Fastruck

Congratulations and have a safe trip to the USA!!!

Hi James,

When I submitted the I-129F I did not translate my Fiance's address to Chinese. This did cause a minor problem because the delivery person did not know how to find her apartment (he could not translate the address) although it did get to the right city. He did have her phone contact though and called her so she was able to meet him and get the packet 3. This is why I think it is important to have the address in Chinese for the passport/visa delivery. I think it would maybe work out alright without it, but there might be problems and that document is too important to take the risk. As an aside, the person that delivered the passport also called her and she went to meet him at an easy place to find just to be sure. I think this is fairly common in China as there are many large apartments and sometimes they are not clearly marked from what I can tell. Also, it took about a month for the packet 3 to show up after the approved application arrived at the Consulate.

-Steve and Guiying

Hi James,

When you fill out the profile on the CGI Stanley page (UStraveldocs) to make your interview appointment, you will fill in your Fiance's address where you want the visa delivered, and her telephone number. Be sure to put the address in Chinese as the drivers cannot translate English and it can cause some confusion. We had to have Guiying type the address on her computer as I don't have Chinese characters on mine and don't speak Chinese anyway. Also you might want to check the box for expedited delivery when you are doing this part. This is what we did and the documents were delivered in one day on a Saturday with the driver calling her phone to tell her he was going to deliver them. This way there is no chance that there won't be someone home to take delivery.

Good luck with your journey.

-Steve and Guiying

Harold,

i wrote a quick review in the review section of the Consulate forums. In general it went pretty much as expected, very short. Reading on VJ helped us to prepare for what would be asked but not for the woman that did the interview, she was very serious. Guiying has kept commenting how she just stared at her the whole time. But in the end it was fine and we got the result we were hoping for.

-Steve and Guiying

Well it is real now. Guiying has her visa in her hand and we have booked her flight to Seattle on September 2. Once we got to the Consulate interview stage, everything seemed to go pretty fast and the visa arrived 5 days after her interview. We are both so happy. Hard to believe that we are finally through this process after months of waiting, but all good things happen to those who wait.

So I am busy preparing the house for her and she is busy doing some last minute shopping and saying goodbye to friends and family. It is a very happy and emotional time for both of us, but we finally made it!!

-Steve and Guiying

Chris,

I will talk to Guiying about this, but I thought it would be nice if Zhijia and her could make contact on Wechat after she arrives. It might be nice for her to have someone to chat with that is going through the process of coming to America also. She does have a couple friends who have done the K1 and she met a girl in line at the Consulate that she became friends with, but the more the better.

You both have been very helpful on this forum, so let me know if that sounds good and I will tell her to get in touch when she arrives.

-Steve and Guiying

My Fiance was just approved on Monday. She did not have any records of immunizations and was not asked for any. We decided prior to her interview that we would take care of the immunizations after she arrived in the US after I read on the USCIS website that they were not required for a K1. We will need to have a record of them prior to AOS though.

Good Luck with your interview.

-Steve and Guiying

Well the long wait and anxiety is over. Guiying had her interview today and she was APPROVED

I could not have done this without the help from the VJ website and the good folks on line here. I will write a little more detailed review of her interview tomorrow, but from what she has told me, it was pretty short (10 min) and the woman interviewing her was very stern. They had a very interesting exchange. Bottom line though is she will be waiting for her visa to arrive hopefully next week and we will be buying her a ticket to the U.S. as soon as it arrives.

Good luck to all who are still going through this process, take care.

-Steve and Guiying

We tried attacking the problem on two different fronts (I am pretty proactive). My Fiance called the consulate and I emailed CGI Stanley and the Consulate. CGI Stanley responded right away in one day and requested some more information. The consulate didn't respond. After I sent additional info, my Fiance managed to get through on the phone and got things straightened out. I then sent another email to CGI Stanley telling them we had fixed the appointment. They responded that they would close the request to correct it.

If you can't get through on the phone, CGI Stanley seems to be much faster at responding than the Consulate. I would try them.

-Steve and Guiying

We had the same situation and were able to call the Consulate and get it straightened out. They allowed us to choose the appointment date we wanted between the two, and they cancelled the other one.

Good luck on your journey.

-Steve and Guiying

I agree Chris.

I would have no problem with the consulate handling the assignment of appointments, but they need to choose one way or the other. It seems like it's a game of chance right now whether you get the assigned appointment or you schedule yourself. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to play "the refresh game".

I will say that if someone else is having the same problem, to call the Consulate. My Fiance' said they were very helpful and were able to straighten out the confusion right away.

-Steve and Guiying

Wow Neal, that really sucks, 41 days ouch. It is so hard to plan around this process and I know we all want this to be done asap. I am about ready to go nuts trying to get through these last few hurdles.

The good news for Guiying and I is that she was able to talk to some very helpful people at the consulate, and they gave us a choice of the two appointment days. We chose the 22nd and we are locked in. Her hotel is booked and she is getting her train ticket as I write this. But what a hassle. It seems like they need to stick to one process.

Good luck to everyone,

-Steve and Guiying

Update,

I have sent 2 emails, 1 to CGI Stanley and 1 to the consulate to inquire about the multiple dates. I am waiting to here back.

In the meantime, my Fiance' called the consulate and got the main desk. They looked up her case number on their computer and said she was scheduled for the 22nd, which is the date I had originally reserved. They told her she needed to call another number to get the email to confirm the appointment which she has not been able to get through on yet. So it looks like we are going to use the appointment I reserved after all.

-Steve and Guiying

I am also going to try to call when they open on Monday, I'm sure that will be fun.

I guess the worst that can happen is that Guiying goes to the interview on the 31st instead of the 22nd and we have to reschedule the hotel and our other arrangements

I will be so glad when this is over with.

-Steve and Guiying

Patrick,

In your Packet 4 email, did they assign you an interview appointment?

We had already made an appointment and in the email we got for packet 4 the consulate had assigned an appointment on a different day. I was wondering if you had the same.

-Steve and Guiying

Hello All,

So we jumped through all the hoops and after paying our fee and sending off our packet 3, we went to the website to make our interview appointment. All was good because we were able to get an appointment right away on a date that would fit our schedule. Sounds good.

Today we receive the Packet 4 and apparently they have changed how appointments are scheduled. At the top of the page in the email we were sent is an assigned appointment date (see attached). So now we have two appointments, the one we want on the 22nd, and the one they assigned on the 31st. Is anyone else seeing this? I looked at the forms that Chris posted and his email is very different from the one we received.

With all the problems people are having scheduling interview appointments, we now have the opposite problem, too many. No wonder folks can't get appointments and then cancellations pop up randomly.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

-Steve and Guiying

We must have had very good timing. I finished the required forms and made the payment on Friday. When I checked the appointment calendar there were 3 days available with 5 appointments. We grabbed the 8-22 interview appointment but we could have had 8-16 or 8-17. We just didn't want to risk not getting the medical exam in time. Guiying is getting her medical exam today so we should be GTG.

I feel like some real progress is happening now and these dates are lining up with the dates I circled on my calendar 5 months ago. I hope we are on a run.

I would agree with Chris and keep checking the appointment calendar for cancelations, also you might try early on Friday as I have read on other threads that they release appointments on that day.

Good luck with getting through the finish line in this process.

Steve and Guiying

In answer to your original question about arriving in Guangzhou early:

I believe K-1 visa applicants arrive a few days early because of the requirement to get a medical examination by the certified clinic located in Guangzhou. My Fiance and I have decided to try and schedule the medical exam 5 days before the interview to allow the doctor enough time to process the results and send them to the Consulate. This is probably a generous amount of time, but since she has to travel hundreds of miles to get to the Consulate we are trying to get this all in one trip.

-Steve and Guiying

My application went to AP yesterday (7-29) . Any idea how long it takes for the packet 3 to arrive after this update. I would like to tell my Fiance when to expect the arrival of the paperwork. Also, what method do they use the send it, is it regular mail, DHL, other?

Thanks for all the help.

Steve and Guiying

Neal, thanks for the reply.

I checked out your timeline and you guys are right on our heals. Let's hope we both get some good news on getting a packet 3 and interview soon. As I'm sure you know, this waiting game is getting a little old.

Take care,

-Steve and Guiying

Hello,

I have been checking every few days on the CEAC website for any clue as to what my case status is. The window that pops up has always said "Ready" since the case was forwarded from the NVC and the date for "status updated date" was the date forwarded from NVC, 7-14-2016.

My question is, today when I looked at the website the "status updated date" had changed from 7-14 to 7-26 and still says "Ready". Does that mean the packet 3 is on the way?

-Steve-

Thanks Chris for the response.

I have been looking at the recent approvals in Guangzhou and it looks like packet 3 is taking about a month to be sent/arrive once the application is received by the Consulate from NVC.

Looks like we still have plenty of time, tic tic tic.....

Steve and Guiying

Chris or Anyone,

Chris since you have just recently navigated this process through Guangzhou, I appreciate your help and guidance. We have just received notice that NVC has received our petition and I should get a case number next week. Here is my question:

Once we have a case number, should I schedule an appointment for the interview before packet 3 arrives? I realize the case needs to be sent from NVC to Guangzhou and packet 3 needs to be sent. I'm just wondering if to speed things along, that I should make the appointment so we are in the queue as soon as possible. If the packet is delayed I can always modify the appointment to suit.

As you might be able to tell, I am trying to push this along as fast as I can, this waiting is driving both of us nuts. I hope you don't mind, but I will probably have more questions as we move along.

Anyone else with experience running this gauntlet, please feel free to chime in on what worked for you.

Thanks again for your help.

Steve and Guiying

Hi Chris,

I have a couple questions for you. With any luck My Fiance will be traveling to Guangzhou for her interview in the next couple months (we got NOA2 on June 9). I am trying to find a nice place for her to stay as I will not be able to accompany her, I think her sister is going to go with her though. Can you provide the phone number of the apartment you stayed in? Also, did you have the medical exam done at the clinic across from the embassy and how much time should I allow for the exam to be sure the results get to the embassy in time. She has to travel 6 hours by the fast train to Guangzhou so I want her to get it all in one trip.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice.

Steve and Guiying

Congratulations on getting through the whole K1 process and having your ticket to America booked, I envy you, but am also happy for you!

My Fiance and I are waiting for the NOA2 as we filed in march. I can't imagine how relieved I will feel when I am at your point.

-Steve-