New news on the call center closure

[Jeikun]

Important Notices

 

Visa Application Procedures

 

The Information/Appointment Call Center for United States visas remains closed on the order of the Chinese authorities. The United States Government hopes that the Center will be permitted to resume operations soon. Consular Sections in the Embassy and Consulates General in China have been accepting and will continue to accept applications from those who already have scheduled appointments, and to process cases involving medical and humanitarian emergencies.

Once scheduled appointments are exhausted, in an effort to maintain customer service to the extent possible, the Embassy and Consulates General will begin to accept applications on a daily walk-in basis and will continue to work under that system until further notice. Because of the high demand for United States visas at this time of year, we cannot guarantee that applicants can be accommodated each day. Therefore, we recommend that those with urgent travel needs arrive early to pursue their applications. Walk-in procedures will begin at each post as follows:

 

Guangzhou, Shenyang, and Chengdu May 17

Beijing June 3

Shanghai June 23

 

Details concerning specific walk-in procedures at each post are available at the following websites:

 

Beijing: http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn

 

Chengdu: http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/chengdu/

 

Shanghai http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/shanghai/

 

Shenyang: http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/shenyang/

 

Guangzhou: http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzhou/

 

Of course, there is no update on Guangzhou's website yet.

[keelec]

Guangzhou, Shenyang, and Chengdu May 17

That is MONDAY!!!!

 

So, do you think the lines will start forming before midnight????

[otter5535]

What does this mean for K1/K3 applicants... those waiting for P4???????

 

As donahso said, can our wives/fiancee just walk in if they are waiting for a P4, get interviewed, then get their visa???

 

OR........... does this notice have nothing to do with K1/K3 visas???

[kimnjake]

well mark, do you feel better now? you seemed to have gotten out all of your frustration...my goodness....i though that kind of language was saved for the RR?!?!

 

i would venture to guess this has nothing to do with the K1/K3 since the call center had nothing to do with them either....

[Jeikun]

Sorry to throw an element of confusion in. I have no idea how/if this affects K1/K3. Just quoted the article. Perhaps if/when Guangzhou updates their site with the info, that will shed some light.

[hypoclear]

well mark, do you feel better now? you seemed to have gotten out all of your frustration...my goodness....i though that kind of language was saved for the RR?!?!

 

i would venture to guess this has nothing to do with the K1/K3 since the call center had nothing to do with them either....

Yes Kim some what..

 

we are now at month 15 and getting knocked about at every turn.

Our info left NVC on april 6th just days before this latest set back and sometmes you just got to tell it like it is..

 

My guess is we will be pushing 17th months on this, had we gone thru at a reasonable 1 year, we would both be living in the USA working at a very well paying and comfortable job etc.

 

Now we are living the chinese life of.. and will extend it for another 8 to 10 months until our child is born and old enough to travel. so i'd say yup I am entitled to a few f's here and there.

 

 

Mark and Bea

[hypoclear]

ohh what I am railing against is the fact that we as americans do not come first. I know the call center has nothing to do with our CR1 interview schedule, but I am more than annoyed at the back bending the US gov is doing regarding a lower priority visa in my eyes.

 

Let them wait a year or so to get their holiday visa so that my wife and I and others can get ours in a reasonable time.

 

Mark and Bea

[Jim - Portland, USA]

I also do not think this affects K-1/3 people. Of course I could be wrong, but I think if my honey were to show up at the consulate on Monday, she would eventually be sent home and told to wait for the P4 to arrive in the mail, then come back at the scheduled interview date.

 

As far as the INSUSBCISDHS people accepting walk-ins (for other visa types), I believe those applicants were previously able to just call that phone number and set up a time to pick up their visa or whatever. Now they can't call, so they have to show up in person, so it's more difficult than before for them now too. Still difficult for everyone!

[king]

Donahso is right. The Shanghai problem deals only with NON-IMMIGRATION VISAS ONLY, AND DOES NOT INVOLVED K VISAS.

 

The marriage and fiance(e) visas were not being scheduled through Shanghai.

 

Martha Hutchens told me the Shanghai problem is because the Chinese government is mad at our government, maybe about the fingerprinting requirement. I read that perhaps as making it harder for the Chinese gov't to get spys into and active in the US.

 

As of this coming Monday, for non-immigrant visa applicant it is "back to the future," using the old system from 4-5 years ago. Line up outside, first come, first served.

[se_lang]

What does this mean for K1/K3 applicants... those waiting for P4???????

 

As donahso said, can our wives/fiancee just walk in if they are waiting for a P4, get interviewed, then get their visa???

 

OR........... does this notice have nothing to do with K1/K3 visas???

I was being sarcastic.

 

Like I have posted at least a half-dozen times already in other threads.....

The call center has NOTHING to do with K or CR visas!

Don a little bit of advice, it is not worth it they will never take anyones word for it like you I have said the same thing from the begining this is how I feel

http://www.gabthis.com/pissing.jpg

[hypoclear]

I am well aware that the call center has nothing to do with my wife's CR1 visa interview schedule.

 

What I am aware of is the fact that the US Gov will respond so quickly to a procieved problem, while thinking it's business as usually with a system that as far as they are concerned is not broken!

 

I was told 6 to 9 months after repeatted questioning to my congressmans office staff so at 15 months into this process, I'd say it is broken!

 

I just want my wife and others to get a speedy response to OUR REAL PROBLEMS! The emails to GZ and even stating she is pregnant gets nothing more than a canned response.

 

So in ending I know it is just a few more months.. "Please wait." but this is truely an injustice to be treated as a child by an inefficient and unresponsable government.

 

Mark and Bea

[otter5535]

I highly doubt that our fiancee/wives can show up and get their visas but with the way things have been going, who knows.

 

Although the call center problem may not directly affect K1/K3 visa, there has been no P4s given out in about a month. Something is afoot. The P4s that do have interviews will be finishing them up in the next couple weeks. Then what will GZ be doing?

 

Why won't the consulates put a CLEAR statement about what is going on? I assume it's because they really don't know what is going on.

 

King, aren't K1/K3 visas non-immigration visas???

[kimnjake]

Although the call center problem may not directly affect K1/K3 visa, there has been no P4s given out in about a month.  Something is afoot.  The P4s that do have interviews will be finishing them up in the next couple weeks.  Then what will GZ be doing?

 

maybe that is because it has really worked that way for at least about the last 8 months to a year i think.....they only issue the P4's like once a month or something like that, if you dont have your paperwork in the get in with the current month, then you have to wait......it is normal!

 

my husband got his paperwork in near the end of a month and didn't get his P4 until what ended up being almost two months later- about a month and a half i guess....anyway, it is just the way it works....it has nothign to do with the call center or anything like that!!!

 

anyway, the next round should be out soon!!!

it seems like an eternity when YOU are waiting for it, but i am sure the time line of how often the P4's are sent out hasn't changed much!!!

[dcact]

Hello everyone,

 

I understand that the visa call center is closed but has that also affected the email service. My wife received her viasa back in October and we were married in December, so now her 19 year old son says he wants to come to America. I emailed Guangzhou that he is ready and we needed to know how to get the process going. We only have about 5 months before the one year limit is up. If anyone has any advice on K2 following parent to the US, please let me know also. Good luck to everybody that is waiting for that special person. I know I am happy Susan is here!

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

dcact

[Jeikun]

The call center is a seperate entity from the Guangzhou consulate. Emails to the consulate are unaffected. Also, Guangzhou put the new procedures for walk-ins up. What many of you have been saying all along has pretty much been verified. Only NON-IMMIGRANT visas were affected by the call center closure. Immigrant visas were always, and will continue to be scheduled by Guangzhou. Yes, K visas are technically non-immigrant visas, but because they are given to those with a specific intent to immigrate, they are handled in much the same way as an immigrant visa. So, the call center closure doesn't affect them. Also, no walk-ins for K visas.

 

I never expected that (and would have hated to see it... think about the lines, and if you wern't seen then come back tommorrow, repeat as necessary). I was one of those who thought the closure may have affected K visas though. So for those others of you who were worried about that, no need. Maybe that can finally be put to bed now. I apologize for my part in feeding that fire