Latest

[dakelei 3]

For those who are interested I figured I'd post this real quick.

After dropping off my wife's documents in Xiamen a few weeks ago we were notified yesterday that the last phase of the process is now beginning. This has all been pretty quick I must say. I'm pleasantly surprised. We don't plan to leave until June at the earliest and I'd allowed a lot of time in case there was a snag at some point but so far there has been none. We were asked to go the traveldocs site and schedule an appointment for the interview. When I got to the site the only date "available" was also the first date available, February 24. It was impossible to select any other date. I sort of stared at the screen for a few moments, not quite sure what to do. Feb. 24 is actually too soon. (Today is Feb. 13 by the way.) The paranoid side of me kicked in and I thought I should just select the 24th anyway and make the best of it because I might somehow "lose" the opportunity to schedule the interview if I didn't. So I did. The 24th is a crummy date for both me and my wife. It's a Monday, for starters, and I have 2 classes that day I'd need to cancel as well as 2 on Tuesday I'd need to cancel if we needed to stay overnight in GZ. PLUS, my wife needs to get the medical stuff done before showing up for the interview. The medical folks work Saturday mornings but not afternoons and not at all on Sunday. This means after getting all the medical stuff done Saturday morning she'd have to wait till Monday morning to pick up the paperwork she then needs to bring to the interview that same day. The note accompanying the notification stresses to be at the Consulate ON TIME blah, blah, blah. "On time" is technically 7:45 AM. Apparently everyone scheduled for a certain date is told to be there at 7:45AM. I'm sure there is some reason for this and I somewhat understand. So getting my wife's paperwork and getting to the consulate "on time" Monday morning would be impossible. Anyway...I dropped a note to the traveldocs folks and they said the dates were set by the consulate and to just try again later, which I did. I managed to reschedule my wife's appointment for March 6, which is a Thursday and which works much better for both of us. She can get her medical Wednesday morning and pick up the paperwork in the afternoon. We can spend the night in a hotel and arrive at the Consulate decently fresh and not utterly drained like we were the last time after an overnight bus trip. I dread facing the mob scene outside the Consulate but at least I'll have had a decent night's sleep unlike the last time when I was half dead after spending a sleepless night on a bus. Technically I don't need to go with my wife at all but I'm doing it anyway. If there's anything the nice visa folks need to ask me I'll be right there to answer them.

I can imagine that this entire process is a total drag for folks in a hurry and who might be sitting at home in the USA waiting but my experience thus far has been relatively OK. If my wife "passes" her interview on March 6, and I can't see why she wouldn't, this whole thing will have taken around 3 months from the time I submitted her I-130, which really isn't too bad.

I consider myself a decently literate and somewhat educated chap and this process is somewhat, uh, "tricky." Those who are not so must have a lot of trouble working their way through it. I mean, of course, the Chinese folks, not my fellow Americans, although it might include some of those as well. I have an ex-colleague who had everything done by a firm in San Diego that charged him $1000 or so to "help." I guess that's where all these immigration lawyers and other "facilitators" make their money. Not being able to actually call folks with questions can be maddening and there are other little quirks that are puzzling as well. The email that informed us that we could now schedule the interview, for example, instructed us to bring documents with us that we already submitted once and they should already have, our original marriage certificate for example. It leads you too think you made a mistake submitting them the first time but I went back and checked and I definitely did not. The visa folks really need to clean things like that up so as not to confuse the heck out of people.

I'll let you know how things turn out.

[Darnell 8,478]

suggest a Friday lunchtime queue-up at the medical place. then pickup saturday morning.

not safe, but do-able.

safer is first thing Friday morning.

Go Get Em, and Good Luck !

[dakelei 3]

I guess I wasn't clear. I changed the original date. The new one is on a Thursday. We plan to get the medical stuff out of the way on Wednesday.

[Darnell 8,478]

apologies, was speed reading last night, missed much.

[Daveykins 17]

Hey, 3 months is really really good for any visa case! Ours took 10+ months...

Your story sounds very similar to ours scheduling an interview. It's a complete mess and utter joke on the "scheduling" site where it's basically a lottery system and pray you're feeling lucky to get the date that you want. My wife had to join the QQ group 6 to even manage to actually see any interview slots as they filled up in 5 minutes for the entire month of last August.

Good luck at the interview!

[dakelei 3]

I find the entire traveldocs website a tad confusing. It's yet another example of how "privatizing" what was once a government-operated function is not necessarily better. I'm fortunate in that I'm here in the country and have time to wade through all this stuff because my university teaching job gives me a lot of time off. The communication between the consulate and these "CGI Morgan" (or whatever the heck the private contractor's name is) is not very good. You're forever being asked to either submit or bring documents that have already been submitted. We were asked to bring our original marriage certificate with us to the interview when I know they already have it. Lots of information is also clearly out of date. When I went to Xiamen to drop off my wife's documents the bank branch I was looking for simply didn't exist anymore and it appeared that it hadn't for some time. I'm also puzzled as to why one files the original I-130 with one office and then the DS-260 with another. I'm sure there is some bureaucratic reason that mere mortals like me couldn't possibly understand but it still strikes me as somewhat inefficient. But what do I know?

That being said, the process so far has generally been much faster and less painful than I imagined it would be. If I were sitting at home and my wife was here I'm sure it would seem like an eternity. My #1 biggest complaint would be that it is damn near impossible to actually call the consulate with even the simplest question. I know they don't want to be deluged with Chinese calling constantly but at the very least a separate number for American citizens could be provided.

[Darnell 8,478]

Ya, sorry, you walked into the sh|t.

And it's been like that for some time. I did write a bit about contacting CGI/Stanley, getting a human sitting in Guangzhou, and how busted their email inquiry system was (do not get me started, I'll burst a vessel)

CGI/Stanley is a Canadien consortium, another unit of CGI is responsible for the ObamaCare website, and another (CGI/Force) for passport appointment registrations in the USA.

Slacktards, the lot of them.

I do emphathize (sp?) with your plight - IMO it's a boondoggle , but there's a reason Guangzhou has the largest staff of Fraud Prevention Officers in the world (not the USA) attached to the IV Unit.

Just be thankful this isn't a 2 day-slog anymore - it used to be day 1 was the 'drop off paperwork' day, with day 2 being the actual interview.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Darnell

[dakelei 3]

I don't think the CGI folks are necessarily doing a "bad" job, in my case at least. They've done OK by me for the most part. I'm just not one of these folks who slavishly follow the tenet that the private sector automatically works better than the public. The private sector needs to make a profit so it has to do things as "cheaply" as possible. And we all know the old expression about getting what you pay for. Having lived in China for more than 11 years altogether I can completely understand the concerns about fraud. YES, I'm painting with a broad brush but, sadly, many, if not most, Chinese don't see much wrong with lying, cheating, stealing etc. to get what it is they want. It's an ingrained part of the culture. My university students cheat like crazy and most see nothing wrong with it at all. When I go shopping alone, without my wife or another Chinese person, I am almost always ripped off or someone tries to rip me off. Being on guard for fraud here makes perfect sense.

I think what makes the system somewhat dysfunctional is that some of it is handled "privately" while some is not. If I'm working for CGI my thought process is not going to be the same as if I'm a "public" employee working for the USA. A public employee would be aware that s/he is the public face of the USA and as such has a responsibility to "the people" or something like that. A private worker often doesn't worry about such things. Many Americans need to wake up to what all this "small government" ####### is really doing. Sure you get things "cheaper." But is that really what we want?

[Daveykins 17]

You got me started, sorry.

Don't expect to hear much back from GUZ if you email them. Their response time for me is only 50% that they actually reply to my inquiries. Or, if they do reply, it's very basic at best and they don't even answer the question. Very frusturating to say the least. So glad I never have to deal with that bs ever again!

Ya, sorry, you walked into the sh|t.

And it's been like that for some time. I did write a bit about contacting CGI/Stanley, getting a human sitting in Guangzhou, and how busted their email inquiry system was (do not get me started, I'll burst a vessel)

CGI/Stanley is a Canadien consortium, another unit of CGI is responsible for the ObamaCare website, and another (CGI/Force) for passport appointment registrations in the USA.

Slacktards, the lot of them.

I do emphathize (sp?) with your plight - IMO it's a boondoggle , but there's a reason Guangzhou has the largest staff of Fraud Prevention Officers in the world (not the USA) attached to the IV Unit.

Just be thankful this isn't a 2 day-slog anymore - it used to be day 1 was the 'drop off paperwork' day, with day 2 being the actual interview.

[dakelei 3]

I emailed them twice and they did at least answer both times though the first reply was worthless and I had to email them the second time to clarify my question. The second time they replied within a day or 2. What they need to do is set up a separate system for actual US citizens to use. As it stands now our emails are just tossed in with the gazillion or so they get from everyone else.Since they're in the visa-granting business it is generally "foreigners" they deal with and I suppose they're used to not having to be 100% "courteous" to them. "Hey, you wanna go the US, just shut up and wait your turn." It was the same deal at the consulate in GZ the one time I've had to go so far. The Chinese waiting outside are basically treated like cattle and because most are so desperate to get their visa they just quietly put up with it. (It is one of the ONLY places I have seen Chinese in a somewhat orderly queue. They can do it if they need to.) I KNOW this is going to annoy me when I have to go again in March. Because CGI is a "private" firm that ultimately has to make a profit I'm sure they are understaffed.