How patient you have to be

[yuanfen42]

I have been sending emails on regular base to GZ and I always

have my fiancee's mail address (in Chinese) included, since she

got a hard time to get her p3.

I was totally ignored for a while, then for my last email (oct 23),

I finally got a response, which didn't answer my questions at all,

instead it said the system doesn't read Chinese chars... please

resubmit the request in fax or mail.

 

I am wondering how the system works, does it have a char filter?

I guess i have to remind myself "be patient" a few times a day.

[Guest Gene]

I am not sure how their system works, But it does say at the top of the form english only, so I would guess if you write anything in chinese it would slow it down or reject it completely

[yuanfen42]

I did have everything in English, except her mailing address considering

how long it took for her to get p3. I have been doing like this since April.

I guess they have a new system installed.

[PJ]

I can address this from a tech perspective. If you are entering Chinese text GB2312 into a form, it will hose the application, unless specifically built to handle GB2312. It's rare and expensive to find engineers that can build a multinational app. I would just stick to English.

 

P.J.

[awch]

When I email Guangzhou I always get replies the same day. But they never answer my questions, example:

 

My most recent questions to Guangzhou:

 

We are now preparing our documents for the K-1 interview. I know that all documents such as birth certificate, police record and marriage status certificate must be translated into English and notorized (which we have already done). How long are these documents good for? If our interview isn't until next year in February, will they still be good or will we have to get renewed documents?

 

ANSWER:

All the certificates are always valid except the police certificate and unmarried certificate are one year valid.

 

I mean, don't they read the question??

[msmckee]

I mean, don't they read the question??

No.

 

I get a non answer every time. I once told them they did not answer my question. I included the original question and their non answer in a new mail and politely asked the question again. They refered me to the previous non answer. The last mail I sent 5 weeks ago remains unanswered. I just call DOS now. It is hit or miss depending on who answers the phone.

[keelec]

I can address this from a tech perspective.  If you are entering Chinese text GB2312 into a form, it will hose the application, unless specifically built to handle GB2312.  It's rare and expensive to find engineers that can build a multinational app.  I would just stick to English.

 

P.J.

It is not that Chinese Characters will necessarily "Hose" the application.

 

However, I believe that most international character sets are represented using two characters called bytes, possibly including what would normally be non-printing characters.

 

There could be issues from incorporating a wider range of characters than the program is designed to display. Many of the “non-printing” characters have specific functions that might not be desirable such as “end of file”, “return”, ”linefeed”, “escape”, and “bell”. However, the more likely possibility is that the Chinese characters just appear as a string of pure gibberish.

 

I have had e-mail apps that did not like Cyrillic. I have gotten so that I could recognize my friends’ signatures (always the same seemingly random character string). Yet, the name was never recognizable.

 

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

[sailorboy]

We are now preparing our documents for the K-1 interview. I know that all documents such as birth certificate, police record and marriage status certificate must be translated into English and notorized (which we have already done). How long are these documents good for? If our interview isn't until next year in February, will they still be good or will we have to get renewed documents?

 

ANSWER:

All the certificates are always valid except the police certificate and unmarried certificate are one year valid.

 

I have read your questions over carefully. Your first question is: How long are these documents good for? Your second question is: If your interview isn't until next year in February, will they still be good or will we have to get renewed documents?

 

The answer given is that all documents are always VALID except the police certificate and the unmarried certificate. Those two have a one year validity.

 

So with exception to those two documents, your other forms will be valid. It looks like they did answer your question in its entirety. Did I also miss something in your question(s)?

 

Dave

[keelec]

We are now preparing our documents for the K-1 interview. I know that all documents such as birth certificate, police record and marriage status certificate must be translated into English and notorized (which we have already done). How long are these documents good for? If our interview isn't until next year in February, will they still be good or will we have to get renewed documents?

 

ANSWER:

All the certificates are always valid except the police certificate and unmarried certificate are one year valid.

 

I have read your questions over carefully. Your first question is: How long are these documents good for? Your second question is: If your interview isn't until next year in February, will they still be good or will we have to get renewed documents?

 

The answer given is that all documents are always VALID except the police certificate and the unmarried certificate. Those two have a one year validity.

 

So with exception to those two documents, your other forms will be valid. It looks like they did answer your question in its entirety. Did I also miss something in your question(s)?

 

Dave

I think the medical exam may also "expire" after a year.

 

Also note, the DS-230 expired earlier this summer. I am not sure if they have the new official forms out or not. But, if you download forms off of the internet, you could potentially run into problems.

 

Hmmm...

Also your I-134.... If the interview is before April, expect to use the 2003 form 1040. However, if the interview is after April, you may need the 2004 form 1040.

 

----- Clifford -----