Chinese and American Visa Questions

[alexandervivienne]

Hi all, this is my first post. The site was recommended when I had some questions, so I hope you can help me.

 

I'm Alex, an American. Vivienne is my wife, she is Chinese. We want to move to the US in August/September of this year. We're hoping to get a CR-1 visa for her. Our situation is really complicated, so I will do my best to explain it...

 

I moved to Beijing on an F visa in February of 2012. In June of 2012, I moved to Hong Kong on a work permit. Since September, I have lived in Xiamen, first on a long-term F visa (I was at Xiamen University) and now on one of those you-must-leave-the-country-every-30-days business travel visa (Vivienne owns a small market research firm in HK, and sponsored me for this visa)

 

Our combined income should be sufficient to fill out the I-864, but only for 2013, so I'm asking my parents to fill one out as well, which brings me to my first question,

 

1) If I fill out an I-864, does that make my parents "the only joint sponsor" or the "first / second of two joint sponsors"?

 

2) Am I eligible to apply through the Guangzhou consulate? I have lived in Greater China for two years now. I have a Chinese and Hong Kong bank account, and together with Vivienne I rent an apartment here (though the lease is in her name).

 

3) If I'm not eligible because of my F visa, I have an opportunity to apply for a Q1 visa here while Vivienne and I head to her hometown for Spring Festival. Once I'm on a Q1, could I apply right away for the CR-1, or would I have wait until I've been here for six months? Of course, I'd much rather be on a Z visa, but it's hard to find work when you won't be around for a year.

 

I think that's it.. Please let me know if you have any advice.

 

Sincerely,

 

Alexander & Vivienne

[Randy W]

Hi all, this is my first post. The site was recommended when I had some questions, so I hope you can help me.

 

I'm Alex, an American. Vivienne is my wife, she is Chinese. We want to move to the US in August/September of this year. We're hoping to get a CR-1 visa for her. Our situation is really complicated, so I will do my best to explain it...

 

I moved to Beijing on an F visa in February of 2012. In June of 2012, I moved to Hong Kong on a work permit. Since September, I have lived in Xiamen, first on a long-term F visa (I was at Xiamen University) and now on one of those you-must-leave-the-country-every-30-days business travel visa (Vivienne owns a small market research firm in HK, and sponsored me for this visa)

 

Our combined income should be sufficient to fill out the I-864, but only for 2013, so I'm asking my parents to fill one out as well, which brings me to my first question,

 

1) If I fill out an I-864, does that make my parents "the only joint sponsor" or the "first / second of two joint sponsors"?

 

2) Am I eligible to apply through the Guangzhou consulate? I have lived in Greater China for two years now. I have a Chinese and Hong Kong bank account, and together with Vivienne I rent an apartment here (though the lease is in her name).

 

3) If I'm not eligible because of my F visa, I have an opportunity to apply for a Q1 visa here while Vivienne and I head to her hometown for Spring Festival. Once I'm on a Q1, could I apply right away for the CR-1, or would I have wait until I've been here for six months? Of course, I'd much rather be on a Z visa, but it's hard to find work when you won't be around for a year.

 

I think that's it.. Please let me know if you have any advice.

 

Sincerely,

 

Alexander & Vivienne

\Welcome to CFL.

 

1) Your parents are the "only joint sponsor" in USCIS I-864 jargon.

 

2) USCIS offices are located in Beijing and Guangzhou. Yes, Xiamen falls under the jurisdiction of the Guangzhou office, and yes, you would most likely be eligible to apply with what we call a DCF (Direct Consular Filing) application. The State Dept. does NOT use that term.

 

3) There is no longer any mention of a six month residence requirement. You would almost certainly be eligible immediately either way.

 

The residence requirement is that of the USCIS at the consulate, not the Chinese authorities. So I'm fairly certain you won't have any issues. The proof in that pudding will come when you submit your application. The person at the counter will determine on the spot whether you qualify or not. Once it is accepted, you've passed that hurdle.

[alexandervivienne]

Thanks for your reply. I'm still worried about questions two and three, because I seem to get a different answer each time I ask them. I had previously emailed the Consulate directly and they directed me to this site

 

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

 

which does mention 6 month residency in China. Has anyone ever had any luck proving residency while on a business travel F visa? I'd hate to get our hopes up and then go all the way to Guangzhou, just to get turned down immediately.

[Randy W]

Thanks for your reply. I'm still worried about questions two and three, because I seem to get a different answer each time I ask them. I had previously emailed the Consulate directly and they directed me to this site

 

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

 

which does mention 6 month residency in China. Has anyone ever had any luck proving residency while on a business travel F visa? I'd hate to get our hopes up and then go all the way to Guangzhou, just to get turned down immediately.

 

 

I'm not seeing the six month requirement on that page (Am I overlooking something there?)

 

In any event, I would think that your length of residence (of GREATER than 6 months) in China would work to your advantage. The fact that you ARE living and working in China I believe would be good enough. But it's up to the person who will accept your application - the only way to find out for sure is to submit the evidence.

 

I would suggest just lining up your evidence - a summary of how long you have lived and worked in China and in what capacity. Hopefully, the border hops for visa renewal won't work against you. I see that visa types for 'residency' are listed, but it doesn't seem to be a hard and fast requirement.

 

I think it boils down to whether you want to risk the trip to Guangzhou to find out. What worked or didn't work for someone else may or may not work for you. My own feeling is that you've got it covered.

 

I lived here for three years on permanent L-visas, which is what our local Exit/Entry Bureau thought they were supposed to issue to a non-working foreigner living with relatives.

 

Then again, if you'd rather just submit it to the lockbox in Chicago, I expect that the Aug/Sept timeframe would give enough time for the petition and application to be processed.

[runnyeggsham]

I just got involved in helping my cousin and his app. Man oh man, all these visa stuff is worse than grad school. But I was dealing with his I-864 and I864A's last week. Since my cousin doesnt have enough income, he asked his uncle and wife to be co-sponsors. They filled out 2 I-864As and submitted income tax returns. He filled out the I-864. So, I guess maybe you can have a co-sponsor. I am not sure if that is different from a "joint" sponsor or not though.

Edited January 29, 2014 by runnyeggsham (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

I just got involved in helping my cousin and his app. Man oh man, all these visa stuff is worse than grad school. But I was dealing with his I-864 and I864A's last week. Since my cousin doesnt have enough income, he asked his uncle and wife to be co-sponsors. They filled out 2 I-864As and submitted income tax returns. He filled out the I-864. So, I guess maybe you can have a co-sponsor. I am not sure if that is different from a "joint" sponsor or not though.

The proper term per the I-864 is Joint-Sponsor.

 

The petitioner spouse who files the I-130 petition for spouse visa MUST be the primary sponsor and must provide an I-864 in order for the immigrant to get the visa and ultimately a green-card. They can use anyone as a Joint sponsor who also will provide an I-864 and if the Joint sponsor needs to add the income of a household member, the household member would provide an I-864A to add their income.

[alexandervivienne]

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I guess we will move forward and try to apply at Guangzhou. Thanks. 马到成功！

[alexandervivienne]

So the appliation was accepted, and we received a document a while back (I-171H) "Notice of Approval of Relative Immigrant Visa Petition" which classified Vivienne as "CR/IR-1/2"

 

We received the notice about 3 weeks ago. It says that the consulate will contact Vivienne about getting a visa. We filed the G-1145 request for an e-notification. To this date, we've not received any other correspondence from Guangzhou, electronic or otherwise. Vivienne has done some research on Chinese sites which said that we should have received a letter by now. Has this been the general experience? What should we expect at this point? Thanks again for all your help!

[dnoblett]

I am assuming you filed the petition at the USCIS branch in China.

 

If so then contact the consulate via email and ask about status. http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/immigrant-visa-unit-question.html

 

If petition was filed in the states, wait for approval notice, and then wait for NVC to contact you