NIV Payment

[F31ix 0]

Hi, thank you for reading my post.

Yesterday my fiancée went to the Hongqiao branch of China Citic Bank in Shanghai to pay the application fee for her K-1 Visa. Even though it is one of the designated branch listed on China Citic Bank’s website, my fiancée was informed by a bank representative that they no longer process payments for K Visas through the branches in Shanghai. She will have to complete the transaction at a branch in Guangzhou. She was then given a few numbers to call, but none of the numbers appear to be in service.

Has anyone else encountered this issue? I was unable to find anything on neither the Guangzhou Consulate’s nor Citic Bank’s website regarding this issue. Is there any way to arrange payment for the Visa application fee through the branches in Shanghai? I would appreciate any information or thoughts you may have.

In addition, I have been unable to locate the office hours for the China Citic Bank branches in Guangzhou. Does anyone know what days they are open and what their hours are?

Thank you,

F31ix

[Darnell 8,478]

IMO, yer gonna waste a lot of time and energy trying to pay 'it' in Shanghai.

Payment of fees are covered here -> http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/iv_faqs.html#B7

[F31ix 0]

Thank you, I appreciate your opinion. May I ask what information you have that will support what you are saying? I am afraid I have not come across any such information.

I have read the information at the link you kindly provided. I followed the CITIC Bank link as given on the webpage, which in turn led me to:

http://www.ecitic.com/bank/personal/chuguo/50.htm

It contains a list of designated CITIC Bank branches in various cities which will accept application fees. This is the same information that my fiancée and I are working from.

If you have any more information, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

F31ix

[Darnell 8,478]

Sorry, I've no info - IMO, though, any 'bank rep' trumps anything on the GUZ IV web portal, though.

[F31ix 0]

UPDATE ...

A day after my initial post I sent an email to the Consulate in Guangzhou explaining what happened. They in turn contacted my fiancee to get more information on her exchange with the bank. She sent in the information by email, and a few days later, the consulate contacted her again saying that what happened was a misunderstanding between the consulate and CITIC Bank. She can proceed to make payment in Shanghai. In the event she is unable to pay before arriving in Guangzhou, she does not necessarily need to be at the consulate at 7:15 as indicated on the letter. Instead, she should complete payment then arrive for her interview a little later.

I don't know if that last part about paying and arriving for that interview a little later can be applied generally. Please be sure to contact the consulate first.

By the time the consulate contacted my fiancee for the second time, I have already made arrangements to address the payment issue. My fiancee and I called serveral branches of CITIC Bank in Guangzhou and found that the branch at Airport Road is open on Sunday from 10 am - 3 pm. The other branches either did not pick up the phone, or were only open during weekdays from 9 am - 5 pm.

I hope this information will be helpful.