Broken Visa Packet from CITIC - Urgent

[josephsli]

Hi,

 

IV issued (thank God) but now with a pressing administrative issue.

 

My wife's immigrant visa was issued in late Dec and I went to pick it up a few days ago at the local CITIC. Both the bank staff and I immediately noticed that the 'visa packet yellow envelop' was badly broken (one long side was completely ripped most likely during transit - our document submission to the USCIS was 800 pages thick, and the consulate apparently used a large (but not large enough) paper envelop to bag it but unfortunately it was broken before I saw them.

 

I have decided not to sign for/pick up any of the family's passports and packages, and wrote a statement in Chinese and English and had the bank staff provide their corporate chop to verify that I did not temper with the package. Now I'm very torn - I know the safest way is to send it back to GUZ for repackaging, but we do have a confirmed ticket to leave for the US in less than 15 days as I have a series of scheduled business meetings there. Checked with both the consulate and CITIC and it usually takes 2-3 weeks for the package to travel to GUZ, be repackaged and shipped back from GUZ to my home city.

 

I called one of the CBP customer service hotline stating the situation and they said they would normally send us to Secondary Processing for review but it is not a major issue. Our US immi attorneys said the same thing. However, the consular Chinese staff with utter certainty told me that we will be denied entry with a broken envelop. GUZ is also not allowing us to personally carry the packages back to GUZ for repackaging (this way we would have better control over lead time in transit).

 

Any similar experience? Any advice?

 

thanks!

Joe

[Randy W]

The USCONGUZ account here on CFL has been inactive for a long time - check your other thread for my response.