Preliminarily Approved

[mekluger]

My husband received both a white and pink slip after his April 3 interview. The white slip, which was stamped with the date as April 2 (is this going to cause us any headaches?) states that the immigrant visa has been preliminarily approved, but additional documents are needed before the visa can be issued.

The additional documents (listed on the pink slip) needed are related to my residency or the domicile issue. I should add that in fact I did have a letter to prove domicile with a student loan as well as a bank statement attached, however the letter did not provide substantial details about my future employment. In addition, he was explicitly told that they needed a more specific work plan from the petitioner (me). I am submitting my most recent bank and credit card statements, a copy of my driver's license, student loan statements, a letter explaining in detail my intentions for work and the like.

Is this enough? Is this a formality or is this the same as administrative processing? Do denials happen after receiving a letter like this?

When you submit any documents via CITIC bank, US Travel Docs instructs you not to seal the envelope...can anyone confirm this? I am asking because the hubby's passport will also have to be sent.

Are there any fees you must pay to CITIC bank?

I plan on taking care of this on Monday, April 7 as we are still on our Guangzhou/Shenzhen trip.

I will also do a detailed write-up of my husband's interview once we return to Xi'an.

Thanks,
Marissa

Edited April 4, 2014 by mekluger (see edit history)

[jonathantwu]

I am the USC applying for my wife and I am not in your situation. But my guess is that the Consulate wants to see employment offer letter or if you are a student your curriculum and savings that your husband won't be a public charge when he gets there. Everyone who goes thru this can and will claim the intention to work but I guess that just not going to fly with the VO. Good Luck.

[Randy W]

My husband received both a white and pink slip after his April 3 interview. The white slip, which was stamped with the date as April 2 (is this going to cause us any headaches?) states that the immigrant visa has been preliminarily approved, but additional documents are needed before the visa can be issued.

 

The additional documents (listed on the pink slip) needed are related to my residency or the domicile issue. I should add that in fact I did have a letter to prove domicile with a student loan as well as a bank statement attached, however the letter did not provide substantial details about my future employment. In addition, he was explicitly told that they needed a more specific work plan from the petitioner (me). I am submitting my most recent bank and credit card statements, a copy of my driver's license, student loan statements, a letter explaining in detail my intentions for work and the like.

 

Is this enough? Is this a formality or is this the same as administrative processing? Do denials happen after receiving a letter like this?

 

When you submit any documents via CITIC bank, US Travel Docs instructs you not to seal the envelope...can anyone confirm this? I am asking because the hubby's passport will also have to be sent.

 

Are there any fees you must pay to CITIC bank?

 

I plan on taking care of this on Monday, April 7 as we are still on our Guangzhou/Shenzhen trip.

 

I will also do a detailed write-up of my husband's interview once we return to Xi'an.

 

Thanks,

Marissa

 

I'm surprised no one got to this sooner. Yes, hopefully, that IS "enough", but that's all at the discretion of the Visa Officer. That's usually just one more hoop you have to jump through. When they ask for your passport, it's almost always so that they can place the visa in it.

[mekluger]

I am the USC applying for my wife and I am not in your situation. But my guess is that the Consulate wants to see employment offer letter or if you are a student your curriculum and savings that your husband won't be a public charge when he gets there. Everyone who goes thru this can and will claim the intention to work but I guess that just not going to fly with the VO. Good Luck.

 

Thanks for your input.

Edited April 16, 2014 by mekluger (see edit history)

[mekluger]

 

My husband received both a white and pink slip after his April 3 interview. The white slip, which was stamped with the date as April 2 (is this going to cause us any headaches?) states that the immigrant visa has been preliminarily approved, but additional documents are needed before the visa can be issued.

 

The additional documents (listed on the pink slip) needed are related to my residency or the domicile issue. I should add that in fact I did have a letter to prove domicile with a student loan as well as a bank statement attached, however the letter did not provide substantial details about my future employment. In addition, he was explicitly told that they needed a more specific work plan from the petitioner (me). I am submitting my most recent bank and credit card statements, a copy of my driver's license, student loan statements, a letter explaining in detail my intentions for work and the like.

 

Is this enough? Is this a formality or is this the same as administrative processing? Do denials happen after receiving a letter like this?

 

When you submit any documents via CITIC bank, US Travel Docs instructs you not to seal the envelope...can anyone confirm this? I am asking because the hubby's passport will also have to be sent.

 

Are there any fees you must pay to CITIC bank?

 

I plan on taking care of this on Monday, April 7 as we are still on our Guangzhou/Shenzhen trip.

 

I will also do a detailed write-up of my husband's interview once we return to Xi'an.

 

Thanks,

Marissa

 

I'm surprised no one got to this sooner. Yes, hopefully, that IS "enough", but that's all at the discretion of the Visa Officer. That's usually just one more hoop you have to jump through. When they ask for your passport, it's almost always so that they can place the visa in it.

 

 

Yes, the white slip did request we send his passport along with the requested documents from the pink slip.

[mekluger]

I'm happy to report that it seems what I provided was in fact "enough," and my husband's visa has been issued. Now we wait for the return of his passport...

[Randy W]

Congratulations!

 

Congratulations !!

[Doug]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

WHOOOOOOOOOOO

[daveblax]

Did you pay any fees at the CITIC bank? How long after you submitted your documents at the CITIC bank did it take for you to hear an answer?

 

Congrats!

[mekluger]

Did you pay any fees at the CITIC bank? How long after you submitted your documents at the CITIC bank did it take for you to hear an answer?

 

Congrats!

There are no fees at CITIC bank when sending additional documents. Give or take two weeks, however, the answer came from logging into CEAC: https://ceac.state.gov/CEACStatTracker/Status.aspx?eQs=o/iS8zDpeAKjMWCuebHqOw==

[mekluger]

Great news! The hubby's passport and packet have arrived from the Consulate after we sent additional documents. The CITIC bank we selected for delivery received it on April 29. The bank informed us they called us twice, however, we never received the calls and with the May Day Holiday decided we'd wait to inquire. My husband also received two emails stating the passport and packet had been collected from the Consulate and the delivery location. We brought our additional documents on April 8 and the CITIC bank sent them on April 9.

 

Can anyone tell me about where or how to pay the $169 fee?

 

Thanks,

Marissa

[Randy W]

Great news! The hubby's passport and packet have arrived from the Consulate after we sent additional documents. The CITIC bank we selected for delivery received it on April 29. The bank informed us they called us twice, however, we never received the calls and with the May Day Holiday decided we'd wait to inquire. My husband also received two emails stating the passport and packet had been collected from the Consulate and the delivery location. We brought our additional documents on April 8 and the CITIC bank sent them on April 9.

 

Can anyone tell me about where or how to pay the $169 fee?

 

Thanks,

Marissa

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/46512-approved-pending-document-submission/?p=610795

 

Can't seem to edit the original two posts, so an update here:

 

Additional Documents

As soon as we were back in Jodi's hometown, we got a new police report from the local police station and had it translated/notarized. Her parent's mailed the finished document to us in Shanghai and we turned it in (Feb 17) at the CITIC that we had registered as our document pick-up location, the Xujiahui branch:

• Document Submission Letter (from ustraveldocs.com)
• New police report
• Jodi's passport (original)

After compulsively refreshing the CEAC website, the application status finally changed to "Issued" a few weeks later (Mar 3). Then I switched to compulsively refreshing the ustraveldocs dashboard for the document delivery status, which showed that the document was on its way from Guangzou until my wife received a phone call (Mar 10) requesting us to come pick up the passport with immigrant visa at the CITIC bank. At this point we had already been considering plans to return to the US separately as I had already given notice at work and we were ready to book plane tickets, so the phone call was a great relief!

 

Passport Pick-up

When I went to the CITIC Xujiahui branch (May 15), which I had registered on ustraveldocs as our document pick-up location, the staff checked for the passport in various piles and drawers, scanned for Jodi's Chinese/English names on several paper lists and computer spreadsheets, failed to find anything relevant, and finally gave up and suggested I walk down the street to the larger CITIC Xuhui branch at Shanghai Stadium where the passport may have been delivered in error. I did this, but the staff at Xuhui also denied having the passport, and asked me to check my phone call logs and find the number that had called to report the passport's arrival. I confirmed with my wife that the number was a Xujiahui number and walked back to the first branch. After asking politely that they look some more and calling to hear the office phone ring, I waited until they looked into a bottom drawer and found the passport and sealed immigration packet bound together in a clear plastic sleeve. Success! Now was the moment when we had physical proof in our hands that the visa was issued, and how sweet it felt!

 

Immigration Fee

This was pretty straightforward. After creating an account in my wife's name on elis.uscis.dhs.gov, along with various passwords and security questions/answers, I paid the $165 fee with my credit card.

 

POE at LAX

This was also as straightforward as described on the forums. We flew into LAX, waited in the US Citizens line at Border Control, were processed by a friendly border guard (visual check for US citizens, digital fingerprints/photo for Chinese citizen), and then escorted over to the first booth to be processed. My wife had one fingerprint taken twice, signed a form twice, and was given back her passport with the expected entry stamp and a page of information about the status of the stamp as a provisional green card. During the waiting an airline representative took down our last names and helped pull our luggage off the carousel while we were being processed. Then it was customs, a short walk, and a warm welcome to LA/CA/USA. Next up: SSN, DL and green card in the mail.

[mekluger]

 

Great news! The hubby's passport and packet have arrived from the Consulate after we sent additional documents. The CITIC bank we selected for delivery received it on April 29. The bank informed us they called us twice, however, we never received the calls and with the May Day Holiday decided we'd wait to inquire. My husband also received two emails stating the passport and packet had been collected from the Consulate and the delivery location. We brought our additional documents on April 8 and the CITIC bank sent them on April 9.

 

Can anyone tell me about where or how to pay the $169 fee?

 

Thanks,

Marissa

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/topic/46512-approved-pending-document-submission/?p=610795

 

Can't seem to edit the original two posts, so an update here:

 

Additional Documents

As soon as we were back in Jodi's hometown, we got a new police report from the local police station and had it translated/notarized. Her parent's mailed the finished document to us in Shanghai and we turned it in (Feb 17) at the CITIC that we had registered as our document pick-up location, the Xujiahui branch:

• Document Submission Letter (from ustraveldocs.com)
• New police report
• Jodi's passport (original)

After compulsively refreshing the CEAC website, the application status finally changed to "Issued" a few weeks later (Mar 3). Then I switched to compulsively refreshing the ustraveldocs dashboard for the document delivery status, which showed that the document was on its way from Guangzou until my wife received a phone call (Mar 10) requesting us to come pick up the passport with immigrant visa at the CITIC bank. At this point we had already been considering plans to return to the US separately as I had already given notice at work and we were ready to book plane tickets, so the phone call was a great relief!

 

Passport Pick-up

When I went to the CITIC Xujiahui branch (May 15), which I had registered on ustraveldocs as our document pick-up location, the staff checked for the passport in various piles and drawers, scanned for Jodi's Chinese/English names on several paper lists and computer spreadsheets, failed to find anything relevant, and finally gave up and suggested I walk down the street to the larger CITIC Xuhui branch at Shanghai Stadium where the passport may have been delivered in error. I did this, but the staff at Xuhui also denied having the passport, and asked me to check my phone call logs and find the number that had called to report the passport's arrival. I confirmed with my wife that the number was a Xujiahui number and walked back to the first branch. After asking politely that they look some more and calling to hear the office phone ring, I waited until they looked into a bottom drawer and found the passport and sealed immigration packet bound together in a clear plastic sleeve. Success! Now was the moment when we had physical proof in our hands that the visa was issued, and how sweet it felt!

 

Immigration Fee

This was pretty straightforward. After creating an account in my wife's name on elis.uscis.dhs.gov, along with various passwords and security questions/answers, I paid the $165 fee with my credit card.

 

POE at LAX

This was also as straightforward as described on the forums. We flew into LAX, waited in the US Citizens line at Border Control, were processed by a friendly border guard (visual check for US citizens, digital fingerprints/photo for Chinese citizen), and then escorted over to the first booth to be processed. My wife had one fingerprint taken twice, signed a form twice, and was given back her passport with the expected entry stamp and a page of information about the status of the stamp as a provisional green card. During the waiting an airline representative took down our last names and helped pull our luggage off the carousel while we were being processed. Then it was customs, a short walk, and a warm welcome to LA/CA/USA. Next up: SSN, DL and green card in the mail.