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| Guangzhou, China |  Review on September 5, 2008: |
donmerlin
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
Our Interview Experience:
We arrived at 7:00 AM to a sea of umbrellas waiting in line to get into the building. I waited with my fiancee's son, Peter, up on the steps while my fiancee, Angel, waited in the queue. After about 20 minutes, they started letting people through the queue (the 1st three lines were for the visa office, which were let through first). One at a time, they checked the visa invitation letter and passports of the people, so the line came through slowly. Once they let Angel through, Peter and I joined her up to the 4th floor, where there was a short, fast-moving line through a checkpoint. This is where I left them, to my place in the coffee shop on the other side of the wall.
As Angel and Peter went up to the 5th floor, they first went through security (no cell phones are allowed in at all). Then they sat in the area where there were rows of chairs, waiting for her name to be called. After 15 minutes, they called her name, she went to the window and provided the sealed medical results. They opened the package and checked the records, then they added these records to the original I-129F package we had originally submit for the petition (sent from California to DOS to Guangzhou). Then they gave her a number, and she sat down again.
The numbers are called in random order, not numeric order (similar to how it's done at the ACH). After about 30 minutes, Angel's number was called. At this time, they only called her up for fingerprinting (using a fingerprint scan, not ink). She then went back to her seat, with the same number, to wait to be called again.
After the fingerprints were done, everyone was asked to stand up to take the US oath.
Angel and her son waited another 35 minutes before their number was called again. Angel was engaged in conversation with her fellow applicants, and Peter was deeply focused on his book (he loves to read). When she noticed her number had been called a few times already, she quickly grabbed the bag of forms and documents we had put together for the interview, woke Peter out of his "reading" bliss, and stammered to her assigned window.
She was greeted by an American Visa Officer, blue eyes and blonde hair. At this time, he was very serious looking, no smile at all. She was asked to scan her left and right forefingers for fingerprint verification (pretty snazzy system for ensuring there is no switch-a-roo). And so the interview began, first in English, but later changed to Chinese (see notes):
1. When did you first meet?
Angel asked, "In person, or on internet?"
VO responded, "Internet, then in person."
Angel provided the exact date we met on the internet, and then provided the exact date we first met on my first trip to China.
2. When did you get engaged?
Angel was not sure of the English word "engaged", but she was thinking maybe she knew. I told her not to assume anything, and if she was unsure, to ask. She showed the VO her engagement ring, and asked, "Do you mean this?"
The VO responded, "Yes."
Angel has trouble remembering the month of October, which is when I gave her the ring. She stuttered an "August", quickly followed by a mis-pronounced "September", then quickly corrected again, "October, October."
NOTE: This is the point at which the VO changed to speaking Chinese. Angel then also changed her answers to Chinese, except where noted. The VO's command of the Chinese language was decent for an American, but not flawless, as the following notes will show.
3. Did your fiance get a divorce?
Sensing a trick question, Angel smiled and retorted "He has never been married." Her attitude coupled with her correct response appeared to have changed his dimeaner at this stage, as a smile gleamed over his face as well.
4. How many times did your fiance come to China?
Angel responded, "Including this time trip, 7 times."
VO responded, "Did he come to the interview with you?"
She answered, "Yes".
He then replied, "Can you show me his passport?"
She give him my passport, and while he flipped through the many stamped pages, she also told him about how she met me in Hong Kong once to help me renew my Chinese visa when my first visa had expired and I couldn't enter the mainland (note, I probably provided more details here than she actually provided to the VO).
5. What is your fiance's job?
Angel responded that I was a "Computer Programmer", but as I indicated earlier, her answers were all in Chinese at this point, and he didn't understand this particular Chinese. He asked for the English translation, but Angel could not remember the English phrase for my job. There were native Chinese speakers on-call for all of the VO's, so he consorted with the one standing behind him, and this is how he came to understand what my job was.
6. What is your job?
After the last question, Angel decided to answer this question in English, and stated "Police."
7. He asked for the I-134.
Angel gave him the I-134 forms (one for her and one for Peter). He did not want any of the documents we had put together supporting the I-134 (such as letter from employee, paycheck receipts, deed to house, tax forms, etc.).
8. He then specifically asked for a copy of my 2007 income taxes.
Angel quickly provided this (we had organized all of the documentation by category in 7 different bags, and she knew the tax forms were in the same bag as the I-134).
8. Do you have any pictures of you and your fiance together?
Angel handed him the pictures of us together. As he feathered through all pictures relatively fast, Angel was preoccupied trying to chase down Peter who, now restless, was wondering off in various directions.
9. Where does Peter's father live?
Still speaking in Chinese, Angel responded, "Yunan, very far away."
The VO replied, "Is that in China?"
"Yes," she answered.
10. Do you have pictures of you and your son since he was a baby?
Angel handed him a different stack of pictures showing her and her son together since he was a baby up until now.
11. Now the VO wanted to ask Peter a question. The VO's Chinese pronunciation was a bit off, so what Peter heard is "Ni xihuan chi mang guo?" (translates to "Do you like to eat Mango?")
Peter was confused by this question, and just looked to his mother for guidance. She quickly corrected the Chinese for him, "Ni xihuan qu Meiguo? ("Do you want to go to America?")
Once he understood the question, he replied, "Yes." The VO smiled some more.
Angel noted that the VO had a very nice smile, as he starting working on some of the paperwork. As she anticipated another question, she was also trying to corale Peter as he continued to get restless. She then heard the VO staple some papers together and say something in English to her. She did not understand the English. He then switched back to Chinese, "Ni de mian shi tong guo la." ("You passed your interview.")
Then he handed Angel her P4 package with the red paper stapled to it.
Thinking only of ensuring completion rather than "running like the wind" with the red paper, she bravely asked, "You forget something?" As she said this, she handed him the notarized agreement she had obtained from Peter's father agreeing to let Peter go to the US. She didn't want any issues to arise later from not providing this. The VO looked at the document, and said "okay", and he added it with the documents that the VO kept.
It was at this point that she felt the fire of "run like the wind". She thought now would be a good time to leave, before he changed his mind. "Thank you, thank you, bye bye."
Meeting me down on the 4th floor coffee shop, she walked up with a serious smile. I watched Peter following behind her, like a loyal follower of the Pied Piper, and sensed that he was fighting to conceal something. As soon as he saw me, he lost his composure and cracked a pretty revealing smile. I knew at this point that they got the red paper, and Peter's instruction was to not let on. Having not seen him smile, Angel proceeded with the plan, and I played along. She was quiet and solemn at first when she approached me, but then she, like Peter, found it a struggle, and began some small talk to distract herself. In the midst of her small talk, I asked, "So?" She handed me an arbitrary piece of paper that happened to be white, persistant in her plan to get my goat. I just smiled, and rifled through her bag until I found the red paper that had Chinese and English writing, the key phrase being "You have been approved."
We checked out of the hotel and took a train back home. I think we were in a dream state for a day or two, as the culmination of all this documentation and paperwork finally came to a head. She and her son would soon be on a plane to the US. She was still reserving some excitement until she actually saw the visa show up in her mail. A quick check of the EMS tracking website (they provide the EMS receipt) shows that it was just dispatched from Guangzhou (about 2 days after the interview). It arrived later that day. We bit each other to make sure that we weren't dreaming (the same thing we did the first time we met in person).
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #3311