Annevilwill

On 12/22/2021 at 1:17 AM, my_gf_wants_cr1 said:

Sorry for necroing this thread; could you share what ended up happening?

Hi!

yes sure. we got married online via Utah in June and applied for spousal visa. PD Aug 10. Active review Dec 14.

2 hours ago, Fstop said:

It completely depends upon the city. Some cities (Shanghai, for example) are easier than others. We lived in Changchun for 2 years, and they have different rules. The only person who can apply for the clearance (besides yourself), is the employer. No third party is allowed to do this (we tried!). Eventually my former employer agreed to help, after pressure from the owner of the school (I taught his daughter and I was her favorite teacher). The following documents were required:

 

-Copies of all passports used in China, both for myself and my wife

-Passport pages with all Chinese stamps

-Chinese residence permit (found inside the passport)

-Temporary residence permit (which we did not have)

-Exact address used in China

-Name change documents (if applicable), translated into Chinese

-Marriage certificate

-Power of attorney (both in English and in Chinese)

-Fees for the police certificate and the notary

Oh so they did help you! what a relief! Thank you. I used to study in Nanjing but don't have much of documents they need. Wonder if it will be hard to get. I lived and still live in Shanghai much longer though. And here should not be a problem. 

I'm so happy it all worked out for you, good luck with the rest!!! We are waiting for i-130 approval now.

42 minutes ago, Fstop said:

When it was granted I had already paid all the fees to obtain it, so I figure why not go through with all of it and try and actually get it? You never know when we might need it!

Oh I see, makes sense. Can you please share how you end up getting the clearance? via whom? 

5 hours ago, Fstop said:

Yes, there has been some progress. Her visa has been issued and she (along with our youngest daughter) will arrive in the US next week! This took some serious maneuvering from some higher ups and with some embassy officials calling the US embassy in Bangkok and explaining how things work (or don't work) in China. But after some serious networking, her visa was finally granted. I'm sorry that I can't be any more specific than that - I don't want to get anyone in trouble!

 

We are still working on getting the Chinese police clearance, however. The police keep asking for more documents. Because we were married during our stay in China (nearly 10 years ago) and she changed her name (taking my last name), the police wanted name change documents and these of course needed to be translated into Chinese. The police should have everything now; we are just waiting now for the clearance to be issued. 

Oh wow congratulations! Its a very good news! Its ok, no need to be more specific.

But I don't understand, if her visa was granted, why still need police clearance? and how are you getting it if you aren't in China and your ex-employer did not want to help?

On 8/20/2021 at 2:33 PM, Fstop said:

Strike my previous post. My previous employer didn't apply for it after all and I have no idea why. They seem to be giving me the runaround. Promised to apply for it last week but when I called to confirm they said they would do it this week. I called again today...didn't happen. 

 

Again, I'm  not sure what to do and it all seems rather hopeless. 

Hi! Any updated on it? Has your previous employer finally applied for the police clearance?

I was thinking if they wont help maybe its a good idea to bring in the lawyer to deal with this situation. Its ridiculous that because of this stupid little paper they deny immigration for your wife.

11 hours ago, amr5026 said:

This is anecdotal only (and not legal advice either). We were at Potomac. Filed the I-130 in January 2021, and an I-129F for a K-3 in April 2021. Our initial I-130 timeframe was about 12-18 months. They approved our I-130 in June 2021, and denied the I-129F/K-3 about two weeks after, indicating that since the I-130 was approved the K-3 was no longer needed. It appears that the K-3 pushed our I-130 approval significantly forward just so they could deny the K-3. For us applying for the K-3 was low-risk, high reward. 

Thanks for your story! Its great that it worked out for you and your wait wasn't that long. I still wonder if its coincidental though. Some people get randomly approved after 2-3 months only and I don't think they filed I-129F. Anyway, I'm willing to try this out and see. 

11 minutes ago, HRQX said:

Yes. Just a reminder that I-129F must be mailed in: https://www.uscis.gov/forms/direct-filing-addresses-for-form-i-129f-petition-for-alien-fiancee

thank you !

31 minutes ago, HRQX said:

It can also be filed for spouses, but it's optional. It is filed either with the I-130 or after the I-130 has been filed: https://www.uscis.gov/forms/direct-filing-addresses-for-form-i-129f-petition-for-alien-fiancee "Note: U.S. Citizens petitioning for K-3 visas for their alien spouses must include a copy of the Form I-797C, Notice of Action, showing they have filed Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, on behalf of their spouse listed on the form"

 

It's also free to file in your case: https://www.uscis.gov/i-129f "there is no filing fee for a K-3 spouse (as designated in 8 CFR 214.1(a)(2)) who is filing Form I-129F as the spouse of a U.S. citizen."

but if we are not separated between 2 countries, but live together, is it still ok to file? 

27 minutes ago, HRQX said:

It can also be filed for spouses, but it's optional. It is filed either with the I-130 or after the I-130 has been filed: https://www.uscis.gov/forms/direct-filing-addresses-for-form-i-129f-petition-for-alien-fiancee "Note: U.S. Citizens petitioning for K-3 visas for their alien spouses must include a copy of the Form I-797C, Notice of Action, showing they have filed Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, on behalf of their spouse listed on the form"

 

It's also free to file in your case: https://www.uscis.gov/i-129f "there is no filing fee for a K-3 spouse (as designated in 8 CFR 214.1(a)(2)) who is filing Form I-129F as the spouse of a U.S. citizen."

Oh its in regards to K3... I read about it before but see many people don't do it now and its rare. however if it indeed might help to speed up the process I think we should try to do it. especially if its for free, wont hurt us. thanks for your suggestion!!! 

2 hours ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

Thank you!’ ❤️ Just to be clear that’s 6 months for USCIS only. Then it’s taking around 2 month for NVC. Then the tricky transfer as Russia is doing zero interviews and hasn’t for a long time. 
 

send in an I-129f. I think that’s why my case was approved before the average time!

But I-129f is a petition for an alien fiancée. if we are married already and filed the I-130, not sure how would it be even possible to file. 

2 hours ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

Thank you!’ ❤️ Just to be clear that’s 6 months for USCIS only. Then it’s taking around 2 month for NVC. Then the tricky transfer as Russia is doing zero interviews and hasn’t for a long time. 
 

send in an I-129f. I think that’s why my case was approved before the average time!

Hey, thanks! will look up to I-129f, I dunno what is that haha.

About Russia. I live in China so will have the interview here. But I know many people from Russia have their interviews in Poland. If you need I can share with you a telegram channel for CR1 for Russians, lots of useful staff. We can talk in private if you like. 

16 minutes ago, Strawberrymermaid said:

hello! Average for Potomac is like 10-11 months. But I got out in 6 months. 

Hi:) Thanks for your feedback! 

6 months sounds like something that I was expecting out of all this process.. hopefully it wont be 10-11 months for us. I see you got your NOA2 quite recently! Congrats! 

Hi guys,

Our PD is Aug 10, 2021. Originally on our NOA1 it stated we are at Texas service center, but a find suggested to email to USCIS to check if its correct, and we just got their reply that we are in Potomac. Its kinda depressing because the official processing time in there is 13 to 16.5 months. I just wanted to know is it really as bad as its written - or usually its actually much shorter? I read some cases about people's I130 being approved like within several months, wonder does it ever happen in Potomac? Its really frustrating and confusing how does it all work. I know that we need to wait patiently like everyone says... but just wanna see if there are chances we might be approved earlier than after 13 months... 

24 minutes ago, Fstop said:

Okay, so my previous employer applied for my wife's police certificate today. They said it will take about 2 weeks, and then a few more days for the notary and translation. That is, if the police can find her record. If they cannot find her record, I just hope that they can give us a document saying as much. So yet another wait begins...

Finally!!! Goods news! Why could not they do it earlier, ugh. On the other hand, its good that they finally agreed to help. Good luck!

On 7/26/2021 at 5:59 PM, Fstop said:

Another update:

 

Our friend of a friend went to the local notary office in Changchun and was refused (we sort of expected this). Today she went to the PSB with all the documents - power of attorney, passport pages, etc. She was told no - they wouldn't even look at all the documents she had. They informed her that my former employer (an international school) needed to do it, even though my wife was not an employee there. She is now going to contact them and see if they will help (I've had no luck in persuading them so far). 

 

If this doesn't work I have no idea what we're going to do, because right now all I have are emails from people who have failed to get this document as well as a letter from my former employer saying that it's impossible to obtain. 

Hi! How are the things going? any good news about this? 

2 hours ago, Fstop said:

 

This is the response that I got from the embassy yesterday. Since it states that the police certificate is "available", there is nothing they can do. They suggested finding an attorney or an agency to help acquire the document. 

 

I have a friend of a friend in China who is going to go to the PSB and then the local notary office to try and acquire the police clearance document for my wife. Not sure if they will give it to her, even with a power of attorney due to the lack of a temporary registration permit. We are still hopeful, or at least they will give us some official paper that states that the document is unobtainable. 

 

I'm also still waiting on a quotation from https://lawandborder.com/ and whether or not they can help me. They sure seem to be taking their dear sweet time. 

I am really sorry to hear that so far no news and the embassy being so strict about this without even knowing the details of life in china and how it all works here. But I really hope it will work out well for you, it must! i cannot believe that they would deny immigration for your wife only because of this paper.. Good luck!!! Please keep us posted!

Hi guys, me and my husband are going to finalize and submit our CR1 petition this week. I was wondering, what is the wait period from start to finish now for CR1 in China? I understand that its moving much faster than K1, but still the situation is not so clear to me.

Any recent cases here of obtaining it within a year?

I'm beneficiary Russian originally, and my husband is USC, both live in Shanghai. 

Thank you! 

40 minutes ago, Fstop said:

I have contacted several agencies and two lawyers. None of the agencies can do it - they all say that they can try, but the likelihood of getting a police certificate without the resident registration form is very difficult, if not impossible. 

 

My school has said it's not possible.

 

I'm still waiting on a quotation from https://lawandborder.com/ and whether or not they can help me.

 

We have spent 18 months and thousands of dollars applying for this visa, only to be turned away by an unobtainable document. Surely there is another way to get approved. 

I actually had a consultation with this guy, Gary Chodorow right? But just a general consultation about CR1. He did mention during the consultation that they do help to obtain the police certificate, but again, in case when its not possible to do, they can issue an official statement for US consulate, that is what you mentioned in the initial post, memorandum. I don't think that anyone can confirm to you with 100% certainty that it will work, but I assume if he does issue documents like that, they must work at least in some cases. Otherwise, if it wont work, maybe he also can help you with this case, to contact the consulate as your attorney and try to solve this issue. You should check with him all the options. 

Please keep us posted about how it all worked out for you. Its a very important case for people who ever lived in China. 

1 hour ago, Chancy said:

 

I doubt the consul officer would accept a memo/letter from your lawyer and school, as they specifically asked for the police certificate from China, despite already having that explanation letter you submitted back in November.

 

Contact a reputable agency that specializes in getting police certificates for those no longer residing in China.  Here are some recommendations from other VJ members --

 

 

The issue about contacting an agent or a lawyer - there is nothing they can do if person originally cannot provide such a documents as: work contract and residence permit; tax refund; police registration of temporarily place of living. Police or a notary office ( depend on a city) will not issue police certificate if one of those documents is missing. I understand, that OP doesn't have any of them. So all agent can do - issue a paper that states that this police certificate is unobtainable!

On 7/13/2021 at 5:32 AM, Fstop said:

My wife had her interview last week in Bangkok for the IR-1 immigration visa. This process has now taken 18 months. She had all of her documents except one: a police clearance certificate from Changchun, China, where we lived nearly 10 years ago. Last November I submitted a letter explaining why this document was unobtainable. We were never given a temporary residence permit (I think the school may have kept it and is now destroyed) and this was accepted on the online application. Since it was marked "accepted" I didn't think anything of it until last week when the consular officer denied her visa until we produce this document. 

 

I have contacted two different lawyers in China and my previous employer (an international school). My school has agreed to write and sign an official letter stating that she was an upstanding and valued member of the school community and as far as they know, does not have a criminal record in China. She was not employed by the school; she was just with me when I was working there.

 

One of the lawyers has attempted to contact the police and they have confirmed that the police station wouldn't be able to issue the no-criminal record based on current documents. For $500, the lawyer has offered to write a memorandum stating this.

 

Will this memorandum and the letter from my school be enough? Is there any other course of action I can take?

OP, please share with us how did you manage to resolve this issue. I live in China now, in Shanghai and work here - getting police certificate from shanghai should not be an issue for me. However I used to live in Nanjing for two years where I was studying, but I have no documents left from that time: no documents from Uni, no police registration. I was also going to prepare a statement that record from Nanjing is unobtainable.. But now after your post I don't know.. 

16 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Most K-1 visas are issued 10 working days after the interview.  Given all much should be done within 30 days of POE, it would be a no brainer to play the high percentage bet and enter the interview with stronger evidence of bonafide relationship and intent to marry.  

I don't really get your answer.

My post was for OP about my personal experience as he wants to do the same. I just warned him (if he hasn't seen it yet himself) - that license is only 30 days valid, so they need to plan accordingly. His fiancée had interview already. 

Not sure why I care about that since the idea is to get married and reside in the USA.   Besides which my marriage is illegal in at least one country … I don’t want self incriminating evidence.  

Not sure why you tell me if you care about this or not. It was addressed to OP. His wife is from UK, so if she needs anything to be done in her own county marriage wise she would might want to have an apostille. Again, its my own experience and I mentioned about this possibility just in case they might need one in the future. 

We just got married via Utah last week. We got electronic marriage certificate the same day and the paper copy was sent to my husband's address within a week.

If you apply for a marriage license via Utah county, its only valid for 30 days. If you don't get married within those 30days, you would have to apply for a new license and pay the fee again. So you should make sure your dates are aligned.  

We also ordered apostilled copies to make sure that the certificate is valid abroad.

Other than that, I must say that it was super pleasant experience, you can always email to the clerk if you have any questions, they respond pretty fast. 

9 minutes ago, seekingthetruth said:

Try HSBC or Schwab Int'l.  Schwab is an investment bank but has normal banking too.

thanks! will check those options

Hi guys,

We are getting married soon and will go ahead with CR1 process asap. I am a Russian living in China with my USC soon to be husband, my savings are all in China and I would like to start slowly transferring the funds to USA. I would like to have my personal bank account in USA. Is it possible? Not a joint one. Is it possible to open a bank account for a non resident of US via online? If so, could you advise which bank to contact? Sorry, maybe a stupid question, but did not find much info online. 

14 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

Only successful online marriage I’ve seen is the referenced one.  

This is what I know:  carefully check the state laws, make sure the zoom marriage is legal and properly performed in the state.   Execute the ceremony, get it filed at the county, go see your spouse, then file the I-130 with additional evidence that you did in fact spend physical time together after the ceremony.  

IF: you pull it off, please post your experience.

Hi! Thanks for your suggestions.

As I mentioned, I live together with my boyfriend in China right now. We were never apart and we will be together side by side while the zoom ceremony. He is a US citizen. And the only reason we want to through this procedure - is because we cannot legally marry in China, and cannot leave the county now as well, as its very complicated to return back to China. 

Hello everyone. Below is my original post of a couple of months ago and I would like to follow it up just for some clarity. 

My boyfriend and I just got officially engaged and want to get married through Utah state zoom ceremony. We are together for almost 7 years, all of this time living together in China. As we want to go with CR1 the only way for us to get married is via Utah online ceremony (2 foreigners of different countries cannot get married in China, and its super complicated for us to do it abroad currently with all the travel bans and not really being able to return to China) about which I actually found out here recently. 

As we are planning to do it next month, just wanted to double check with you guys, if you know more than one case of success with Utah zoom marriage and visa approval (besides the one which went super popular here Approved Spouse Visa. Zoom Marriage! - Page 4 - IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports - VisaJourney )? Is it actually 100% legal and we won't have any issues whatsoever with it during the process or in the future? As Zoom marriage is something quite new we are a bit worried about it, but really don't have other options now - except of K1, which we really really don't want to go with.

Looking forward to your advice guys and appreciate it a lot! Thank you!

Spouse visa / getting married in US on travel visa - What Visa Do I Need - Family Based Immigration - VisaJourney