chrisnhong Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 My wife has been contacted for a phone interview on Monday. I'm told that they will run her through a series of questions, then phone me for an interview to ask the same questions. If all tallies up to the immigration department's satisfaction, then the visa will be issued. Six and a half months since the application was made. Got my fingers crossed.. Link to comment
Trigg Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 Phone interview??? Tell us more!! What type of visa??? Why phone interview?? Why both of you?? How?? Who?? etc etc etc.... Link to comment
Carl Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 Phone interview??? Tell us more!! What type of visa??? Why phone interview?? Why both of you?? How?? Who?? etc etc etc....Maybe it is the way it is done in Australia. It would be nice if our immigration department did the same thing, but it would make sense, save money and time, things our government is unable to do..... Link to comment
chrisnhong Posted February 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 The process seems to be only a couple of steps. The visa application is placed with the police checks and evidence, a few stat decs from family and friends here stating they know about the relationship and a couple of forms. It can be a fairly bulky document. After a couple of months wait, they ask for the medicals to be done, along with further evidence of the relationship. Another couple of months go by and the request comes in for a phone interview with my wife. The applications from places like China can be slow compared to say, countries like the US and the UK. I've seen reports of such visas being approved and issued in less than a week. The US system (from afar) looks like somebody's idiot cousin put it together. Each step where documents etc. are sent to Guangzhou will mean that the wait times blow out. Systems that are built with so many steps are virtually impossible to maintain fast processing unless lots of resources are thrown at them... Link to comment
Chinese Wife!!! Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 Say Chris, Before someone else asks how long to become an Aussie (to file from there)??? I have also heard that immigrating to some European countries (even for the Chinese that have married their citizens) is a lot LESS cumbersome and less timely. Looks like the US and NOW Canada are some of the most difficult- and also a permanent resident card for an American without BIG bucks OR an ADVANCED degree is impossible. Link to comment
C4Racer Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 Many Countries other than US are easy for Foreigners to get visa. My So has a friend marry a French man and go to France - 45 days days. She has another friend go to Germany only 20 days. Then how many Chinese are lined up to go to these other countries? US visas from China alone total 4000 to 5000 each year. This is part of our problem. US has many Chinese who want to come here. The other part of the reason for our slow down is we must look for terrorists on top of looking for visa fraud. So, now after 9-11 the process is harder. It is not the process that makes it slow, it is the amount of people and type of people who want to use the process. We have waited now 9 months. Our P3 was returned in Oct. Hoping for interview date scheduled soon. Link to comment
hank Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 We also have to consider the fact that GUZ is understaffed. And the DOS cannot use the excuse of limited funding, because we and our fiances have all paid to process these applications... on top of what we already pay in taxes. Link to comment
C4Racer Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 We also have to consider the fact that GUZ is understaffed. And the DOS cannot use the excuse of limited funding, because we and our fiances have all paid to process these applications... on top of what we already pay in taxes.Ditto that ........ And we just had an increase in cost to us last April. Just what was that for? We have to pay for the new Bio-metrics when she gets her visa. I see no difference in time it is taking me and my SO, to what it took a friend before the increase and Bio-metrics requirements. So what is our new money paying for? Link to comment
chrisnhong Posted February 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 Let's see... How long to become an aussie. It depends, there are a number of different categories. See Austimeline for details. Getting a visa from China is only slow because there is a lot of fraudulent visa applications made from there. New Zealand probably has the reputation as the easiest country to get visas for and it's one fine place. If you're interested in a little tourism down here, don't forget to go to NZ... Yes, GZ is understaffed, but I draw your attention to the length of some of your signatures and how many steps you have to go through. Each one means that your application sinks to the bottom of an intray and has to work it's way to the top. This system badly needs re-engineering so that most of the work is done in the first step. Biometrics? Well, it's a security/terrorism issue. We're going to have those here shortly, I know the cost is higher, but I can only approve. Passport security has not kept up with current technology available to forgers. Personally I'm not too concerned about terrorists, but poor passport security does allow the movement of criminals in and out of a country. Link to comment
cosmiclobster Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 ...The US system (from afar) looks like somebody's idiot cousin put it together. ...Chris: I think you hit the nail on the head. We have football field sized warehouses full of applications waiting for months while in the meantime:HUNDREDS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (or terrorists or murderers or pedafiles or people with contageous diseases) WALK ACROSS THE BORDER FROM MEXICO EVERY SINGLE DAY Kinda like the French building the Maginot line in WW2, don't ya think??? P.S. I do plan to visit your side of the planet some day - have only heard good things about the land down under. Link to comment
kfman Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 I hate to sound like a broken record.. but I remember my opinion on this before, and it hasnt changed.... governmental workers=oxymoron... that is the key... if they were rewarded for how many visa's they processed.. now that would be a totally different story.. lets all close our eyes and imagine.. hmmmm pay increases for each incremental amount of cases closed... wah.. they would be zinging through there... Link to comment
ptcrusier333rph Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 yeah rubberstamped denied! robert Link to comment
Chinese Wife!!! Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 I hate to sound like a broken record.. but I remember my opinion on this before, and it hasnt changed.... governmental workers=oxymoron... Hey, some of us took occasional work breaks ya know. Retired US Civil Service. Actually, I think from my perspective there are/were way too many attempts at taking a broken system (Similar to some of the Governmental computer systems we keep hearing about and paying and paying and paying for- that still don't do the job they were intended to do) and layer patch upon patch upon until we can't find the tube that HAD a small air leak. Wait 'til it bursts from all the added weight and hurts someone. When DHS evolved after 9-11 they should have thrown out all the OLD bureaucratic BS and started FRESH. By illustration: my basic work guidelines were in 3 each three ring binders in 1975. In 1995 these same "GUIDELINES" were 13 volumes/total of 18 three ring binders weighing over 100 pounds- YEAH I said "GUIDELINES". Rule out any and ALL possible mistakes, remove common sense and flexability. That's my opinion and I THINK I'm ranted out for now. Link to comment
chrisnhong Posted February 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2005 Haven't had time to update for a while. Let's see. The interview last Monday went, well, really quite badly. My wife was phoned by the consulate officer and was asked for a photo to be transmitted from my latest trip to China. No dice, we had a camera, mine, and I have all the pictures. She was not aware that she could have downloaded them from my website. Strike one. She was asked for my full name... To my embarrasment, I had never told her because (i) I only use it on official documents and (ii) it's a real mouthful for someone with limited English. Strike two. Then my wife's nephew got out of bed, the CO heard this and asked my wife to change to English because she thought he may be helping her answer the questions.. Hong just blanked out and the interview was abruptly terminated. I sent an email off to my lawyer the next morning, he contacted the officer in charge. Next thing, I'm phoned by the consulate officer at work. She asked me a few questions, mainly about how we communicate. When I explained that we mainly talk in Chinese, she asked me half a dozen questions in Mandarin, which I was able to answer. Interview complete. My wife was called today and asked for her passport to be mailed to the consulate at Shanghai, so that her visa can be affixed. So there it is. By the time Hong gets her visa back, the process will have taken about 8 months from the application date. Obviously we are delighted! I'm tired, but just can't seem to sleep, making all those plans instead... Link to comment
Luo_Bin_&_Jialu Posted February 17, 2005 Report Share Posted February 17, 2005 Much happiness for you!! I can only hope my K1 goes through quick. Things are going slowly for me...I am at coming up on 7 months with no entry into the GZ system yet. I have seen some loooooonnnnngggg timelines and hope mine isn't one of them at the end.. Link to comment
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