samandcarol

@Chancy 

@ROK2USA

Good news on our end!  We smoothly received the police certificate back with notarization, sent it to AIT, and received the US entry visa within a few days.  Keys to our success were: 1. obtaining the original certificate while still in China.  2. having reliable Chinese friend to receive our documents.  3. finding reliable delivery service to transport the documents.

@ROK2USA@Chancy

Well, it looks like you guys were right.  AIT is still requiring the police certificate.  We are now in the process of sending documents to China and have a friend on that side to help us get the notarization.  We are using a delivery company called SF (順豐速運) and we like it so far.  From Taiwan to central China it took 9 days, which included 7 days for mandatory disinfecting at an airport.

@Chancy Thanks for your input!

@Kor2USA I have attached a clip from the interview invitation letter that AIT send us.

In English it means:

  Taiwan Police Certificate (each visa applicant at least 16 years old and has lived in Taiwan over six months)

  Foreign Police Certificate (at least 16 years old and lived a foreign country over 12 months;  if you have lived in many different countries, you must provide a police certificate for every one that you lived in for over 12 months)

Today I called AIT to ask about the police certificate requirement.  The agent told me very clearly that a police certificate is required only if a person has lived in a foreign country for over 12 "straight" months.  Straight was the word that he used.

1 hour ago, Kor2USA said:

I'm confused. 

Where did you wife say she was living between 2010-2012? Did she write down an address based out of China? Did she write an address based out of Taiwan? Did she list several addresses during that time? 

For whatever reason, the information she gave them/or the information they have on her triggered a request for a Chinese background check. You could argue you do not have to provide it but AIT lists a 6 month or more residency requirement and not 1 year. So, I would try to obtain the correct document. 

 

@Kor2USA

I appreciate your continued interest in our case!  Actually the situation is that we had gotten a police certificate during our time in China (not knowing when we might use it).  In preparation for the visa interview, we saw the required documents listed by AIT included a police certificate for any foreign country lived in for 1 year or more.  So we brought the certificate to the interview.  The interviewer told her that the document couldn’t be accepted because didn’t have the required notarization from the local authority.

As we were looking into getting the proper notarization, we reviewed our original entry and departure dates.  While the certificate listed dates that were over one year, our actual entry and departure dates show that we had exited and re-entered China multiple times within the time frame of the certificate — no period in China was longer than 182 days.

Due this, we are trying petition AIT to reconsider the necessity of the police certificate (to actually get it is quite troublesome).

I’m not sure what you mean when you say “AIT lists a 6 month or more residency requirement and not 1 year”.  Where do you see this information?

41 minutes ago, Kor2USA said:

Was the beneficiary under 16 at the time? 

K1 and IR1/CR1 PCC requirements are the same: 

You can see it says iv-kvisa (immigrant visa/ k visa) in the address.

 

Korea has the following requirements:

If you are 16 years of age or older, you must obtain a police certificate from your country of nationality if you lived there for more than 6 months at any time. Also, obtain a police certificate from the country of your residence if your presence there was for 6 months or more. Police certificates from other countries are also required if your stay was 12 months or more after age 16.

 

Seems like the wording is a little more clear. Your stay needs to be 12 months or more. I'm thinking  two stays of 6 months each with a break in between wouldn't trigger the need for a PCC. 

 

@Kor2USA

The beneficiary was over 16 at the time.  We have gotten a police certificate for her country of nationality (Taiwan), and that is also where she is residing at present.  At the time she was in China during a two year period, we went in and out a number of times, with the longest stay in China being 182 days.  It would seem to me that a police certificate for China is not required.

11 minutes ago, Kor2USA said:

If you listed the address in your DS260 and it exceeds 6 months I think they can request a PCC from that country. Even though they indicate 1 year on the US Department of State website.  Even if you are staying there as a tourist. 

 

https://www.ustraveldocs.com/tw/tw-iv-kvisa.asp  has this direction:

 

If you are 16 years of age or older, you must obtain a police certificate from your country of nationality if you lived there for more than 6 months at any time. Also, obtain a police certificate from the country of your residence if your presence there was for 6 months or more. 

 

I'm thinking they can pick and choose when to request a PCC. 

@Kor2USA

Thanks for the info!  Our case is an IR-1 visa and the period of foreign residence was about 10 years ago.  It isn't listed on DS260, so I don't think this would apply.

9 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

Stayed in the country for 12 months or more at a time, regardless of visa type.

 

@Chancy

Thank you for your reply!  Can you give me more details about this?  How do you know about this?  Did you experience it for yourself, or hear that from someone else? 

I have a follow-up question about police certificates in general.  According to US Department of State website, a police certificate is required "if you have even lived in another country for 12 months or more..."  Does that mean continuous 12 months or cumulative?  What is the meaning of "lived" in this case?  Does it depend on the type of visa that you had when in that country?  Or whether you stayed in one place or not?

So we were all excited that our immigrant visa interview date (in Taipei, Taiwan) had finally arrived on March 7, 2022.  But my wife's case was denied under Section 221(g) because some documents we provided were not acceptable.  Since we had lived in China for over one year (2010-2012), we were required to provide of police report for that period.  At that time we did get a police report (which was no easy task for a Taiwanese citizen) at that time.  However, when it was submitted at the interview, it was not accepted on the grounds that it had not been notarized.  We have been told it is nearly impossible for Taiwanese to get this done in China, due to travel restrictions and strained relations.  Anyone have experience with this?  What can we do?

Got our 2 cases (spouse of US citizen, adopted son of US citizen) DQ'ed by NVC on Jan 26, but are still waiting for the interview notice.  I'm assuming that because of a Chinese New Year break it's taking longer than normal.  Perhaps COVID-19 is also affecting it?  Anyone else in Taiwan waiting for an interview appointment right now?

On 1/26/2022 at 7:03 PM, TedBrosby said:

For everyone who added additional documents AFTER your initial submission date, please share with everyone here:  

1. What document did you upload? 
2. What was your original submission date?
3. Did you use a different category or the original category? 
4. When were you DQ'ed?
5. What was the submission date after your new documents submitted? 

For example, for our case:  

1. We added an explanation for why no W2, we added a preview of my W2 in 2021 that shows my new income, we added an explanation why my W2 address is different from the IV application address. 
2. Original submission date was October 20th. 
3. We submitted all additional documents using "Other" category. 
4. We were DQ'ed January 21st.
5. The submission dates for those additional documents was December 19, January 07, January 16

1. What document did you upload?  Second record of birth (required for Taiwan)
2. What was your original submission date?  August 2, 2021
3. Did you use a different category or the original category?  Different category (additional documents), since you can only have one document for birth certificate category
4. When were you DQ'ed? January 26, 2022
5. What was the submission date after your new documents submitted?  October 22, 2021

Submitted 10/22, got DQ for my son today, waiting on my wife's (same submission date).  Today is 96 days, exactly what is showing for the wait time on visawhen.com 

Well, our submission was on Oct 22, so based on what I'm seeing here, reply should literally be any day now!

Resubmitted October 22, 2021

Based on current timelines I'm estimating mid-late January 2022?

20 hours ago, ArwaE said:

Thank you soooo much

 

Another question: Does the date submitted stay the same as my original date? Or should it be updated to today?

The NVC asked us to submit a second birth certificate.  We were instructed to submit both together, but the required docs had only one space for birth certificate, so we uploaded the second one in the additional docs area.  After they were submitted, I noticed that the birth certificate in the required docs section retained the original submission date, whereas the additional docs showed the date of resubmission.  That was Oct 22, but no word yet...

Well, our second application got a response from the NVC (same RFE result), so I would think more of the first week of August submitters should be notified any day now!

15 hours ago, Saqib-s said:

Great hear you were reviewed, sorry that it was an RFE, without wanting to to go off topic too much on this thread, you might find the Civil Documents by Country section in the state dept site useful , Taiwan is located here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/Taiwan.html

It does say: 
Comments: Immigrant visa applicants are required to submit a current Household Registration Record as well as a birth certificate.  Applicants who are unable to obtain their birth certificate – for example, those born in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation that ended in 1945, or those who came from mainland China following WWII — may provide their initial Household Registration Record as an alternative to the birth certificate.

if you want more help / further discussion  I would suggest opening a new thread with this either in the NVC section or under the Asia: East and Pacific section. 

@TGDeano@ArwaE@Saqib-s

Thank you for the encouragement and info.  I am pretty sure of what needs to be added -- hopefully there's a different, shorter line for RFE's?

We just received a notice of action on one our cases (son of US citizen).  Unfortunately, it is an RFE regarding documents required by Taiwan.  They are saying Taiwan requires to birth documents (instead of the one birth certificate we sent).  Anyone from Taiwan know about that?

But the good news is that they are looking at August (ours is Aug 2nd) cases now!

Hi everyone!

Checking in here a little late, but I am also an August submitter (Aug 3).  No word yet for me, but looks like a few early Aug submitters are starting to get DQ'ed?

On the NVC website it emphasizes that all originals of the uploaded documents must be brought to the interview.  I'm planning to get a letter from my parents stating that we can live with them when we return to the US.  I'm planning to have them sign the letter and get it scanned to send back to me (overseas).  But for an original do I need the letter that was printed out and signed in ink sent over to me for the interview?  Is the same true for the government forms like I-184 for me and the joint sponsor?

@Suze1 OK, not having to worry about notarization makes things easier.  Thanks!

Sounds like you have quite a bit of experience in this part of Asia!  Who knows when we'll be able to freely explore these cities again  

@Suze1 Thanks again for your help!  One other question.  Is it necessary for all documents to be notarized?

@Suze1 @seekingthetruth

Thanks for your input.  That does clarify things a bit!  It seems that the things I mentioned aren't really very useful.  Except maybe bank account to prove that I have some money available when we're getting settled in?  I am planning to go to graduate school in the US next year, so I could include proof of taking the GRE (grad school entrance exam) last year and application to US grad school?  And an invitation from my parents to stay with them when we're getting settled?

The information says that I should submit the proof along with the I-864.  However at this point (just starting the NVC process), I have no idea how long it might take for our application to be accepted, so it is hard to make concrete plans.  Is it possible to add more things after the I-864 application is sent and we have a better idea of the timeframe?

Thanks again!

@seekingthetruthI noticed on your timeline that both your spouse and stepdaughter received the "Case Is Being Actively Reviewed" notice from USCIS, but were approved pretty quickly.  The case for my adopted son got the message on Jan 28, 2021, and we are still waiting for approval!

I am a US citizen, but have lived overseas for twenty years (coming back to the US for visits every few years of course).  As the main sponsor (I-864 AOS) for my wife (I have a joint sponsor for the financial part), I need to prove I have US domicile.  I have US bank accounts, current US driver's license, am registered to vote in US, which are some of the types of evidence I have seen listed.  Has anyone used these kinds of evidence and been accepted?  Thanks for any input you may have.