zwuu

the cut is normal.

as to 'mysterious bag' - uh, no, it's not.

it's the entire casefile, all paperwork from I-130 to DS-230/I-864 plus relationship evidence plus the CO's comments.

So, be proud that the DoS has entrusted her to be the personal casefile carrier, from GUZ IV to the POE.

and, do not open this beast.

Hi, Darnell, Thank you for the info. How have you been? Do you remember a year ago a guy was asking for the advice on China Family Forum. You made comment 8 trips a year to China should deserve some Guangzhou consulate consideration. At the time my wife's CR-1 visa was denied, the main reason was age difference. she was reaffirmed and she passed her second interview a week ago. She got IR-1 visa this time. I am ready to help her to move next few weeks. Again thank you for all the help you provided ZW.

Dear friends, My wife passed her CR-1 interview and received her visa three days ago. She also received a brown bag. My understanding this brown bag should not be opened and should hand to Immigration officer at the port of entry. My wife noticed the corner of this bag was cut open, you can see some of those documents from outside when the mail man delievered it. Is this normal? If this is a problem whom do we need to report to? US embasy? Those folks who has received the visa, can you share some of your experience? Any information is appreciated! ZW

Yes, actually you will need to come through the same line because you should fill out one customs form as family/household traveling together. I also interpreted for my husband at POE.

Thank you for the information! zw

Dear Friends,

My wife got IR-1 visa approval, we planed to come to US together one month from now. Since my wife does not speak English, does the officer at port of entry allow me accompanying her to go through the whole process? Any information is appreciated. ZW

Well,

Happy Time

My wife and I received our (STD P4 APP) email from NVCINQUIRY in the afternoon on 12/30 with our interview date in the enclosed 5 page PDF attachment.

The enclosed information pertains to XING XXXX's interest in immigrating to the United States of

America. The National Visa Center (NVC) has completed its processing of XING XXXX 's petition, case

number GZO2010XXXXXX; and forwarded it to the American Embassy/Consulate in GUANGZHOU

ELECTRONIC.

An immigrant visa interview has been scheduled for the applicant at the U.S. Embassy/Consulate in

GUANGZHOU ELECTRONIC on January 27, 2011 at 12:30 pm.

This is very good news. Now it's time to price out the flight to China and get my vacation scheduled when I go back to the office next week.

Eric

Hi, Eric, Congratulations! good luck for your interview. Our interview date is exactly a week ahead of you. I will be in GUZ that week, but can not stay longer because of my work. Happy new year! Zwuu

Well this morning when I woke up I checked my email on my phone and I got this as part of the message:

Dear Sir/Madam:

All documentation necessary to complete the National Visa Center's processing of your case has been received. As soon as an interview date has been scheduled, the applicant, petitioner and attorney (if applicable) will be notified.

The applicant should NOT make any travel arrangements, sell property, or give up employment until the US Embassy or Consulate General has issued a visa.

The US Embassy or Consulate General may require additional documentation at the time of the interview.

I also went to the portal to check and I received a SIF. I am very very happy everything is moving forward in the right direction!

Eric

Hi, Eric:

Congradulations! I am very happy for you! Never know may be you will have interview in January!!!!

Quick question, Did you file your tax return with single/household status or you filed joint return for 2009?

I did it with single/household status because I didn't know we can file joint return despite my wife does not have social security number. They say it is a red flag not to file joint return. I can file an addendum for 2009 tax return

,however my wife has to obtain a TIN number first, This process takes longer than two weeks. I don't know what to do.

I just hope red flag is not equal to automatically white slip. I hope they can pay more attention to what I have not wI don't have. Again, Congrat! ZWUU

Hello, Every One,

Please give us some advice or opinion regarding tax return. Me and my wife got married last December (2009). I filed 2009 tax return on April 2010 with single status, because I thought I should not file joint return until she has her social security number. We are going to have the CR-1 visa interview on January, 2011. Would the embassy accept the reasoning above why I didn't file joint return for 2009. I am concerned if they will consider this is a red flag of non bona-fide marriage. Second question, does embassy expect me bringing 2010 tax return to the interview on January,2011. In the past experience I was not able to file tax return until late Feburary because not all the documents eg. bank statements will be received in January. If indeed I am supposed to file joint return last year, can I file addendum and bring that to interview to avoid the red flag? Or I just worried too much, none of those are necessary? Advice or opinion are deeply appreciated. Zwuu

Hi diamondeve21,

I hope it all goes well for you and your husband.

All my wife's police documents show no criminal history so she is good there and everything seems to be in it's proper place of submition.

It is just strange that I would send my AOS documentation two times and get an RFE for it still being missing and then send it again???? Go Figure!

And then the same thing goes for my wife's Norway Police certificate??? This time I send the certificate along with the scanning of the envelope and her email conversation with the Norway Police to show proof? For NVC to say it's missing just baffles the mind of both my wife and myself??????

I don't know anymore. All day yesturday I lost energy about this. What can a person do at this point when documents get emailed to NVCElectronic and I receive auto replays through the course of time and these documents would show missing. Oh Well. I just trying to deal with my own internal depression about this now.

Eric

Hi, Eric:

Cheer up! Have you talked to anybody of NVC? I mean "real person". I would confirm with them you really got a RFE. And more specifically what need to be submitted. May be you did receive an email from them regarding this RFE. As far as they told you they have not received your resubmission, I think that might have something to do with the efficiency of their work. It is possible they are already in your case file, just they have not touched your file yet.

Or they touched but they have not complete reviewing process. Also it is possible they finished reviewing but they have not send you another Email yet. Take my interviewing date as example, most people they will receive email of

interviw date within a week after CC. But up to today I have not received anything yet. I got my interview date from

talking to the NVC operator. I guess electronic filing does have its drawback, it is difficult for people to check

the progress. Supposedly I think should be easier, but electronic filing still need real people to review those stuff

And real people make decisions and send you email. I tend to believe there are quite a few petitioners using

electronic filing to save some Visa journey time, and the NVC staff they are not too efficient for this new pilot

program. So my friend hang in there. Like you said talk to a real person may be supervisor, ask for the facts and

recommendation. Good luck! Zwuu

Thank you zwuu for the encouragment.

I contacted NVC AVR system on Saturday morning and go the "THE NVC HAS REVIEWED YOUR DOCUMENTS AND FOUND MISSING ..." and said it sent a checklist on 12/10/2011.

So I will be making a call into the operator on Monday 12/13 to see if this is true or a false RFE. I was pretty good in the assembly of all the AOS and IV PDF packages (emails). I good thing is at least there was a response of some kind for the AVR system right after I submitted the AOS I-864 PDF documentation again on 12/09 with an updated GZO cover and receipt. If the message is for the AOS email then at least I know they not have this in their posession as well as the IV packet with the 12/2/2010 received date.

My guess is maybe the first time I sent the AOS PDF docs on 11/19 as a GUZ email could of got lost in the process because it was a second OPTIN and since they gave me an email of OPTIN accept based on my wife's earlier OPTIN maybe they got ride of the my OPTIN and AOS PDF attachment. Who knows. At least the AVR system give's me some additional assurance that they have both AOS and IV pieces now.

I'll get this cleared up and see there it goes on Monday.

Thank you again zwuu for the information about the email dates and of for your case!

Eric

This

Hi, Eric,

How are things come along? I hope you are able to make some progress toward your CC. I got my CC on 12-9-10, but I have not heard a word from NVC since then. I made a phone call tonight and the operator gave me my interview date, which is 1-20-2011. And he also told me they will send Email in a few days. Another thing is about packet 4 which will be sent to us also via Email. Tonight I really had mixed feeling toward knowing our interview date, excited and a little bit nervous. I guess I read too many denial cases on the net. I hope every one of us will get a pink the first try. Good luck to all of us, I will keep you posted about our interview experience. Zwuu.

Hi Zwuu. Congratulations in you getting your CC (case closed)!!!!

I checked the AVR again last night and still had the same message pertaining to the DS230 being received and them waiting for the AOS even though I sent it on 11/19? I called NVC that evening and the person I talked to didn't know much about Electronic Processing and could only offer the the 12/2/2010 date and after being put on hold (requesting a supervisor or someone knowledgeable about EP) they said there wasn't anyone available. (the person was still nice on phone but not I presumed wasn't knowledgeable about these cases and they themselves recommended me to call back later. Anyways, I took matters into my own hands and forwarded a reply to NVCElectronic with my previous 11/19 email at the bottom and referencing the title of the previous PDF attachment name with a new email and AOS I864 PDF (with new GZO coversheet and payment receipt) and explaining in the email that this is a duplicate with the exception of the new GZO cover and payment sheets in the documents and if there was any confusion please contact me.

I would be grateful this is now cleared up so I can get to your CC step.

Thank you again Zwuu for your update and Congratulations Again!!!!!

Eric

Eric,

I think everything will be OK, all you need is time and patience. My understanding you mailed out your AOS packet and DS-230 packet in different time. NVC has to receive everything before they can give you CC. So you mailed out DS-230 on late November, you should get your CC next week sometime, I think. Mine took about 17 days after I mailed out those two packet. So count 17 days from the day you mailed out your last DS-230 and upfront loading documents, I am sure you will get response next week. I did too send those upfrount loading material on NOV 29, I guess those extra documents did not affect their speed to handle this matter. As a matter of fact this is the only mail I send out with NEW GZO number. I sent both DS-230 and AOS packet by using old case number on NOV 23 after the operator of NVC told me I have new number generated but not available at that time. The new case number arrived a week later through Email. The bottom line I think they have received your stuff but they didn't do anything until both DS-230 and AOS arrived. Good luck! Zwuu

Well, I haven't heard word about our email fillings from NVC as an email and I told myself I would call them to get at least a date in which our I-864 and DS230 case information was received.

I called and NVC operator and (he may of not know much) told me there was a date of Dec 2 in which the information was received. Ok? I don't think he when about EP cases because he said I should wait 20 business days for the processing to be completed. He didn't know if this was for the I-864 package or DS230. That sounded like a standard answer to me so I let it go and said thank you (for a date at least).

I called the AVR system this afternoon (Sat) and it said that the biometric info was received on 12/2 and they didn't have the AOS fee bill payment or the AOS information. So my assumption is maybe the AOS PDF package (I-864) is somewhere sitting in their system (I did get a autoreply for this) when I sent it to NVCelectronic. I sent the I-864 info on 11/19??? of course it was sent as a second attempt of a OPTIN at the time with only GUZ number. So I don't know now.

I will be grateful to get a supervisor on the phone early next week to at least get some more detail information and also see if I should send the I-864 information again.

If there is anyone else doing EP process in their case in china or elsewhere let me know how the document email processing is going with you also.

Thank you!

Hi, I am Zwuu. Just want to update my schedule here, since I think we are in similar situation. I did too send in my AOS bill and IV bill while I was waiting for my GZO number on NOV 23,2010. The operator told me I could if I wanted to upload now and they will convert my old number to GZO number.

I just received Email today 12/10/10 my case closed ,and i am waiting for the interview date Email notification. I guess my point is as soon as you know you have a GZO number generated despite you don't have the "number" yet, you still can send in your AOS and IV package via Email. Zwuu.

zwuu: cheers!

Eric: yes, I am able to log in by using GZO# & Invoice#

Hello everybody, happy holiday! Hopefully we all can spend turkey day with our spouse here next year. I just got my NVC new case number today. May be I will consider what Eric mentioned about "front loading". Quick and may be dumb question to anybody : I have talked to my wife every day since I met her. My skype log was printed out totally 400 plus pages. Since phone record and chat record are part of the evidence we need to provide. How do you guys shrink this 400 pages. I wonder if Guangzhou consulate will accept this big volume "book". And how many life photos do you guys prepare to show.

I know there may not have "correct answer". Just want to get some ideas, and thanks for help in advance! ZWuu

Update on my case: yesterday I tried logging into NVC Payment System but kept receiving "Database Error" back, so I called NVC last night and surprisingly an Operator was available to answer the phone call and told me that NVC already generated the GZO# for our case, wohoo! So from the date of my wife sending in the OPTIN email till NVC generated the GZO#, it takes almost three weeks. Still very confusing, even till now, I didn't receive any Electronic Processing Acceptance Email from NVC yet, wondering if I would ever get one.

The operator also told that we can sending in I-864 and DS-230 now. I told her that I already sent by using the old GUZ case#, and she said that we don't need to re-send any documents as NVC knows how to link and handle the two case numbers with the same case.

Hope my information will help all of you a bit.

Thank you for the update. I have received the electronic filing accepance Email this morning. And I have sent IV packet and AOS packet in this afternoon. But I do not have the new case number in yet. The operator said we swould receive the number in the next few days, and it's OK to send in the documents using old case number. Well, I wonder how long would it take for the case complete from this point on. good luck to everybody! Zwuu

zwuu,

I found the info from: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/267719-electorinic-process/

Thank you for the info. I have received a Email this weekend from NVC regarding they have received all the fees.(DS-230 and IV bill And they want me go ahead to send all the documents in. However I am still waiting for the acceptance mail for EP. So I really can not send anything in yet at this stage. In this Email they did mention about writing the applicant's case number on the right corner of all the documents. My question is do we need to do the same thing when we file electronically. And like the passport size photos, obviously you can not write anything on the back of picture they required for the conventional way to file. So I still don't know the answer. Good thing for this weekend I have solved the problem I asked about how to minimize the size of email attachments. ZWUU

zwuu,

One question for you: for you prepared PDF documents, on the upper-right corner of each PDF page, did you write down your Case# or do you need to do so before sending out the I-864 & DS-230 packages through emails? I read a post which mentions that we need to do so. THanks for the help!

Hi, Be honest with you, I do not know the answer. Just like you, this is very new to me. My assumption is if we file everything electronically, those attachments should go into our file in NVC once they receive them. those files are not handled by hands phsically, you know what I mean? At this stage all my information regarding EP is from Darnell's

Wiki report. I did not find any useful info from NVC official website. So my question is where those info you saw in the other post coming from? May be Darnell know the answer. I wish NVC would publish more official articles of EP instructions in detail. Sorry, not so much help here. Good luck! Let me know if you know anything. ZWUU

i say 2 emails

2 reasons

1. is seperate document sets

2. limit your size of attachments to 10 megabytes

Dear Darnell,

I have a similar question regarding EP. Can I send my DS-230 package in 2 seperate Emails? The maximal capacity YAHOO EMAIL can send attachment is 25 megabites. And I have tried to load up all the PDF attachment the DS-230 requested. It exceeds 25 megabites. I have read the article you wrote in wiki about how to minmize the size of attachment. It didn't work for me. Do you think if I send DS-230 package in seperate 2 Emails, NVC will accept it? My assumption is as long as I put down my case number, petitioner's name,date of birth,etc. clearly in those 2 emails. Those attachments all should be going into my file once they receive them. The purpose of sending those attachments in TWO seperate Emails is to limit the size of those documents in each Email and I don't have to worry about the mails not able to be delievered due to oversize. Please advise me. I am currently have paid the AOS and IV bill. And I am waiting for the NVC Email regarding the NEW case number assigned. Before I get this case number, I need to clarify above questions. PLEASE HELP! Thank you very much! ZWUU

NVC Case# and DOB too.

Loto: How about electronic filing? Do I need a coversheet to add to those photos and have those information you guys mentioned about, eg: case number, name, date of birth, etc? Please help! Thanks much! zwuu