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| Guangzhou, China |  Review on July 28, 2009: |
EZgoing378
Rating:  | Review Topic: K1 Visa
The interview at the Consulate went pretty much as described by people. For Guangzhou specific items let me just say that even though we had an early morning appointment and were in the front of the line, Ping (The benificiary), was one of the last 4 to have her interview. No reason given. 
I, the petitioner, went to the ACH and ACS that many recommend you go to in order to make it part of the record that you were there to support your SO. I believe this is a good idea. If nothing else, you get to see the inside of the Consulate and can explain the layout to your SO. It did seem that the group I was sitting and waiting for our SO's to come out with results got a lot of Pink. There is no way to tell if their being there had any direct influence but it certainly helps your SO. Ping told me afterwards that having me there made a big difference to her. Frankly, I didn't do anything except give her all the support I could. It is interesting that out of the large files that we all put together, they only take a fraction in the beginning when the inital paperwork is taken from the benidiciary. The VO may ask to see pictures or call records but much of what we took was never looked at.
After getting to the area where only the benificiaries wait, Ping got a number to wait for a clerk to call her up to a window in order to collect documents. Now, all of you have prepared a wonderful set of documents with all of the information that is called for. Much of that is not asked for. I am sure that each embassy is different but at Guangzhou they asked her for only the following:
1. Passport/ID at this time Ping asked if they wanted mine also. They declined.
That is just another attempt at letting them know that her SO came there
from the US to support her. Again, I believe that is very important.
2. Financial Statements
3. The P4 documents that she filled out in English and Chinese
4. The packet from the medical exam.
5. All of the notarized offical documents from various Chinese govt. services.
The police certificate, The "single and able to be married" certificate,
Divorce papers. They want the originals. I am sure most of you already know
this but one person, who claimed to have his packet prepared by a lawyer
had xerox copies of those. I am sure it was not an immigration lawyer. This
resulted in a blue slip and "come back another day."
The history of our relationship/proof of a relationship that I worked so hard on was not asked for at that time. Neither were any pictures. Depending on the interviewer, they could be asked for later. In fact, the pictures were but it doesn't surprise me that in most cases the interviewer is not going to take time to look over that proof. Naturally, I am not suggesting that anyone slacks off on preparing that section. Each case is different and they may want to look at that section closer for some reason.
Then Ping waited several hours until there was almost nobody left. Just her and two others. When she was finally called, she got an interviewer that many said was the most difficult. She is a woman which are reported to be tougher. She is a 30-something white woman with darker blond hair. I can only give you a summary of what she asked about and how Ping described the interview.
INTERVIEW
Ping's number was finally called and she went to the interviewer's window. The interviewer was pleasant and they exchanged greetings. She asked a few introductory questions to be sure she had the right person. Ping had been married before and therefore is divorced. We didn't think to practice that information because it didn't seem relavant and I had not read any reports of a VO very interested in this subject. Well, this VO spent about half of the time asking Ping about her divorce: Why did she divorce?, What did he do for a living? The best I can figure is she was trying to determine if she divorced this man so she could marry me. Well, Ping did a superb job answering the questions. We are fortunate that Ping is very good at thinking on her feet. She stuck to our main strategy, go slow and just tell the truth and nothing else. Finally the VO moved on and asked if Ping had any pictures. She looked at every one and Ping pointed out various gifts that we had exchanged over the years that were in the pictures. Also, she showed the VO a very nice gold bracelet my mother sent her this trip. Then the VO asked what the main way we communicated was and Ping told her, telephone during the work week and Internet on the weekend. The VO asked if we had a phone log. I purposely choose a long distance calling card that logged each and every call even though it cost a little more expressly for this purpose.  At that point, the VO looked up and said "Everything is good." and proceeded to give Ping a Pink piece of paper.
On the way out, a small fee is paid to cover the cost of mailing her passport with the K-1 visa now attached to a post office nearby. The interview was on July 15, 2009 and the passport was at the post office on July 18, 2009. I have heard of some taking longer. We didn't leave Guangzhou until the next day. 
Personally, I did not care for Guangzhou. The people there are not nearly as friendly as in Northern China so if you have only been to the North as I had, be prepared. If you check out our profile on VJ, I will mention the hotel we stayed at, it is within walking distance and the manager is very knowledgeable and helpful.
I hope this information is helpful to as many people as possible. Feel free to send questions to me here at VJ at EZGoing378 it is a yahoo account but I never check the email there. Take care and good luck to all.
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Consulate / USCIS Member Review #4784