DCF Guangzhou

[LightSear 8]

VisaJourney Community,

 

I'm a bit confused by a letter I received from the Beijing Embassy.  I filed my wife's I-130 application, but I didn't get a NOA1.  I just received a notice saying:

 

"US Citizenship and Immigration SErvices (USCIS) has approved the Petition for Alien Relative (form I-130) that you filed on Feb 19, 2019.  The beneficiary's classification is noted above.

 

ISCIS forward the approved petition to the Consular Section at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in Guangzhou, China.  This completes all action by USCIS on the petition.  The Consular section, which is part of the Department of State, will contact the beneficiary and provide instructions about applying for a visa."

 

Does this mean they've skipped my Notice of Action 1 and sent me my NOA2/approval?

With DCF, my Chinese wife (beneficiary) will have an interview with a USCIS consulate officer in Guangzhou, right? 

There she will bring her paperwork concerning her vaccinations, and answer questions/concerns the officer may have?

 

I also have a difficult time understanding the timeline information on visajourney.  Can some help me understand, what is the likely timeline of when I'll get an email from Guangzhou, when would the interview likely be, and when the visa would be approved now that I know that I got this letter today?  (Or is a timeline estimate too difficult to estimate this early in the game) 

 

[payxibka 10,044]

4 minutes ago, LightSear said:

VisaJourney Community,

 

I'm a bit confused by a letter I received from the Beijing Embassy.  I filed my wife's I-130 application, but I didn't get a NOA1.  I just received a notice saying:

 

"US Citizenship and Immigration SErvices (USCIS) has approved the Petition for Alien Relative (form I-130) that you filed on Feb 19, 2019.  The beneficiary's classification is noted above.

 

ISCIS forward the approved petition to the Consular Section at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in Guangzhou, China.  This completes all action by USCIS on the petition.  The Consular section, which is part of the Department of State, will contact the beneficiary and provide instructions about applying for a visa."

 

Does this mean they've skipped my Notice of Action 1 and sent me my NOA2/approval?

With DCF, my Chinese wife (beneficiary) will have an interview with a USCIS consulate officer in Guangzhou, right? 

There she will bring her paperwork concerning her vaccinations, and answer questions/concerns the officer may have?

 

I also have a difficult time understanding the timeline information on visajourney.  Can some help me understand, what is the likely timeline of when I'll get an email from Guangzhou, when would the interview likely be, and when the visa would be approved now that I know that I got this letter today?  (Or is a timeline estimate too difficult to estimate this early in the game) 

 

Noa1 and noa2 are only for stateside filed petitions 

 

VJ timelines will not assist you for DCF petitions 

Edited April 16, 2019 by payxibka

[LightSear 8]

Thanks, payxibka. that clears up a lot of questions. 

 

Does anyone have some experience with DCF in Guangzhou that could mention their story on when they got their petition approval from Beijing and how fast was the rest of the processing?

[Mr. Data 26]

21 minutes ago, LightSear said:

Thanks, payxibka. that clears up a lot of questions. 

 

Does anyone have some experience with DCF in Guangzhou that could mention their story on when they got their petition approval from Beijing and how fast was the rest of the processing?

I just went through DCF in Guangzhou over the course of the last year. I'm not sure what you said you are getting from Beijing, as far as I know everything was from Guangzhou. Processing was amazingly fast, check the timeline in my signature. Also feel free to ask me any questions you have about the process. 

 

Edit: OK I see now that you filed in Beijing but will be processed by the Guanghzou USCIS / Consulate? So a bit different from my case, since I did everything directly in GZ, but I’m sure the overall process will be the same.

Edited April 16, 2019 by Mr. Data

[LightSear 8]

Thanks Mr. Data.  I do have a couple more questions for you:

 

After you received your Notice of Approval, how soon did you receive instructions from Guangzhou about applying for a visa?  I see you had 4 months between your notice of approval and when you submitted your DS-260 (online visa application).  Was that because you weren't in a rush to apply?

 

It looks like you had a month between your DS-260 approval and your medical exam.  Was that just because it took a while for you to get around to booking a medical exam time or was it hard to get an appointment?

 

Considering the dates in your timeline which days where you in Guangzhou?  If I understand the process right, you were only there June 8, Dec 3, and possibly Nov 27 if you did your medical exam in Guangzhou.

 

As for your question about Beijing.  Beijing offers I-130 filing, but filing the petition only so you don't have to go to Guangzhou twice if you are in the north.  If I knew it was going to take a month and a half, I'm not sure I would have gone through Beijing.  My wife and I still have two months left before we have to leave the country, but the uncertainty of timeline is making me anxious.

[Mr. Data 26]

1 hour ago, LightSear said:

Thanks Mr. Data.  I do have a couple more questions for you:

 

After you received your Notice of Approval, how soon did you receive instructions from Guangzhou about applying for a visa?  I see you had 4 months between your notice of approval and when you submitted your DS-260 (online visa application).  Was that because you weren't in a rush to apply?

 

It looks like you had a month between your DS-260 approval and your medical exam.  Was that just because it took a while for you to get around to booking a medical exam time or was it hard to get an appointment?

 

Considering the dates in your timeline which days where you in Guangzhou?  If I understand the process right, you were only there June 8, Dec 3, and possibly Nov 27 if you did your medical exam in Guangzhou.

 

As for your question about Beijing.  Beijing offers I-130 filing, but filing the petition only so you don't have to go to Guangzhou twice if you are in the north.  If I knew it was going to take a month and a half, I'm not sure I would have gone through Beijing.  My wife and I still have two months left before we have to leave the country, but the uncertainty of timeline is making me anxious.

 

We received the visa instructions two or three days after receiving our notice of approval. You are right, the four month gap before submitting the DS-260 form and the one month between the approval and the medical were just because we weren't in a hurry and were actually worried about getting our visa too fast since we didn't plan to leave China until this Spring. If we had done every step of the process back-to-back, its not unreasonable that we could have gotten the whole process done in a month and a half or less.

 

Luckily for us, we live in Guangzhou, so that made everything way easier. If your interview is in Guangzhou, then I think you might be required to take the medical here as well, but that will be made clear to you when that step in the process arrives. 

[LightSear 8]

Gotcha.  My wife did vaccinations in Tianjin from a Consulate approved doctor, but I also heard the medical exam may need to be done in Guangzhou as well.

 

Sounds like I need to wait for the email instructions.  What makes it confusing is that after they say "The Consular section, which is part of the Department of State, will contact the beneficiary and provide instructions about applying for a visa."  they also say, "For information about visa processing, visit the Department of State website at www.travel.state.gov or contact the Consular Section at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate."

 

Do you or anyone else know if I need to wait for the instructions as it has important case information (eg. a case code) or would it be acceptable to call Guangzhou now?

[RandyW 149]

See USTravelDocs web site - http://ustraveldocs.com/cn/cn-iv-preparedocuments.asp