DCF China: Wife and Step-daughter approved for CR1!

[Guangtou 0]

We finally got the visa approval! Here's a recap of our experience.

I lived in Shanghai from 2010 to early 2012 and then returned to the US early 2012. We were married in Anhui, China in Jan 2011. I filed DCF thru Beijing towards the end of 2011 for my wife and step-daughter for IR1/CR1 visas and we just got approved yesterday at Guangzhou!

The entire process was smooth, other than 1 big glitch that had nothing to do with either USCIS, Guangzhou Consulate, or anything US gov't related: We sent the i-130 application to Beijing at the very end of September, but apparently the courier tried to deliver to the embassy on National Day, so no one was there, and we were out of the country on our honeymoon, so when they called us no one was able to answer. The courier then promptly sat on the package and did.... absolutely nothing. Didn't even send it back to us as undeliverable. Only way I found out was when I mailed Beijing in November to check on status and they had not received it. Followed up with the courier, and they still had the package. So..... the application finally it finally made it's way to Beijing on Nov 23 just before Thanksgiving. The one hitch for all this is that my wife is pregnant, and due to timing of the birth (expecting 4/27/12), we'll likely have our child born in China, rather than the US as we'd originally planned.

I found Beijing USCIS is responsive in returning emails, but absolutely unresponsive in actually moving the application along. For example, after we uncovered the courier snafu and Beijing finally got the application, I let them know about the situation with my wife and her pregnancy, and asked very politely a few times, if there was anything they could do to accelerate processing of the i-130, so we could immigrate before the birth. *Twice* I got back the very same response, complete with same typo:) "This office may takes 2-3 months to adjudicate an I-130 petition." Overall, they took their sweet time and It was about 2 months. Not super slow, but not as fast as I'd read some experienced in early 2011.

Guangzhou on the other hand was very responsive about the process in general. Once I learned that Beijing had sent the package to GZ, I sent in an email request via their webform inquiring as to status and if we could send in our DS230 app (we'd already prepared everything) or if we needed to wait for packet 3 to arrive. I never heard back from that email, but by end of that week, packet 3 arrived. We turned it around in 3 days and submitted on Feb 21. We included a note, indicating that my wife was pregnant, and asked for an interview date either before March 15, or after May 25 (to avoid flying at end of pregnancy or shortly after birth), and said, if there were a choice of slots, we would prefer to interview before the birth (but we really didn't expect this would be an option). GUZ thoughtfully called my wife upon receiving our packet (rather than dealing with time delay of sending EMS) and said they had a slot on 3/12, and did we want it? We took it:) Total time from receipt in Beijing to approval in Guangzhou was 3.5 months! not bad.

SUMMARY OF TIMELINE:

* i-130 packet mailed to Beijing USCIS: Sept 29, 2011

* inquired as to status of i-130, only to learn it had never been received: Nov 20, 2011

* Beijing officially receives our application: Nov 23, 2011

* i-130 approval: Jan 31, 2012

* GUZ receives packet: Feb 10, 2012

* Packet 3 received: Feb 18, 2012

* DS230 submitted: Feb 21, 2012

* Packet 4 received: Feb 28, 2012 (via email)

* Interview: March 12-13, 2012.

NOTES ABOUT OUR I-130 SUBMISSION: I'd not read about frontloading before I submitted, so I would say our package was "medium-loaded" compared to what I've read others did. In addition to the core i-130 and G325 papers, we included the following as evidence of our bona fide relationship:

* joint bank account with HSBC in Shanghai (btw, this is the only bank I've come across in China that will do a joint bank account).

* A lease for our apartment in Shanghai, showing both our names. Submitted the Chinese original and English translation (not notarized, we simply had a friend do the translation)

* affidavit from my friend in the US, stating that he'd known about our relationship since 2008 (first time I came to china for work), had met my wife in 2009 when she came to the US, and then met her again a few times in 2010 when he came to China to visit me and also when she came again to the US in 2010. And finally he was a groomsman at our wedding celebration in the US in 2011. (not the actual marriage, btw that was in China earlier)

* affidavit from my wife's sister who introduced us, and who had seen our relationship develop the entire time. Previously my wife and step-daughter lived with her until they moved in with me when I came back to China in 2010.

* copies of notarial translation of marriage and divorce for my wife, along with copies of Chinese originals. Divorce statement said my wife had custody of her daughter (translation used the word "fostered" which I later learned is the key word to have)

* copy of notarial translation of birth cert for my step-daughter, along with copy of Chinese original.

We did the medical check in Shanghai.

GUANGZHOU - DOC INTAKE:

For Guangzhou, we prepared lots of paper work and evidence, but in the end they wanted almost none of it. I did not go to Guangzhou, as I was back in the US, and had just recently come to visit my wife prior. (When we did the DS230 submission and doc prep).

Here's what they wanted at doc intake:

• Original Marriage + Divorce notarial statements. They wanted 2 originals since we had 2 petitions, but my wife had only brought 1 original plus a copy that day. They said bring the other original the next day, but interestingly it was never asked for

• Original Police Cert

• Original Birth Notarial Certs for my wife and step-daughter

• "I864 package". My wife prepared a bundle of info related to i864 and financial info, and simply gave all this to the officer. This had 2 original signed i-864s, photocopies of 3 years of tax filings with W2s and 1099s, as well as recent paystubs and util statements from my new job back in the US to show domicile. Also, my wife had included in here photocopies of an Evolution of Relationship statement I'd prepared along with internet printouts showing my wife as beneficiary at various financial institutions. This latter stuff was really more about evidence of relationship than i-864 support, and my wife mentioned it was in the package - this officer just took it all. he didn't want original of the EOR.

• They did want a copy of Chinese original divorce statement.

• Medical docs.

Stuff they explicitly did not want:

* a letter my wife had written stating she did not know how to contact the father. Ths was not notarized, as we couldn't find anyone in China willing to do it. (We wrote this since we didn't have as statement from him saying her daughter could immigrate, and we weren't sure if the divorce statement with custody was enough. in the end, the "foster" statement in the divorce was sufficient.

* Extra copies of affidavits from my friend and my wife's sister.

* Copy of Chinese and English translation of lease for Shanghai apartment.

They did ask her a few questions during doc intake:

• Have you been to US before?

• How long?

• Been to other countries?

• When did you get married?

• Are you CCP?

• What does your husband do?

Since my wife is 7.5 months pregnant and also had my step-daughter, they gave her one of the green dots so she could get in early the next day. I was really grateful to hear this. Reinforced my perception that GUZ is responsive and thoughtful.

GUANGZHOU - INTERVIEW:

My wife was the second person interviewed by the officer at his particular window. Officer was some blonde American dude. Interview was 3 mins tops. My wife opened with a cheery "Good morning" in English and then she answered the following questions from the officer. Conversation was all in English.

o Q: Your does husband do? A: He works at XYZ company.

o Q: Cool! What does he do there? A: he does ABC.

o Q: Where is your is husband now. A: US

o Q: How do you know each other

o Q: Have you been to America before?

o Q: What did you do there?

o Q: (pointing to our daughter) Is that your daughter? A: yes.

o Q: Are you CCP? A: No

Visa officer: Ni tongguo le.

My wife: "huh?" then she realized he was speaking Chinese instead of English. Translation "You passed".

My wife: "Great, thanks! Have a nice day!"

The officer didn't look at any of the materials my wife had brought. didn't even ask for photographs.

Anyway, really appreciated having this forum. Helped me understand the process and prepared well, so I wanted to take a moment and share our experience.

[tru_loves_journey 117]

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ConGraTuLations

[Leatherneck 693]

Congratulations!

[Ming 1]

Congratulations!!!

[Darnell 8,478]

Yeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!

Congratulations!!

Thanks for the write up !

[Ryan H 3,813]

Congratulations!

[bigdog 376]

Congratulations, great write up.

[Jiang Jiang 0]

Great write up.

I'd like to know more info on the "foster" or "custody" issue regarding a child. I appreciate any info from anyone.

My wife and stepdaughter will go to GUZ for CR1 interview at the end of April. We just got to know about this parental permission stuff. You said that the key word is "foster", in my wife's divorce paper, the Chinese version is that the daughter would be raised (抚养: to foster, to raise, to bring up) by my wife, and her father would pay child support til she reaches 18 and possibly medical expenses; there's no mention of the father's custody/foster/raising. It's understood that my wife has the full sole custody. The notarized English translation is that the child is in my wife's custody. It actually used the word "custody". Do we need permission from my step-daughter's father?

Thanks.

Jiang

[dave & joy 2]

We are bringing the baby to Guangzhou as my wife is breast feeding but reading this we will also bring the baby to the embassy.

Original plan was the baby would stay in the hotel with my mother in-law.