More fun calling GZ - pt.2

[jkobman]

Here's the EMail/etc. in response to the phone call to GZ on the evening of 5/26 - about 10 am, 5.27 in GZ.

 

And yes, I do have writing a "suck-up letter" down to a finely-tuned scientific endeavor!!! B) (maybe I will offer an online "suck-up letter writing class - 3 graduate credits from the College of Hard Knocks)

_________________________

Mr. XXX,

 

It was a pleasure speaking with you on May 26, 2004(GZ), regarding your petition for Ms. XXX. Thank you for providing me with a copy of your e-mail information, as promised a follow-up. According to our computer personnel our system off and on for three days was kicking back e-mails. Of course no exact reason why the system sent replies, when they were not technically received. They have tested the system via DC to here and it appears to working fine.

 

Also I've attached our response to your congressman's inquiry of May 24, 2004 with our response on May 26, 2004.

 

Have a great day!!!

XXX

Consular Section

U.S. Consulate General - Guangzhou

Phone XXXXXXX

Fax XXXXXXX

 

This e-mail is unclassified based on the definitions provided in E.O. 12958.

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

From: XXXXXXX

Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 10:25 AM

To: XXXXXXX

Subject: thank you

 

 

RE - XXXXXXX GUZ####

 

Thank you for your help this evening. I am forwarding the EMail of 5/16 (here in the US) that I did not receive a response that we discussed on the phone. The EMail is copied/pasted below.

 

 

Sincerely,

XXXXXXX

 

_______________

 

Thank you for your inquiry. You may expect a response from us in 5 to 7 business days.

 

PLEASE DO NOT FOLLOW UP BEFORE THEN, AS REPEATED EMAILS RE-SET YOUR INQUIRY DATE AND CREATE A DELAY IN THE RESPONSE TIME ON YOUR CASE.

 

If you have not had an email response from us after 7 business days have passed, please go to our website (http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzhou/iv/email.html) and resubmit your request. GuangzhouIV no longer receives incoming email.

 

Your cooperation in this will help us serve you better.

 

Immigrant Visa Unit

U.S. Consulate General

Guangzhou, China

 

 

 

-------------------- Registration Message Begin --------------------

 

Email_Address: XXXXXXX

Is This Your First Email?: 0 5/9/2004

Beneficiary Name (pinyin): XXXXXXX

Relationship to Beneficiary: Petitioner

Beneficiary Date of Birth: 7-2-1964

Beneficiary Case Number: GUZ#####

Beneficairy Visa Catagory(optional):

Subjects: Other

Message_Text (optional):

 

XXXXXXX

RE - XXXXXXX

GUZ#####

I realize GuangzhouIV is a very busy office. But, I need some level of clarification from you, not an exact answer, just some clarification.

 

When can I approximately expect Wen Xia to be scheduled for her Interview. I am a public school teacher in Virginia and am very limited in my travel times - my work calendar is held against the annual school calendar. I need to schedule flights to/from China and I would like to accompany XXXXXXX to her interview in Guangzhou. I realize you are enable to give specific answers. It would just be a huge help if I can get an idea about when XXXXXXX's interview will be - an approximate time period will be so very helpful.

 

As I said, I know GuangzhouIV is a very busy operation. Any help you can give me would be of immense help.

 

Thank you so very much for your help.

 

XXXXXXX

------------------------- Message end ------------------------------

 

Letter in response to my US Sentor's letter

 

May 25, 2004

 

REF: SENATOR ALLEN’S EMAIL OF MAY 24, 2004

 

TO: THE HONORABLE GEORGE ALLEN

UNITED STATES SENATE

 

 

Dear Senator Allen:

 

Thank you for your e-mail of May 24, regarding the visa application for Ms. XXXXX – GUZ####. Mr. XXXXX asked if appointments have resumed.

 

In response to the question regarding K’s and immigrant visa appointments they have never been stop. All K’s and immigrant visa are schedule by the Immigrant Visa Unit. He must be referring to the China Call Center who scheduled nonimmigrant visa applicant’s appointment.

 

As to the status of Ms. XXX’s case, when her file review is complete, the IV Unit will schedule her formal interview appointment. Due to the high volume of K’s and immigrant visa applicants being scheduled at this time for interview appointments (4,500), our best guestimation for Ms. XXX’s interview will be mid-September to mid-October. We are most hopeful that it will be scheduled sooner. When Ms. XXX’s appointment is scheduled her appointment packet with instructions will be sent to the address of record via EMS courier mail approximately four week prior to her interview date.

 

We hope this information will assist you in responding to your constituent.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Congressional Correspondence Team

 

______________________________

 

This is not what I wanted to hear, but at least I am hearing SOMETHING from SOMEBODY! Again, HURRY UP AND WAIT!!

 

I guess all I can do is laugh , it sure beats crying!!

[turtle]

Wow, so where do we go from here... Sept-Oct seems to be this week's consensus. They state that the k visa appointments never stop, and I have to think that's a flat out lie. Either the person writing this doesn't know what's going on there, or just isn't being honest about it. Well, either that or there's a whole bunch of people outside of Candle and 001 that are getting interviews now...

 

Let's think, 4500 interviews waiting to be scheduled? I assume that's for all immigrant visa types. How many do you think they can crank out each day? And how long will they let these pile up before starting to issue p4s again?

 

Oh yes, forgot the most important part of my mini-rant... How could they let it get to this point in the first place???? If you sit on p4s for 2 months, it shouldn't be a surprise when they start to pile up... Sorry but this is too frustrating!

[Stats]

Sorry to be a stick in the mud, but here goes.

 

You filed your I-129 in Jan 04, and a September/October interview is problem? That is actually a pretty good timeline.

 

And you have Senator involved?

[Stats]

Never mind, i see problem

[jkobman]

A good point, and yes because I was able to go through Vermont, I did not have to wait for a zillion yrs. If I had to wait like a lot of other CFL'ers, I might have gone off the deep end!! I am thankful for the quickness here in the US, but I have problems with the lack of communication over there. I asked my Senator to see if the P3's and P4's were moving. I am still not convinced that they are sending out P3's and P4's. GZ mentioned "manpower" - in Washington DC-ese manpower = money+people, which means "we have this many people to interview that many applicants - so, we will see you in (write month here) for your interview."

 

I don't know what else to say........

 

I care, I want her here and and and and and............

 

oh yah,

 

HURRY UP AND WAIT!

[hypoclear]

Hmmm 4500 at this rate it shouldn't be to long before we become the united states of china....

 

Mark and Bea

 

yeah the same calender year is a god send!

[JerryL]

Never mind, i see problem

Uh, I don't. Can someone enlighten me? Nowadays it takes more time than that just to get out of CSC...

[keelec]

Sorry to be a stick in the mud, but here goes.

 

You filed your I-129 in Jan  04, and a September/October interview is problem? That is actually a pretty good timeline.

 

And you have Senator involved?

It is true that everyone's timeline is different. Perhaps that is why everything is so difficult for those of us who get the slow line at EVERY SPOT IN THE PROCESS :P

 

I started almost exactly 1 year before Jeff & Sarah. I am extremely thankful to finally get an interview scheduled this summer. Wow, what a LONG wait, just over 18 months...... I would trade my 18 month delay for a mere 8 months anyday!!!

 

I believe that the P4 packets being stuck is a real issue (thus, everyone in the same boat can contact their reps), but I am still hopeful that it will be resolved in a matter of months.

 

Of course, there is no need to send excessive numbers of e-mails and making lots of phone calls to GZ. The lowly receptionists may not even know what is happening.

 

Note, the 4500 is "K’s and immigrant visa applicants" (probably including several other visa classifications.

 

----- Clifford -----

[keelec]

Well, either that or there's a whole bunch of people outside of Candle and 001 that are getting interviews now...

I would have to think that the Candle represents a small number of the K visa applicants, perhaps 1% overall.

 

If you take the Candle, 001, K1K3.com, and a few others (then elimiate redundancy), then we might represent 5% of the K visa applicants.

 

However, the Candle alone represents a large enough percentage that one might expect at least 2 or 3 INTERVIEWS a month, and at least a half a dozen people having P4 packets at any one time.

 

Adding in the rest (Turtle's list), one should expect to see at least a dozen interviews a month..... still a small percentage overall.

 

Shear randomness could potentially give a false illusion of a several month "dry spell" without interviews. Yet, the likilihood of that happening is extremely rare. And, with the elusive responses that GZ has been sending out for the last month or so, I believe that this is a very real issue.

 

----- Clifford ------

[se_lang]

I think the biggest problem is not the wait, waiting is easy, painful but easy, However I think if GZ was just to be upfront honest and even post a public message on their website people would be a hell of a lot more understanding, instead they evade giving any real answer the only thing I have seen to be consistent so far is the delayed times Mar=Jul-Aug, Apr=Aug-Sept, May=Sept-Oct etc... however what everybody wants to know is WHY just the plain simple truth.

Here is my theory:

1) Lots of tourists $$$$$

2)Students- Somebody said somewhere only 1% get approved that being the case for every 1 that is approved that is $10,000 gained by the consulates since it is going to be time to enroll for fall semester soon I think there is a large amount of students and each student is also fresh money for local economy's here in US. So again$$$$$$$$$$$

3) We are meaningless as we do not generate enough $$$$$$$$

[turtle]

I think se lang's got it exactly right. Even though they make their money off of us, there just aren't enough of us for it to be very profitable. Compare that with the students, most of whom get refused, and keep trying over and over again at $100 a pop. BTW, the 1% figure is only for single chinese women. For men it's a bit (not much) higher.

 

Some good news is there's a new p4 on 001. A girl got a p4 this week, with an interview date of June 23. The bad news-- I believe her p3 is from January. So that's 2 certified interviews for June, but both somewhat atypcial cases.