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The visa is in hand.

nooneufo

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nooneufo

nooneufo

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I forgot to mention after the interview my SO felt that it was a lot easier than she had expected.

My SO, and others tried to get there by 3pm instead of 4pm like the white slip said. The guards would off and on check the line to see if you were in the correct time slot, and were telling everyone who had 4pm on their slips to not be in line and come back at 4pm. I am not certain where this idea came from to be an hour early, but the gaurds said the previous processing group needs the space, as there were intermmittent people arriving and being let in. This brings to mind something else, which is the slight changes that might be noted below. My SO on the day of the interview told me that since the 8am show time was for processing, there was no need to carry the paperwork evidence in. I told her that yes, this was true last week, but maybe this week the government could change procedures, and then you will be caught unaware, and unprepared. We came all this way, carrying the papers for a few extra hours does not hurt, except for being heavy.

My SO was called second to get it. She was concerned since the word is that often those called first are the ones who are likely to get a surprise denial. The CR1 ahead of my SO and her were both scared when they heard their names being called first. The CR1 that was first before her also got her visa. The young male K1 also got his visa, and so did the IR2, the 14 year old girl I wrote of before, who had to wait until second to last. Also the American who had the pregnant woman in tow was in line first, but got called nearly last, also with the visa.

The brown envolope did have a big three inch cut in the corner, just like everyone elses, and it was put inside a clear plastic quick seal bag as well as everyone elses. I could see my original I-129f application is in there because I had color coded the sections of my application.

The visa was a full sheet paper visa with her photo printed in it, with a picture of Abe Lincoln sitting in his chair, partial american flag, definatly designed to be difficult to copy and not a simple stamp. The upper part of this is embossed and also my name is on it. This was pasted or glued into her passport. On the last page, was a stamp that said the visa was received on the date of the interview.

I make note that I had no indications that the guards or police were treating anyone with disrespect the times I was there, but again I do not know what they were saying to individuals. My SO reported no bad things about this. I am repeating by saying the atmophere seemed fairly mellow to me over all each time I went, which was a total of six different times over two days. Even those offering their cards and papers I did not think were ever insistent, except when they rarely decended on certain groups or individuals that I could not see what made them different from the next.

The other American who had another interview the next day told me they thought that perhaps the day was an easy one because he saw no blue slips, and another K1 his fiance saw only had photos and nothing else, and the photos were the kind that appear as if you were at a wedding. He felt the consulate may pick which days to be hard on people, for example after a certain number is reached. I think this would be hard to prove, as like us, they had ample amount of evidence, fully three years of finacial stuff, and had also talked extenstensivly of the kinds of questions they might expect based on their own situation, which was related to the fact he was divorced. Sure enough, his fiance was asked for the reasons why he got divorced. Good thing he was totally open to telling her about it so she was clearly prepared. They passed and recieved the visa today.

We did get the immunizations done, but then we had to go across town to get the International Travel certificate. It is unclear if this is needed, but my SO felt we should get it just in case the Chinese side has a problem with her exiting. It can not be gotten until after the visa is had and the examination. The only explanation I could get as to why this is across town, or not available at the health center was that this is often the Chinese/govenment way....hmmm, sounds familiar doesn't it. Anyway, we have in our hands all documents needed, or might be needed when she leaves. She will join me in a month or two after dealing with work/family etc types of things.

Now we are back in Hong Kong and are off to Macau. The trip back was a reverse of the trip in, 5rmb for the subway which was less than one minute walking distance from the hostel to arrive at Guangzhou East railway station. From there 70rmb for the train to Shenzhen. Walk through customs to Lo Wu to board the metro to Mong Kok in Hong Kong for 31.60hkd. Total trip time from leaving the door of one hostel to the room of the hostel here was 2 hours 45 minutes. Once again very easy. I will be back to catch up on Monday.

Another side note: Knowing what I know now, I probably would have alloted more time for Guangzhou, perhaps as much as 5 more days as we barely touched the shopping areas. We added an extra day, but it was still not enough. The hostel was less than five minutes from a large, and I mean large shopping area, one part of which was a 5 story building, in which the basement contained a maze of shops. I estimate we only saw a tenth of these shops within 6 hours. We just did not have the time. If you are into shopping, or window shopping, you might want to consider this.

And last, did I see the Great and Powerful Guz?

You already know the answer to that.

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PapaBear

PapaBear

Posted
Posted

:lol: Congratulations Nooneufo! :lol:

 

How bout that 5-story shopping mall? It's pretty magnificiant in the vast barrage of lights.....at night! That is, if you're not to shy to venture out and away from the Consulate and Hotel neighborhood! Of course, I caught from your posts that you weren't afraid to get out and about!

 

Hope your juant back to HK and then on to Macau is full of the R&R you and your SO deserve!

 

Congratulations Again!!

 

PapaBear & Peipei :rolleyes:

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cosmiclobster

cosmiclobster

Posted
Posted

Gongrats Nooneufo!! We knew you could do it all along! :rolleyes:

 

As for getting in line early to pick up the visa, I noticed that the first ones in at 4PM are the LAST ones out! Our friend was way ahead of us in line and my SO came out first.

 

As for the shopping mall, we found one that was 8 stories tall!

 

GZ is a great place to shop - everything was cheap cheap cheap!!!

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