Thinking about K1 for Chinese girlfriend

[I love San Diego 18]

Hello my friends,

Elsewhere on these forums someone said applying for a K1 visa for someone in China is "very difficult" and suggested I read here in the regional forum. Are there things that make a K1 in China harder to do than other countries? What in particular is different?

Thank you everyone.

[Pitaya 2,577]

I made a total of three trips (two weeks @) to China courting my now-wife. The last trip was to bring required documents and to support her and step-son at their visa interview at the Guangzhou consulate. I believe that the more time together the better for the relationship. Sure, we Skyped and emailed at least once daily (usually more). Remember, that all you have to prove for the initial petition approval is that you have met each other within the last two years. Be sure to check out the Guides for the recommended types of relationship evidence. Try not to fixate on a few types, but rather try to present a balanced blend of all of the possible types of evidence. In many ways it is akin to painting a picture for the adjudicator/CO to show that your relationship is bonafide and flourishing. "Front-load" your initial petition with as much evidence as possible. (Use the forum Google search function to find more information about "front-loading.") Being able to show more encounters is a plus, and enables you to demonstrate that you have an ongoing relationship. As that it is next to impossible for a single Chinese female to get a US visitor visa, and it was relatively easy for a US citizen to obtain a Chinese tourist visa, it only made sense to me to visit her as often as I could. It is an eleven hour non-stop flight from Seattle to Beijing.

The GUZ consulate can be difficult. It is not a walk-in-the-part, rather, I suspect that the consulate officials are on the alert for marriage fraud. They have to do that. Painting an "evidence" picture as mentioned above should help you have a positive visa interview. When I was there in June 2012, I would go out walking early in the morning. I would pass by the consulate before opening, and the mass of people would already begin packing up the teller lines in front of the old consulate entrance at 7AM. By 8AM, the plaza was packed with people and there was a visible Chinese police presence, to keep things orderly.

Good luck on your immigration journey.

Edited February 13, 2014 by A&B

[I love San Diego 18]

I made a total of three trips (two weeks @) to China courting my now-wife. The last trip was to bring required documents and to support her and step-son at their visa interview at the Guangzhou consulate. I believe that the more time together the better for the relationship. Sure, we Skyped and emailed at least once daily (usually more). Remember, that all you have to prove for the initial petition approval is that you have met each other within the last two years. Be sure to check out the Guides for the recommended types of relationship evidence. Try not to fixate on a few types, but rather try to present a balanced blend of all of the possible types of evidence. In many ways it is akin to painting a picture for the adjudicator/CO to show that your relationship is bonafide and flourishing. "Front-load" your initial petition with as much evidence as possible. (Use the forum Google search function to find more information about "front-loading.") Being able to show more encounters is a plus, and enables you to demonstrate that you have an ongoing relationship. As that it is next to impossible for a single Chinese female to get a US visitor visa, and it was relatively easy for a US citizen to obtain a Chinese tourist visa, it only made sense to me to visit her as often as I could. It is an eleven hour non-stop flight from Seattle to Beijing.

The GUZ consulate can be difficult. It is not a walk-in-the-part, rather, I suspect that the consulate officials are on the alert for marriage fraud. They have to do that. Painting an "evidence" picture as mentioned above should help you have a positive visa interview. When I was there in June 2012, I would go out walking early in the morning. I would pass by the consulate before opening, and the mass of people would already begin packing up the teller lines in front of the old consulate entrance at 7AM. By 8AM, the plaza was packed with people and there was a visible Chinese police presence, to keep things orderly.

Good luck on your immigration journey.

Thank you for the advice. I will be sure to keep in mind materials I need to gather for front-loading. I have a 1 year multiple entry visa for China and I can go for under 1000 dollars, so I am sure I will be going a few more times. BTW I think we will use the consulate in Beijing, since it is closest to where she lives, I don't know if that makes any difference.

[Daveykins 17]

Yes, I agree with the previous post. If you have a bon-a-fide relationship you have nothing to worry about. USCIS can be a pain in the US and it's even worse when your case gets to GUZ. It's a total mess right now, and there's no signs that it's going to be fixed any time soon if at all. I think they intentionally make it more difficult than it needs to be to weed out fraud from the beginning.

But, it's only a minor issue in the end. Waiting almost a month after the interview for my wife's passport to be returned to her with the visa in it was agony! If you have front loaded everything and follow the guide on VJ for k-1 visa applicants, then you should be alright. Please don't hire a lawyer, just follow the guides and do it yourself. The lawyer just adds a third party that's really unnecessary.

If you have any questions with the paperwork before you submit I'm sure it's been asked and you can search for your answer with the google search thing at the top of each page on VJ. Came in super handy throughout our entire process.

Best of luck!

[I love San Diego 18]

Thanks for the thorough advice guys! I feel more confident now. I will probably take one more trip together with her before I file the application. This is to satisfy myself, and the immigration people.

[Pitaya 2,577]

Thank you for the advice. I will be sure to keep in mind materials I need to gather for front-loading. I have a 1 year multiple entry visa for China and I can go for under 1000 dollars, so I am sure I will be going a few more times. BTW I think we will use the consulate in Beijing, since it is closest to where she lives, I don't know if that makes any difference.

Sounds good to visit as often as you can, take lots of photos, gather as much evidence as possible, enjoy yourselves. BTW, I don't think that you have a choice for the consulate with regards to K-1 visa. We also would have preferred to git 'er done in Beijing, but don't believe that is an available option. Remember it is entirely their game, their rules, their playing field, etc. My wife is from a province north and east of Beijing and her K-1 visa was processed in Guangzhou, necessitating a ~1,200 mile trip (one-way).

http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/immigrant_visas.html

Good luck.

[I love San Diego 18]

Sounds good to visit as often as you can, take lots of photos, gather as much evidence as possible, enjoy yourselves. BTW, I don't think that you have a choice for the consulate with regards to K-1 visa. We also would have preferred to git 'er done in Beijing, but don't believe that is an available option. Remember it is entirely their game, their rules, their playing field, etc. My wife is from a province north and east of Beijing and her K-1 visa was processed in Guangzhou, necessitating a ~1,200 mile trip (one-way).

http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/immigrant_visas.html

Good luck.

Oh, I thought we could choose the consulate. I see! Dang, she lives in Urumqi, that's far. Oh well, that's just the way it is!

Thank you

[Dan & Juan 12]

Just to balance the excellent advice already given I hired a lawyer even though I did 80% of the work (my choice) because I thought a few hundred dollars was not a big amount to assure i had a "fresh set of eyes" from someone who had done hundreds of these applications when I was a babe in the woods.

My lawyer said not to front load anything just give them exactly what was asked for, thus minimizing any chance of a red flag. The petition was approved and I agree with the minimize up front but spend the time in between building your proof of your bonafide because the wait was so long to get to GUZ when I applied.

I had a lot of possible trip hazards. I am 13 years older, only knew my wife 4 months when I made my first trip, where we were married.

But I knew what our situation was, and it was not hard to prove our relationship even thoughit seemed on the surface as really hard to prove.

My wife's interview was about a minute long but our documents were extensive.

I always hate to say good luck, because with proper planning and scouring these forums, success is very reachable if you do the work

[DJ&L 83]

I'd say not difficult based on my own experience.

I met my wife in February 2012. I first met her in person in China in September 2012. We filed the first I-129F a few weeks after my return. We had to withdraw the first petition because she wasn't technically divorced. We had to finalize her divorce and then refiled in March 2013

Still had only met once for 10 days. We front loaded heavily. I made a return trip to China in April 2013. We received and RFE in July and took that as another opportunity to front load. So, I not only responded to the RFE but added details of the most recent trip.

I'm divorced three times...and she's divorced (very recent to the filing) We'd only met once when we filed the petition and had only spent 10 days together...and we had absolutely no problems at all.

So...from my own experience and what I read on these boards...I don't think China is difficult.

[DJ&L 83]

BTW I think we will use the consulate in Beijing, since it is closest to where she lives, I don't know if that makes any difference.

I believe all visa petitions for K1 go through Guangzhou. I don't think you can pick Beijing.

[Darnell 8,478]

BTW I think we will use the consulate in Beijing, since it is closest to where she lives, I don't know if that makes any difference.

For what? They not handle K-1 visa interviews. Other stuff, but not that one, or any immigrant visa interview.