ID card doesn't match current address

[orygreg2]

Hello. Sorry if this is a topic someone already covered. I tried searching on "ID CARD", "IDENT", "IDENTIFICATION" but didn't find this, though I thought I remember reading about it.

 

Anyway... found out today that my fiancee's ID card has her old address (in Zhanjiang), but she's been living in Guangzhou for last 6 years or so. I asked her if it's difficult to get a Guangzhou ID card, she said yes, very.

 

Maybe I ask you all about this too early -- there is more I need to find out from her. Like her passport address, but I assume it is also Zhanjiang.

 

She's sent back the P3 stuff and waiting for P4 interview packet and date.

 

Does anyone have experience on this -- an ID card that doesn't match their current address?

 

Thank you in advance.

Greg

[Bobby]

I don't know what to tell you about the bad address, but I can tell you that to my knowledge, my wife was never asked for her id card, just her passport. That doesn't mean that she's the rule, just a single case out of many.

[Jim - Portland, USA]

There may be a bigger issue here ... why can't she get a new ID card? My honey bunny had to get a new card recently and it was a cinch to get, no problem.

 

Is it because your fiancee has been living in Guangzhou "illegally" or whatever for the past 6 years? If so, then that is likely to be a problem, and the ID card thing is just a symptom of it. You guys, especially her, should really be prepared to explain this situation to the interviewing officer. I think this kind of thing is likely to come up, and it's going to raise red flags when it does come up. Hopefully she can get a new ID card with her "new" address, that will be the best thing to do, I think.

 

As far as the ID address discrepancy goes ... I guess you can take your chances and hope that they don't ask to see her ID card (and just ask to see her passport instead), but I think it is risky.

[dvs7310]

Half of the people in Guangzhou live there unofficially. Don't sweat it too much. The system in China is old and outdated. It was to prevent people from moving from one place to the city, however no one seems to pay much attention any more. But yes, she is right, it will cost a lot of money to get here changed to a Guangzhou resident.

[a2396]

I think I would agree with Jim on this one. My wife apparently had an ID that was not exactly 100% accurate, lets say "fudged" a little. I later asked some of my PRC freinds in USA, if it was possible to obtain fake ID's in China. They replied that it is not difficult to obtain them. My wife also claimed that she never had a birth certificate. I was also told that this could be possible, but unlikely, unless she was not born in a hospital. I told her that when we got around to filing any documents, these sort of inconsistancies would be a royal red flag in front of any immigration officer. I would not assume anything, with the amount of paranoia over US immigration isssues now.

[Jim - Portland, USA]

My fiancee also does not have a birth certificate. She was born in a house in a village back in 1979 and birth certificates were not available at that time.

 

So we're doing the Plan B thing ... a letter from some bureaucrat stating that birth certificates were not issued at that time, and then a notarized letter from her mom stating when and where she was born (along with her mom's maiden name and father's name). Supposedly these two documents can be substituted for a birth certificate.

 

Luckily her passport and ID are legal, valid, and correct, so those should carry some weight at the interview.

[SeaSame]

It is very common in China that a person having the hometown address on their ID address. When they move to a new city or place for work, it is impossible for most of people to have a new ID card from that new city because of China's old issue of ID Card policy. But it doesn't mean that person living in the new city illegally, it is all legal. The only reason the new city can't issue the new ID card to anyone living in that city, was because it related to the city insurance system, low-costing governmental built house, etc. Now, every rule seems are changing almost every day, the old rule of ID card system had been planed to change too. Millions of or more than half of Chinese people are not living in the same place where their ID card shows due to having a new work, moving to a new house in another city, or even study in a colleage where it is far from their ID address....

 

Therefore, it would be impossible to request everyone's ID card and their current mailing(habitat) address consistent with each other, especially for young people who moving quite frequently from this city to that city. And I do not think GZ check for that at all, if according to such logic in China.

[orygreg2]

Thank you all for your comments and taking the time to respond.

 

After speaking more with Jun (my fiancee) and a friend of hers, and reading the above posts (especially from SeaSame -- the comments here match what I heard), it does seem to be no big deal, at least for the k1 visa. This is a common thing. I won't lose sleep over it... well, until interview time.