Coronavirus in China

[OliverBa 61]

Update 02/13 9:00pm EST

 

Guangzhou embassy sent an update to NVC today informing them that they are still experiencing “Reduced operational capacity” due to shortage of staff from the evacuation and currently do not have a timeframe for when they will become fully operational again and all current petitions with them are on a processing II hold, and any petition still with NVC will be held until Guangzhou provides notice that they can accept new cases/petitions again. 

Edited February 14, 2020 by OliverBa

[jd_malachi 59]

I was expecting my petition to be ready to be sent over in the March 16th shipment, not looking so good anymore 

[Azsxd 9]

On 2/12/2020 at 2:23 PM, OliverBa said:

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. 

Thank you... Thank you so much for your warm and encouraging words. I needed them. In the past couple of days, I kept asking myself the same questions, why did it have to be me, you and us? Why does it have to be this hard?? I also kept blaming myself for not knowing therefore not preparing the documents before the interview. But nothing is going to happen even if I keep beating myself up.

I got a reply from the embassy today. It's probably the same as the reply you got, copy and paste of the proclamation and service suspension. It does say visa service was suspended as of Feb. 3, right after the travel ban became effective, not the 10th I thought. It also says once the proclamation is lifted, contact them regarding your case. I guess service and operation will remain on hold until the travel ban is lifted.

Thank you for your solace again. It's a sad and frustrating time for all of us and it's unforfunate we have to go through this, but it's nice to know there are kind people like you out there to go through this together. 

[givionte 138]

On 2/11/2020 at 1:06 AM, OliverBa said:

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? 

Nothing to add here, but just wanted to say you were one of the first people to help me start preparing our own I-130 petition, and have followed your own journey.  Seems you can't ever catch a break around here lately.  Hopefully things will turn around for you soon!  I'm still here in Guangzhou miserably waiting it out for the restrictions to drop and some form of normalcy to return here!  Unfortunately we planned to leave for the US in May, so have to stick it out for awhile, but hopefully that will be the sweet spot when travel restrictions drop and we don't have to worry about changing flights and quarantine checks.

 

Wish you the best of luck getting your case complete!

[Scott001 128]

Just got word from one my my representative's office about my wife's case.

 

The Tokyo embassy contacted Guangzhou to request a transfer and it was accepted. Now the case is assigned to Japan. It seems there is still staff in the IV unit doing something other than twiddling their thumbs. (Maybe)

[OliverBa 61]

On 2/15/2020 at 4:08 AM, givionte said:

Nothing to add here, but just wanted to say you were one of the first people to help me start preparing our own I-130 petition, and have followed your own journey.  Seems you can't ever catch a break around here lately.  Hopefully things will turn around for you soon!  I'm still here in Guangzhou miserably waiting it out for the restrictions to drop and some form of normalcy to return here!  Unfortunately we planned to leave for the US in May, so have to stick it out for awhile, but hopefully that will be the sweet spot when travel restrictions drop and we don't have to worry about changing flights and quarantine checks.

 

Wish you the best of luck getting your case complete!

Thanks! Yeah we have been through a lot and it seems never ending. If you already have the visa though, the Chinese fiancé can just fly to Thailand or somewhere nearby and chill for 14 days. The ban for non citizens is having been in or traveled to China within 14 days before arriving in the states. So as long as it can be shown that the Chinese fiancé hasn’t been in China in over 14 days and also shows no symptoms, entry will be allowed. For the American counterpart who may be traveling back from China, a quarantine may be required, but the travel to a third country for 14 days method would also avoid that. Good luck!!!

5 hours ago, Scott001 said:

Just got word from one my my representative's office about my wife's case.

 

The Tokyo embassy contacted Guangzhou to request a transfer and it was accepted. Now the case is assigned to Japan. It seems there is still staff in the IV unit doing something other than twiddling their thumbs. (Maybe)

That’s awesome! So happy for you guys!!!

[givionte 138]

13 hours ago, OliverBa said:

Thanks! Yeah we have been through a lot and it seems never ending. If you already have the visa though, the Chinese fiancé can just fly to Thailand or somewhere nearby and chill for 14 days. The ban for non citizens is having been in or traveled to China within 14 days before arriving in the states. So as long as it can be shown that the Chinese fiancé hasn’t been in China in over 14 days and also shows no symptoms, entry will be allowed. For the American counterpart who may be traveling back from China, a quarantine may be required, but the travel to a third country for 14 days method would also avoid that. Good luck!!!

That’s awesome! So happy for you guys!!!

Yeah, Thailand or another option down the line will be something we think about.  Right now it seems like it won't be any trouble flying from Guangzhou to the US, there are paths through Incheon we can take, she just might have to get a transit visa through South Korea for the layover.  Mid May is our planned time to get out, hopefully everything will be mostly normal in a couple weeks, and certainly by then.  The last 3 days have had no new cases of the virus in GZ, so they should start lifting restrictions slowly very soon.

 

The quarantine wouldn't be so bad, it's a self-quarantine, which basically means they recommend you go home and stay home if you get a cough or a fever within 14 days.  Either way, I'm itching to go home, so I'm not sitting in the house all day long, everyday.

Edited February 19, 2020 by givionte

[Jeff and Mei 19]

We are still waiting for approval of our I-130 at the Nebraska Service Center.  It has been 13 months.  Maybe the delay is a blessing in disguise because of the virus.  We are very lucky, my wife has a tourist visa and has been here with me through much of the wait.  Her stay expires May 19 but I just requested an extension because of the virus (for a mere $470).  Maybe we won't need it.  Hopefully this virus will clear up soon.  I will check this thread for information on Guangzhou, thanks.

[RamonGomez 271]

On 2/19/2020 at 11:55 AM, Jeff and Mei said:

We are still waiting for approval of our I-130 at the Nebraska Service Center.  It has been 13 months.  Maybe the delay is a blessing in disguise because of the virus.  We are very lucky, my wife has a tourist visa and has been here with me through much of the wait.  Her stay expires May 19 but I just requested an extension because of the virus (for a mere $470).  Maybe we won't need it.  Hopefully this virus will clear up soon.  I will check this thread for information on Guangzhou, thanks.

Why not just adjust status? 

[Jeff and Mei 19]

On ‎2‎/‎22‎/‎2020 at 11:53 PM, RamonGomez said:

Why not just adjust status? 

I think adjusting status on a visitor visa would be considered fraud.

[RamonGomez 271]

2 hours ago, Jeff and Mei said:

I think adjusting status on a visitor visa would be considered fraud.

No, it wouldn't. You should look into this in case the situation doesn't improve. If you file now depending on your location she may have the green card quicker than your CR1 is issued. My wife adjusted from a B2 (as did a few of her friends) and no one had any issues.

[Jeff and Mei 19]

36 minutes ago, RamonGomez said:

No, it wouldn't. You should look into this in case the situation doesn't improve. If you file now depending on your location she may have the green card quicker than your CR1 is issued. My wife adjusted from a B2 (as did a few of her friends) and no one had any issues.

That really is an interesting thought.  I definitely need to look into it.  Who knows when the China situation will improve.

[Dashinka 24,494]

On 2/19/2020 at 12:55 PM, Jeff and Mei said:

We are still waiting for approval of our I-130 at the Nebraska Service Center.  It has been 13 months.  Maybe the delay is a blessing in disguise because of the virus.  We are very lucky, my wife has a tourist visa and has been here with me through much of the wait.  Her stay expires May 19 but I just requested an extension because of the virus (for a mere $470).  Maybe we won't need it.  Hopefully this virus will clear up soon.  I will check this thread for information on Guangzhou, thanks.

I agree with @RamonGomez, if your wife is here, file the I485.  You can sort out all the other stuff after getting the AP/EAD or GC, and hopefully in that time, this virus issue will work through itself.

 

Good Luck!

[RamonGomez 271]

The other issue is that even after the I-130 is approved, it needs another 4-6 weeks to get set up at NVC, and NVC has slowed to a crawl now. We're talking 8-10 weeks to review documents. And if you make a mistake or need to resubmit something, that's another 8-10 weeks for review. Then at least another 4-8 weeks to get an interview in normal circumstances. I assume Guangzhou has a massive backlog  since they haven't been interviewing immigrant visas for probably a month now.  If the consulate closure continues you could also be looking at a massive delay in getting an interview date. It's an insanely messed up situation now.

 

 

[OliverBa 61]

1 hour ago, RamonGomez said:

The other issue is that even after the I-130 is approved, it needs another 4-6 weeks to get set up at NVC, and NVC has slowed to a crawl now. We're talking 8-10 weeks to review documents. And if you make a mistake or need to resubmit something, that's another 8-10 weeks for review. Then at least another 4-8 weeks to get an interview in normal circumstances. I assume Guangzhou has a massive backlog  since they haven't been interviewing immigrant visas for probably a month now.  If the consulate closure continues you could also be looking at a massive delay in getting an interview date. It's an insanely messed up situation now.

 

 

I actually don’t think there’s a massive backlog with Guangzhou. There are people there still processing the visa foils and inserting them on passports for picks ups, so when they do open back up, Guangzhou will be starting off with a “clean slate” so to speak. Once the visa services suspension is lifted, notices will be sent to those who visa interviews were cancelled, also any P3’s that we’re not sent out for petitions they already had, would be sent out, and then would receive the K1 petitions from NVC at some point, that is when interviews will be scarce and we’ll all be fighting for them but that also depends on how quickly people respond to their P3’s since they don’t allow you to schedule the interview until they send P4. So I don’t foresee there being a huge backlog. People with cancelled interviews will have their interviews before any K1’s get their P3’s and P4’s. Guangzhou has a nice staggered process, unlike other embassies, the Philippines for example, that allow interview scheduling as soon as, the embassy received the petition from NVC, which would make our situation more chaotic if it was the same here.
 

I have a contact at the embassy in Guangzhou, waiting for his reply, I’ll let you know of any updates I get. I know this whole thing sucks, but we’ll get through it everybody. The virus won’t last forever, the sun will come out eventually. I think it more or a testament for how much we love our respective counterparts that we continue to persist in and persevere in spite of all the roadblocks and obstacles thrown into our paths. If we can get through this, we can get through anything. True love we have found indeed, so we’ll count ourselves lucky in that regard. We all know it. Time, distance, nothing could separate us. Because we know. It is right, it is real. The couples that are meant to be are the ones who go through everything that is meant to tear them apart, and come out even stronger because of it. Group hug everyone 🤗