Carcharodont

So update:

We are ineligible for a k1 visa due to additional administrative processing needed.  It isn't an outright refusal, but they said processing could take a few weeks to a couple months.  Who can I contact to expedite this because this is ridiculous?   Our medical has a limited validity period and we don't want to have a third medical with a third culture test.  We fulfilled all the requirements,  and the only thing either of us can think of is the emphasis on her graduate degree in general biology.   

Hi everyone,

So my fiancée has her interview in an hour with the consulate in Guangzhou and I had a couple questions since our original petition was mailed in July 2016.

1.  The last photo evidence that was included with the original petition was dated around June 20, 2016, but our interview is 6/26/2018.  Will this affect us at all, or because they were less than two years old at the time of submission they are still valid? 

For the record, we have additional photos less than 2 years old and a photocopy of my passport showing my visit on 12/2016, but I don't know if the consular officer will review evidence brought to the interview and that's been a lingering fear of mine (even though we frontloaded with hundreds of pages of evidence).  I told her to have photos of the visit and my passport photocopy at the front ready to show instantly.

2.  I'm hoping our visa doesn't get denied, especially on the grounds of "haven't visited in past two years" which would be a false statement by the consular officer, but if it does what is the best course of action?

I'm on pins and needles here and could use reassurances.  This process has taken much longer than we expected through no fault of our own, and we want nothing more than to be back together.  Thanks everyone.

A bit of an emergency,  do you know of places near the Consulate in Guangzhou China where we can print documents?  The interview is tomorrow and we need to print a few more documents.  Thanks in advance.

We were last together December 2016, because of the layoff last year we held off on me traveling there in 2017 to keep my savings up as I wanted to make sure it alone exceeds 125% federal poverty guidelines, as well as my current job in biotech.  We are waiting until the interview happens before I buy a plane ticket to help her move here.

Hello everyone,

A long time ago, in a distant year called 2016, I proposed to my fiancée and submitted my I-129F for her K1 visa.  Two years later, we are finally getting to the interview as of next week (6/26/2018).  Because of the amount of time that has transpired, I have a few questions:

1.  Are the photos originally submitted, the latest being around June 20, 2016, still valid because at the time of submission they were less than two years old, or must they be less than 2 years old at the time of interview?
2.  Are the consular officers going to give us the opportunity to present photos less than two years old as evidence (12/2016)?  In other words, should we have all our photo evidence from the most recent trip at the very front and show it to them before they have any opportunity to view anything else?

This process has been stressful to us both given the layoff that occurred last year and the 4 months of delay between the first and second medicals.  The consulate is tired of seeing my emails because we are trying to make sure literally every.  Single.  Piece.  Of.  Evidence.  is accounted for and visible.  She currently has hundreds of pages of documents, wechat logs, phone logs, emails, other communications, etc from her side and mine, all split between 4 binders.  This photo issue was something I thought about at the last minute before the interview, and while I called the US Embassy Customer Support for China (703-665-1986) and they reassured me the evidence is still valid, I still worry because this whole process has been harrowing to say the least.  A process that should only take 4-6 months has taken 2 years for us, and I don't want any more surprises like the first interview.

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated as it would help in finalizing our preparations for her interview.

Thanks and looking forward to your responses once more.

Hey guys, know it's been a while.  Been stuck in limbo unable to schedule an interview because I was laid off in February.  Can't send over updated financial records and schedule an interview til I have a job, and at this point considering withdrawing the k1 visa, teaching abroad for a year, getting married, and going for I think a CR1.  

It's sad that the job market sucks so badly right now:  everyone is "hiring" but no one wants to actually "hire" and as a result we can't move forward. 

Hi everyone, I know it's been a few months since I've had any update, but we're (finally) getting to the point where we are ready to schedule an interview, but things have been put off a few months because of medical testing.

In a nut shell, we're wondering how long are all of the documents good for?  I assume that most documents, provided the information is valid (no change in address for example), are good for a year, but we don't want to have to go back for any additional interviews because of old information.  The only thing I know of that isn't valid for a year is the medical, which is good for 6 months.  With that said, could anyone corroborate this information?  Thanks in advance!

I feel your pain CRamak, was supposed to have our interview today but hospital called Monday and said we had to do more tests that take two months to get results. Was expecting in and out now our plans are up in smoke, as we don't know when our interview will be, and aren't sure what to do in this situation. Only thing I could do was email the consulate but haven't received a reply back yet. I'm thoroughly bummed out this is the way the year ends.

Ugh I am still in "Administrative Processing" since September 20th, but at least I had two updates to the date on Administrative Processing on 10/20 and 10/21. Any recommendations on what to do guys? I wish the Guangzhou Consulate would provide something beyond Administrative Processing

Gotcha,

Next question: because we are currently having a back and forth of when to pay the CITIC fee. I've read previously that once the case is undergoing "Administrative Processing" we can pay the CITIC fee (after filing, sending in Packet 3). She's saying from what she is reading we have to wait for a confirmation email and Packet 4 before we can pay CITIC fee. Can you provide clarification on this, and your experience on when the fee was paid?

Just for the record, I called Guangzhou yesterday and spoke with someone, they told me not to schedule interview or pay visa fee until we receive packet 4 and confirmation email, but this person I spoke with also said we needed our resumes notarized (#######?) and no single status certificate (double #######). I trust this forum versus someone who may have been having a bad day at the office. Thanks again!

Hi Chris&ZhiJia,

Photos were of her, she sent me a passport style photo of herself and I made somewhere on the order of 24 photo prints for her and myself because I didn't want at any point in the process to not have passport photos if/when they were required. Also as far as the affidavit of marrigeability, that's simply the declaration that she is single right? But isnt that for if we were to get married in China? I was looking over packet 4 instructions and saw that they require marital status certificates, but didn't see a reference to an affidavit of marrigeability, only divorce decrees and marriage certificates from a public notary in China. Thanks again for the information, she'll be heading to Wuhan soon to get many more pieces of information. I will go ahead and have her pay the CITIC fee then if she is confident she can get all the necessary information soon. Thanks again for everything!

Hi Chris&ZhiJia,

Photos were of her, she sent me a passport style photo of herself and I made somewhere on the order of 24 photo prints for her and myself because I didn't want at any point in the process to not have passport photos if/when they were required. Also as far as the affidavit of marrigeability, that's simply the declaration that she is single right? But isnt that for if we were to get married in China? I was looking over packet 4 instructions and saw that they require marital status certificates, but didn't see a reference to an affidavit of marrigeability, only divorce decrees and marriage certificates from a public notary in China. Thanks again for the information, she'll be heading to Wuhan soon to get many more pieces of information. I will go ahead and have her pay the CITIC fee then if she is confident she can get all the necessary information soon. Thanks again for everything!

Hi Chris and ZhiJia,

Thanks for the wonderful information and steps! I'd sent her a full copy of the I129F application I'd sent in, which also contained several passport style photos, and a complete i134 as well. I don't know if she mailed in the Packet 3 yet or not, but I really hope she has as I don't know whether packet 3 and/or packet 4 are time sensitive upon the consulate's receipt of the petition.

Also she is currently working but her job has her working so many hours....is it better she go ahead and quit, or try to get all the papers while working? I keep telling her that if work is the issue, to just quit and I will support her for the time being as I don't want our petition to expire and frankly her current job doesn't matter compared to getting the interview done. This whole process is becoming pretty stressful and I wish I could help, but everything feels out of my hands now. :/

Also, should I have her go ahead and pay the CITIC visa fee, and will the interview be scheduled for us or will we have to select an interview date on ustraveldocs? Thanks again!

Hi Everyone,

I am the petitioner and our application has been approved, we've been assigned both a case number and invoice identification number, and our application has been sent to the Guangzhou Consulate (first it was ready, now it is undergoing administrative processing). I know that the Guangzhou Consulate will send me the Packet 3 (her address is in care of mine), but I am wanting to know what all can I get done for my fiancee to help expedite the processing of our application and scheduling of the interview date?

I've sent her a copy of the master binder I created that contains the entire I129F application, including an I-134 affidavit of support (and all supporting documents) as well. I have her focusing on getting the notarized letter of no criminal record (police certificate) and notarized letter regarding the details of her birth (birth certificate). I have downloaded Packet 3 and could theoretically begin filling everything out (DS-160, DS230, Resumes, etc), but anyone familiar with the process and can help step by step (or point to a guide), and tell me what and where to file would be greatly appreciated!

I focused probably too much on frontloading of the I129F and apologize for lack of due diligence in researching everything after NOA2 approval (we were biting our nails regarding potential RFEs or denials for obscure reasons). Thanks again and look forward to hearing everyone's input!

So I got both my case number and invoice identification number yesterday and have been pouring over packet 3, and was curious: does my fiancee mail in DS160 and/or DS230 forms to the Guangzhou Consulate? Do we need to fill out both the DS160 and DS230 or just one or the other (one is immigrant, the other is nonimmigrant), and are either available online for China submissions? I will be mailing her a replicate of my master copy to assist with submissions on her end, but would appreciate more insight on the next steps.

Sweet! I have my case number! Only 10 days! Everyone should begin calling about a week after because they seem to be doing these much quicker! Woohoo!

Although, now my fiancee really needs to get crackin with her packet 3

YESSSSS!!!!!!!!

I just refreshed the page and showed our application got approved! This was some desperately needed good news after a long week and a sore recovery from spinning out and kissing a guard rail at 50mph! That approval was in every sense of the word a sight for sore eyes.

The question now is what's next?

Did anyone else have a front loaded application? I'm really curious how long it took people with larger applications to receive approvals.

Looks like they skipped over my application, I guess they aren't wanting to deal with 250 pages just yet :/

June filers are starting getting NOA2 and approvals

Where are you seeing this information EricTasha? All I can see is May 24th filers :/

Same here, I hope it gets processed quicker than "October 1-4" according to my timeline estimate.

http://www.visajourney.com/examples/Form-I-129F.pdf

This actually bothered me a bit because the I-129f instructions on the USCIS website state 15-e through h should be for when they 'last arrived' instead if 'if they are 'currently in the US.' So the USCIS has a discrepancy that needs addressing. Thankfully the visajourney example i-129f states "only if fiance is in US complete 15a-h." So now I feel a bit better about my own application now.

On the I-129f form itself, I don't recall anywhere on there where her signature would be required. Her signature is only required on her letter of intent to marry and G325a (I may be forgetting some forms here). In fact, question 15a-h (im looking at it right now) are to only be answered if he/she is CURRENTLY in the United States. My fiancee previously visited the United States as a student and even worked here, but I didn't provide any information for questions 15a-h based on the conditional request stated "If your fiance(e) is currently in the United States, complete the following:"

In your fiancee's case, the only thing that you would answer is question 15 (no). Other than that there is no place where it requests a signature from her.

if she has never worked in the US before (or been a student) she likely doesn't have a social security number or alien registration number. Otherwise you would be correct, a majority of the page will remain blank.

Based on the reading of the USCIS website and their instructions, they say an 'original' letter of intent from the petitioner and beneficiary. Whether they mean a statement with 'original content' or a statement with an original signature is up for debate, I think better clarification is needed. I say just to be on the safe side, go with wet signature for Letter of Intent in the event you get someone at the USCIS that wants to delay your application with an RFE for an original anyways.