PLEASE WRITE UP YOUR INTERVIEW REVIEWS

[turbo2253 0]

Please while it is sill fresh, write a review of the interview. It is always good to help those following behind you. I know that you are celebrating, but it is easy to forget what you went through very quickly. There is always a need for fresh info about the interview. Sometimes we can find one little change in the questions or procedures they follow at the interview. This can make those following feel much less nervous. We have benefitted from those that went before us, now it is time for us to help! Thanks, Mike & Yizhen

[gogo 6]

we got a blue slip =( :crying: she went to the interview, and they said "everything was ok", and the guy was about to issue the visa, but then he started talking with the "black widow" VO.. haha, you probably know who I am talking about.. they talked for a minute, and they put a "hold" on our case due to "name checks".. I went back the next two Mondays (American Citizen Hour) to ask why and if they were suspicious of our case, and they said everything was good, they just needed to do more processing on our case.. I talked with my lawyer to see what we can do, and I think we can do the lawsuit again (lawyer said they will send an inquiry in and told us to wait at least 90 days for us to do the lawsuit again).. that is our only way now.. I also called DOS, but all they see is "additional processing" on our case.. We also sent in a lot of emails to the Consulate, but the email replies say the same thing..

[Gamal 0]

we got a blue slip =( :crying: she went to the interview, and they said "everything was ok", and the guy was about to issue the visa, but then he started talking with the "black widow" VO.. haha, you probably know who I am talking about.. they talked for a minute, and they put a "hold" on our case due to "name checks".. I went back the next two Mondays (American Citizen Hour) to ask why and if they were suspicious of our case, and they said everything was good, they just needed to do more processing on our case.. I talked with my lawyer to see what we can do, and I think we can do the lawsuit again (lawyer said they will send an inquiry in and told us to wait at least 90 days for us to do the lawsuit again).. that is our only way now.. I also called DOS, but all they see is "additional processing" on our case.. We also sent in a lot of emails to the Consulate, but the email replies say the same thing..

Dont worry about the black widow ladys, they no longer interview at the embassy

Here is some info of my experience and our success to get the VISA:

I feel it seems more relaxed to get the Visa, Like I said, we had plenty of proof for a relationship and they only asked for pictures, not my phone call proof, email proof, they didnt ask for any of that. Just tax forms, I-134 affidavit, and pictures. I would still take all your proof just in case, but if you have your taxes in order, and your I-134 in order, and pictures, I tell you now, it will be so smooth, but just take your back up proof just in case. If you have been married more than 3 times, make sure you have a letter explaining when you got divorced and why and your divorce documents. I seen one couple get a blue slip for this, but he just simpley wrote a letter to explain then he got his visa a few days later. Have your fiancee visit the Chinese 001 forum and make friends before you come to Guangzhou, you can have dinner together, meet and compare proofs and information that you need. Also your fiancee will have Chinese friends to communicate with in the US. One couple that we became friends with, they were married 20 days after they met and they still got the Visa. I think Americans have taken more control over the interview process and they are more understanding and really want to make sure your fiancee will be safe in America. In the embassy, there are travel agents that will make sure you get the cheapest flight home as well. After we got our Visa, we paid to have our Visa mailed to a post office in Guangzhou which will arrived in 3 days, you can also track it online. The day we picked up her Visa and packet, we went to another hospital so my fiancee could fill out a form. Right now my fiancee went to the hospital where she had her medical exam originally so they can take some blood from her finger and get another medical document. We leave tomorrow back to her home city for a few days then to the US. It was all pretty easy and the embassy gives you maps to all locations you need to go, very very smooth. Good luck to everyone and relax your worries because its a very smooth experience if you have your i's dotted and t's crossed. I wish everyone the best of luck!

[TotalTommyTerror 0]

Is there any way to get a sticky on this thread? It'd be nice for all the chinese based visa cases to see an interview review thread right up top.

Here's ours:

First, I gotta say I recommend getting to Guangzhou at least 7-12 days prior to the interview. I think if I came down with 5 to go we would have been shot down.

The medical exam took us three business days to get back, but 5 actual days (she got her exam on a Friday.) And it seemed like almost every day I was finding something else that I should have included in our packet, right up to the day before.

Among those was what's called proof of domicile. When went to the notary appointment (speaking of which, make an appointment before you go, as early as you can for the notary service, because when I booked on Friday, they had nothing available until the Monday of the next week), anyways, the notary, the lady I talked to there looked over my intent to marry letter and relationship letter and mentioned the domicile stuff. Just an email from my parents saying they were providing us with a place to stay (I've been in china for two years), I printed out online bank statements, and had an uncle that owns a business write me an email with an interview offer (not even legitimate really, but how would they know?)

That's all to establish a kind of residency that we'll be going back to in the states.

Also, make the time to get yourself to the American Citizen's Hour every Monday at 2:30 (be there at 2). Now, this thing didn't work like I thought it would. I thought it would be a group Q&A session, but it's basically a one on one you have with a visa officer. Personally I would have preferred the group thing, because by the time I did this, I had zero questions, but I was ready to take notes on other people's inquiries.

My questions had to do with the proof of relationship and the support forms. About the cash: he said they look for 125% above the poverty level (at the time I went it was $18,213).

As for relationships, I'm sure overseas loves have a nigh on impossible time dealing with this, but my fiancee and I have been living together in china since late October of last year. And as the officer said, people living together, reasonably should have lots of pictures, which we did.

Our personal documents included more than a dozen pictures, air travel receipts (with our names on them), insurance tickets for some other tickets (when we didn't have the tickets), we even had a pair of tickets when we went to go see The Nutcracker during our Christmas trip to Shanghai.

To seal the deal, we included pictures of our dog. From his puppy stages to the adorable demon monster he's grown up to be. You want proof people have a relationship? That they have a dang dog together.

Okay, enough with the preamble, here's the interview day stuff.

We got there about 6:30am and there were already plenty of people in line, and in typical chinese fashion, nobody respected personal space. Deodarant, gone in 15 minutes. At about 7:10am the building guards came out with rails to corral people and organized the mob into lines (some girl was trying to cut in front of us but we wouldn't have none of that, and neither would nobody else in the line, ha ha, back of the row!)

At about 7:20, they started handing out number tickets and letting people go in. They don't allow the any accompanying party (even if you're an American citizen) until after 9am. But I was way too nervous to be waiting next to my fiancee, so I just did it right outside the exit to the consulate.

We had all of our stuff organized very neatly in plastic folders using little post-it tabs and paper clips for each section we needed (like tax forms together, copies of passports together, that sort of stuff.) And we rehearsed every night for the 4-5 nights before the interview how she should present the information.

Things like saying "This is my fiancee's affidavit, these are his taxes showing his income for etcetera etcetera". Other stuff like going over our pictures, explaining my numerous visas (between my tourist and resident visas).

Now, I used to be an IELTS instructor here, so I'm very familiar with teaching people about interviewing with foreigners. So I made sure that she did a few things I felt were very important. The first was that she never ever refer to me as "my fiancee" that instead she used my name. Maintaing eye contact, smile, and keep her speaking in a natural flow. Anybody who's heard chinese people rehearse answers knows that they tend to come off sounding like a memorized robotic language, and if I were an officer, I would seriously scrutinize that tone when evaluating the validity of a relationship.

She's unsure of the time frame, since they confiscate all electronics before going in (who wears watches when cellphones work just as well?) and I did not see a single clock any time I was in the same building.

First she had to hand over all of our documentation, which was the first part of the weirdness, because on my affidavit of support, I do not make enough to support her, so my mom was ready to be the co-sponsor. But the chinese lady at the window seemed to think my stuff was enough. Handed her a number, called her up, had her testity to the validity of the submitted forms, called her number again, fingerprinted her, she sat down, called her number again for the interview.

I estimate that she interviewed around 9:50am, because she had passed quickly and I saw her roundabouts 10am.

The officer asked her 5 questions.

"What's your fiance's name?"

"When did you meet?"

"How did you meet?"

"What will you do when you go to America?"

"When will you leave?"

The first 3 answers she explained (private!), the fourth she mentioned she'd go to the university of our city, the officer asked if both of us would go, "yes."

The last one, her answer was "We have a dog that we have to get a travel certificate for, and after we do that we'll leave? You want to see our dog's pictures?"

He said "Sure" and that's when she showed our pictures to the guy, who mentioned that our dog was "cute".

He said, "Okay, you passed" handed her the pink slip, she walked over to the counter to pay for the 20rmb delivery fee (pay for the damn delivery but we gotta pick it up... America...)

Our interview was on Tuesday, we had the visa on Thursday, we've made our travel arrangements and are just waiting to jet on out of here.

Her thoughts were that it was pretty easy to pass, it was like interviewing at a bank, and that most of the chinese people's stories she read online about failed interviews, were obviously people that weren't prepared because they were morons or lazy.

(Not that America makes it easy, but they do that for a reason.)

She noted that one person she saw failed, didn't correctly answer the question "When was your fiance born?" I'm not sure how big of a criteria that is for pass/fail, but people that have a relationship remember stuff like that to the number.

My postscript thoughts: I think what got us through is what I learned from here. That the people that pass are the ones that are super-over-prepared. I was so paranoid in the whole run up to this thing, and I think, that if you're not paranoid, you've done something wrong.

While we were in line, I took stock of what people were taking with them into the interview, it's pretty obvious to know who failed and who passed. Those of us who have been there know the difference between the people walking either towards the law offices for the rejection petitions, or the ones walking directly to the travel agencies. And most of the people I saw walking out in failure were carrying little to no paperwork with them.

As many have said before, better to have too much rather than too little.

Man, I kinda rambled there.

[eyedo 0]

Folks, thanks for all your reviews!

As many have said before, better to have too much rather than too little.

Well, I still have a long way to go before the interview. However, I think it's never too early to prepare the "evidence" which may be required. The problem is I'm not sure which to bring with me to the interview, for I have so many of them.My hubby's in the navy, when he's underway, we can only communicate through the email, so we have over 2,000 gigantic emails so far:blink: Shall I print out all of them ? Besides, he sends me two cards every week, am I supposed to carry all of them(200+) to Guangzhou as well? Together with the pictures and other papers, I doubt a suitcase would be big enough. So I was thinking I may just bring a few emails and cards, left most them home. Now since I've read your post, I guess I was taking chance and risk my pink slit. "too much" is better than "too little" as you said.

[gogo 6]

let's just say we brought 3 suitcases full of stuff... haha, and still produced no result.. emails (I had about 250 printed out, plus hers), Skype chats, MSN chats, MSN webcam photos, I even took a photo in front of the post office (I heard rumors about that, but they didn't ask for it)..we also brought 10 photo albums (1,000+ pictures) showing everything (wedding, when I visit her family, in pajamas/sleepwear so they can tell I am close with her family)..

[Eric & Jin 10]

First, I gotta say I recommend getting to Guangzhou at least 7-12 days prior to the interview. I think if I came down with 5 to go we would have been shot down.

The medical exam took us three business days to get back, but 5 actual days (she got her exam on a Friday.) And it seemed like almost every day I was finding something else that I should have included in our packet, right up to the day before.

Wow, I have to say that I think arriving in Guangzhou 7-12 days prior to the interview is a little overkill but whatever works best for you is what matters. I had been continously working on our packet/evidence since the day that we decided to file our I-129F and had everything to go well before arriving in GUZ so we did not need any extra days to work on any of that. We arrived in GUZ on May 30, my fiancee had her medical exam done on the May 31 at the Guangzhou United Family Clinic which provides same day results as part of their regular service - the exams here cost a bit more than at some of the other clinics (800rmb) but we were in and out in about 3 hours with the results in hand so it was well worth the added cost.

My fiancee had her interview on June 2 and was loaded for bear with any possible type of evidence that one could think of and also had reviewed about 200 of the most commonly asked questions and had answers for each of them well thought out. But as it turned out it was what she called a very easy interview - it went like this:

Jin: Good Morning

VO: Good morning - can I see your passport?

Jin: Do you need my fiancee's passport also?

VO: Yes - is he here now?

Jin: Yes

VO: How did you meet

Jin: Online

VO: When did you first meet in person

Jin: August 2008

VO: How many times has your fiancee come to visit you?

Jin: He has visited me 3 times including this visit.

VO: Can I see your photos?

VO: Where was this picture taken?

Jin: Gulang Island

VO: It is very beautiful there

VO: What is your fiancee's job

Jin: He is a Quality Assurance Manager with a software company

VO: What is your job?

Jin: I am an English teacher

VO: How do you maintain contact with each other?

Jin: By phone calls, emails and MSN. Do you need my phone bills?

VO: No

VO: (typed into computer and looked at it for a couple of minutes, then took out pink slip and attached the appointment letter to it and handed these along with my passport back to Jin). You are no problem!

We picked the EMS package containing her passport/visa and immigration packet up at the China Post office yesterday, so it only took 2 days to receive it. All in all our experience with the consulate was very positive. I attended both ACS and ACH and both of the VOs that I encountered were very pleasant, courteous and acted in a professional manner. I was able to talk about several details of my case at ACH and the VO even made several notations in the file detailing one of my concerns about our case.

We are flying out of GUZ to Xiamen in a couple of hours so that I can spend a couple of days with my fiancee's family before I head back to the states. My fiancee will follow me about 3 weeks later after she wraps up her current committments at work.

[RandyW 149]

we got a blue slip =( :crying: she went to the interview, and they said "everything was ok", and the guy was about to issue the visa, but then he started talking with the "black widow" VO.. haha, you probably know who I am talking about.. they talked for a minute, and they put a "hold" on our case due to "name checks".. I went back the next two Mondays (American Citizen Hour) to ask why and if they were suspicious of our case, and they said everything was good, they just needed to do more processing on our case.. I talked with my lawyer to see what we can do, and I think we can do the lawsuit again (lawyer said they will send an inquiry in and told us to wait at least 90 days for us to do the lawsuit again).. that is our only way now.. I also called DOS, but all they see is "additional processing" on our case.. We also sent in a lot of emails to the Consulate, but the email replies say the same thing..

GUZ just barely complies with their legal requirements - if at all. They returned a white-slipped case to the VSC a year ago, with a recommendation to revoke. The VSC found their reasons legally insufficient, and simply reaffirmed the petition and shipped it back to GUZ. The petitioner was simply notified of this action and not asked for any additional evidence.

There is not a court in the world with any jurisdiction at all over any of the consulates. Under the doctrine of consular non-reviewability, all ANYONE can do is "inquire", and pass the answer along to you.

That being, just wait and see what they have to say. My bet is that you won't be disappointed

[gogo 6]

not really.. a writ of mandamus lawsuit forces them to give an answer within 60 days if it is way past time.. I don't see a lot of people doing this when they are over time though.. and some of us are not "lazy or morons" who can't pass the interview.. :angry: just because you got lucky, doesn't mean everyone is lucky..

[RandyW 149]

not really.. a writ of mandamus lawsuit forces them to give an answer within 60 days if it is way past time.. I don't see a lot of people doing this when they are over time though.. and some of us are not "lazy or morons" who can't pass the interview.. :angry: just because you got lucky, doesn't mean everyone is lucky..

. . . but the problem is finding a court with jurisdiction.

I've heard of it working against the USCIS in the states, but not against a consulate.

And, no, you have to look a few posts back to find those words.

[gogo 6]

sorry, that statement wasn't against you

but did you know it is the AMERICAN consulate at that particular place.. so they report to the Dept of State.. I'm not going after the small fry this time.. the lawsuit last time (and this time) was/is going against the USCIS director as well as his staff.. I forgot, the lawsuit named a bunch of people (including the district attorney that represents them).. I have to look it up again in my email.. and well, this will be the first time you see someone fight against a consulate.. I need to find the consulate leader's name too so I can name them in the lawsuit..

here's more on the "lawsuit" if you are not familar..

http://www.visalaw.com/05feb3/2feb305.html

http://www.ailf.org/lac/pa/lac_pa_081505.pdf

http://usaimmigrationattorney.com/Security...tiveReview.html

even though the document says it might result in a "favorable" decision, I'm still going to try a second time.. the first time it was because I had a letter from the FBI stating I had no security checks.. a letter sent to my house from FBI Records Management Chief.. and they are the ones doing the so-called security checks.. so there was absolutely no way I could lose.. We also didn't take it all the way to court.. they got 60 days, and approved it on the 58th day.. (received fax from lawyer)..

Edited June 17, 2009 by gogo

[gogo 6]

People we "complained" (filed a lawsuit) against..

Michael Mukasey, Attorney General

Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Dept of Homeland Security

Emilio Gonzalez, Director of USCIS (Jack Scharfen now)

Christina Poulos, Acting Director

California Service Center

Jane Arellano, Director (Los Angeles District Office) - "local office where supposedly my case was held all this time"

this time there will be more.. at least one more =) Director of Guangzhou Consulate and his lackeys..

sorry, taking it off-topic.. I'll start a new one..

Edited June 17, 2009 by gogo

[BobandXiaomei 14]

Also see Interview Results on CFL. I believe everyone has access.