Getting It Late But Getting It Straight!!

[yave20b]

My fiancee met the Black Pearl and lived to tell about it!! We sailed through the interview with no problems. We woke up early and went to the Consulate about half past 6am. There were only about 4 people in front of us. About half past 7am the Consulate guards came out and started to let people line up in the second line. She finished the preliminary things by 10am and came outside with her papers telling her to come back at 1pm for the interview. We came back about half past 12 noon to line up and had about again 4 people in front of us. The Consulate guards were late and did not come outside to let people in until almost half past 1pm. Again I waited and waited. Many girls were coming out and its getting on to 3pm. I'm starting to worry because the girls keep coming out and the ones who we met keep telling me my fiancee is still in there waiting for her turn. Finally, my fiancee comes out and calmly walks over to me telling me we need to go now. We start to go and finally I have to stop her and ask "did you get the visa?". She looks a little confused and thinks for a moment and answers "yes". I'm puzzled at her confusion but as we walk I finally discover why she is behaving so strangely, She tells when her turn comes for the interview she saw she was going to get the Black Pearl. She said at that time her heart jumped into her throat. She swallowed her heart and decided to give it her best. FIrst thing she does is take out our 15 pound evidence book and place it on the countertop in front of the VO. Then she smiles and says to the VO "Good afternoon". The VO smiles back to her and says "Good afternoon". My fiancee sees all of the papers including our photos in front of the VO. The VO is looking at them very closely, especially the photos. Then the VO speaks to my fiancee in Chinese and stops then says in English "Oh you speak English". My fiancee says "yes". The VO asked her only 4 questions.

1. Which hotel are you staying? My fiancee can't remember the English name of the Victory Hotel and says the name in Chinese. The VO smiles to her and says she that's a nice hotel.

2. The VO asks "is your fiancee here now?" My fiancee shows her my passport and says "yes".

3. The VO asks "where is he now?" My fiancee says "he's outside waiting for me".

4. The VO keeps studying a photo I took of her showing her engagement ring I gave her on Hainan Island last year, The VO asks "where is this ring now?". My fiancee did not want to wear the engagement ring into the Consulate that morning but I threw a big fit and made her. Thank God! Because my fiancee holds up her hand and shows her the ring.

 

The VO never asks to see my I-134 or any other evidence. The VO reading through the I-129 stuff makes the comment "your fiancee has a very good job". The VO then tells her the visa is approved and explains to her how and where to pick it up the next day. My fiancee thanks her very much and leaves.

 

My fiancee is so shocked for two reasons:

1. She got asked very few questions

2. She said the dreaded Black Pearl which she feard so much from hearing about her for such a long time was very nice to her and smiled all the time to my fiancee.

 

My observations after my experience and reading posts on this Web site for the past 1 year:

1. Preparation of I-129 is key. Put it together as if you were going to publish it. I used three ring notebook binder and divided it into key sections with tabs. Include tons of photos. Make it look professional. Make it easy for them to find things. If you have some problems in your past that may cause you trouble with the visa bring it up and explain it in the I-129 now.....I did. Don't let them spring it on your fiancee in Guangzhou and expect her to explain it for you. Many people on this Web site have felt for a very long time that the majority of the decision to give the visa or not is already made before the interview. I tend to agree. The only way that can possibly be is from your I-129 application. Plead your case on the I-129 and don't let that burden fall on your fiancee's shoulders during the interview.

2, Be there for the interview. Don't make excuses why you can't be there. I couldn't be there but I was. That's a big thing for the Consulate I believe now. If it isn't then why were they always asking the girls "is your fiancee here now?" on the day of our interview. Call in sick for 1 week if you have to and borrow the money to fly there if you don't have it. The people we met there that day all said they got asked about whether their fiancee was there or not.

3. Make your evidence book as professional as your I-129. Make it good enough to publish and as easy to find things as an encyclopedia. I saw too many girls there with bags full of papers and and photos,,,no order to them. I believe if they see that you have a well prepared evidence book in order they will know you are taking this seriously and working hard for it.

4. If your fiancee has children expect her to get grilled good by the Consulate even if she does not intend to bring them. One girl we met who has a grown daughter who is not coming with her got roasted good about her daughter but still managed to get the visa. Another girl who had two children was failed because one of the children's last names did not match the beneficiary's last name even though she produced overwhelming official documentation that both were her children. Get her prepared to asnwer tough questions about her children. Don't leave her alone to deal with it unexpectidly.

5. For God sake don't be lazy. Help your fiancee fill out all the crap the Consulate sends her in P4. You already know what questions they ask on what form. Help her answer this stuff. I had mine send all the forms to me and filled them out myself and sent back to her.... except for the Chinese versions. I met too many girls who told us their fiancees did not try to help them so they had to go to those rediculous businesses that fill out the forms for them for an outragious fee. And the girls had to pay for this out of their own pockets because their American fiancee did not send them the money. Jesus Christ! I felt like asking them how they could marry such a guy but I kept my mouth shut.

 

Sorry for offending anyone but this really made me quite angry. Me and my fiancee listened to too many girls tell stories about how little help they got from their fiancees in dealing with all this stuff and how cheap they were always tryiing to push the cost of everything and the work of everything onto the backs of these very nice but very not so rich Chinese girls. What a bunch of losers!!! In my opinion these guys don't deserve to have a Chinese wife and the best thing that can happen to these girls is their visa is denied.

 

Now to all the nice people we met during our interview I thank all of you and wish you a happy life. And for all those who helped me so much on this fine Web site I thank you too and wish you a happy life. I really don't think we could have done this without this Web site and all of its members helping each other.

[nooneufo]

Congratulations.

Thanks for the info as well. It is always good to hear about peoples general impressions, and I quite agree with you about the preparations. Nice write up.

[ptcrusier333rph]

GRATS!

 

 

Thoa expect me to help her on all the forms, forms scare her and she a teacher.

 

Robert and Thoa

[Jason+Joanna]

Congrats !!

[Dogfish]

Congratulation!!

Thank you for share your experience!!!!

[frank1538]

Congratulations! I guess love...and a good publicist...conquers all. Have a wonderful life.

[ed and ying]

Congratulations and thanks for info.

[impatient]

Congrats and thanks for the insight. Good luck to both of you.

 

Bill

[Squid]

Simply amazing! Congratulations and Thankyou!

[BuffaloPaul]

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing all the info. Very helpful.

 

[awch]

Congratulations! Looks like today was a good day at GZ.

 

I saw a few guys with their SO's.... not sure if or which one was you. I was probably hard to miss as the only US woman there....

[C4Racer]

Congratulations.

 

Your post is also right on the money.

 

This is exactly how I tackled this process. My I129-F had everything including the kitchen sink. It had my an I-134, three years tax returns and a letter from my employer. I also placed as much evidence of our relationship inside as I could. It was placed in the ACCO style report binder bound on top only because this is how Nebraska service center site says they prefer the application to be submitted.

The documents she took with her were placed into separate clear report folders. Then placed into a clear expandable filer system. Each had their own section and were labeled appropriately. It had a holder on top for a CD, this is where she carried my passport so it was clearly visible to the VO.

 

I got there two days before her interview. The first day we sat in the hotel room and filled out all of the P4 paperwork. We went over every inch of the paperwork. She had copies already filled out in pencil. We talked about each question. When it came time for the family questions, she had listed her son as having the same address as her since she did not know the address where he is now. She did not think it mattered because they do things different in China. I told her the VO will question why he is not coming so it will be best to list what we do know making sure they know he lives with his father's side of the family. So she put down just the city and providence. Next day we went to the clinic and turned in all of the P4 documents with the receipt from the bank.

 

The appointment letter she received had a mistake on it. They had originally scheduled her interview for March 10th, changed their minds and set it for March 8th. They had the date crossed out, but no stamp. There was no way to tell if the consulate did this or we did it. So day before her interview I went to the consulate with letter in hand. I asked the guard to be allowed to go inside and have the problem with the letter straightened out. He looked at the letter and asked, "Who changed this? Did you do this?" No, my fiancee received it this way so I am here to make sure she has no problems tomorrow. I need to verify the date of her interview and have them mark the letter that this is okay. He says, "It should have their stamp if they changed it." Yes, I know, this is why I am here today. I want to get this straightened out so she has no problems tomorrow. He told me to wait, took her letter and my passport inside. Comes out and says, you will have to wiait. It took forty five minutes to an hour, but finally he comes back with the letter with their stamp of approval for the change. The mistake of them forgetting to stamp it, gave me a chance to announce to the visa section, "I was in Guangzhou and ready to help my fiancee with everything!"

 

The next day the interview went very well. She was asked a couple of questions about me. How many times have I been to China? What did I do? Then she was asked about her son. Who does he live with now? Who pays for his care? So it was a very good thing I had her change the family documents to reflect this. Then she was informed she got the visa.

 

This is your future as well as hers. It is important to be there so she knows you will support her in what ever comes up. It was also good I was there to help her with her flight out of China. We got to the NW ticket counter. The lady processes my ticket, then looks at my fiancee's ticket and says, "Oh, we can't do this. She has no return leg." I say to her, "She does not need one, she is on a K1 visa and is immigrating to the US !!" It took a while and I had to make them call over the Big supervisor. He looked at it, asked to see the packet. I said, no problem but it can only be opened my an INS officer. He looked at it, back at the visa, asked me if I was the person listed on her visa, Yes. He finally said, "I don't see any problem." Her eyes were big and round all the way through this, she thought they might not let her leave. After doing battle with Guangzhou, NW was a push over.

 

Be prepared. Be prepared. Be prepared.

Make it look like this is the most important thing you have done in your life.

It will make an impression on the VO.

[Dan R]

Congratulations!!!!

[cosmiclobster]

yave (and C4 racer) First, CONGRATS!!!

Second, you both are very wise. I also put a lot of stuff in the 129 packet, as if that was going to be the only thing that decided if our relationship was real. Instead of a businesslike intent to marry letter I wrote a very nice personal loving type of letter. I put every picture of us together that we had at the time and she took additional ones with her to the interview.

Give them more than enough info and be prepared and organized.

 

I am also pleased to hear someone post something positive about the black pearl. Instead of slamming the lady without first hand knowledge, give her a chance. Yave's girl gave her a smile and a good afternoon and she got a smile and a good afternoon back. Besides, in the good ol U S of A there are a lot fo black pearl types out there and you have to know how to coexist with them, like it or not. Anyway, I degress - - -

 

Good luck with the rest of the process!!!

[Robert S.]

By God, yave and racer you guys did a really great job and congratulations on getting what you deserved and worked so hard for. I am so proud of what great preparation CFL members are completing nowadays, much, much better than way back two years ago when my wife got her visa. I had put a lot of time and thought into our preparation but nothing to compare with this. And your ladies performed extremely well also it seems. Have a happy new life.