Passport Stamps, Ticket Reservations, Photos and "telling the story"

[Hemutian 68]

49 minutes ago, payxibka said:

China is no longer a developing country and hasn't been for some time and in many respects more developed than the USA 

Yeah yeah. China's got shiny high speed trains and facial recognition payment technology, and all that. 

I know. I lived there for 7 years. 

It's still a developing country though. Don't take my word for it. Ask any Chinese person and they will confirm it.

If you've only seen Shanghai and Shenzhen you haven't seen China. There are still hundreds of millions of Chinese people whose annual income is less than $1000. 

I agree that "developed"/"developing" is a lazy binary construct. In reality, China is a mix of both developed and developing. It's Gini coefficient is higher than the US'. Put another way, China and the US are *both* "developing" countries in that *neither* has reached the apex of "development" whatever that is. My point was that applicants from *Western* are probably held to a less strict standard than those from non-Western countries or countries with a history of fraud. China may be "developed" in your view, but it is still a country with a history of fraud, and viewed as such by the US authorities adjudicating these visas. 

[Hemutian 68]

54 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

Of course, but even for the petitions for beneficiaries of notoriously difficult embassies, sending 1000s of text messages is not recommended.  Frontloading can still be done selectively.

 

And anyway, I was responding to the OP's inquiry about the mythical "how we met and fell in love" letter.

I'm on the same page as you bro. 1000s of pages of text messages is ridiculous. I guess the definition of "frontloading" is ambiguous. My I-129F packet was about 75 pages long. It included 8 pages of WeChat messages, 5 pages of of emails, some 30 pages of hotel reservations and plane tickets and train tickets since we traveled a lot, 10 pages of financial transactions, 3 pages of engagement ring evidence, etc etc. I thought that my 75 page packet was "frontloading". I did not know that "frontloading" meant 1000s of pages of text messages.

[payxibka 10,044]

23 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

Yeah yeah. China's got shiny high speed trains and facial recognition payment technology, and all that. 

I know. I lived there for 7 years. 

It's still a developing country though. Don't take my word for it. Ask any Chinese person and they will confirm it.

If you've only seen Shanghai and Shenzhen you haven't seen China. There are still hundreds of millions of Chinese people whose annual income is less than $1000. 

I agree that "developed"/"developing" is a lazy binary construct. In reality, China is a mix of both developed and developing. It's Gini coefficient is higher than the US'. Put another way, China and the US are *both* "developing" countries in that *neither* has reached the apex of "development" whatever that is. My point was that applicants from *Western* are probably held to a less strict standard than those from non-Western countries or countries with a history of fraud. China may be "developed" in your view, but it is still a country with a history of fraud, and viewed as such by the US authorities adjudicating these visas. 

No,  my view is what Guangzhou is reported to be like today compared to 15 years ago 

[Hemutian 68]

13 minutes ago, payxibka said:

No,  my view is what Guangzhou is reported to be like today compared to 15 years ago 

I live in Guangzhou, too. 

Add Guangzhou to my statement on Shanghai and Shenzhen. It's a 1st tier city. Its representative of 1st tier city China.

Not representative of China as a whole.

Go to the 3rd tier, 4th tier, 5th tier, 6th tier cities and it's clear that China is still "developing".

I once had this conversation with Chinese people. I said "China isn't a developing country any more" and they corrected me "um, you're wrong. China is still a developing country". At that point I decided I should probably stop whitesplaining and just trust the Chinese on this.  

[payxibka 10,044]

8 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

I live in Guangzhou, too. 

Add Guangzhou to my statement on Shanghai and Shenzhen. It's a 1st tier city. Its representative of 1st tier city China.

Not representative of China as a whole.

Go to the 3rd tier, 4th tier, 5th tier, 6th tier cities and it's clear that China is still "developing".

I once had this conversation with Chinese people. I said "China isn't a developing country any more" and they corrected me "um, you're wrong. China is still a developing country". At that point I decided I should probably stop whitesplaining and just trust the Chinese on this.  

I didn't mean Guangzhou as a city but Guangzhou as a consulate.   

[SalishSea 16,770]

52 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

I'm on the same page as you bro. 1000s of pages of text messages is ridiculous. I guess the definition of "frontloading" is ambiguous. My I-129F packet was about 75 pages long. It included 8 pages of WeChat messages, 5 pages of of emails, some 30 pages of hotel reservations and plane tickets and train tickets since we traveled a lot, 10 pages of financial transactions, 3 pages of engagement ring evidence, etc etc. I thought that my 75 page packet was "frontloading". I did not know that "frontloading" meant 1000s of pages of text messages.

Glad it worked out for you.  Still way over the top in terms of what is required/requested.

[Hank_ 9,173]

8 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

And some, like me, file with no snapshots whatsoever, and get approved without issue. 

Exactly!    

[LaBeach 29]

On 8/26/2019 at 12:44 PM, Hank_ said:

For the interview the embassy wants evidence of an ongoing, genuine relationship; chat logs, emails, etc.  and yes .. a few pictures together .      But no reason for "overkill" during the petition process.

There's no harm in "over-kill" let people file all the picture etc they want to front load their application. The information will be forwarded to consulate and is evidence of the establishment of a genuine relationship, yes they need to bring supplements to the interview to show that the relationship has continued between application and approval. I don't see the point in discouraging people from including information they have available and want to include. If they don't have the information or it would be difficult to obtain, I see the utility in advising them not to expended the energy into tracking it down for the initial application. 

[Hank_ 9,173]

27 minutes ago, LaBeach said:

There's no harm in "over-kill" let people file all the picture etc they want to front load their application. The information will be forwarded to consulate and is evidence of the establishment of a genuine relationship, yes they need to bring supplements to the interview to show that the relationship has continued between application and approval. I don't see the point in discouraging people from including information they have available and want to include. If they don't have the information or it would be difficult to obtain, I see the utility in advising them not to expended the energy into tracking it down for the initial application. 

 

... not stopping them.    

 

 

Evidence provided in the I-129F petition package and again asked for by the embassy will still need to be provided for the embassy interview,  "front loading" a petition does not negate this.

 

... I am in no way stopping anyone from doing anything during their visa chase.    

 

 

Never DO-DO when DO will DO

 

[LaBeach 29]

4 minutes ago, Hank_ said:

 

... not stopping them.    

 

 

Evidence provided in the I-129F petition package and again asked for by the embassy will still need to be provided for the embassy interview,  "front loading" a petition does not negate this.

 

... I am in no way stopping anyone from doing anything during their visa chase.    

 

 

Never DO-DO when DO will DO

 

If requested of course it needs to be provided again but including it in the first place may negate the request to bring it to the interview. While you are of course not physically stopping anyone from doing anything, you are holding yourself out as someone who knows what should/should not be done and highly discouraging people from sending things they clearly want to include. It's great that so many people, you included, volunteer their time to answer questions and give suggestions but we all know there is no one right way.  Often times people act like they know the "only" way to handle the process and often the people asking questions don't seem to know that these are all merely suggestions and not gospel. I think it is wonderful to help but it's not great when the help becomes an impediment.

[payxibka 10,044]

1 minute ago, LaBeach said:

If requested of course it needs to be provided again but including it in the first place may negate the request to bring it to the interview. While you are of course not physically stopping anyone from doing anything, you are holding yourself out as someone who knows what should/should not be done and highly discouraging people from sending things they clearly want to include. It's great that so many people, you included, volunteer their time to answer questions and give suggestions but we all know there is no one right way.  Often times people act like they know the "only" way to handle the process and often the people asking questions don't seem to know that these are all merely suggestions and not gospel. I think it is wonderful to help but it's not great when the help becomes an impediment.

Considering the consulate wants to know that the relationship is still ongoing as of the issuance of the visa, evidence submitted 6 or more months prior with the petition would be hard pressed to negate 

[LaBeach 29]

24 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Considering the consulate wants to know that the relationship is still ongoing as of the issuance of the visa, evidence submitted 6 or more months prior with the petition would be hard pressed to negate 

I see everyone is hard pressed on completely missing the point and entrenched in defending hard held beliefs so this will be my final response.

 

Just in case my point hasn't been clear- telling people not to include things they have and want to include that does not harm their application in any way and may even have the tiniest sliver of being helpful is silly and you folks need to stop doing it. Enjoy the rest of the holiday everyone.

[Villanelle 4,121]

28 minutes ago, LaBeach said:

I see everyone is hard pressed on completely missing the point and entrenched in defending hard held beliefs so this will be my final response.

 

Just in case my point hasn't been clear- telling people not to include things they have and want to include that does not harm their application in any way and may even have the tiniest sliver of being helpful is silly and you folks need to stop doing it. Enjoy the rest of the holiday everyone.

Have you considered that processing times suffer when people send in excessive packets containing unasked for and unneeded info. USCIS workers must review/log/scan/file every line of every document you send- relevant or not.

 

So sending a long drawn out explanation of stuff might end up annoying the Officer. Honestly does anyone really want to read a 10 page letter about how you guys met? After 3-4 pages even patient people will have trouble feining interest. 

[Dxc 12]

Dont shoot yourself in the foot by sending more than they ask for. Too much information can hurt you just as much as it can help you. 

[Hemutian 68]

1 hour ago, Dxc said:

Dont shoot yourself in the foot by sending more than they ask for. Too much information can hurt you just as much as it can help you. 

How?