The Group Letter - As Promised

[hank]

Last week, BeijingJenny spoke with Maura Harty, the Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs. This is the person who can make needed changes at GUZ. Afterward, several CFL members have been sending Mrs. Harty emails and letters. The idea of a group letter was proposed, and I volunteered to write it. Well, here it is. Please let me know if you want to sign the letter... we need enough support to make it worth sending. In addition, any feedback about the letter would be useful. It still needs to be edited. Finally, those with stories that you would like to send, please PM me. We can include your stories as an attachment to this petition. Thanks everyone.

 

"Dear Mrs. Maura Harty,

 

 

We are members of “A Candle For Love”, a growing online community of American Citizens who are waiting to be reunited with family and loved ones in China. The purpose of this letter is to address current immigrant visa processing problems at the American Consulate in Guangzhou. These issues have caused unspeakable hardships for us and our families, so we hope that you will take a moment to read our assessment of the current situation. Below, you will find a list of reoccurring problems that our members have encountered.

 

Our greatest concern involves the complete lack of transparency and customer service in the visa process. Currently, several of our members are stuck in what we have termed the “black hole”. It is a situation in which their fiancés or spouses have been denied visas, even after resubmitting evidence. Their greatest anguish comes from not being told the exact cause of the denial. How can they provide the right evidence or even make their case when there is no consular representative to discuss the situation with?

 

Imagine the unspeakable hardship that is placed on these couples, especially after being required to put their lives on hold for over a year for the visa process! Some of those in the “black hole” are left with no choice but to leave the United States and move to China. In a sense, this creates a backdoor deportation of American Citizens who cannot bear to part with their fiancés or spouses.

 

This situation can easily be resolved if those who were denied visas, after resubmitting evidence, could have the opportunity to sit down and discuss their cases with a knowledgeable consular officer. This is not only fair, but an ethical necessity.

 

Our second concern involves the treatment that our fiancés and spouses have received during interviews. Some have received blue slips or denials before the consular officers even looked at the evidence presented. How can any interviewer make a fair decision without considering the evidence? We feel that this is completely unfair and unethical.

 

In addition, some of our fiancés and spouses have encountered interviewers who refuse to provide interpretation services. To make matters worse, some of these same interviewers have asked questions in rapid succession, without providing proper time for our fiancés and spouses to answer. We strongly feel that the authenticity of our relationships cannot be measured in one’s command of the English language. If there is a written policy that requires fluency in English, we would like to know about it. If not, interpretation services should always be available.

 

Finally, we would like to mention the visa cases that are stuck in another type of “black hole”. Several of our members have been stuck in the second name check process for nine months and beyond. This is a terrible situation, in which these couples are left to wait indefinitely. To make matters worse, they are kept in the dark as to the causes of these delays. Once again, this is an issue of transparency.

 

In conclusion, we are not asking for any major changes in the visa processes at Guangzhou. We are merely requesting better customer service and transparency in the visa process. We feel that our demands are fair and necessary. The inexcusable suffering of so many Americans and their loved ones can be alleviated with a few small changes. Please provide better customer service and transparency to those who encounter snags in the visa process. Please ensure that consular officers treat our fiancés and spouses with the respect and attention that they deserve. This is all that we are asking for. Thank you. "

[ptcrusier333rph]

you forget the dread blue slip after the white slip

 

robert

[eeyore]

Good letter I'll consider signing it.

[warpedbored]

The black hole days was a different era. I would find another name for it. Also the use of unspeakable doesn't ring right to me. Perhaps reprehensible would be a better term.

[markndannie]

instead of unspeakable I would suggest unbearble or tremendous. Maybe purgatory instead of Black hole, and i would not say deportation...maybe expatriation? I will consider signing

mark

[Carl]

Looks pretty good as a first draft.....the other have made some good suggestions to improve it.....once it is in its completed form I will also sign it.

 

Carl

[impatient]

At this point I will sign anything if it will get my SO here sooner but it does look good.

 

Bill

[Alex]

It bears repeating the letter should mention the current trend of white slip on day of interview followed by blue slip on day of visa pick-up... this unethical and abhorrent practice casts a long shadow on GZ's credibility . How can she ignore it??

[nooneufo]

Perhaps changing the word "transparency" to "accountability"?

 

The statistics provided at the USCIS web page show that The Philippines is on par with China in dealing with a similar number of total visa's.

In 2002 total number of Immigrants from China were 256,671 of which 1491 were K1 visa's. During the same time period the total number of Immigrants from the Philippines was 265,039 of which 3012 were K1 visa's. Not only does The Philippines process more visa's, they do it in an average of a third of the time that it takes for China. Subjecting this small amount of a particular class of visa to an extra months of meaningless wait time looks suspicious. Only one explanation makes sense for this, since other classes of visa's are processed in record time in China, and that would be the selective discrimination of the Family based visa. We assume that discrimination is not the policy of the Department of State based on the process times at the Manilla and other consulates around the world, but the evidence points that the exception to this exists in the Guangzhou Consulate.

 

From this page:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/wait/tem...gzhou&x=76&y=16

 

Guangzhou

 

Typical Wait Time (Calendar Days*) for a Nonimmigrant Visa Interview Appointment

 

Visitors Visas: 15 Days

Student/Exchange Visitors Visas: 6 Days

All Other Nonimmigrant Visas: 15 Days

 

Typical Wait Time (Workdays**) for a Nonimmigrant Visa To Be Processed***: 1 Days

 

*Calendar days refer to every day of the week, including days when embassies are closed (such as weekends and holidays).

**Work days refer only to days when the embassy is open and does not include weekends and holidays.

***IMPORTANT NOTE: Processing wait time DOES NOT include the time required for additional special clearance or administrative processing. These procedures require additional time. Most special clearances are resolved within 30 days of application. When additional administrative processing is required, the timing will vary based on individual circumstances of each case.

 

(March 1, 2005)

[beijingjenny]

I agree - good letter! I do think you should use the word "transparency" just because that is what she kept repeating herself - how things are becoming more "transparent" and "efficient".

 

Maybe it's just me, but I would not say "that is all we want". In fact, we do want major changes. We realize change will not be overnight no matter what she does but what we are asking for is pretty much an eventual complete overhaul of how things work there.

 

The long wait times should def be emphasized, even if ultimately it's not the biggest issue.

 

Also one small thing - I'd refer to her as "Secretary" or "Ambassador" rather than "Mrs.."

 

Thanks so much Hank. You've done a great job putting the main issues into writing concisely. I'll sign it.

[Trigg]

You may wish to change priorities. What you have listed as number one is extremely rare and will likely stop the rest of the letter from being read. Most often occurrences should be listed first etc... Lack of communication appears to be your goal issue. Is this the case??? Or is it??? They will solve this with a blurb on their web site. How about lack of consistency in the area of time frames as compared to other consulates.

 

Just my 2 yuan

[pingme]

- white slips turn blue:

This needs to be mentioned and is a simple problem with a simple fix. the VO just needs to do their job properly or be fired! (ok not in so many words, but basically it is not a radical restructing of what they do, just do their job correctly.

 

- waiting times: this i feel is the most important issue, one that has not gone away with time and is not getting better. A Chinese student requesting a student visa only waits a matter of days, maybe weeks, while a US Citizen petitioning for thier loved ones, waits months on end. they are able to process 180,000 students visas a year in a matter of days for each, but cannot process a few thousand K1 or K3 visas properly and efficiently.

 

for signing, i wonder if it might be easiest to include the number of memebers of Candle for Love (or total size), how long we have collectivly been in existance (to show the problem is not a temporary one, but has been going on for years.)

 

if there is a wait to print out all the members handles, those can also be listed as our signatures.

 

in the intro to the site, it states that one of the purposes of the site it to bring awarness of this problem to the world:

 

"This website, A Candle for Love, is dedicated to creating awareness about the indefinite delay for Chinese and Russian people waiting to be reunited with their loved ones in the United States."

 

so i would assume that means anyone who has registerd with the site would agree that this letter, with the intent of bringing the issues to Maura, would be in line with their purpose for signging up on this site.

 

after the letter is complete, anyone who wishes to send a personal copy, either via email or post mail should be free to do so, and include any other person comments of you history or experience with Guangzhou.

 

I would also recommend sending copies to anyone listed as a contact in Guangzhou, as well as the other embassies in China.

 

And a copy to your senator/representatives may also help.

[wolffjw]

Suggestions:

 

Remove any and all references to 'Candle-For-Love'. Besides what Donahso mentioned, any association with any internet group should probably be avoided.

 

Next, I have heard the 'black hole' referred to as"visa detention" on the BBC and on other news media. I think this is the accepted term these days.

 

Finally, I think it would have much more impact if everyone copy and paste the letter and print it out and send it themselves. If you would provide the names and addresses to copy also, that would be even more helpful. Typically these offices are obligated to reply to everyone copied on the letter, which makes their reply that much more formal and responsible.

 

I for one would be more than happy to send the letter. I don't mind the $5 postage for global priority, especially when it will help so many people who will follow.

 

-jim

[Rick-Guohua]

Very good letter, Yes, the White slip changed to Blue slip the next day does need to be addressed.

Hell, I'll sign it and I'll sign my name.

I'm a dreaded United States Government Empolyee,,

 

Rickey L Massey

[hank]

Thanks for the feedback. I will edit the letter and post the new copy soon.

And for those who are experiencing serious visa problems, please send me a copy of your stories.... you can PM it to me if you like. Perhaps Mrs. Harty can look into your cases.