Breakfast with Maura

[Dan R]

It is great to have actually had a chance to present your views ( I did that with Nixon and Agnew and ended up on a list). I do however have a problem with putting orphans above adults. I guess the problem is why is the government so interested in providing the avenue for adopting Chinese babies rather than helping adults unite to form a household.

 

I may be overly skeptical but if they are concerned about orphans why not reform the domestic adoption system? It seems to me that they prefer babies who can be brought up as Americans over adults who immigrate with their own culture and cause cultural changes here. If it was a humanatarian concern they can make funds available to help these children in their own country. They could also make domestic adoption easier. Somehow this issue doesn't sound right. Of course if I wanted to make someone feel guilty for putting their own adult happiness before the welfare of a child, I might ask them aren't they concerned with the welfare of poor orphaned children. And in spite of small numbers the government is doing the humanatarian thing for them.

 

Ok so convince me I am wrong about this and just being critical.

[odiewan]

Excellent work, Jen. One of these days in the hopefully not too distant future, your persistence in getting through to Harty will pay off...for all of us. Thanks!

[jt1832]

Jenny,

 

Thanks for your efforts on all our behalf. I'll say it and I'm sure everyone will agree that we owe you and the twins breakfast for this....

 

[pingme]

Jenny,

 

It is wonderful you made contact physical contact with someone who can do something about it.

 

Now the only question is will anything be done about it. If there is someone who can, then Maura is the one.

 

- Issues of space in Guangzhou: it certainly won't get any better. Each year there are more immigrant visa applicants to process, more interviews, etc. So offloading the work load from GuangZhou to one of the other consulates seems to be a logical next step. Its already done in many other countries, why not in the worlds largest country?

 

- Adoption over husbands and wives: I don't agree with this. Both are important, both should be cared for in a profession and timely manner. We are both "customers" of the USCIS, we have both paid the required fees (and they are not cheap) so we should both be given fair and equal service. If Guangzhou cannot handle the work load themselves, then it should be given to one or more of the other consulates.

 

At this point, I think it is important that our group (those waiting for K1 or K3 visas from China) should not grow silent. If anything, she is now aware of the issue first hand. She has agreed that there is a problem (at least she was aware of it, and did not sweep it under the rug)

 

So let us keep her awareness up ... and also that of our senators and representatives.

 

I also think a letter writing campaign (a friendly letter writing campaign) to the other consulates in China, asking how they can help would also be beneficial. I think the other consulates are happy that Guangzhou is stuck with this burden, so they don't have to deal with it, but if your loved one is from an area closer to one of the other consulates, then letting them know that you are not happy with the situation in Guangzhou, and asking why can't your loved one be interviewed at their consulate my help. Make it their problem, not just Guangzhou's problem, so they need to resolve it together.

 

Jenny, again thank you so much for your personal effort and expense in this. Hopefully something will be done, maybe not for those currently waiting for Guangzhou, but maybe for those who come after us.

[pingme]

It is early Thursday morning and I am talking to my Ying on Skype.  She said that there was an announcement that the background check done by Guanzhou for a visa which normally takes 3 months will be reduced to 15 days  .

 

Has anybody heard anything similar?  If this is true there might be a sudden reduction in the time required and a sudden increase in the amount of visas issued.

 

Let's hope that the noise we have recently made has helped in this policy change.

if this were true, then it would be wonderful. at any other consulate, it should not take more than 15 days for a background check. so maybe Guangzhou has put some new systems in place.

 

i still wonder, with their volumn, even if they could clear all the background checks, can they still handle the volumn of interviews that would be required? They only have a limited number of VO, a limited number of places for interview and times.

 

So i think there will still be other bottlenecks, but certainly the background check seems to be the one that is out of wackwith all the other embassies and would certainly help make the whole process more efficient.

 

i hope the rumor is true.

 

Did your Ying say where she heard the rumor?

[hank]

Jenny,

 

THANK YOU so much for taking our message to Maura Harty. It is great that she acknowledged that there were problems at GUZ.

 

But the problems are bigger than just wait times. A HUGE problem is the lack of transparency, the way that people can be tossed into the black hole without rhyme or reason. The lack of oversight. The visa denials, even after a white slip is received (such as Alex's case or chuckandshuping). These problems can be solved without increasing office space at GUZ.

 

Simply put, when the visa is denied, we should have the right to discuss our case with someone competent enough to explain what is going on. We deserve that right, after waiting an entire year.

 

So there is a lot that Maura Harty can do! And now that Jenny has brought the issue up, it is up to us to keep the issue going. This is the person who can make changes. Let's keep the emails and registered letters coming.

 

Don't let this opportunity slip away! We need to be heard.

 

Her address:

 

Maura Harty

2201 C Street NW

Room 6811

Washington DC 20520

202-647-9576

 

Email: hartyma@state.gov

[tonymasiello]

Thanks for your efforts Jenny! I admit I didn't know who Maura Harty was before I read this thread today, but was quite surprised when I searched CFL to find there are six pages of results.

[warpedbored]

The lack of space at GZ is a problem yes but not one that should be a problem. They should be processing visas at other consulates too. Pretty silly to only process them at the southern tip of a large country anyway. The lack of Chinese speaking VOs could be easily solved by some college recruiting of ABC or hiring translators. From some of the stories I have read I don't think the VOs in GZ are all that fluent anyway. The one Bing had didn't even try to communicate with her in Chinese. I have read other posts where the VO asked the beneficiary if they needed a translator. Sounds like an excuse to me.

[pingme]

a possible plan of action here at CFL would be:

 

here at CFL there are all kinds of people:

 

1) those who have finished the visa process, and have their loved one here (we can call this group the CFL Alumni! they have passed and received their graduation certificate, their visa!)

2) those who are just starting - (we can call these the "untested poor souls")

3) those are are in the middle of one of the many steps along the way (these are probably the most burt out or frustrated with the whole process)

4) those who are just reading for what ever reason (the lurkers?)

 

each group can help in one way or another, that is after all one of the purposes or goals of CFL. I quote from the site intro, which we have all read before we signed up:

 

"Our emotions have run the gamut. Sadness. Depression. Frustration. However, one emotion we have maintained during this entire ordeal is hope. Hope that the U.S. Government will come to understand the anguish its people are suffering as a result of being separated from their loved ones and act quickly to resolve the delays."

 

- if you are in the first group, you can do something. write to Maura with the details of your actual experience. You have the most proof of what worked or did not work. The more actual details she gets the more informed she will be and know that it is not just an isolated case.

 

- if you are in the second category, there is not much actual proof you can supply yet, but a request of the overall process to be reviewed and hope that she will do something before the end of your year of waiting may help her know and understand the problems are still happening.

 

- for the third group, you are probably the most frustrated or burnt out of anyone else, and may not wish to reveal all the details of your case. but a camly worded letter with how you have been treated so far, and a request that she look into what can be done in the near term may be helpful.

 

- for the fourth group, if you are reading this, please know that our hearts are sincere, and our wish to endure and get through this process is real. if you are willing and able to write a letter, please do so.

 

I think kindly worded lettes to several people will help expose the problems. the most exposure we get, the more likely someone will listen and be able to do something about it.

 

- Maura has oversight over all the consulates, so she is at the top and ultimtaly responsible for what happens.

 

- Each of the consulates in China are responsible for what happens in China. A letter written to each of them, explaining the details of what you have endured, or what is going on in Guangzhou would be helpful.

 

- Each of your senators or representatives, they are there to serve you, they are voted by you, and a kindly worded letter asking them to look into the problems in Guangzhou may help them get re-elected next time.

 

- News local, national. I'm not sure how much the news can help us, but i would think if any one of these previous people begins to get calls from one or more news agencies asking for interviews to investigate problems, illegalities, and discrimination at the Guangzhou embassy, then some people will begin to wake up, realizing their names and jobs may be on the line.

 

- President of the United States? It can't hurt to see if his office would respond or do anything about it. If anyone has a particularly painful expereince with Guangzhou, then maybe his office will respond, to get some good press.

 

enough said, now to write some letters.

[hank]

Pingme,

 

I like what you said about "illegalities and discrimination at the Guangzhou embassy"

 

Has GUZ acted illegally in any way? Have they violated any of our civil rights? The answers to these questions may give us huge leverage in making our case.

 

Is there a way that we can get these answers? Does anyone know the law?

[pingme]

Some news items now appearing:

 

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Maura+Harty

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2...tent_421352.htm

[hank]

This quote from the news article reinforces what I have said about DOS priorities:

 

"Harty said the US government was doing everything it could to improve the visa application process so that more Chinese students were able to study in the US instead of going elsewhere."

 

There is no mention of immigrant visas, because that is not a priority. We are at the bottom of the stack, and will only get buried deeper as they try to make things more efficient for "students" and business people.

 

We need to start writing letters.

[pingme]

Pingme,

 

I like what you said about "illegalities and discrimination at the Guangzhou embassy"

 

Has GUZ acted illegally in any way?  Have they violated any of our civil rights?  The answers to these questions may give us huge leverage in making our case.

 

Is there a way that we can get these answers?  Does anyone know the law?

i'll start a separate thead for this.

 

I am no lawyer, but i can tell when one person is favored over another, especially when it is written in black and white on their website!

[warpedbored]

An arguement could be made that wives/husbands and children of American citizens should come first. These are already immediate family members. Fiances and adoptions are not immediatel family members yet. Unless of course the adoption is already final then they would fall under the children of american citizen catagory. All should have the same priority. Babies would probably still be faster though since it would be ludicrouis to do a background check on them.

[Trigg]

Babies would probably still be faster though since it would be ludicrouis to do a background check on them.

What???? You never heard of a drive by poopin'??

 

Logic has little to do with beurocracy. Creat paperwork so that you can do paperwork that creates more paperwork that creates paprework creating papers for paperwork purposes=job security.