Introduction and some questions

[JimandSarha 0]

Hi all,

My name is Jim. My Chinese wife's name is Sarha (misspelled on purpose). I live in the San Diego area and she lives in Nanjing. We've been married about 18 months now. I've known Sarha for almost 3 years, she was my interpreter (employee) for a year before we got married. I own my own import/export business. Sarha is a college graduate and speaks and reads/writes English very well. Exceptionally, actually. I'm 50, she's 26. I think she's the more mature of us, I gave up on growing up when I was 16

Anyway. Our case is moving a little slowly since I travel to China a LOT and stay there for long periods at a time. We started the application process with the submission of the I-130 in November of 2005. We're still at it. Where we are currently:

January 30th they received the I-864 and are reviewing it. Due to the total lack of information given by the government, I didn't know that in November they sent the IV bill. I think that's what it is called. Anyway, they remailed it to me which took 11 days. I sent in the $380.00 on Saturday, Feb 24th. I guess they will get it later this week, probably by the 28th. Hopefully they will be done reviewing the I-864 by then. I sent in 3 years worth of tax transcriptions from the IRS. I guess I'm a little nervous about that since the last year shows negative income as it often does for business'. I'm a sole proprietership. Lots of money made, just a loss for the year on taxes due to inventory swings, etc, etc.

So, here I sit, waiting for the IV cashiers check to arrive and get cashed and for them to finish reviewing the I-864. Hopefully they will generate the DS-230 (??) soon and get it mailed out to me. I'm leaving for China again on March 15th and won't return to the USA until May 1st. I have emloyees that can fax anything that comes in but I'd like to have it sent back out on my own before I leave, of course.

From reading other's stories, I expect a wait on the DS-230 review for case completion of 3-4 weeks, perhaps as few at 2 at the NVC. So extrapolating out, if they generate the DS-230 next week and I get it and resend it to them (overnight, of course) by March 15th, maybe they will close the case at the NVC around April 15th. Right?

Now for the questions....

What happens then? The government is short on information sharing.

1. Does the whole file go to Guangzhou then? How long does that take?

2. Once the file is received in Guangzhou, then what? Packets go out? Medical? What's involved there? My wife has no vaccination records. I'm guessing they will want to give her the full gamut?

3. She was afflicted with TB about 6 years ago but has a clean bill of health now and gets regular chest X-Rays. I'm sure this will be a topic of conversation at the medical exam. I can't see how the government can make anything out of a disease that is cured, but I'm still concerned about this and want my wife to gather as much backup information on her cure and clean bill of health as possible for the exam. Is this a good idea?

4. Mostly, due to the real lack of information from the NVC, I'd just like to know what we can expect from here on out. Timelines in general for Guangzhou would be great.

5. What documents really have to be translated? Marriage certificates (large consulate ones, little red book, etc), Birth Certificates, Police Reports, etc. It seems like they would have some ability to deal with the native Chinese documents at the consulate, considering they must see them hundreds of times per day.

I really love the timelines people put in their signatures. I considered adding the information for our case but I'm not sure it wouldn't demoralize people because of the very long times it appears our case is taking because I was out of the country many times when paperwork was just sitting in my mailbox in the USA. Also, the lost IV bill from November to February is a big slowdown.

But I'm commited to getting this done on the fast track now that I seem to have gotten to nearly the end of the tasks with the NVC and I can see some/most of what is still to be done. I would just like to have some of the final holes in the information I think I know, filled in for me and some scraps of hope on how much time we have left to go. 3 months? 6 months???

So finally, thank you all for your information. Its great to finally, if almost too late, find this resource. \

Jim

Edited February 26, 2007 by Jim Powell

[riblet 0]

Hello,

I will try to answer some of your questions.

As far as the DS230 goes, your wife will have to fill that out. That can be downloaded and prepared now so it's ready to be mailed off when the NVC generates it. Take a look at the NVC Timesavers Thread pinned at the top of the NVC Forum and the NVC Flowchart in the guides. I believe that for China the only document that needs to be submitted with the DS230 is a photocopy of the biographic page of the passport.

Your timeline as far as case complete sounds reasonable, though of course things can always take longer. After your case is complete it should be forwarded to the consulate to schedule an interview - I'm not sure of the wait time for your particular consulate. But once an interview has been scheduled your wife should receive a packet with medical info and her interview date.

I would think that collecting as much info on your wife's prior condition as possible would be a good idea - also, if possible she could even start getting her vaccinations now rather than waiting.

You will probably find more consulate specific info in your regional forum on this site. Also, check out the timelines, you can narrow things down by country to get a better idea of how long things are taking.

I am almost positive that all necessary documents will need to be translated.

Good luck with the rest of the process.

[JimandSarha 0]

Hello,

I will try to answer some of your questions.

As far as the DS230 goes, your wife will have to fill that out. That can be downloaded and prepared now so it's ready to be mailed off when the NVC generates it. Take a look at the NVC Timesavers Thread pinned at the top of the NVC Forum and the NVC Flowchart in the guides. I believe that for China the only document that needs to be submitted with the DS230 is a photocopy of the biographic page of the passport.

Your timeline as far as case complete sounds reasonable, though of course things can always take longer. After your case is complete it should be forwarded to the consulate to schedule an interview - I'm not sure of the wait time for your particular consulate. But once an interview has been scheduled your wife should receive a packet with medical info and her interview date.

I would think that collecting as much info on your wife's prior condition as possible would be a good idea - also, if possible she could even start getting her vaccinations now rather than waiting.

You will probably find more consulate specific info in your regional forum on this site. Also, check out the timelines, you can narrow things down by country to get a better idea of how long things are taking.

I am almost positive that all necessary documents will need to be translated.

Good luck with the rest of the process.

Good idea on the immunizations and the translations. I wish I knew what the list of required documents was now. I'm flying into Guangzhou on the 15th. I could just get started on getting all the stuff gathered up and get the translations done and all the rest.

I buy a lot of goods in Guangdong each month and am always there. So its not a hardship at all to go to the bevy of translators and medical exam places clustered around the old consulate. I actually like to stay at a hotel in that area regardless of where my business is in the city. Plus my wife likes to eat at Lucy's Cafe

I guess I will get here started on getting her medical background information gathered up and we can just drop in and get started on the immunizations at one of the approved medical places on this trip. I know I wouldn't look forward to getting that many shots all in one session. I think the only one she has any real proof of is the Polio scar on her shoulder.

Thank you for the advice, I'll bring all available paperwork to Guangzhou with me and get started on the translations. We will have two police reports. One from her home town where she lived up until 6-7 years ago. She already has that report. We can get it translated along with the birth certificate, etc.

For the DS-230, I can fill it out and probably sign her name as well as she can. Due to our businesses, we tend to have to sign each other's names a LOT on all kinds of export documents. I'm continually amzed that the Chinese consider printing characters a signature, but they do. Anything passes for legal there as long as you have the ever-present red government stamp on it that you have to buy. Of course, counterfeits of that are ubiquitos too. I think I have 3 or 4 of those laying around here too.

Anyway, I hope the timeline isn't too cluttered up. I'm probably just going to go over there and stay until the process finishes.

Jim

[riblet 0]

The papers that are generally needed are listed in the DS230 Instruction Packet - here is the link: http://travel.state.gov/pdf/not_applying_in.pdf

If there are any special documents needed going through China, I wouldn't know about that

Good luck again

[JimandSarha 0]

The papers that are generally needed are listed in the DS230 Instruction Packet - here is the link: http://travel.state.gov/pdf/not_applying_in.pdf

If there are any special documents needed going through China, I wouldn't know about that

Good luck again

I think I have all of that covered except for the police report from our current city. I am going to wait for that until its actually required so it is current. No sense getting it now and not using it for 3 months or more and having them send me packing to get one that's current to their specs.

Thanks for the well wishes.

Jim

[Daveed 0]

For the DS-230, I can fill it out and probably sign her name as well as she can. Due to our businesses, we tend to have to sign each other's names a LOT on all kinds of export documents. I'm continually amzed that the Chinese consider printing characters a signature, but they do. Anything passes for legal there as long as you have the ever-present red government stamp on it that you have to buy. Of course, counterfeits of that are ubiquitos too. I think I have 3 or 4 of those laying around here too.

NVC will accept any or no signature on the DS-230. I believe that your wife can actually sign the document right there at the interview.