Final draft letter and signature page

[Trigg]

READ ONLY PLEASE DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD

 

This is the final draft of the letter. I have incuded a sample siganture page written by John. It is short and concise. I am putting this in a seperate thread as some CFL members have said that the original sample signature page and letter is becoming difficlut to find. If you wish to sign please send your Signature page to me.

 

C. Trigg Minnick

PO box 143

White House TN 37188

_______________________________________________________

Dear Ms. Harty:

 

We are writing to you as members of “Candle For Love” a growing online community of nearly 2,000 law abiding, taxpaying U.S. Citizens. We are joined together by the common bond of a lengthy and unpredictable wait to receive immigrant visas for our spouses, fiancé(e)s and children. The purpose of this letter is to address a few of the current immigrant visa processing issues at the American Consulate in Guangzhou. These issues have caused, what we feel are unnecessary hardships for our loved ones and us. We ask that you take a moment to read our honest and concise assessment of the current situation and of some problems that exist. We ask that you consider possible solutions.

 

1) Wait Times for K1 & K3 Visas:

The wait time for the K-1 Fiancé(e) visa and K3 Spouse visa, being processed at the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou, is the longest in the world. Our members wait an average of 13-months without a good reason or an understanding as to why it takes so long. We would deeply appreciate your help in investigating, why this particular consulate has such long delays. Perhaps you can better help us to understand this situation, especially when considering K type visas processed in most U.S. consulates around the world are completed significantly faster than those processed at the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou.

 

China has the world’s largest population. Isn’t it time that a country of this size and importance has more than one consulate to handle immigrant visas? There are countries of smaller populations and less immigrant demand, which utilize multiple U.S. consulates for this purpose.

 

Recently, some of our members have had the pleasure of hearing you speak in Beijing about the improvements in handling student and business visas from China. Typically, over 180,000 student visas per year are processed and issued in a matter of days or weeks. We are sure that you would consider the petitions of U.S. citizens for their loved ones, to be at least of equal priority as those from Chinese citizens.

 

2) Denials without appeal:

In our opinion, many of our member’s spouses and fiancé(e)s are being denied visas for no apparent reason. After the denial, the U.S. citizen is not permitted an opportunity to consult with a member of the IV Unit to help resolve the issues related to the denials. The specific reason for the denial is often unstated and unknown. Your help in resolving this communication deficit would be greatly appreciated.

 

3) White Slips changed to Blue Slips:

There are a growing number of cases where white acceptance slips are being given to the wife or fiancé(e) of a U.S. Citizen upon completion of the interview. When they return the next day to pick up their visa, they instead receive a blue rejection slip and no visa. This is done without explanation or consultation. This is very confusing to all of us in the “Candle For Love” online visa community. We would like to give our support to your visa officers. This becomes increasingly difficult however, when they overrule themselves with no apparent or stated reason. In our opinion, this reflects negatively on the consulate staff. Again these cases directly affect the lives and futures of US Citizens and their loved ones.

 

The above listed items are simply a few of the issues we wish to bring to your attention at this time.

 

We ask for no special treatment. We ask only for the same and equal consideration, care and service, that anyone requesting a visa in China would and should expect. As the U.S. consulate in China is considered to be U.S. soil, we ask that everyone who enters be treated with the basic human rights of dignity, respect, and non-discrimination that is fundamental to our way of life.

 

We appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to read about our concerns. Collectively, our members have a wealth of information about the family visa process and how it interfaces with the U.S. consulate at Guangzhou. If there is anything that we can do to assist you in your monumental task, please feel free to contact us at any time.

 

Respectfully,

 

 

 

The Members of “Candle For Love.”

 

 

_______________________________________________________

 

SAMPLE SIGNATURE PAGE

 

March 16, 2005

 

Dear Ms Harty,

 

On March 24, 2005 my fianc¨¦e will have her interview for a visa at the U.S. consulate at Guangzhou. From start to finish it has taken 9 months and 9 days to obtain the visa. Although I believe this process has taken far to long, our timeline has been shorter than most others.

 

I am including my signature as an endorsement to the letter being sent to you by C. Trigg Minnick. I do this with hopes that those who follow in my path will have an easier and faster process in obtaining a visa for their Chinese fianc¨¦(e) or spouse.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

_________________________________________________________________

 

PLEASE READ ONLY-DO NOT POST IN THIS THREAD

 

Don, can you pin this as a read only thread so that others can more easily find it????