Any other people filing for a Chinese fiancé?

[Heidi9292 10]

So my fiancé filed k1 for me in October 2019, now we are waiting for our NOA2. From what I see in this forum, October people are getting their NOA2 now! 

 

I came to the U.S when the coronavirus situation went out of the control and planned to go back after the situation gets better. In the past few weeks, It seems things are only getting worse. The consulate in Guangzhou was shut down and American diplomats are being evacuated from China. What if my NOA2 arrived before everything in China backs to normal? Considering this outbreak will probably be on for months (I heard a lot of terrible stories from people I know in Hubei, all of them insist things are much worse than what the media says), is there anyway to file a special request and let me have my interview in the U.S or other consulate like Canada? America is also banning foreign citizens that has been to China to come to the U.S as well. It seems very risky for me to fly back. The flights between two countries are also jeopardized by this outbreak, I could even not be able to board and fly back in the next few months. My visa are valid for 6 months which means I can stay until August. Hopefully by then we already figured a way to solve all these.

 

Are there any other Chinese cases here and what's your plan to cope with the situation?

[Lemonslice 4,841]

29 minutes ago, Heidi9292 said:

So my fiancé filed k1 for me in October 2019, now we are waiting for our NOA2. From what I see in this forum, October people are getting their NOA2 now! 

 

I came to the U.S when the coronavirus situation went out of the control and planned to go back after the situation gets better. In the past few weeks, It seems things are only getting worse. The consulate in Guangzhou was shut down and American diplomats are being evacuated from China. What if my NOA2 arrived before everything in China backs to normal? Considering this outbreak will probably be on for months (I heard a lot of terrible stories from people I know in Hubei, all of them insist things are much worse than what the media says), is there anyway to file a special request and let me have my interview in the U.S or other consulate like Canada? America is also banning foreign citizens that has been to China to come to the U.S as well. It seems very risky for me to fly back. The flights between two countries are also jeopardized by this outbreak, I could even not be able to board and fly back in the next few months. My visa are valid for 6 months which means I can stay until August. Hopefully by then we already figured a way to solve all these.

 

Are there any other Chinese cases here and what's your plan to cope with the situation?

If you are currently in the US, you could get married and adjust status.  You would be "stuck", unable to work or travel for some months, but you would be in a similar situation if you entered on the K1.

 

AOS is possible on most visas, just make sure it is for you.

 

Look at the guides for more information.

[Dashinka 24,494]

I agree with @Lemonslice, if you are here now, and marriage ready, why not take that route. 

 

Good Luck!

[SalishSea 17,829]

Are you on a B visa?

 

Honestly?  In your position, I'd stay put.  Like you said, there are no US flights into China at the moment, and trying to get there via other routes is not guaranteed either.

 

You could either marry now and AOS, or just monitor the situation and make a decision before your current allowed stay expires.

 

Best wishes to friends and family back in China, btw.  I've been keeping tabs on WHO data, and the situation is pretty shocking to say the least. ❤️

[Heidi9292 10]

21 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

If you are currently in the US, you could get married and adjust status.  You would be "stuck", unable to work or travel for some months, but you would be in a similar situation if you entered on the K1.

 

AOS is possible on most visas, just make sure it is for you.

 

Look at the guides for more information.

I'm on the B visa so not sure how risky this would be. We are trying to follow the rules with the K visa but I will talk with my fiance if things in China are not getting better in the next month.

[Heidi9292 10]

20 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Are you on a B visa?

 

Honestly?  In your position, I'd stay put.  Like you said, there are no US flights into China at the moment, and trying to get there via other routes is not guaranteed either.

 

You could either marry now and AOS, or just monitor the situation and make a decision before your current allowed stay expires.

 

Best wishes to friends and family back in China, btw.  I've been keeping tabs on WHO data, and the situation is pretty shocking to say the least. ❤️

Thank you. So far me and my fiance are quarantining ourselves at home, just in case we are infected but haven't show symptoms (it is sill contagious during incubation period).

 

I will start thinking about seeing an immigration lawyer if things in China are not getting better. 

[JonSeattle 202]

It's just a matter of time before the same situation shows up in other countries. Talking to a lawyer might not help yet in this instance, because they will be in the dark as the rest of us.

 

You might find something in this post useful. Perhaps you can file for an extension of your status.

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/update-cancellation-visa-appointments-us-embassy-and-consulates-china-and-uscis

[jd_malachi 59]

I am monitoring the situation very carefully, I received my NOA2 on January 30 and currently waiting on NVC processing.  My fiance lives in Beijing, I am hoping it does not get as bad as Hubei province.  We are going to do as much as we can leading up to the interview phase, then wait and hope.  The visa approval from USCIS is only good for 4 months so I am hoping that exceptions will be granted if people can not get interviewed in that time period due to the consulate being closed for safety concerns.

[SalishSea 17,829]

3 hours ago, jd_malachi said:

I am monitoring the situation very carefully, I received my NOA2 on January 30 and currently waiting on NVC processing.  My fiance lives in Beijing, I am hoping it does not get as bad as Hubei province.  We are going to do as much as we can leading up to the interview phase, then wait and hope.  The visa approval from USCIS is only good for 4 months so I am hoping that exceptions will be granted if people can not get interviewed in that time period due to the consulate being closed for safety concerns.

If it comes to it, hopefully she can get here via Canada or some other country.  So far, Canada's borders are still open to arriving Chinese nationals and flights.  Best wishes.

[Heidi9292 10]

On 2/6/2020 at 11:50 PM, jd_malachi said:

I am monitoring the situation very carefully, I received my NOA2 on January 30 and currently waiting on NVC processing.  My fiance lives in Beijing, I am hoping it does not get as bad as Hubei province.  We are going to do as much as we can leading up to the interview phase, then wait and hope.  The visa approval from USCIS is only good for 4 months so I am hoping that exceptions will be granted if people can not get interviewed in that time period due to the consulate being closed for safety concerns.

Beijing was not as bad as Hubei, I lived in Beijing as well. I was supposed to start a new job in Beijing after the Chinese New Year.  America already temporarily suspended their visa service from Feb 10th (read here: https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/mission-china-regular-visa-services-temporarily-suspended/). You also can only do k1 interview at Guangzhou consulate and the situation in Guangzhou is much worse than Beijing.

 

Hopefully you guys can work things out sooner than later. 

[NikLR 13,227]

~~moved to China regional forum from K1 process and procedures.  Topic is China specific and is not asking about the K1 process~~

[Prizm123 1,086]

On 2/5/2020 at 11:24 AM, Lemonslice said:

If you are currently in the US, you could get married and adjust status.  You would be "stuck", unable to work or travel for some months, but you would be in a similar situation if you entered on the K1.

 

AOS is possible on most visas, just make sure it is for you.

 

Look at the guides for more information.

best advice here.

[jd_malachi 59]

9 hours ago, Heidi9292 said:

Beijing was not as bad as Hubei, I lived in Beijing as well. I was supposed to start a new job in Beijing after the Chinese New Year.  America already temporarily suspended their visa service from Feb 10th (read here: https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/mission-china-regular-visa-services-temporarily-suspended/). You also can only do k1 interview at Guangzhou consulate and the situation in Guangzhou is much worse than Beijing.

Yeah, I was aware that the interview would be in Guangzhou and that all interviews had been cancelled.  I was able to verify that a consular officer can extend an application if it has not finished being processed before it expires.  So the question becomes how many months before the situation is stable and the consulate is back in business, which is why I am monitoring Guangdong province as well as Beijing. I would probably go crazy if we could not talk on WeChat so I can check in with her. Not sure if it is Beijing wide but I know my fiance's company has pushed back the return to work date to Feb. 17 now.

[ShibaYuri2428 14]

 

2 hours ago, jd_malachi said:

Yeah, I was aware that the interview would be in Guangzhou and that all interviews had been cancelled.  I was able to verify that a consular officer can extend an application if it has not finished being processed before it expires.  So the question becomes how many months before the situation is stable and the consulate is back in business, which is why I am monitoring Guangdong province as well as Beijing. I would probably go crazy if we could not talk on WeChat so I can check in with her. Not sure if it is Beijing wide but I know my fiance's company has pushed back the return to work date to Feb. 17 now.

 

We received our NOA2 on Jan 17 and got notice via tracker website that The Guangzhou Consulate has received it before Chinese New Year.  

 

I was also worried that the virus would pause this process for a very long time, but at the same time the Consulate Website only notes extended leave from Feb 3- 7:  https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/u-s-citizen-services/security-and-travel-information/

 

If they stopped visa services, they would send a notice on the website.  Moreover, they emailed me 2 hours ago that they are doing pre-interview processing and we'd get P3 in the next few weeks.  See the below screenshot I took just now. 

 

So I assume that their backlog is pretty huge now after a 2-3 week break, but will still resume service as normal.  The more they stop working, the more behind they will get scheduling interviews, etc. and no one wants that unless it really is a dire situation. 

 

I'm also checking Guangdong cases everyday and the wiki shows that their confirmed case #s are dropping on a daily basis, which increases the chance that Guangzhou won't stop visa services -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2019–20_Wuhan_coronavirus_outbreak_in_February_2020#Case_statistics

 

Overall, I do think things are stabilizing a bit.  We're still seeing getting thousands of new cases everyday, but it's not exponentially growing and the cases outside of Hubei are decreasing.   This week is critical as people start working this week again, so there's a chance the cases will tick up.  We'll see... 

 

[jd_malachi 59]

 

7 hours ago, ShibaYuri2428 said:

If they stopped visa services, they would send a notice on the website.

 

Not sure if this applies to K1's or not.

 

As of February 10, 2020, regular visa services at the U.S Embassy in Beijing and the U.S. Consulates General in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenyang are suspended.  Due to the ongoing situation relating to the novel coronavirus, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates have very limited staffing and may be unable to respond to requests regarding regular visa services

 

https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/mission-china-regular-visa-services-temporarily-suspended/