for further assistance.

 

 

Some of the consulates will accept fee payment for the I-130, and will then forward the application to the appropriate USCIS office (Beijing or Guangzhou). Call about this option if it may be useful.

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1 no

2 no

3 Showing support from an immediate family member can be helpful to your case. You'll know that it's enough when you get the visa. You are responsible for the overall presentation in your application, and the impression it will give the Immigration Officers who look at your file.

4 See # 3

5 Yes, you can mail it to the U.S., but processing time will be much longer. To submit a DCF (Direct Consular Filing), you would submit it to the USCIS office in Beijing. The petition will be processed there and then forwarded to Guangzhou - http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/visas/immigrant-visa.html

 

This is from the Shanghai consulate website, and what I based my earlier claim on that you would go to Beijing - http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/visas/immigrant-visa.html

 

Unfortunately, the American Citizen Services (ACS) unit in Shanghai cannot collect petitioners’ Form I-130 or filing fee. However, American citizens residing in Shanghai’s consular district for six months or longer can pay the filing fee and submit their petition to the USCIS field office in Beijing on the day of their appointment.

 

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I am having trouble figuring out if I need to file my I-130 in Beijing or Guangzhou. I am not able to get anyone on the phone who can help me after looking through the Guangzhou or Beijing sites. I was able to reach someone in Beijing, but I could not get her to answer any questions because I haven't registered my wife inside the Beijing US Embassy website. Can anyone help me with my problem?

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Answering my own question... I finally got someone helpful on the phone who DID NOT need my wife to have already been registered in their website in order to answer my questions. I have to schedule my appointment in Guangzhou, not Beijing.

 

Does anyone have experience booking an appointment in Guangzhou? The only available date they are letting me choose is November 26th. I can't afford to take more sick days from work to go there on that date. Why won't it allow me to book my appointment during December? I only have time to do this during the few days following Christmas when I have off from work. Will the office be open during this time?

 

I would appreciate any help in this regard.

 

-David

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Unfortunately, you need to do some shopping around, since the websites aren't entirely consistent.

 

I think what Dan posted is probably the operative policy

The jurisdiction of the Beijing Field Office includes: Beijing, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanghai, Shanxi, Tianjin.

For people residing in other regions of mainland China, please contact the Guangzhou Field Office at CIS.Guangzhou@uscis.dhs.gov for further assistance.

 

 

BUT if submitting it to Beijing would be more convenient, you might try contacting them (and even trying to set up an appointment to submit your I-130) at DHSBeijing-CIS@dhs.gov. You can even contact the Shanghai consulate to see if they would allow an appointment to file your petition. You need to tell them that you want to set up an appointment to submit your I-130.

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Does anyone have experience booking an appointment in Guangzhou? The only available date they are letting me choose is November 26th. I can't afford to take more sick days from work to go there on that date. Why won't it allow me to book my appointment during December? I only have time to do this during the few days following Christmas when I have off from work. Will the office be open during this time?

When I booked my I-130 appointment in August it only showed appointments about 1 month out. For December you may not see for dates around Christmas until after the first of the month. As for the Guangzhou Consulate holidays they are posted on their website. They are only closed Christmas Day.

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