Coronavirus in China

[OliverBa 61]

Hi everyone. I thought I would create a thread fo all of us who have petitions pending in China during this outbreak to share information. The embassy was closed last week due to the Chinese extension of spring festival holiday, and now the embassies have suspending visa services due to the US government’s limited staffing at the embassies and due to the president’s proclamation banning entry of foreigners who have been in China in the past 14 days. 
 

For myself, my fiancé visa petition was scheduled to be shipped to Guangzhou embassy last week and it didn’t ship, the next scheduled shipment is supposed to be next week on the 18th. At this point I don’t even think that’s going to happen. NVC says that they will of course extended the validity period of petitions they couldn’t be processed by the Embassies in China due to the outbreak, but that doesn’t worry me as much as trying to figure out when my loved one is gonna be able to get here. Anyone else out there in similar circumstances? 

[Scott001 127]

My wife's visa interview was scheduled for the 24th. She got an email last night saying all interview for that week were canceled. Which might be a good thing us since we've been trying to change her interview location for quite some time now.

 

 

差出人: GuangzhouIVReply <GuangzhouIVReply@state.gov> 日時: 2020年2月10日 15:10:22 JST 宛先: 件名: GUZXXXXXXX  Cancel Visa Appointment      Dear applicant,     Due to the evolving situation with the novel corona virus and the Chinese government’s response, U.S. Consulate Guangzhou is cancelling immigrant visa appointments the week of February 24.  We will resume routine visa services as soon as possible but are unable to provide a specific date at this time.   鉴于新型冠状病毒疫情的发展, 为配合中国政府开展相关工作，美国驻广州总领事馆将在2月24日这一周取消移民签证面试。我们将会尽快恢复常规签证服务，但目前无法提供具体的日期。     Sincerely,   Immigrant Visa Unit U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou   This email is UNCLASSIFIED based upon the provisions of E.O. 13526 To respond to this email, use only the web form at https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/visas/immigrant-visas/contact-us/immigrant-visa-unit-question/. E-mails sent via “reply” will not be received.

 

 

here's another thread worth checking out. 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by Scott001

[OliverBa 61]

Thank you for your reply. I’ve been trying to gather all the information and figure out what’s going on. Last week saw that visa appointments were available for feb 20th, now form this email I know that they have cancelled all of them for that week. This is problematic. They need to do something, we can’t be stuck in limbo for months. I was hoping and had faith that we could interview some time in March, but that’s seeming more and more unlikely since NVC won’t even send our petition to Guangzhou. We also have the option of having the Interview in his home country, but I worry because the embassy there schedules the appointments and it sometimes takes 2-3 months to get an appointment whereas Guangzhou is weeks, or was weeks until this virus happened. So frustrating.

[Scott001 127]

12 hours ago, OliverBa said:

Thank you for your reply. I’ve been trying to gather all the information and figure out what’s going on. Last week saw that visa appointments were available for feb 20th, now form this email I know that they have cancelled all of them for that week. This is problematic. They need to do something, we can’t be stuck in limbo for months. I was hoping and had faith that we could interview some time in March, but that’s seeming more and more unlikely since NVC won’t even send our petition to Guangzhou. We also have the option of having the Interview in his home country, but I worry because the embassy there schedules the appointments and it sometimes takes 2-3 months to get an appointment whereas Guangzhou is weeks, or was weeks until this virus happened. So frustrating.

TLDR: Email the Guangzhou consulate, email NVC, email the location you want to change the interview to and do it sooner rather than later.  If you call they will tell you email them. So do both. 

 

Well, I'm a bit ticked off right now it was smooth sailing at first but now it's just..... so a slight rant....

 

I've been trying to get my wife's case assigned to Tokyo. She's a legal resident and has lived there for over 10 years. We requested Tokyo from the get go but the case was assigned to China. When I called NVC to request a change they said to include proof she lived in Japan with the application and it wouldn't be a problem.  Well, after becoming DQ, it was still assigned to China. 

 

So I called again. NVC said to email them (askNVC) and send proff she lives in Japan. Ok, no problem I sent an email with her ID card. Which NVC said would be proof enough. A few days before we receive the interview email, we got a message from NVC saying to submit more information. WTH? The information they are asking for was already provided. So I sent it again through askNVC. 

 

In the meantime I called NVC to see WTH is going on. NVC told me to contact China directly to request a change. Only problem, it was the Chinese New Year holiday, then it got extended. So nobody was answering the phone. I was able to email China and requested a change. I didn't hear anything back so I called again. This time I was told they could see the application. They could see she lived in Japan but there was nothing they (China) could do. I was told the only way to request a change or to service the application was through email. 

 

Since I already had a pending email I didn't think it would be a problem. Well seems I was wrong. About 30 minutes ago I got an email from the Guangzhou consulate. Guess what! The email said they said to "direct your request to the U.S. Embassy/Consulate General where you wish the case to be processed." 

 

So now it's been over a month just for them to email me and tell me to contact Japan directly. So I did. Japan said to fill out a form online requesting a transfer. The best part is, there's no timeline and it will be up to Guangzhou to decide if they want to release the case to Japan. It could be a week. It could be several months. Apparently it depends on the case load on China and if anybody is working. 

 

I contacted my repetitiveness last week in the hopes they can do something. But we are not holding our breath. If her police reports expire before her interview we will abandon her visa. Honestly after this neither of us care to deal with the US government again.  

Edited February 11, 2020 by Scott001

[OliverBa 61]

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 1:34 AM, Scott001 said:

TLDR: Email the Guangzhou consulate, email NVC, email the location you want to change the interview to and do it sooner rather than later.  If you call they will tell you email them. So do both. 

 

Well, I'm a bit ticked off right now it was smooth sailing at first but now it's just..... so a slight rant....

 

I've been trying to get my wife's case assigned to Tokyo. She's a legal resident and has lived there for over 10 years. We requested Tokyo from the get go but the case was assigned to China. When I called NVC to request a change they said to include proof she lived in Japan with the application and it wouldn't be a problem.  Well, after becoming DQ, it was still assigned to China. 

 

So I called again. NVC said to email them (askNVC) and send proff she lives in Japan. Ok, no problem I sent an email with her ID card. Which NVC said would be proof enough. A few days before we receive the interview email, we got a message from NVC saying to submit more information. WTH? The information they are asking for was already provided. So I sent it again through askNVC. 

 

In the meantime I called NVC to see WTH is going on. NVC told me to contact China directly to request a change. Only problem, it was the Chinese New Year holiday, then it got extended. So nobody was answering the phone. I was able to email China and requested a change. I didn't hear anything back so I called again. This time I was told they could see the application. They could see she lived in Japan but there was nothing they (China) could do. I was told the only way to request a change or to service the application was through email. 

 

Since I already had a pending email I didn't think it would be a problem. Well seems I was wrong. About 30 minutes ago I got an email from the Guangzhou consulate. Guess what! The email said they said to "direct your request to the U.S. Embassy/Consulate General where you wish the case to be processed." 

 

So now it's been over a month just for them to email me and tell me to contact Japan directly. So I did. Japan said to fill out a form online requesting a transfer. The best part is, there's no timeline and it will be up to Guangzhou to decide if they want to release the case to Japan. It could be a week. It could be several months. Apparently it depends on the case load on China and if anybody is working. 

 

I contacted my repetitiveness last week in the hopes they can do something. But we are not holding our breath. If her police reports expire before her interview we will abandon her visa. Honestly after this neither of us care to deal with the US government again.  

I’ve been doing the same with email embassies, it’s so ridiculous how screwed up this system is.  Especially in our case since it’s stills it’s NVC and not in Guangzhou so why the hell do i need to email Guangzhou about the petition when they don’t have it yet. Nvc should be able to change it, they told me just to email them the proof of his citizenship and the request. But given your experience I feel like they are going to give me the run around too which makes me just wanna stay the course with China and ride this virus ######## out. Having it switched seems like trying to move a freaking mountain. 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Ryan H
Reason for edit: to remove profanity.

[Scott001 127]

Yes exactly!

It wouldn't surprise me if I get a reply from Japan saying to contact China or NVC. 

 

On the upside, my Representative's got a reply from their inquiries. The consulate told them I need to contact Japan directly to request a change... 

 

I'm starting to understand why people don't want to do immigration the correct way. 

[Scott001 127]

I saw your post in the other thread and didn't want to highjack anymore 😃

 

I'm sorry to hear about him getting the #### treatment in China too. That really makes the situation worse. Getting the police reports will also be a PIA. Is there any chance he can get help from his embassy getting things sorted out?

Edited February 15, 2020 by Ryan H
Reason for edit: to remove alternate spelling of profanity.

[OliverBa 61]

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 4:30 PM, Scott001 said:

Yes exactly!

It wouldn't surprise me if I get a reply from Japan saying to contact China or NVC. 

 

On the upside, my Representative's got a reply from their inquiries. The consulate told them I need to contact Japan directly to request a change... 

 

I'm starting to understand why people don't want to do immigration the correct way. 

Right? They need to get this ####### fixed, it should not be this bureaucratic and difficult to do simple . 

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 4:39 PM, Scott001 said:

I saw your post in the other thread and didn't want to highjack anymore 😃

 

I'm sorry to hear about him getting the #### treatment in China too. That really makes the situation worse. Getting the police reports will also be a PIA. Is there any chance he can get help from his embassy getting things sorted out?

Haha it’s cool. He has a friend helping him with police reports but we’ve decided to ride it out in China because neither of us want to go though this changing embassies bullshit...nope, that’s more headaches and frustrations hopefully this virus stuff will calm down over the next couple of months and we can continue the process, that’s assuming NVC doesn’t lose our petition between now and then which I’ve heard happens. Good luck!

Edited February 15, 2020 by Ryan H
Reason for edit: to remove alternate spelling of profanity in quote.

[jd_malachi 59]

It's the double frustration of dealing with the immigration system shut down over the coronavirus and also having all my plans to visit my fiance in March swept out from under me when air travel was suspended.

[OliverBa 61]

9 minutes ago, jd_malachi said:

It's the double frustration of dealing with the immigration system shut down over the coronavirus and also having all my plans to visit my fiance in March swept out from under me when air travel was suspended.

Yes I completely understand. There are still options for those to get out of China or in but it’s costly and doesn’t allow much room for options. I contemplated having my fiancé go stay in Cambodia or Fiji while we wait this thing out, but getting out of China is tricky with some airports being shut down and others not and the government not explicitly saying which ones are shut down and then not knowing which cities have taxi’s in operation to get people to the airport. It’s crazy 

[OliverBa 61]

They are such pieces of . I just got back the email from Guangzhou, i emailed them two days ago and they responded with a copy and paste of what’s on the USTravelDocs page about services being suspended etc. Wow. 

[Azsxd 9]

Had my interview back in Jan. and couple of days later got a 221(g) email requesting original copies. It took a while to get the originals from the court in the US. Delivery to me was delayed due to CNY and lockdown. Just got a call from CITIC bank that the documents I submitted on Feb. 10 were turned back. I have just now found out from the embassy website that visa service has been suspended. I have emailed the IV unit asking if iV was also suspended, but judging from what I have read here, the answer is yes. I was hoping to get my visa and start looking into maybe traveling to a third country for 14 days, but it seems that there's nothing I can do but wait... just when I thought I could put this behind and finally be with my fiance

[OliverBa 61]

1 minute ago, Azsxd said:

Had my interview back in Jan. and couple of days later got a 221(g) email requesting original copies. It took a while to get the originals from the court in the US. Delivery to me was delayed due to CNY and lockdown. Just got a call from CITIC bank that the documents I submitted on Feb. 10 were turned back. I have just now found out from the embassy website that visa service has been suspended. I have emailed the IV unit asking if iV was also suspended, but judging from what I have read here, the answer is yes. I was hoping to get my visa and start looking into maybe traveling to a third country for 14 days, but it seems that there's nothing I can do but wait... just when I thought I could put this behind and finally be with my fiance

I know. It’s horrible. I’m sorry this has happened to you, and all of us. The timing is just horrible. Why did it have to be us? But it’s ok, all things are temporary and this too shall pass. We’re all here for you to support you and we’ll get through it together. I’m monitoring the situation closely and following all updates from the state department, NVC,  the embassies in China, and Guangzhou IV unit and I’ll let you guys know anything new I find out. 
 

yes everything is suspended now except US citizen services. The last batch of visas printed and sent out were ones who had completed the interviews right before the embassy closed at the end of January. They all should be picking up their passports this week from Citic bank locations. 
 

other than that, everything is on hold. The daily rate of infection from the virus has been decreasing everyday, the recovered numbers have been increasing, so things are on the up and up. Let’s give it a few more weeks to see what happens. Nothing can keep us apart from our loves, nothing, we just need patience and faith. 

[Scott001 127]

On 2/11/2020 at 5:50 PM, OliverBa said:

They are such pieces of . I just got back the email from Guangzhou, i emailed them two days ago and they responded with a copy and paste of what’s on the USTravelDocs page about services being suspended etc. Wow. 

I know your pain. Guangzhou sent the same copy/paste response to my Representative's office that sent an inquiry for us.

- Transfer my wife's case to Tokyo. - Contact the embassy you wish to transfer the case to directly.

 

Thankfully, they didn't accept that copy/paste answer and are working to expiate, and escalate, our request with Tokyo and Guangzhou.     

 

The reply from the Tokyo office was much better and not so copy/paste looking.

Edited February 14, 2020 by Scott001

[OliverBa 61]

1 hour ago, Scott001 said:

I know your pain. Guangzhou sent the same copy/paste response to my Representative's office that sent an inquiry for us.

- Transfer my wife's case to Tokyo. - Contact the embassy you wish to transfer the case to directly.

 

Thankfully, they didn't accept that copy/paste answer and are working to expiate, and escalate, our request with Tokyo and Guangzhou.     

 

The reply from the Tokyo office was much better and not so copy/paste looking.

Yeah Guangzhou is in a pickle at the moment. I also got more personalized responses from the other two embassies in other countries that I contacted.