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| Guangzhou, China |  Review on October 30, 2018: |
OliverBa
Rating:  | Review Topic: Direct Consular Filing
The appointment was scheduled to file the I-130 on Monday, October 22nd at 9:15 am. If anyone plans to go to the Guangzhou embassy I recommend staying at the Mei Cheng Hotel 美æˆé…’店 which is directly across the embassy on the north side, 500rmb for one night. The entrance for citizens is at the north-west corner of the embassy so literally a 1-minute walk from the hotel.
Showed my passport and appointment letter to the guard, he let me in and then I went through security, no bags or phones allowed in so make sure you take everything you need from your bags before you go in (I left my wallet and had to go running back to get it)
once you enter the embassy, you’ll go up to the 4th floor and walk straight to the back and there is a small window with maybe 12 chairs in front of it, the lady at the window will call your name, I just so arrive right as she called my name. I have her my documents which were held together with paper clips. She went through all the pages of the application I-130 and I-130a. (Btw I wrote in N/A for any and all questions that didn’t apply or could not be answered so now field was left blank)
She asked to see my passport, my original marriage license, and my husband’s original passport, which I didn’t have and explained that he was traveling with it so that’s why I don’t have it, and that seemed to be fine. She asked me about my proof of bonafide marriage which was a land deed, I guess she had never seen one before or didn’t see our names on it st first but I pointed it out and it was ok. She then asked me about my Chinese address, I told her it was on the first page, she didn’t understand so I told her again it so the first page, which was my cover page and at the bottom it I typed my Chinese address, phone number, and email address. She said ok and wrote something next to my address and then She stamped the copies the documents that I gave her but I couldn’t see what the stamp said. The whole interaction was very friendly and jovial.
She then gave me a piece of paper and told me to go to the 3rd floor and pay the fee and then come back to her. I went down and then realized I didn’t have my wallet with me and I decided to ask to cashier about the method of payment: only US Dollars, Chinese Yuan, or American Credit Card is accepted. Chinese debit card, American debit card, Alipay or WeChat pay (for those of us who have lived in China for so long that we got used to using our phones to pay for everything haha) are NOT accepted. So I exited the building, got my bag and my wallet and went across the street to the ICBC back to get cash. The ICBC bank is on the west side of the embassy. I went back through security and up to the 3rd floor and paid in cash, the total fee in Chinese yuan was 3750¥.
I went back up to the 4th floor and sat down in one of the chairs. The lady at the window saw me and called me back up. I gave her the receipt and she said “Ok all done†I told her thank you and then asked about how I would get notified about the result, she hesitated a minute, which kind of threw me off for a second because everything was going smoothly up until then, and then she said I would get an email or something in the mail. I was going to ask her when I should expect it, but I decided not to push my luck and just said thank you and left.
I felt pretty I’d about the whole process afterward like a weight had been lifted off of me. I was so nervous about it before. Anyway, I’m awaiting my NOA1 now I guess. From what I read it usually takes 5 days, maybe up to 2 weeks depending, so I’ll just be calm and wait. I’ll give them until November 10th before I start freaking out and panicking haha.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #24941