huilingdong

Hi everyone, if you have any questions about the I601A, please feel to ask. We would love to share our experience.

Hi, could you please tell us exactly what questions did they ask? In detail please. Thanks.

My husband said the questions are pretty much around the family. Like the name, DOB , marriage date and how do you came to US. They don't asked anything related to I601A. If you had an immigration court before, they will also ask some questions about it. I heard about if your citizen spouse has more than 1 marriage, the officer will also ask you about his/her previous marriage.

Hey huiling,

Are you back in USA?how did the interview goes?can you give me some pointers and advices during that process?as much details as possible please. My husband's father is helping us to get the non criminal record right now.

Hi, we just back to US today.

First, once you have an appointment date, go online to schedule your wellness check in China's hospital. Remember, the US embassy only take report from few of the hospitals. Don't forget your immunity shots before you leave. We met a lady who had the same situation and same appointment date with my husband when we went pick up the wellness check report. She forgot her immunity shots which delayed her visa.

I will suggest take the train to GuangZhou. It's fast, easy and cheaper. If you don't have China's ID, and the US Embassy took your passport for visa, you can use a copy of your passport for return train trip.

If you had an immigration court record before, the interview officer may ask you the questions related to that court case. What I was thinking is I think the officer treat men and women differently. The women I heard from they all says the interview was easy and only few questions about the family. But for the men, including my husband, they all had a tough time and tough questions like how did you get into US before, were you stowaway. The officer also asked about our children's names and DOB few times between the questions. He probably try to see if the relationship is real. I will say if you had an immigtation court before, be prepared and talk to your attorney before go back. Never ever tell officer you were a stowaway!

If your English is good; obviously you are; speak to officer in English. They will greeting with you in English to see if you speak good English. If you do, 100% easy come easy go!

Well, I don't want to tell you too much stuffs just in case you got mess up. You still need few months to get your interview appointment. You can add my wechat huilingdong if you have it. I would love to give you the detail step by step.

do you really need the non criminal records? my attorney says when they interview you they take your fingerprints and everything is on their computer already, so why bother?

You do need the non criminal records(original or copy) for NVC, otherwise NVC won't send your file to China. If you live in US and back to China for interview, you may not need to bring it in because they do have it on the computer; but still better to have it in hand if you have one. Some interview officer even asked for a new non criminal record if your first one is more than 6 months. The interview officer won't take your fingerprint unless you are approved at the end of interview. So what your attorney said was wrong.

do you really need the non criminal records? my attorney says when they interview you they take your fingerprints and everything is on their computer already, so why bother?

huiling,

Thank you so much for your informative advice!Did you fill out all the applications by yourself as well?

Please keep me update on your husband interview!I wish you best of luck!

You are so welcome and I hope it will help you out. Yes, I fill out all the applications. We do hire an attorney for I-601a application but I still did the most part of works.

I am in the same situation. I wrote a letter to NVC explaining that my husband was here in the US and unable to appear in person to get the police record, but they still sent me a checklist. So now we don't know what to do. I have asked for a supervisor review but don't know what will happen.

Go online to find the attorney offices in your husband's original birth/live city. Get a phone card and call those offices and see if they can do it for him with a charge. They should do it. You may also find a service website on Google which can help you do all these things through emails; of course with a service fee. I found one is for China. Since my husband has friends and family in china, we don't need that service so I don't know how much they charge for it. Good luck to you!

P.S. you need to tell the chinese county police department about what date you left from China.

Your family or friend should pick up 2 original of your notary records. Do not mail it, it just wasted time. Tell them just scan and email every single pages to you. NVC only needs the copy. Your family or friend should keep them in a good shape until you back to China for interview. The consulate needs the original.

Some people say the records will expired after 6 month from the date it stated on it. However, one of my cousin got approved without bring it in. I believe that "6-month" is for the people in China because they may have something happened during the wait time in China. For the people in US, your record won't change anything no matter how long is the wait time because you don't live in china. If you want to play it in a safe way, you can go back to chinese county police department and redo it.

I would love to share my experience because it was a painful thing to work on. Hope you can do it right.

1. Go to your local city or county police department and ask them about FBI fingerprint card. It was about $15. The department will print your name on the card and ask them to have a stamp on the card as well. Do not fill in any of your personal information on the card. Chinese police department will not take it.

2. Call your state office and tell them you need a background check for immigration interview in China (or wherever the country you are going to). They should know how to do it. They will tell you how much is the fee, what documents they need and where you need to mail it. You should received it around 2 weeks. Once you received it, you only need the page says you don't have any criminal record in your states.

3. Check online or ask the state office about where you can get an apostille stamp. It should be either one of the county office or secretary of state. Put the state criminal record on top of the FBI fingerprint card and give it to the agent for apostille. They will add a cover sheet on top and seal them together with a gold sticker. You cannot tear or break the sticker.

4. Write a letter says you give the permission to xxx to represent you and this person has the authority to request your criminal record in china. It needs you and that person information on it. The letter must in Chinese I think I still have a copy of my husband's if you need a sample.

5. Mail everything back to china and have that person who represents you to go to county police department(县/市公安局) to get a form for criminal record. Then take the form to your Township police department ( 你户口本上的村/镇派出所) fill out the form first, then bring it back to county police department. They should tell you how to do it. County police office will takes about 2 weeks to work on it.

5. Pick up the criminal record and then go to notary office (公证处) to do the notary and translate. It will takes another 2 weeks. Then you are done!

My husband has his interview on 7/29. We are ready to go back to china on 7/21. I'm the one work on all his things so I know the whole process. If anyone, in the same situation, has questions, feel free to ask. I would love to help and share my experience.