Scheduling the interview using CGI Stanley

[Q&R 1]

So I called the Department of State to see if someone could talk to the embassy, at least get some kind of answers. Nothing from them...they were useless. They just said contact CGI Stanley...even though I told them I already did and that they were just as helpless.

So they recommended me to call the Office of the Inspector General to make a complaint. I made the complaint to the lady on the phone, but when she was telling me the process of what they will do with a complaint, I got a little scared. I don't want a complaint made to the embassy in my name...that will most likely @#$% up my chances of getting an interview, or worse, getting the visa!! Last thing I wanna do is piss off the embassy!!

So the lady was nice and said that she will hold my complaint and we can wait a couple days. If still in a few days nothing from the embassy, I should call back and she can process the complaint.

[rawlsca 2]

Last Thursday???!!! Did he say what slots? Were they in July or August?

Wow...I'm stupid. Sorry about that.

I called them and they said that even they don't know what the problem is because its the embassy who makes the appointments, and it looks like CGI Stanley and the embassy don't even have any kind of communication with each other because no one at CGI knows why this is happening (or they know but they don't tell us). He also said that last week Thursday some slots were opened up but were taken really fast.

Is there any way to call the Guangzhou embassy and talk to a representative? I'm getting really sick and tired of this bull@#$%

[rawlsca 2]

I would definitely not recommend logging a complaint with any entity in China. Besides, they are fully aware of what they are doing and nothing we can do to speed things up on their end. We are essentially "at their mercy" as it were. It sucks, but they hold all the cards. So, we just need to be patient.

So I called the Department of State to see if someone could talk to the embassy, at least get some kind of answers. Nothing from them...they were useless. They just said contact CGI Stanley...even though I told them I already did and that they were just as helpless.

So they recommended me to call the Office of the Inspector General to make a complaint. I made the complaint to the lady on the phone, but when she was telling me the process of what they will do with a complaint, I got a little scared. I don't want a complaint made to the embassy in my name...that will most likely @#$% up my chances of getting an interview, or worse, getting the visa!! Last thing I wanna do is piss off the embassy!!

So the lady was nice and said that she will hold my complaint and we can wait a couple days. If still in a few days nothing from the embassy, I should call back and she can process the complaint.

[rawlsca 2]

I agree with Darnell. The evidence I've seen suggests the same thing.

[rawlsca 2]

FYI, a few days ago, we used the GUZ website to ask them about this calendar problem...

Our message to them: I have my Receipt number already entered into the website by the CITIC bank when I paid the visa fee of 1488 RMB (https://cgifederal.s.../confirmreceipt) but when I try to schedule my interview appointment, it says "There are currently no appointments available." Is this true! What should I do? Please help me!

Their reply back to us:

> Subject: RE: IV Unit - Peng Hong
> Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 14:23:43 +0800
> From: GuangzhouIVReply@state.gov
> To: red_2008@hotmail.com
>
>
>
> Thank you for your inquiry.
>
> As the interview schedule for the month of July is already full, please try later in the first week or second week of July for the August interview appointment slot which will be available then.
>
>
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Immigrant Visa Unit
> U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou
> 1 Shamian South Street
> Guangzhou, Guangdong 510133
> PRC
>
> To respond to this email, use only the web form at http://guangzhou.use...t-question.html. E-mails sent via “reply” will not be received.

[LianLi 1]

FYI, a few days ago, we used the GUZ website to ask them about this calendar problem...

Our message to them: I have my Receipt number already entered into the website by the CITIC bank when I paid the visa fee of 1488 RMB (https://cgifederal.s.../confirmreceipt) but when I try to schedule my interview appointment, it says "There are currently no appointments available." Is this true! What should I do? Please help me!

Their reply back to us:

> Subject: RE: IV Unit - Peng Hong

> Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 14:23:43 +0800

> From: GuangzhouIVReply@state.gov

> To: red_2008@hotmail.com

>

>

>

> Thank you for your inquiry.

>

> As the interview schedule for the month of July is already full, please try later in the first week or second week of July for the August interview appointment slot which will be available then.

>

>

>

>

> Sincerely,

>

> Immigrant Visa Unit

> U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou

> 1 Shamian South Street

> Guangzhou, Guangdong 510133

> PRC

>

> To respond to this email, use only the web form at http://guangzhou.use...t-question.html. E-mails sent via “reply” will not be received.

Yeah I got the same response today.

[Q&R 1]

> Thank you for your inquiry.

>

> As the interview schedule for the month of July is already full, please try later in the first week or second week of July for the August interview appointment slot which will be available then.

First of all, I am sad to see that they contacted you but haven't contacted me about this matter...(sad face)

Secondly, I don't know how to take this news. I am happy that at least they have finally responded about this matter and that there will be time slots available for August. I am sad because I don't know what is going to happen in July...a MAD rush of people trying to schedule an appointment. Then what if there are too many people bc I am too slow and August is booked? Then I have to wait another whole month?!

Sorry...just ranting...gotta love your government

[Maiji 0]

I just talked to CGI as well. They said basically to keep trying, they are just awaiting for the consulate to release slots. It's good to know at least that they will/might be releasing some soon. I guess I have a new game to play in the evenings, it's called slot-checker. One bright note is that CGI said that the fee I/we paid is good for up to a year.

I do wish this system were a little more streamlined.

[rawlsca 2]

It appears that is exactly what will happen. As of March 16th, when they changed their procedures to shift the burden of interview scheduling to the people wanting a visa, this has become a race. Whoever hits the calendar the most often to check for dates will be the winners. Let's step back a moment to review the GUZ decision to change the process...

Before March 16th: GUZ staff would 1) pickup a P3 packet received from applicants from the stack on their desk and 2) assign the next available interview date to them, 3) send them their interview packet. Done. Then they'd pickup the next visa application from the stack and do the same thing. They'd keep going until either their stack of P3 packets were gone or the business day was finished. Each day, they'd repeat the process. Interview dates are assigned according to who sends their P3 packet in first.

After March 16th: GUZ staff would send an email to each applicant telling them they have permission to go to the CGI Stanley website and follow instructions. Once a month or so, GUZ staff releases a batch of dates for interview scheduling to CGI Stanley. The GUZ staff member work is finished after just a few seconds per P3 packet. Each applicant receiving this email would 1) go to the CGI Stanley website, 2) pay their visa fee (a potentially terrible experience as I've described before), 3) join the race to secure the next availabe interview date before someone else snatches it away from them. Interview dates are assigned to those who hit the calendar website the most often, regardless of when they sent in their P3 packet.

Conclusion: The system was changed from a simple "first come first serve" method based on P3 packet receipt, to a system where every applicant must hit the website several times every day to grab the next available interview date when it appears. Whatever date they get will depend on how often they hit it. This creates a tremendous amount of work on each applicant's part (spanning several days, even weeks) in exchange for removing the few minutes it took for the GUZ staff member to assign an interview date to the applicant and send them their interview packet. Sounds like progress to me!

First of all, I am sad to see that they contacted you but haven't contacted me about this matter...(sad face)

Secondly, I don't know how to take this news. I am happy that at least they have finally responded about this matter and that there will be time slots available for August. I am sad because I don't know what is going to happen in July...a MAD rush of people trying to schedule an appointment. Then what if there are too many people bc I am too slow and August is booked? Then I have to wait another whole month?!

Sorry...just ranting...gotta love your government

[Darnell 8,478]

I called the Guangzhou USCIS office overnight (they were open China time )

and talked with a receptionist there. I asked her - hey ! is USCIS Guangzhou moving in July? Her answer was yes.

Then I asked - is the Immigrant Visa unit moving in July also? Her answer was yes.

So, my opinion is shifting a bit. Here it is...

IMO, there will not be any visas scheduled from 8 July to 22 July, as the move is occuring between 15 to 22 July. It makes more sense to use that prior week, of 8 July to 12 July, to get out the approved visas from the prior week , get them OUT of the IV Unit, prior to the IV Unit closing.

But that's just my current opinion.

see http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/435102-consulate-in-guangzhou-relocating/page-2#entry6318989 for my log of what I did overnight.

[Q&R 1]

I called the Guangzhou USCIS office overnight (they were open China time )

and talked with a receptionist there. I asked her - hey ! is USCIS Guangzhou moving in July? Her answer was yes.

Then I asked - is the Immigrant Visa unit moving in July also? Her answer was yes.

So, my opinion is shifting a bit. Here it is...

IMO, there will not be any visas scheduled from 8 July to 22 July, as the move is occuring between 15 to 22 July. It makes more sense to use that prior week, of 8 July to 12 July, to get out the approved visas from the prior week , get them OUT of the IV Unit, prior to the IV Unit closing.

But that's just my current opinion.

see http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/435102-consulate-in-guangzhou-relocating/page-2#entry6318989 for my log of what I did overnight.

Wow, I really have no idea how to feel about this news. Good or bad? Good in we have some answers. Bad in it will still take us forever just to get an interview date.

First immigration, and now this.

But thanks for the link. Now I can finally call the embassy and hound them.

[LianLi 1]

I called the Guangzhou USCIS office overnight (they were open China time )

and talked with a receptionist there. I asked her - hey ! is USCIS Guangzhou moving in July? Her answer was yes.

Then I asked - is the Immigrant Visa unit moving in July also? Her answer was yes.

So, my opinion is shifting a bit. Here it is...

IMO, there will not be any visas scheduled from 8 July to 22 July, as the move is occuring between 15 to 22 July. It makes more sense to use that prior week, of 8 July to 12 July, to get out the approved visas from the prior week , get them OUT of the IV Unit, prior to the IV Unit closing.

But that's just my current opinion.

see http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/435102-consulate-in-guangzhou-relocating/page-2#entry6318989 for my log of what I did overnight.

Yeah I think this move is throwing everything off for the month of July.

[rawlsca 2]

I'm a computer systems analyst, so I design and develop systems and applications every day. If I had been given the contract to design a more efficient system for GUZ, here's what I would have done instead...

The CGI Stanley website works good except for two things...

1) The visa fee payment procedure should allow payment from non-Chinese sources as well, not just a Chinese issued "Union Pay" debit card or a personal visit to a CITIC bank in China. CGI should implement an intermediate entity to manage payments made from non-Chinese sources. That entity would then forward those payments to CITIC. Yes, this would be additional overhead, so that option would come with an additional fee, which probably every applicant would be willing to pay. Those that did not want to pay that extra fee would have to pay CITIC directly.

2) Interview scheduling does not take into consideration the time that each applicant pays their visa fee, allowing the more fair method of the "first come first served" basis to continue. Here's how: When the applicant pays their visa fee, their case number is placed on an internal list. This list protects their "place in line". Once GUZ releases a batch of available dates to CGI, these dates are entered into the CGI System as they are now, however, each user does not see the same available dates. The dates displayed to any given visa applicant is filtered based on their “place in line”. When GUZ releases a batch of interview date time slots to CGI, the website would calculate the number of time slots for those released dates and automatically schedule tentative dates for each applicant based on their protected "place in line" (internal to the CGI database only). The calculated number of time slots would determine how many notification emails to send, one to each applicant who has paid their visa fee but have not yet scheduled their appointment, in order of their protected place in line, telling them that GUZ has released new time slots. Not all "fee paid" applicants would receive an email, just the ones that have a "place in line" number lower than or equal to the calculated total number of time slots. Each applicant receiving this email would go to the calendar, but they would potentially not see the same open dates on their calendar as another applicant. Let's say GUZ interviews 100 people each day. If the viewing applicant's "place in line" was 101 or higher, this would block the first available date from that applicant, making it show as "unavailable" to that particular applicant. If he was 201 or higher, this would block the first and second available dates from the user, and so on. These tentative schedules dates for each user would expire after a reasonable amount of time. I'd say give them at least 24 hours. They've received their notification email, so they should proceed to schedule their actual interview date. If they don't do it before the expiration time, they won't lose their place in line, just their tentative scheduled interview time slot. That slot then becomes available to all the other applicants after him (those who received an email) plus one more applicant, all who happen to have a higher "place in line" number, applicants who paid their visa fee after he did. The additional applicant added to the list due to the other applicants expired tentative schedule, will then receive an email. Every other applicant ahead of him would have his “place in line” bumped up one position. Since the applicant who allowed his tentative scheduled date to expire did not lose his "place in line", he still sees the same available dates, so he can still schedule his actual interview date for the same date as long as someone else does not get to it first. Once he schedules hia actual interview date, the other applicants after him would have their “place in line” bumped back down. Before his tentative scheduled date does not expire, he is guaranteed to see that date on his calendar as "available" unless someone ahead of him decides they want that slot. This could get very confusing to explain, but the essence of the logic here is that applicants would “stay in line”. No other applicant would be able to “cut in line” to schedule their date earlier than someone ahead of them in line. After an applicant schedules his actual interview date, he is taken out of the “place in line” list altogether, and everyone “place in line” would move accordingly. I would also program the calendar to hi-light the date on his screen with a different color indicating this is the date of his tentative schedule. He's not limited to that date, but it will show as the first available date. After expiration, the color would change. This would probably occur simulataneously for any applicant who have their tentative schedule on that same date. If 50 applicants neglected to schedule their actual interview date before expiration, then 50 slots would suddenly appear on other applicants screens. After all the remaining 50 time slots were snatched, that date would no longer be available to anyone, as all 100 slots have now been permanently scheduled.

The benefits of the old system and those of the new system would now be accomplished.

This probably needed a lot more explanation, but if anyone’s interested, feel free to ask questions.

[Darnell 8,478]

Wow, I really have no idea how to feel about this news. Good or bad? Good in we have some answers. Bad in it will still take us forever just to get an interview date.

First immigration, and now this.

But thanks for the link. Now I can finally call the embassy and hound them.

I don't suggest you hound them through the USCIS Guangzhou office, as even though it's inside the same building as the IV Unit, is rare they will transfer you to the IV for any reason.

Instead - could you run through the same steps I did, asking the same questions, and record the answers? Then post here or in the other topic?

IMO, just one data point, even if mine, isn't enough to declare a statistical universe.

[DaLuoBo 3]

We got an interview date! August 5th I hope everyone else is able to proceed now as well.