Consulate Review: Guangzhou, China
Review Topic: K1 Visa
|
| Event |
Description |
| Review Date : |
August 6, 2013 |
| Embassy Review : |
My fiance’s appointment was for 8:30 AM, August 6th. We arrived at the consulate at 6:30 AM, per recommendations we received the previous day from another approved K1 applicant (one of the QQ “Gang of 6” that helped us get our interview date). We were not the first ones there. About a dozen more people were already "hanging out", though no line was forming yet. At about 7 AM, the security guards began their work and formed 2 lines, one for 7:30 appointments and another for 8 AM appointments. They told everyone else to wait in another line just outside at the corner of the building near the entrance, just about 5 meters away. We and the other K1 couple were the first in that line. Looking all around, we found no other “couples”. There might have been other K1 applicants there, but their petitioner fiancés were not with them, so we could not identify them. Judging by the age of others waiting and the number of children, we decided we might have been the only K1 applicants there, and the rest were K3 or family members of US citizens. Whatever the case, I and my counterpart of the other couple were the only US citizen fiancés there. Right at 7:30, about 3 security guards came outside with a list of pre-printed labels. These labels were placed one by one on the applicant's passport cover and each applicant was allowed through the consulate door. This door was VERY heavy duty and had 3 separate locks on it. The primary lock was controlled electronically from the inside. Shortly after 8 AM, after the 7:30 line was "processed", they created the 8:30 line in the same place. We were first in line, but a rude Chinese national decided he would cut in front of the couple we were with. Rather than create a "scene", we ignored the intrusion and allowed it. So we were first, the rude man was 2nd and the couple we were with were 3rd. At 8:30, they brought out more labels. They quickly found ours, placed it on her passport cover, I kissed her and she went inside while I moved to a shady area to await the US citizen of the other couple to do the same, which he did within a minute.
We had prearranged our plans for the day to coincide so we could hang out while we waiting for our girls. Since our girls could not bring their cell phones inside, we all decided we would meet at the Starbucks around the corner. The girls went inside shortly after 8:30. At about 10:20, we looked out the Starbucks window where we had been looking since we arrived, and could see them walking towards us. There were so many people walking outside (as there always was), so we couldn’t see their faces clearly. But soon we saw they both had big smiles on their faces, so we knew they were approved. We quickly rushed outside to greet them. Sure enough, both approvals went smoothly. My fiancé was approved shortly before 10 AM and the other fiancé was approved about 20 minutes later.
Yesterday (Aug 5th), my fiance and I and the nother VJ couple, all had lunch with 3 K1 fiancés (from the original "QQ Gang of 6") near the Consulate. All 3 were approved, so we wanted to get advice from them. The only thing they told us that we did not already know for sure was that, as long as we had our DS forms filled out correctly and submitted the I-134 and proof that the US Citizen had sufficient income. However, it was a very good thing we met with these girls because one of them helped us to narrowly escape disaster. She browsed our paperwork to make sure everything was in order and discovered our DS-156 did not have the USTravelDocs bar code on front or the bar coded 3rd page. Our DS-156 did not have a bar code because we filled out the form we downloaded from a different URL. The CGI Stanley website had a specific URL that MUST be used for filling out all the DS forms. We were not aware that the DS forms available elsewhere were not allowed. We thought the DS-156 was simply the DS-156, the DS-157 was simply the DS-157, etc. Since CGI Stanley is now controlling everything, their online DS forms are the only ones they would accept, because the bar code was required in the submitted documents at check-in. We had less than 24 hours to correct this problem and the internet at our hotel was way too slow. It literally took me hours to fill out the DS-156 again. By the end of the day, we were psychologically exhausted from worry that we could not be able to get this done in time. But we did and are now the happiest couple in the world! (haha).
So, to avoid the horrors we endured, I must stress the importance to everyone reading this that ONLY the CGI Stanley website online forms are allowed, due to the bar code requirement. I find it interesting that they do not have a warning on their front page regarding this critical information. If they did, it would save visa applicants a lot of heartache and worry. But this is yet another of several terrible deficiencies in the new CGI Stanley process. The worst one is the CGI Stanley appointment calendar itself. It's nothing more than a "lottery system", where applicants gather together in one big arena, each struggling against the other trying to snatch one of the few interview time slots when they become available in a narrow window of time. The former system kept every applicant in order. No applicant could "cut in line" like they can in this new interview date calendar "lottery" system that CGI Stanley has devised. My fiance and I have never in our lives been filled with so much despair and panic than during those 11 days we spent trying to get an interview appointment. It took me 11 days to figure out how to "beat the system". Thanks to all the VJer’s posts, we found out how to quickly get an interview date. (Search VJ posts and you’ll find a wealth of information on this topic. Look especially for information about applicants joining "groups" or "teams" where the team members pool their efforts. It seems that only the members of those groups are able to get an interview date. Once we found a group and joined it, within 2.5 hours, we had our interview date!)
The only thing left was to satisfy the interviewer that our relationship was genuine. Even though we had all the documents ready to prove this, the fact that she had my passport in her hand and that I had visited my girl 6 times in the last year were enough for the female interviewer. When she saw my passport, she smiled and said "You are approved!". But they had already approved her even before the interview, because she saw the approval letter lying on the interview window counter when the interview began. I believe this is because all our paperwork has been very much in order from the very beginning and we had no special circumstance that needed to be analyzed (no prior visa attempts, etc.)
The only "unusual" thing was the number of questions she asked her. 20 questions! This was because I came to China the first time less than a month after we met on a Chinese dating website on August 28, 2012. My first trip to be with her was Sept 22nd! So this prompted more questions than normal. But we were prepared and we knew that they were only trying to confirm our genuine relationship. Since it is genuine, this was a very easy thing to do. Personally, I think having a female interviewer worked in our advantage. She could relate to the obvious emotional bound my fiance portrayed that a male interviewer may not have perceived as easily. Just my opinion.
Anyway, here are the questions the interviewer asked her...
1) Have you ever been to America before? "No"
2) Have you ever been to another country? "No"
3) You are a Communist? "No"
4) How did you meet? "Chinese dating website" (www.ChinaLoveMatch.net)
5) What does he do? "Computer Consultant"
6) What is your fiance's full name? (she answered correctly...duh, easy question)
7) What city does he live in? "Houston"
8) Have you met any other foreign men? "Only one other man before, on the internet too, a Canadian man. But he was not right for me."
9) Have you had any correspondence or contacts with other men? "No"
10) Did you communicate simultaneously with other men and then choose your boyfriend? "No. I ended the correspondence with the Canadian man before I even met my fiance. There was no other."
12) Does your son plan to come to America? “No.”
13) Why not? “He was originally considering the remote possibility but now has a girlfriend that he’s in love with. He would never leave her behind.”
13) When did you and your fiancé first meet each other? "August 28, 2012"
14) Does he have any children? "Yes, one son"
15) What was the child's name and age? "C****, 23"
16) Does his son go to college? "Not yet, he is working now. He has not yet decided his career."
17) Does his son have a girlfriend? "Not currently. He is very shy."
18) How many times has your fiancé came to China? "Six times"
19) What are the dates of all his visits? (she answered correctly for all 6 visits)
20) Please provide evidence that he came to China six times. (She had all the pictures, email and chats ready, but first showed the interviewer my passport. Apparently that was enough. They didn't ask for anything else. She was immediately approved.)
Aug 10th - It's been 4 days now, and the status of her passport still says "Your passport is still with post.", which means the embassy has not done anything with it yet. Since we had no way of knowing when her passport would be ready to be picked up, we elected to have her passport sent to a location near her home in Shenyang, rather than wait for it here in Guanzhou. Here are the meanings of the different statuses and information about how to determine the status and what's needed to pick up the passport...
(UPDATE! 8/22/2013 - We discovered later on the 10th that they had sent her an email on the 8th. We weren't expecting any emails so we didn't check until the 10th. The email said her visa was denied per 221(g) and told her that she needed to return to the embassy on Tuesday, the 13th at 1:30 PM and bring another filled out DS-156K. We were horrified! it ruined the rest of our time together. To make a long story short, she missed her Monday flight back home to make the Tuesday appointment. When she had it, they told her the DS-156 was missing her signature. The DS-156K was fine! During the interview, the VO didn't even bother to verifiy that the forms were completed before the interview was complete! My fiance doesn't read English very well and was depending too much on the VO for guidance. We were told that both forms needed to be signed in the presence of the VO, so we left them blank. They signed the DS-156K and then ignored the DS-156. Both my fiance and the VO forgot, but I hold the VO responsible. It is their job to verify forms submitted before the interview is complete. Anyway, this oversight caused our visa application to be sidelined. Even though the minor issue was resolved a week later (the 13th), it is still sidelined! The VO told her "Everything is ready now. You should receive your visa in about a week". But then the staff left her application in the stack requiring "Administrative Processing" instead of moving back into the stack of "Approved" apps! It's now August 22nd and it's still sidelined! Every other approved visa applicant from the 5th thru the 13th have all already received their visas and we are still sidelined, waiting for "adminstrative processing", when none is required! The only thing left is for them to issue her visa!)
(UPDATE! 9/06/2013 – Wow! How things can change over night! My bride has her visa in hand and is flying home to Texas this evening, arriving tomorrow! I give my Lord Jesus Christ all the glory for this. We have been in constant prayer for many months, so these delays we’ve been experiencing have been very confusing for us, especially her. But now, we understand that God works on the correct time table, though we don’t always understand sometimes. Her visa status went from “sidelined” on 8/29 to “Ready” on 8/30, to “Issued” on 9/3, to delivered on 9/5. Then God connected her with a flight that someone had cancelled on 9/7 (9/6 my time). She’s catching her flight at 8:40 PM today! All this in just 8 days! Woooooo Hooooooo! My girl will be home tomorrow evening!)
Email: Send an email to passportstatus@ustraveldocs.com and in the subject and/or body enter a valid passport number exactly as it was entered at the time the appointment was scheduled, and you will receive an automatic response with the status.
Your passport is still with post
- passport is still at the Consulate itself
Your passport is In Transit To Post
- VFS/USTraveldocs is yet to deliver your passport to the Consulate. It is inbetween the USTraveldocs location and Consulate
Your passport is Delivered To Post
- VFS/USTraveldocs has delivered your passport to the Consulate
Origination Scan
- US Consulate has filled in your Courier slip but is awaiting Courier Company to pick it up / Courier Company is in the process of issuing an AWB/Reference code
Your passport is In Transit From Post
- The passport with or without the visa is now being transported by courier to the pick up location that you specified at the time of creating the appointment. Please check the location of pickup on your US Consulate appointment invitation letter
Your passport is Ready For Pickup
- It has arrived at the Pickup location
Required Documents for Passport Retrieval:
To collect your passport you must present your original (not a photocopy) government-issued photo ID. We recommend you also bring a printed copy of your appointment letter.
(updated on September 6, 2013) |
| Rating : |
Moderate |
|
ver 5.0