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| Guangzhou, China |  Review on November 13, 2013: |
PandaMaker
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The appointment was at 08:45. My fiancée arrived at 07:50 and waited in a line outside the blue barriers. At the front of the line, there were guards that let people through according to their interview time. They pointed for her where the Immigrant line is.
At the front of the Immigrant line, there were two workers that checked her passport, Packet 4 e-mail, and appointment letter.
Next, she went through a security checkpoint, in which they checked for prohibitive items. Prohibitive items posted are:
- "Battery-operated or electronic devices such as mobile phones, watches, pagers, cameras, audio/video cassettes, compact discs, MP3s, floppy disks, laptops, or portable music players."
- "Bags such as travel bags, backpacks, briefcases, suitcases, leather, cloth bags, and zip folders. (Only small handbags or purses and plastic bags containing application-related papers will be allowed inside the consulate.)"
- "food items, other than bottled water"
- "sealed envelopes or packages"
- "cigarettes, cigars, match boxes, lighters"
- "sharp objects such as scissors, pen knives or nail files"
- "weapons or explosive materials of any kind"
- "other items at the discretion of the security staff"
There are no official storage areas, so be prepared to leave these at home/hotel, or trust and pay some street person to hold them for you.
She then followed signs to another building. There was a person at the destination building who checked her passport and instructed her to go to the 3rd floor, where there is a window. At the window, the person checked the P4 e-mail and appointment letter. Here, she was given a ticket with a number on it. The time is 08:09 at this point.
She waited in the 'A' area for her number to be called. There are TV monitors everywhere that display the next number in queue. Numbers are also displayed above the assigned windows. There are also workers that will call out numbers and help you along, if you're not attentive.
When she was called to her window, her passport, P4 e-mail, and appointment letter were checked again. She was asked if she had filled out the DS-160, which she didn't. As a result, she was asked if she has the DS-156, DS-156K, and DS-157, which she did and gave to the document-intake person. She wasn't asked for the DS-230, but my fiancée told her there was a typo with the one she sent with her Packet 3 and wanted to submit the correct version. The person acknowledged her request and instructed her to open her sealed medical examination envelope and hand the contents over. The document-intake person took the correct DS-230 and replaced the one with the typo. Then, my fiancée handed over the translated/notarized documents. When it was time for the I-134 documents, they only took the most recent year tax transcript and W2. She was also asked for the 1040, but didn't have that. She did not take the actual I-134 form from my fiancée for some reason. After handing over all the requested documents, she was given a "Marriage Intent" letter and asked to print my name on it before taking it back. The document-intake person gave her the queue ticket back and a pamphlet covering domestic violence, which she was asked to read while waiting in Area 'B'. She said the document-intake person seemed nice, but a bit disorganized.
She was called up to her next window, which is the interview window. She said the officer is a young Asian female with glasses. There was a swear-in and her fingerprints were taken. My fiancée was asked to explain what the pamphlet is saying and then continued to the interview questions:
-How did you meet?
-What language do you communicate in?
-He knows Cantonese?
-How do you communicate?
-What's his Skype account?
-What's his job?
-Does he work by himself?
-When did he come to China?
-For how many days?
-How many times did he come?
-Why only once?
She was given the "Marriage Intent" letter again, and this time, wrote her own name. Then, she was given the DS-156K and asked to write my name and signed it in front of the officer. She then asked two more questions:
-Have you been to the US?
-Are you a Chinese Communist Party Member?
At this time, she was told that she was approved and given a piece of paper that explains the next steps in picking up her passport after the visa is issued. The officer was nice the whole time. She did not look at any evidence of the relationship that was brought to the interview. It might possibly be due to the fact that our I-129F was front-loaded with evidence.
She said the interview was less than 10 minutes and the total amount of time she spent at the consular compound was about an hour. She was very pleased with how orderly and simple the day was.
It took 10 total days, from the date of the interview, for her to receive notice that her visa was ready to be picked up.
(updated on November 13, 2013)
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #13228