K-1 Visa application. Police certificate issue!

[pyaasss 0]

Hello all,

 

My fiance and I received our NOA2 last week so we are looking forward to getting the next stages of our application moving.

 

My fiance is a US citizen but she is currently still living and working in China and is looking to leave at the end of October/early November.

 

I have one issue. I came to China to work on an M business visa in 2018. This allowed me multiple entries into China with a maximum stay of 90 days each visit. A quick trip to Hong Kong and back would give me another 90 days. When I first arrived in China I was single and wasn't aware that I was not supposed to be working while using that specific visa...Anyway, a couple of months later i met my girlfriend and life was great, but then things started to get risky a few months later at work, with Government checks etc. So I made the sensible decision and stopped working to avoid any immigration troubles. I spent a total of 8 months in China without returning to the UK. 

 

I have read that I need to provide a police certificate for my time in China for my interview at the consulate. After endless reading and Google searches I have found that this is not possible due to the PSB in China not providing police certificates for this type of visa.

 

So i have contacted the place I worked and they have sent me a document stating that I committed no crimes whilst employed there and I have had it officially translated. This is as much as I can do on my side.

 

Has anyone here had a similar experience or has any advice in what other steps I can take to avoid any major problems at the Consulate in London??

[Wuozopo 4,285]

The consulate is part of the State Department and would go by the reciprocity tables https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/China.html

 

Maybe print out the relevant info that shows it's not available and offer what you have.

[arken 4,197]

40 minutes ago, pyaasss said:

Hello all,

 

My fiance and I received our NOA2 last week so we are looking forward to getting the next stages of our application moving.

 

My fiance is a US citizen but she is currently still living and working in China and is looking to leave at the end of October/early November.

 

I have one issue. I came to China to work on an M business visa in 2018. This allowed me multiple entries into China with a maximum stay of 90 days each visit. A quick trip to Hong Kong and back would give me another 90 days. When I first arrived in China I was single and wasn't aware that I was not supposed to be working while using that specific visa...Anyway, a couple of months later i met my girlfriend and life was great, but then things started to get risky a few months later at work, with Government checks etc. So I made the sensible decision and stopped working to avoid any immigration troubles. I spent a total of 8 months in China without returning to the UK. 

 

I have read that I need to provide a police certificate for my time in China for my interview at the consulate. After endless reading and Google searches I have found that this is not possible due to the PSB in China not providing police certificates for this type of visa.

 

So i have contacted the place I worked and they have sent me a document stating that I committed no crimes whilst employed there and I have had it officially translated. This is as much as I can do on my side.

 

Has anyone here had a similar experience or has any advice in what other steps I can take to avoid any major problems at the Consulate in London??

That document is useless as they cannot say whether you committed crime or not while you were in China but outside of the working hours/days.

 

However, as suggested, the printout of the reciprocity where it says PCs are not provided for certain visa category including yours would be sufficient.

[S&J_ 247]

4 hours ago, pyaasss said:

Has anyone here had a similar experience or has any advice in what other steps I can take to avoid any major problems at the Consulate in London??

I lived in China from 2014-2017, was there on a work visa. I was looking at K1 Visa requirements whilst I was still in China before my fiance and I moved back to our respective countries and managed to get a police certificate from our local PSB. I've seen this topic come up on several different threads with people struggling to get their police certificates after years of having left and having to hire a person from a private organization to help retrieve it then mail it to their home for a really high price. 

 

You say you weren't supposed to be working on the M Visa, so I imagine if you explain to the embassy during your interview that the Chinese PSB does not issue police certificates for that visa, it won't really match up with the fact you've got a clearance written up by your employer? Just being careful here as the Chinese police certificate was asked for pretty much straight away during my interview and looked like he carefully checked it over. I clicked on the website for reciprocity tables and can't find any exceptions for the M visa, unless I'm wrong? : 

 

Which website did you find out about PSB not providing PC for M visas? Your best bet might be printing that and explaining at the interview. 

 

Exceptions: The PSB does not issue police records for temporary residents of China in the L or F visa categories. Police records also are not available for those who were in China in diplomatic status including those working for international organizations, such as the United Nations. Notarial police certificates are based in part upon records from an individual's employer. If an employer refuses to release records, the notarial office is not able to issue a certificate. This is the case for persons sent abroad for education by the Chinese Government who fail to return to China.

 

 

[pyaasss 0]

That's what I'm worried about, it doesn't specifically say that its not available on the reciprocity table for State Department.

 

Having contacted my old employer in China they have told me multiple times that they cannot retrieve a certificate for me. Starting to think I should also fork out a lot of money to get it from one of these private organisations.

 

https://lawandborder.com/china-police-certificates/

https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/china-business-visa

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/embassy/visa/f-visa.htm

 

 

Seems like there isn't much difference between the M and F visa. I will contact the consulate directly.