Must speak English during interview

[krjchen]

Hi,

 

I'm a newbie to this site. I've been reading all the posted messagen and have found that the visa officer speaks English during the interview. I'm fluent in Mandarin and communicate with my fiancee in Mandarin.

 

Will the visa officer speak Mandarin? Is English a requirement?

 

Thanks.

[C4Racer]

From everything I have been told, there is no requirements for either of you to speak each others language. Carl (warpedbored) will confirm this as he went to the question and answer session at the embassy.

 

The only requirement is that you are able to communicate with each other. They want to see enough communication to establish and maintain a relationship. I understand a interpreter is available to the VO if they need one.

 

Since she will not be speaking English at the interview, I would recommend having a VCD made showing either you speaking fluent Mandarin for 5 minutes or better yet the two of you communicating for 15 minutes. This will be enough to show the VO the level of your communication. Have her take the VCD to the interview. They will probably give her a blue slip. The blue slip simply means they need more information. On it will probably be the request to prove your level of communication. She can then hand the VO your VCD right away. She still may have to come back for the decision as they will probably review it later, but the VCD should be enough to overcome any apprehension by the embassy.

 

Are you going to be in Guangzhou during the interview? I ask because I understand you can get the VCD made close to the embassy. It will be in the exact format they require. I think others have said it can be made at the "White Swan", but don't quote me on this.

 

Any way, Welcome to Candle,

Good luck and best wishes,

Michael

[Trigg]

Innability to speak English doesn't neccesarily mean a blue slip. Communication ability is what they are looking for i.e. how do you and your SO communicate. My wife(then fiancee) spoke very little English and I speak almost no Chinese. She had no problem at the interview. She explained that we communicated using a pocket translater and interpretors etc.. I have known several who were isssued a visa who spoke no English. Others were issued a blue slip who spoke fair English.

 

The idea is to prove a valid relationship. To do this you need to prove that you and your SO can, and do, communicate.

 

A VCD showing the two of you can communicate is a good idea to have in the unlikley case you get a blue slip. It will likley do no good at the initial interview.

[yyp]

My understanding from past posts on CFL is that when you make the video you both must have your hands on the table visible at all times in the video.

 

The posts also mentioned that there are businesses around the consulate that can provide this service.

 

I am sure someone here who has gone through the video process can give you a clearer picture of what is required.

 

I would make the video before the interview.

 

Good luck.

[leejcandle]

My fiancee got the "insufficient evidence of relationship" slip yesterday.

 

The VO asked if she could speak English. My SO said no. The translator comes, then asked if she could speak English. My SO got confused and emotional, and the interview went downhill from there.

 

So it can cause a problem.

 

I wrote a long email letter to the consulate explaining that she and I use Mandarin to communicate, and that the evidence she had with her (including emails and chat logs in Chinese, and a video tape) should be sufficient.

 

I want her to go back next Monday. Needless to say, she's very discouraged.

[frank1538]

Lee, sorry to hear about this apparent screw-up. Hopefully, this can be fixed quickly, so you can put this all behind you. Hang in there bud.

[hank]

Lee,

 

Sorry to hear this. But your situation can be resolved. It is only a matter of showing that you can communicate, and this should not be hard with the video tape. I would wish you the best of luck, but you won't need it. You will pass with flying colors... just focus on getting your so to keep her chin up.

 

And a question about the expired single certificate. How long is it good for? The P3 asks us to get this stuff as soon as possible. Is that a mistake? Should we wait?

[ghall20]

Hi,

 

I'm a newbie to this site. I've been reading all the posted messagen and have found that the visa officer speaks English during the interview. I'm fluent in Mandarin and communicate with my fiancee in Mandarin.

 

Will the visa officer speak Mandarin? Is English a requirement?

 

Thanks.

My wife got asked 2 questions in english and all the rest were in chinese--poor chinese she said...

It depends on who you get for a VO. and we all wont to cover all the bases we can--being this close to the end of all the waiting.

[leejcandle]

I think one problem was that once she got flustered, she couldn't think on her feet. Maybe the consulate wants to test her, to make sure she's sincere (I know she's sincere.)

 

I told her the best thing to do is get her unmarried certificate updated, and go back to Guangzhou and face them as soon as possible.

 

She's better now, emotionally. We now just need to execute.

[bandj]

Expired notarial single certificate - how long till they expire? - Dongdong has one from 7/04 and i expect interview 4/05.

Best of luck Lee and Julia

[krjchen]

Thanks everyone for your help!!!! I will record something before my fiancee goes to GZ.

[Dean Hall]

I noticed hear that everyone keeps talking about a VCD. Unless things have drastically changed since August, you need to present a NTSC VHS tape.

 

I have reprinted the topic from the archives here.

 

 

 

 

Dean Hall posted this in the General Visa Discussion and it seemed like a good one to put here. Thanks, Dean.

 

 

This is a continuing topic on the Candle, so I thought I would add to it.

This is copied from a post last week.

 

Everybody-

 

Clearing up the VHS tape issue:

 

The tape you make needs to be a US standard VHS format. (NTSC)

This was just verified in person by Moon Carol. (08/04)

 

Let me explain a little further, my experience being in the videography field as an electrical engineer in the continents of Asia, Africa, and the USA.

 

All US Embassies (I did videography for one in West Africa), are in essence on their own tiny slice of American soil within whatever country we are talking about.

 

This being said, everything within that building is shipped from the USA.

The furniture, computers, and video equipment.

 

The voltage is even converted to 110v.

 

What this means, is, that when you give them (the US Consulate) a standard VHS tape, they will push it into a US version (NTSC) tape player that was shipped from the states.

 

The term "Chinese VHS thing" is very confusing.

 

What people are doing is this: They are taking a Chinese wife / fiance into

a Chinese facility which is filming your English or Chinglish 5 minute conversation on a Chinese (PAL) version video camera, then electronically converting it into an NTSC (American) format and transcribing that onto the VHS tape.

 

Or, secondly, folks are filming their own selves using their US 8mm or digital mini-cams, and the Chinese facility is transfering it straight to a VHS size tape going NTSC to NTSC, or simply just transfering your stuff to the larger VHS tape.

 

If you were to bring your own older version VHS size camcorder, (hard to find anymore, but I do have one kicking around Shenzhen somewhere),

you could simply do your taping, pop it out and hand it to the consulate.

 

As to the VHS tape itself. It does not matter whether you bring the tape from the US, buy it in China, or bring it from Africa or Bangladesh.

They are all the same. Its the format thats recorded on them that changes.

Although there are thousands of labels (Maxell, RCA, TKD, ect) there are only 4 major factories producing all of the VHS tapes.

 

So if you were to bring that very same tape back with you and plug it into your machine here in the US, it will play just fine.

 

A quick re-cap.

When making your video, equipment-wise, that is, think American.

The VHS size is the big tape size like you rent from Block Buster.

When you have it made in China, you are handing the consulate a USA version VHS tape. Bring it home and play it again.

 

The Chinese will tape you using Chinese (PAL) equipment, but convert it to American (NTSC) VHS tape.

 

I hope this is not to confusing.

 

The very best of luck to everyone going through this process.

 

Dean.

[warpedbored]

Single certs and police checks are good for one year. There is no expiration date for birth and divorce certs. If your SO is handed a blue slip asking to prove communication The VO will not look at the vcr tape right then and there. If one is required then it may not be best to tell them you have one already since they may specify they want a newer one. You simply come back the next day and submit what they want as overcome evidence. Dean is correct, they want VCR tapes done in the same format you watch here in the states. They will not take a vcd or any other format.

[oregonknl]

Lee,

 

Let me add my best wishes for resolution of your situation... anyone that goes back as far as you knows that you are a master at communication with your SO --- very creative ... to the point of carrying her around in your lap top ~! ha, ha!

 

....just wish the VO's in GZ were half as much...

 

I do think this is one of the areas where the "process" is evolving...

 

Fei (December interview) wasn't even offered the option of speaking in Mandarin ----

 

.... and the VO was on the attack from the first question, which threw her too, but her English is pretty good, so she came back at the VO after a moment's thought....

 

I do think we are going to see more of this shift from interview to interrogation as homeland security continues to focus (stupidly) on legal immigration...

 

..... our SOs, and legal applicants everywhere are the obvious easy targets...

 

But Lee, I do expect you both to prevail!

[Chinese Wife!!!]

Might want to say cograts on the "My Julia got the white slip'" thread.