Hello! New here ... but already between p3 and p4

[lele]

Hello Everyone!

 

I *just* found this site yesterday while at my University, and I am so excited that I found this place. The amount of useful information was truly amazing. It is too bad that I did not find it until this late into the process. We are already waiting on a p3 which was acknowledged by GuangZhou in very early September. However, the information here about what to ask at the DOS has been very helpful, thank you.

 

About myself and my lovely precious (I will be cautious for now, since I have found out that some DOS people actually read this site and look for troublemakers...which I believe none of us are, but I still feel the risk is too large to be completely open, except for in private emails, so email me!):

 

I am currently completing my doctorate degree and after my masters degree and some travel in Asia I met my lovely when I was in Beijing. I have been to China now 3 times, have learned much Chinese from her (and thanks to the many Chinese grad students in my department) and have brushed up on the history, culture, food (mala sichuan tai hao chi), and diversity of the nation. It is absolutely amazing! we spent time in more than 12 different provinces together on our trips, exploring exotic locations, cities, places of worship and cuture, forests, mountains, etc. I love to share of my experiences and would love to learn of more places from all of you. this is the type of thing which really drives each of us down our academic paths and towards each other (that and many other things too). As for she, having grown up in a small town, to a poor family, and then moving into a large city in her Coastal Province was a huge jump for her more than 10 years ago, to find work to support her family (we are both very close to 30 years old). This really has established many shared values and experiences which helped us to grow closer to each other, and helped us to better understand each other as we have each learned the skills to better communicate (although all of her English is self taught, it is really good!!!).

 

This does create some logistical issues, since her family is quite poor and since although her hukou was officially registered in the large city, many of her papers come from the small city. However, it was an absolute treat when I was able to go there and see her house that she was born in and many of the older things left over from her past.

 

What is of greatest interest to me is if:

a. you have a story which is similar -- or advice -- that you could share with me

b. you live in Shandong in or near one of the two large coastal cities (she is in one of them, and I will gladly share in a private email)

c. you live in the Boston USA area (where I am in one of the universities) and wanted to share more experiences on this end

d. you have any suggestions for assembling a website with our more than 3.0GB worth of photos taken (we are conceiving to write a travel book at some point, but we would love to get feedback, especially on many of the scenery shots)

e. you have any suggestions as to how to best proceed at this point. We do not want to wait (as everyone else here does too!), however, since I am a full-time student with a huge exam coming up next term, after this winter is over, i will not have more than a few days at any given time through the end of June (save for a week for spring break, that I was hoping we could travel during, and that is not until the latter part of March anyway). Ideally, if she could get here by the middle of January (the earlier the better) then we would have at least 2 weeks where I could take off all of my time to help her to adjust, to marry, and to file all of our papers, as well as find a place to live together. I am worried that if it goes much later than that, it will be tough on us both. Naturally, I will put her above my school, but that will not be easy, politically. Do you think that there is some way to convey this information in a polite, and nice manner to GZ?

 

Thanks everyone, and it is a pleasure to meet you!

 

I can not wait to go back to China again, and this time, hopefully married, together, and as a single family!

[Jim - Portland, USA]

Hi lele, welcome to CFL! Always glad to have new members, the more the merrier!! Glad that you were able to find CFL, it is a great place with lots of info and expertise available

 

Although, sorry, can't relate to any of points, "a" thru "d".

 

As for the last one, it can't and won't happen, I can guarantee it. There is only one possible way to possibly (maybe) (perhaps) (potentially) get GZ to bend your way ... and it's the only way ... and that is IF your wife/fiancee is pregnant (with your child) and is expected to give birth in early February. Then maybe you could persuade them to giver her an early January interview date.

 

But unless your sweetie is already 6 months pregnant, it ain't gonna happen. And the odds of faking a late-term pregnancy are next to nil.

 

So other than a late-term pregnancy, GZ doesn't give a hoot about your case. Sorry to be blunt, but it's true. We have all tried and thought of ways to get GZ to put each of us at the top of their list. But it ain't gonna happen. There are couples who have been waiting since 2001 and they still haven't had their interview yet. It's because GZ doesn't care, not in the least bit. Many (even here on CFL) have even enlisted the help and assistance of their congressmen and senators (not to mention lawyers of all varities), and all to no avail. Certainly your exam schedule isn't going to be enough to get them to budge. But you can try if you like, it at least shows that you are passionate about your relationship. That helps during the interview, which will be way past January. Probably closer to June.

 

Anyway, welcome again and see you around!

[turtle]

Hi Lele, welcome here. I wouldn't worry too much about being branded a "troublemaker", although nothing wrong with some cautious discretion. I also met my fiancee while I was studying in China, actually in Qingdao, which may be the same "coastal place" you are talking about. Luckily I graduated about a year and a half ago, so it's actually pretty good timing for us to be getting married now (although 1 year earlier would have been even better). I think you'll find the people here to be very helpful, and it's great to be able to share our experiences both during and after the visa process. I don't think any amount of pleading or explanation will get gz to expedite your case, though. Honestly, if that were possible, wouldn't everyone do it? As far as I've seen, the only way to expedite a case is if your so gets pregnant (probably not what you're looking for right now). Good luck!

[lele]

Thank you very much Jim for your email and your advice.

 

I appreciate your background and experience on this. It is good to have the reality down, so that way we can prepare as best as possible! :-)

 

I certainly hope that it does not take until June! Yikes! I was hoping, since both the DOS told me today that I would likely get a January Date (2 different people confirmed that and that the name check completed around the same October 10-15 time as everyone else's here did) and since the P3 was received around September 1 (about 1 month later than this last batch) that there was some hope.

 

Does anyone know if they intentionally load in more interviews to be nice before the Chinese New Year???

 

At any rate, is there a reason why the Chinese consulate is so much slower than other similar consulates (except for India, which I also know is very slow)?? A friend of mine in Germany just did the whole process, and it took a mere 7 weeks, from the first I-129 through the K1 being issued... **Sigh**

 

Best of wishes and luck to you and your wonderful situation, and thanks for the information.

 

One final question: You mentioned that showing that I care is important. However, I have contacted them a lot so far, and am wondering if all of my contacting them could be considered pestering (which would possibly slow things down)?

 

Thanks again!

[awch]

The reason that China is so slow is because first of all, it's the most populated country in the world and a LOT of people are trying to get out. All of the applications slow down the system. Also, I think things in China are just slow in general. It takes my mail at least 4 weeks to get back and forth to the US, no matter if you send it by express.

 

My fiance and I are also in a northeastern coastal city, Dalian. Shandong is just below us. That's where my fiance's grandparents are from. I'm an English teacher here and I met my fiance at a gym over a year ago. I'm planning on staying here with him till his visa is approved. I'm starting my master's degree next fall in Chicago (hopefully).

 

As for our timeline, we are currently waiting for P4 and we expect to have an interview next year March, April or May. We don't want to leave until July so that's fine with us. The whole process should take about a year so April will make it around that. I don't think it's gonna happen any faster.

 

As for your point "d" I have my own website that I pay about $100 a year for and have a lot of pictures on there. You can do an internet seach to find the best price. I have a ton of space on it, I can't remember how much now. Free websites are not accessible in China so I had to pay for one rather than do it through geocities or something. If you have the microsoft frontpage software it's extremely easy to create your own website.

 

Hope that helps,

amber

[Guest Gene]

Welcome Aboard

[Guest Gene]

which will be way past January.  Probably closer to June.

 

Jim,

 

LeLe said their P-3 was registered in Guangzhou in September. Do you really think it will be 9 months for an interveiw date? Looking at the timelines it seems to be about 5 months, baring a screwed up name check or something. Am I missing something?

[Squid]

Welcome!

[yyp]

I *just* found this site yesterday......

 

About myself and my lovely precious (I will be cautious for now, since I have found out that some DOS people actually read this site and look for troublemakers...which I believe none of us are, but I still feel the risk is too large to be completely open, except for in private emails, so email me!):

 

I have a question….

 

You say you just found this site yesterday, and then stated “since I have found out that some DOS people actually read this site and look for troublemakers.”

 

I am interested in where you found information about DOS monitoring the site, not that I doubt that it may be done. Do you mine sharing your evidence of DOS monitoring the site? Did someone at DOS tell you they watch the site? Or did someone just tell you this word of mouth?

 

I am by nature a cautious person myself but feel if you make this statement publicly you should shed further light on your knowledge, evidence of such practices.

 

I have been visiting the site for quite awhile and for my part have found that the site is most useful with couples sharing their experiences and offering a shoulder to lean upon from time to time.

 

Good luck

[yyp]

Good morning Don

 

Thanks for your answer to my question.

 

Yes I would be surprised if DOS was not monitoring sites such as Candle.

 

With what I read and have heard of fraud not to mention national security issues I would be highly surprised if DOS was not having a look.

 

We have been waiting for our K1 quite a long time and the Candle has always been a wonderful resource for us. Hearing others share their experiences has been an in-valuable asset during our patient wait.

 

Thanks for all your good work here.

[bobmal99]

Welcome to CFL, I have pm'd you. Hopefully we can talk sometime in the next week or two.

 

[Jim - Portland, USA]

which will be way past January.  Probably closer to June.

 

Jim,

 

LeLe said their P-3 was registered in Guangzhou in September. Do you really think it will be 9 months for an interveiw date? Looking at the timelines it seems to be about 5 months, baring a screwed up name check or something. Am I missing something?

Whoops! My bad I only remembered reading something about "... we are waiting on the P3 ...". So I assumed they were in the pre-P3 days

 

Hey everybody, timelines help, feel free to add one as your signature!

 

Yeah, now that I read it more carefully, I think it will be ... uhm ... perhaps somewhere in between January and June! March maybe??

[warpedbored]

One thing you can count on in this process is that you can't count on anything. Timelines ebb and flow. When I wint through the process NSC was slow but it only took about 6 months after NOA-2. Now NSC is faster and GZ is slower. It appears that they are making some headway on the backlog but I wouldn't bet on it. General rule of thumb is 10 - 14 months from start to finish for a K-visa.

[tonymasiello]

Hi lele,

 

Welcome to CFL! Haven't we already met in cyberland? Approx 2500 photos, right? Qingdao? MIT?

 

Glad to see you made it here. CFL is the best resource on the web!!!

 

For the website, you really want to get a good photo editing program (like Photoshop) that can do batch processing. For my site I reduce all of my photos to a height of 512 pixels and a proportional width. I also compress them in jpg format to a low quality setting (but not the lowest).

 

Perhaps it is time we organized a Boston area CFL gathering!!!

[nousername]

a. you have a story which is similar -- or advice -- that you could share with me

b. you live in Shandong in or near one of the two large coastal cities (she is in one of them, and I will gladly share in a private email)

Hmmm.... in some ways, our stories are remarkably similar.

 

a) Went to China half way through my masters. It was on this trip that i too met my baby.

 

b ) My girl is too from a great "somewhat-near-the-coast" city (LOL)... (the wonderful place we all know of: Guangzhou.)

 

The main difference in our stories is that you seem to have had the chance to become much more Chinese "cultured" than me. It really sounds like you had a chance to travel a lot around china. I am jealous!!! I have only been to China twice now, but i am making a point to go to a least one new, scenic, famous and/or exotic place each time. First trip, I saw Beijing, and GZ. Second trip Hong Kong and Xiewen's hometown in Hubei. Next trip we'll see Hainan.

 

My grad school experience was very similar too. A lot of Chinese grad students in my dept and related depts. But again, i probably did not glean as much knowledge about China as i could have, and as you did. I now trying to learn the language, but it is slow going, b/c work is quite busy (oh, yes, the other difference: I decided to forgo the rest of my education after literally "stumbling" into a great job. I am happy for now. ), and i still have some residual research work to finish up at my University.

 

Lastly, welcome aboard!!

 

Ryan