P3 Mailing to Guangzhou

[Hemutian 68]

On 7/16/2019 at 12:33 PM, samnrong said:

Yup. All communication with the consulate will flow through CGI website. You will also use this website to select the location for pickup of your passport (if you decide to have delivered via EMS for an additional charge or delivered to a CITIC bank location through the consulates courier service) and to track your passport once you’ve been approved subsequent to your interview.

Hi, 

Sorry to bother you again, but I'm still confused about the correct order/sequence of events I'm supposed to follow regarding paying the visa fee.

We received the P3 this morning, and plan on sending the required docs back to the Consulate through CITIC later this afternoon.

 

Based on our above correspondence in which you confirmed that the visa fee is paid after P3, I thought that the time to go to the CGI website and pay the visa fee had already arrived.

However, when I go to the CGI website to pay the visa fee, it seems that the visa fee payment is in fact supposed to be done as part of the visa interview scheduling process, or right before scheduling the interview. In other words, having only received the P3 so far, it's still too early to pay the fee, and we must first wait for the P4 before paying the fee and scheduling the interview.

 

Can you please help t clarify which is the correct sequence of events here?

Thanks

[samnrong 52]

1 minute ago, Hemutian said:

Hi, 

Sorry to bother you again, but I'm still confused about the correct order/sequence of events I'm supposed to follow regarding paying the visa fee.

We received the P3 this morning, and plan on sending the required docs back to the Consulate through CITIC later this afternoon.

 

Based on our above correspondence in which you confirmed that the visa fee is paid after P3, I thought that the time to go to the CGI website and pay the visa fee had already arrived.

However, when I go to the CGI website to pay the visa fee, it seems that the visa fee payment is in fact supposed to be done as part of the visa interview scheduling process, or right before scheduling the interview. In other words, having only received the P3 so far, it's still too early to pay the fee, and we must first wait for the P4 before paying the fee and scheduling the interview.

 

Can you please help t clarify which is the correct sequence of events here?

Thanks

Pay the fee now. The CGI website will allow you to pay the fee. Once the fee is paid, it will allow you to schedule the interview. However, you will just delay scheduling the interview because you have not received P4 yet and you cannot get medical until P4 is received. CITIC Bank will want to see your payment receipt though before accepting the P3 documents to send back.

 

CGI and the consulate are not 100% linked. So do not worry here. You can pay the fee now, then you will just wait to schedule the interview until you receive the P4. There is nothing on CGI that will prevent you from paying the interview fee currently.

 

Please note, that I just speak from our personal experience and paying the fee now may not be "required". However, when we went to CITIC, they asked to see the payment receipt before sending off the package. There's no downside in paying the fee now.

[Hemutian 68]

4 minutes ago, samnrong said:

Pay the fee now. The CGI website will allow you to pay the fee. Once the fee is paid, it will allow you to schedule the interview. However, you will just delay scheduling the interview because you have not received P4 yet and you cannot get medical until P4 is received. CITIC Bank will want to see your payment receipt though before accepting the P3 documents to send back.

 

CGI and the consulate are not 100% linked. So do not worry here. You can pay the fee now, then you will just wait to schedule the interview until you receive the P4. There is nothing on CGI that will prevent you from paying the interview fee currently.

 

Please note, that I just speak from our personal experience and paying the fee now may not be "required". However, when we went to CITIC, they asked to see the payment receipt before sending off the package. There's no downside in paying the fee now.

Ok, thanks. That makes sense.

Or, I guess we could also just pay the fee in person at CITIC when we mail the package (the difference being that in that case the payment is in Renminbi, whereas online I can use USD)

[samnrong 52]

1 minute ago, Hemutian said:

Ok, thanks. That makes sense.

Or, I guess we could also just pay the fee in person at CITIC when we mail the package (the difference being that in that case the payment is in Renminbi, whereas online I can use USD)

Yes, paying in person would likely be easiest for the bank workers as well.

 

We paid online using AliPay and the bank was a bit confused,  hadn't seen it before. Ultimately it was no issue. 

 

I do think though that online payment will be more seamless in terms of keeping everything within the CGI system. For example, if you pay at the bank you need to somehow connect that payment to the CGI system, it won't be done automatically. If you pay online through the CGI website instructions, the website automatically updates to reflect that your payment was made.

 

I suggest paying online thorugh AliPay or a Debit Card, as this will make things easier to track and you can print out the confirmation page rather than have a physical bank receipt which you need to hold on to.

[Hemutian 68]

On 6/6/2019 at 9:07 PM, samnrong said:

We received a response from the consulate instructing us to use their courier serivce. We had submitted the P3 packet and all required documents (i.e., DS-160 confirmation, 2 photos, and P3 letter) at the courier service at CITIC bank (see my original link above).

 

We received the P4 email today, so I can confirm that using the courier service at CITIC bank to delvier the documents appears to be the correct way to deliver the documents.

 

Good luck!

So you did not bring your own envelope? The Courier (i.e. CITIC bank) provides their own envelope?

And in the end, did you send the cover letter or not?

Do you know what the "UID number" on the cover letter form refers to? We have so many different "numbers", the case number, the IIN, the A number, the DS 160 bar code number, it's all quite confusing.

[samnrong 52]

9 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

So you did not bring your own envelope? The Courier (i.e. CITIC bank) provides their own envelope?

And in the end, did you send the cover letter or not?

Do you know what the "UID number" on the cover letter form refers to? We have so many different "numbers", the case number, the IIN, the A number, the DS 160 bar code number, it's all quite confusing.

Did not bring own envelope, CITIC will have the courier envelope.

 

Yes use the courier cover letter for document delivery that is on CGI website. That’s how they will route everything to the right department.

 

UID number is generated when you sign up through CGI. It should be available in your CGI profile. This is a number generated by CGI and is used to track your information when transmitted between the consulate and CITIC using the courier service. It has nothing to do with DS-160 or any other confirmation number from USCIS.

[Hemutian 68]

5 hours ago, samnrong said:

Did not bring own envelope, CITIC will have the courier envelope.

 

Yes use the courier cover letter for document delivery that is on CGI website. That’s how they will route everything to the right department.

 

UID number is generated when you sign up through CGI. It should be available in your CGI profile. This is a number generated by CGI and is used to track your information when transmitted between the consulate and CITIC using the courier service. It has nothing to do with DS-160 or any other confirmation number from USCIS.

So,

We're back from the CITIC Bank. It was quite an adventure.

We set out with two goals: 1) To pay the visa fee with cash in person at the bank, and 2) To use their Courier to return the P3 documents to Guangzhou. 

We only accomplished 1 out of these 2 goals, and not without a lot of confusion along the way.

 

First, CITIC was not able to process our cash payment because they said we must have a "visa payment number" (缴费号) and we didn't know what this number was. We thought maybe it was referring to our CGI number (UID number) but the bank employee said, no, that's not it. We were confused because we'd heard of the "payment receipt number" elsewhere on VJ, but that's something you don't get until after you've made the payment, not something you have before.

 

Luckily, they were willing to let us continue with the P3 courier service after I explained that I would make the payment later myself through the online method.

 

It was at the P3 courier service step where we ran into confusion, ending up spending nearly an hour before getting it resolved. The CITIC employees apparently had never processed a K1 visa before (a bit surprising in a 2nd tier city, right?). They were thrown off by the fact that the DS 160 confirmation page has numerous references to the K1 being a "NON-immigrant type visa", and yet the courier cover letter was for an "immigrant type visa". There was much asking back-and-forth "这个到底是移民的还是非移民签证“ (what the heck type of visa is this K1 anyway? Immigrant or non-immigrant?"). They said this distinction mattered, because they use different procedures for handling the two different visa types, and send them to different locations. We were thrown off guard. We were expecting that the CITIC employees would have seen a K1 before and would know what to do. And my fiancee and I had different ideas on what type it actually is. She said it was immigrant, but I said it's technically a non-immigrant visa, even though it's treated like an immigrant visa. That apparently made the CITIC employees even more confused. 

 

In the end, we decided that it should be treated as an IMMIGRANT visa, not as a NON-immigrant visa, so hopefully that's the right decision.

Really feel like CITIC should have known what to do without all the hand-writing. Also, feel like the US isn't making things any easier for all of us with the confusion over the immigrant/non-immigrant nomenclature out there. 

[samnrong 52]

6 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

So,

We're back from the CITIC Bank. It was quite an adventure.

We set out with two goals: 1) To pay the visa fee with cash in person at the bank, and 2) To use their Courier to return the P3 documents to Guangzhou. 

We only accomplished 1 out of these 2 goals, and not without a lot of confusion along the way.

 

First, CITIC was not able to process our cash payment because they said we must have a "visa payment number" (缴费号) and we didn't know what this number was. We thought maybe it was referring to our CGI number (UID number) but the bank employee said, no, that's not it. We were confused because we'd heard of the "payment receipt number" elsewhere on VJ, but that's something you don't get until after you've made the payment, not something you have before.

 

Luckily, they were willing to let us continue with the P3 courier service after I explained that I would make the payment later myself through the online method.

 

It was at the P3 courier service step where we ran into confusion, ending up spending nearly an hour before getting it resolved. The CITIC employees apparently had never processed a K1 visa before (a bit surprising in a 2nd tier city, right?). They were thrown off by the fact that the DS 160 confirmation page has numerous references to the K1 being a "NON-immigrant type visa", and yet the courier cover letter was for an "immigrant type visa". There was much asking back-and-forth "这个到底是移民的还是非移民签证“ (what the heck type of visa is this K1 anyway? Immigrant or non-immigrant?"). They said this distinction mattered, because they use different procedures for handling the two different visa types, and send them to different locations. We were thrown off guard. We were expecting that the CITIC employees would have seen a K1 before and would know what to do. And my fiancee and I had different ideas on what type it actually is. She said it was immigrant, but I said it's technically a non-immigrant visa, even though it's treated like an immigrant visa. That apparently made the CITIC employees even more confused. 

 

In the end, we decided that it should be treated as an IMMIGRANT visa, not as a NON-immigrant visa, so hopefully that's the right decision.

Really feel like CITIC should have known what to do without all the hand-writing. Also, feel like the US isn't making things any easier for all of us with the confusion over the immigrant/non-immigrant nomenclature out there. 

Sounds like you made the right choice. Technically it is an NIV, but it is processed as an IV since there is an intent to immigrate once in the US. That's why within CEAC it is stated as an IV all the way through the process until you get approved, which it is then switched to NIV right before it gets issued. Treating it as an IV was the right move (thank your fiancee!) as it should be routed to the department that processes IVs.

 

You're also spot-on in that the directions from the US can be vague at times and they aren't much help. There is a lot of trial and error and one of the reasons why VJ is such a huge help!

 

Now you can go home, pay the fee online and schedule your interview once P4 is received. It shouldn't be long now!

[flfreddy 92]

So the steps are

 

a) Get P3

b) Get the visa payment number" (缴费号) and pay either online or at the CITIC Bank

c) Go CITIC BANK bring all your required docs and the visa payment number" (缴费号) and receipt 

d) Tell CITIC Bank to mail using IMMIGRANT ENVELOPE 民签证

e) Wait for P4, schedule interview (although you can schedule first like 2-3 weeks out and postpone later if necessary)

f) bring all docs to P4 Guangzhou interview and get your medical done asap

 

Please correct me if I am wrong... waiting for P3 currently.

 

 

[QingCai 0]

3 hours ago, flfreddy said:

So the steps are

 

a) Get P3

b) Get the visa payment number" (缴费号) and pay either online or at the CITIC Bank

c) Go CITIC BANK bring all your required docs and the visa payment number" (缴费号) and receipt 

d) Tell CITIC Bank to mail using IMMIGRANT ENVELOPE 民签证

e) Wait for P4, schedule interview (although you can schedule first like 2-3 weeks out and postpone later if necessary)

f) bring all docs to P4 Guangzhou interview and get your medical done asap

 

Please correct me if I am wrong... waiting for P3 currently.

 

 

We just did this a few weeks ago.  We used SF Express.  We put the original P3 letter, DS-160 Confirmation Page, Copy of Passport, and the two passport photos inside the SF Express Document Mailer.

The consulate received two days later and emailed us the P4 the same day.

We then logged into the USTRAVELDOCS site after receiving the P4 and payed the visa fee and made the interview appointment.

Edited September 9, 2019 by QingCai
added additional info

[Hemutian 68]

11 hours ago, flfreddy said:

So the steps are

 

a) Get P3

b) Get the visa payment number" (缴费号) and pay either online or at the CITIC Bank

c) Go CITIC BANK bring all your required docs and the visa payment number" (缴费号) and receipt 

d) Tell CITIC Bank to mail using IMMIGRANT ENVELOPE 民签证

e) Wait for P4, schedule interview (although you can schedule first like 2-3 weeks out and postpone later if necessary)

f) bring all docs to P4 Guangzhou interview and get your medical done asap

 

Please correct me if I am wrong... waiting for P3 currently.

 

 

Looks about right (we went through these same steps about 6 weeks ago).

I might suggest the following additions just to be extra clear:

 

1) Get P3

2) Fill out and submit online Form DS-160 and save the confirmation page

3) Get the visa payment number" (缴费号) and pay either online or at the CITIC Bank

4) Go CITIC BANK bring all your required docs and the visa payment number" (缴费号) and receipt 

5) Tell CITIC Bank to mail using IMMIGRANT ENVELOPE 民签证

6) Wait for P4, schedule interview (although you can schedule first like 2-3 weeks out and postpone later if necessary)

7) bring all docs to P4 Guangzhou interview and get your medical done asap

😎 get medical done, and obtain notary certificates of birth and no criminal record

9) complete form I-134 Affidavit of Support and gather any related documents (i.e. W4s, tax transcripts, etc)

10) bring all docs to Guangzhou interview

 

Good luck!

Edited September 10, 2019 by Hemutian
clarification

[flfreddy 92]

Thanks for the detailed process.  I am sure many will find it very useful.

I read Alipay can now be used from May 21 2019.  Anyone tried Alipay instead of CITIC?

[Hemutian 68]

3 minutes ago, flfreddy said:

Thanks for the detailed process.  I am sure many will find it very useful.

I read Alipay can now be used from May 21 2019.  Anyone tried Alipay instead of CITIC?

I believe my fiancee did use Alipay for the payment. Initially I brought a big pile of cash to CITIC, but for some reason they had troubling handling my payment there, so we did it at home afterwards. As far as I know, the Alipay payment process was smooth and fast.