CR1 police certificate requirement- China

[marcandsara 0]

Hello everybody. I am eventually going to be applying for a CR1 visa to join my future wife in America (after we get married). We are currently in China teaching English as a second language and are thinking about coming back here for another six months.

We know the rules state that when you are applying for a CR1 visa you must provide a police certificate for every country you have lived in for over 12 months. If we do decide to return that will take us up to the 12 months threshold (albeit with a six week break where we are going to return to our homes, but since we will have a devil of a time convincing anyone these are two separate stints rather than one continuous one we are going to assume the 12 month barrier has been broke for safeties sake).

I am here on an F visa. We have checked out the guidance online (at http://travel.state.gov/visa/fees/fees_5455.html?cid=9015) which states that "Certificates are available for those in the J-1, Z, and X categories. The GOC does not issue police records for temporary residents of China in L or F visa categories"

We really are very keen to avoid having to get a police certificate. I don't have any arrests or anything like that- it's just that getting anything practical done here takes a colossal amount of time and effort. If it takes weeks of hassle just to get our shower fixed I dread to think how bad dealing with the government for this will be.

So, the questions: given that the state department acknowledges that they don't issue certificates to people here on my visa type, what can I do? Would a copy of the state department advice and a copy of my visa as part of my application be sufficient or would I need to do something above and beyond this?

These questions may seem paranoid but since the guidance just says that that certificates aren't issued for my visa type and not what should be done in these circumstances we are at a bit of a loss.

Although I won't be applying for the CR1 until after the wedding in April I want to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. Any information would be greatly appreciated as I haven't been able to find any answers online- just generally questions from people in similar but not identical situations with no solid solutions.

Thanks.