Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
China	Happy ever after?	I am sure everyone had their times of doubt as they went through the VISA process, people have doubt for regular weddings in one country. Lately it seems all the stories I am seeing are bad ones about people asking divorce questions and others returning to home countries etc. I want to hear happy endings, people that went through process and now 3 or 4 or 5 years later are still happy and think it was best decision of their lifes. I am sure in my decision but positive stories would be nice to see, instead of all the negative ones popping up on board.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2009-06-08 14:03:00
China	Wedding Plans	Just ideas as this is what me and my SO are doing. Last month we did the pre wedding pictures (big thing in China) and should have them early August. September 16th we are having unofficial though large Ceremony in China where I am flying a few of my family members to and she has already invited way way more then I expect people there. Though this ceremony will have all the bells and whistles of a regular wedding it will not be a legal wedding since we filed K1 Once she is here in the states we will be having a small gathering for my family but doing the legal wedding at courthouse, well actually here in Connecticut it will be in my living room. Justices of Peace here in CT come right to your home to give you the legal wedding. We went this route as she has way more family then I do so for us the best option was the large ceremony in China. Oh and to the wedding dress thing, my SO just happens to be a wedding planner by occupation and yes she will have traditional western style dress for ceremony then Chinese traditional red cheongsam for reception. Also she has to wear a black or blue Cheongsam dont remember which color to a family gathering in the early morning with just her parents and mine, I am still not fully clear on this one. For me black tux for everything, so I get to be penquin from early morning till late at night. If you have not done the pre wedding pictures yet in China you are in for a treat, *sarcasm*	Azzudiin	Male	China	2009-07-18 10:16:00
China	China: North South East West	Looks pretty good to me, I travel to Chongqing often and when people ask where it is I always say South Central China. By your map I would be correct	Azzudiin	Male	China	2009-07-23 13:15:00
China	Chinese Wedding Photography	OK now I am scared after reading this thread, we are doing our photos at the end of June. My fiance is actually a professional wedding planner and travels all over China for very up-scale weddings. I was just informed she got us a great deal on our photo package as a favor to her the place is only charging us 4k RMB, normally she said the package we are getting would cost about 10-12k RMB, but it will take 2 full days to complete all the photos. I had no idea this was such a detailed process. I am one of those people that hates having their picture taken, 2 days of it? ugh	Azzudiin	Male	China	2009-05-28 12:52:00
China	Cheer	Broke the 400 barrier on Igor's woooooohoooo 399 CSC doesnt even have 399 on list Oh well back to waiting	Azzudiin	Male	China	2009-08-08 10:11:00
China	ACH at Guangzhou	QUOTE (mutshui @ Aug 8 2009, 08:39 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks for all the ideas, to finish the story, we passed! I did not attend the ACH, nor was I able to be there with my fiance for the interview. It was a 5 minute interview that went by quickly, so I don't think a letter explaining why I can't be there would have mattered. I think what's so nerve wrecking about this whole process is that there doesn't seem to be a standard guideline to define what a "bona fide" relationship is. I have even tried looking up the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), Department of State's operation guideline for approving visas, to see what their requirements are. It just seems that bona fide is subjective to the visa officer, and whether all the officers use a common guideline is unknown. Some of the stories on this board where couples had plenty of evidence but still got denied made me really nervous. The more posts I read the more nervous I get, to the point that I have decided to stay away from reading the forums. For others who get nervous like me, one very important thing to keep in mind is that everyone's case is different. Age, previous marital status, occupation, and maybe even race can matter. Just focus on preparing the documentations you need to prove you relationship because the top reason for visa denials is inadequate documentation (I even looked up Department of State's visa statistics for that one). Thank you visajourney.com! You never know the entire story when you hear people on the various boards talking about getting denied, it basically boils down to be honest on every form you fill out, be honest to the VO. If you have a real relationship, document every step and every trip and you will be fine. Those that follow the helpful guides here and do not try to sneak something through so to speak do fine and maybe they get minor delay because they forget a signature here or a form there. To get rejected you have to do something that causes a red flag in the VO's mind, which as you said above there is no set criteria so it could be anything that sets off red flags in their heads. Yes an assumption a horrible thing, but I would wager a guess that most denials actually do have something in the file or lack of something that triggered VO to deny. The crappy part about the process you never really get a clear cut answer to what set off the VO, which is most likely intended so people cannot just scam the system because they know every red flag that is being looked for.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2009-08-08 10:04:00
China	Certified Translator in Chongqing?	Garfield, if you want my SO is in Chongqing also and we are a few months ahead of you in the process. I am sure my SO could set yours up with all the places she needs, just PM me and we can exchange contact info. We went through the whole notary process a few months back and got all the documents set and the notary guy loves me because I corrected many of his English language forms. I am in Chongqing again next week also so I could fill my SO in on what yours needs help with.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2009-09-09 11:09:00
China	Flights back from GUZ	Your SO does not have to fly immediately after interview, most likely a more sensible plan would be, you plan regular RT to Guz for the interview. Once SO gets pink they return home and prepares to leave for US in 4-6 weeks roughly. If SO lives a long way away from GUZ and they are packing for going to America, thats a ton of luggage to be hauling around when you really do not have the big fat VISA in hand. Me and my SO plan is pretty much, I go to GUZ with her, I fly home, she flys back home (Chongqing). I return in 2 months empty handed (no luggage) except for a few changes of clothes. We fly back to America together so I can go through POE with her and also she gets to bring along 2 extra bags of stuff on my ticket. I know we all want to be together as fast as possible, but take some time and think it through, what happens as another poster above stated if they get pink, but you get the black hole 2 week wait on VISA? what about blue slip for additional documentation? Or worse yet the dreaded white. You have waited a long time, another month or 2 to make preparations without flying by the seat of the pants (no pun intended) will make a lot less stress on your SO, and they are going to have a ton of that anyway with interview, saying goodbye to family and friends, entering a vastly different culture etc etc. Summation of this longer then intended post: Don't rush Edited by Azzudiin, 02 September 2009 - 09:54 AM.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2009-09-02 09:53:00
China	Chinese Airport Screening	No biggie now, went through about 2 weeks ago with my 2 children. Fill out form, walk through the temp scanner thats about it. If you are really nervous take a few aspirin right before landing to curb any fever you may have.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2009-10-14 12:19:00
China	New Passport system in China?	CHina has begun to imbede chips into the passports much like many countries are now starting to adopt. As fast as I know the application process and renewal process remain the same. Wouldnt worry to much, most likely just a porblem with the actual printing of the passport.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2010-10-22 16:02:00
China	Consular Corner	Guangzhou sucks basically is what they said, and they other thing that caught my attention was 112 intervierw windows at the new facility? Last time I was there if my memory is correct I say maybe 20 windows? That would be huge increase if they can actually staff that many windows.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2010-10-28 12:45:00
China	petitioner hour is no more	"Shoulds" are judgment calls we really don't get to make for others in these matters. Unless the Consulate states a reason for ending the ACS, speculation about the reason(s) is, well, SPECULATION. I speculate, the IV unit determined this was not an efficient use of their time. While it's probably reasonable to think abuse of it's intended purpose was a contributing factor, we simply don't know. It is not speculation, read the most recent GAO report on consulates in China. I am trying to find the link to the report, but it stated very clearly that the GAO found petitioner hour a waste of resources because of abuse.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2010-11-29 08:41:00
China	petitioner hour is no more	That is why it is closing, it was not a means to show support. Many people beleived that going and having some document notarized and then trying to show support about their relationship helped their case. The petitioner hour was designed to answer legimate questions about the application process such as "On this form I was unclear on question X, should I write blank or blank?" I have been there, I actually had a real question, and it took me 30 seconds. I watched as others spent 30 minutes and finally had VO tell them they needed to leave because all they were doing was trying to give a verbal relationship accounting. One guy was even trying to show VO pictures and justify his relationship. Hopefully when the new consulate is finished and staffed fully we will see some process changes at Guangzhou, but for now they have very limited space, and even more limited staff because of the facility.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2010-11-26 11:11:00
China	Where to find Guangzhou consulate statistics	If you are looking for something from Department of State, they do not release individual consulate results, though they do release over all data on number of Visa's by category each year. A much more interesting satistic we will never know is approvals and denials by VO at Guangzhou. There was a woman VO for long time that women on the 001 website called something like dragon lady because she was known for hardly ever giving pink.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-01-11 10:18:00
China	You know you've married a Chinese when.....	You forgot that in addition to the slippers you are wet all the time from teh numerous showers taken every day.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-01-07 10:20:00
China	stress in relationship?	You know you can send her flowers easier then a card. The biggest hit I ever had with my wife and her family was contacting a Chinese florist, having them pick up a big teddy bear and delivering flowers and the bear to her. The stupid bear is always in full view in her house now everytime someone comes over. Saying the words I love you means almost nothing to most Chinese women, but showing them how much you love them goes a mile. Another helpful hint, most Chinese are all about the immediate family. Want to get back in her good graces, send her mother and father a card and inside the card include a letter translated into Chinese telling them how much their daughter means to you, and how grateful you are to them for supporting you and your fiance in your relationship. When her mother calls to tell her about the card and letter you sent, you will instantly be her hero.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-02-21 17:48:00
China	Driving in China	Those are the only ones I know about. Connecticut has it in Chinese also.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-03-09 12:17:00
China	Red Book Issue	Hi all. First post. I got married in China last month. I am starting the Visa process (CR1). I am putting things together for the I-130. My wife took her Red Book to the Notorial Office in China so she could get a translated 'White Book" and scan a copy for me to send with the I-130. Here's the issue: She dropped the Red Book off at the Notorial Office in Nanning last week. Yesterday, she got a call from them saying that she gave them the wrong copy. I guess each is a little different: one has her name at the top, one mine. I guess I took 'her' copy when I returned home, and she has mine (we both thought they were the same). I have told her to go back tomorrow, and insist that they translate the copy they have (mine). I can't imagine it making any difference; they both say we are married. In fact, if anything, I would imagine my copy would be more appropriate, since I am the one petitioning in the I-130. My assumptions are correct? Also, any advice on how many copies to get. It is my understanding that original certified copies are rarely needed (maybe only for interview)? Get at least 3 copies, you will need one at interview, you will need one to file W7 for ITIN number for tax year 2011, and you never know when you might need another.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-06-13 14:36:00
China	Traditional Chinese Wedding Ceremony?	Don't worry about money, you get it all back. RED ENVELOPES ROCK. I made a profit on my wedding, which we quickly returned during a uncles 80th birthday. China giving money at special events is common and you will recycle your wedding money for many many years. If you don't know about the red envelopes, you need to research Chinese weddings a lot more.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-05-24 11:33:00
China	Candle for love // China visa site	I notice a lot of the info regarding Visas on that site just seems to be plain wrong A year from now I doubt you will say the same thing, best of luck on your K1 at Guangzhou.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-06-18 07:43:00
China	Language used at Interview	They will ask what language you want to do the interview in. Actually they will not ask you what language you want to do interview in, what is asked at document turn in is "Do you speak English?" If you answer truthfully, no problem. Answer no and you will get a VO that is fluent in Chinese. Answer yes and you will be assigned a VO that speaks Chinese but not great, and the majority of the interview will be in English.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-07-19 14:17:00
China	My wife and stepson's double interview	Generally they will both stand at the window together, but Officer can and sometimes does ask pointed question to the children. My stepson was asked very basic questions, who is your visa sponser? My stepdad. What is his name? xxxx xxxxxx How old is he? ancient(he actually said this which made officer laugh). etc etc I would have stepson prepared to answer some basic questions about you. Your name Address Age What you do for work How many times you have been to China Any shared interests Mostly your wife will take the brunt of the questions though, she is the one that really needs to be prepared. The other issue you need to be prepared for is mother son relationship, is it legit. Best to make a photo album of pictures of your wife and stepson together from birth through present. Also have the notarized letter from the father giving permission for son to travel to America. These 2 items can help you avoid the dreaded DNA testing that sometimes GUZ will throw at people, adding a 2 month delay in getting Visa.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-08-01 11:09:00
China	Travelling alone to USA	Go online to each airport she will pass through. Get the map layout (all airports post them online) and physically draw the route she needs to walk from point A to point B in each airport. About 72 hours prior to flights you will be able to get all the gate information for every flight, so you can map out every where she needs to walk, right down to elevators, stairs etc. Makes it much easier for a person traveling through an airport the first time to find their way. All she needs to do then is before she gets off each flight, ask the flight attendant to check her gate information to make sure that no changes have taken place. Flight attendant can do this easily about 20 minutes before landing. You can even write this out in the appropriate language, "Can you please tell me what gate my next flight is departing from?" Edited by Azzudiin, 02 August 2011 - 09:01 AM.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-08-02 08:59:00
China	reverse dowry - bride price	Well if they follow tradition , you should be receiving red envelopes at the wedding/reception as gifts. Most people I have talked to about this usually break even or come out ahead after the envelopes are tallied. So hopefully you will recoup most of the money you hand over for the dowry. Good Luck Red envelopes at the wedding help you break even on the cost of the wedding. I doubt any wedding could take in enough money to cover both the wedding costs and the dowry costs. I was never asked to pay anything from my wife or her family and had they done so I would have refused.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-08-24 13:45:00
China	reverse dowry - bride price	Its only common in a few areas and only on the first time married. If your wife to be has been married before, them asking for money is out of line. Edited by Azzudiin, 22 August 2011 - 03:29 PM.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-08-22 15:28:00
China	My Fiancee Is Losing It	I am sure your wife has QQ, almost every Chinese person I know uses it. Have her search for women from her city who are now in the United States. There is one huge QQ chat I am aware of that has women from all over the US that immigrated from China and have all been through the process. My wife has it on often, last time I looked there was over 300 people in the chat at any given time. There is also a ton of localized QQ's, I know my wife talks often to other women from Chongqing, and we have even been to parties that are generated from these women meeting each other on these QQ chats. Its a great support system for them when they come here, they can discuss issues of the difficulty and culture shock of moving and also their experiences in the immigration process. If you have not learned already, you will learn soon enough. If you say the sky is blue, she will believe you. But the moment another Chinese woman tells your wife the sky is Purple you will forever be wrong. Get her on QQ, get her chatting to these women that have been through the process and keep her off OO1 website. She will get her confidence back quickly and you will be back on smooth sailing. Developing a network of friends for her before she even arrives here will increase your chance of success 1000%.	Azzudiin	Male	China	2012-02-09 13:57:00
China	What is the duration of a Chinese police clearance certificate?	Guangzhou considers the "White Book" police certificate valid for 1 year	Azzudiin	Male	China	2011-04-16 09:13:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	how do you write an ALBANIAN ADDRESS ???	QUOTE (Rick in VA @ Mar 10 2009, 10:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Happy Tuesday to all. My wife lives in Tirana and we write her address as: XX X Suljeman Delvina Apt XX Kat X I have sent several Fedex packages without any problems. I have a question: According to the timelines I should have my I-130 approved in April. How soon should she request the three police reports? Wait until NOA2 or anytime during March? I already have her signed 3023 (?) and some other documents but not sure when we should request her police reports... Did your spouses get their new ID cards? My wife picked hers up last week. How about the new passports? Have a great day! rick The police certificate are good only for 6 months and after you have to reaply. So i guess you do the math now.	Anisa	Female	Albania	2009-03-28 22:02:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	US Embassy Bucharest, Romania Information	Interview is really easy according to Ana. They just want fiance to know a little about the petitioner. When you met, job they have, where you'll live. Really basic stuff. One of my tax returns showed a loss through one of my businesses and they asked my fiance if she knew I had a loss this year. She looked them in the eyes and said of course I know, we talk about everything. After that the interviewer said ok, and she had her visa. Piece of cake. Ana was also given a job at the embassy helping translate for a woman who only spoke Russian. It was a fun adventure for her. Don't worry if you have the basic documents they asked for in the packet your fiance has you are all ready to go. Just make sure you get there one day early at least to have the simple medical exam. It takes a day but it is really easy and painless.	norotonfd	Male	Moldova	2006-11-07 01:21:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	any moldovans here?	We are in Connecticut. Have you met any Moldovans in Ohio?	norotonfd	Male	Moldova	2009-11-12 17:33:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	Called NVC today for interview date	Sorry a little confused, a few questions.. #1 - who am I going to find out the interview date from? The department of state or the American Embassy in Chile? But then should I be receiving a letter from ? stating my interview date? I plan on going to the interview with him so the sooner I find out the better. #2 - the Affidivat of Support forms - Will I be receiving a letter stating what I need to fill out? I know that there is forms everywhere I can go off of, but I would rather receive something official first stating what they want from me. Thanks, Kristen	INCT	Female	Chile	2008-08-05 21:04:00
Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)	how do you write an ALBANIAN ADDRESS ???	QUOTE (emmaline_g @ Feb 23 2009, 02:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I am trying to figure out how to write my fiance's Albanian address on an American form. I'm not trying to mail anything to the address, just trying to write it so it makes sense on a form. For example a form would ask.... Address (Number and Street) City State or Province Post Code The house doesn't have a street name or number. My fiance told me to write it like this way: Address (Number and Street): the name of his village City: the name of the commune(I guess..the specific area) State or Province: Shkoder This would probably make more sense if I write the name of the village, etc. but I don't know if that's a great idea since it's the "address". Does anyone have any experience with this, specifically Albania. I want to make sure what my fiance told me will comply with something I'm filling out If there is no street name, put the village, city which in your case is shkoder and albania. you should be fine with this.	beniecenvet	Male	Albania	2009-02-23 15:54:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	IV payment..	I had this happen to me. What they told me was that the fee was paid online before it was generated in their system. In any case, you can go ahead and print the document cover sheet and send the IV packet. Should not be a problem. At least this is what happened to me.	beniecenvet	Male	Albania	2009-02-10 18:34:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	Invoice Identification Number	You should not worry about it as much. Your priority should be the DS3032, so that DS230 can be generated. By the time the DS3032 form gets accepted, the IIN should have arrived in the mail and then you make both payments (I-864 and DS230) online. Once paid, you can send the completed forms and the supported documents via mail.	beniecenvet	Male	Albania	2009-02-12 16:18:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	Where do you get the POLICE CERTIFICATE?	QUOTE (Flofle @ Mar 9 2009, 09:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ......anyone? Look at your other post, i gave you all the answers you need.	beniecenvet	Male	Albania	2009-03-09 10:45:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	ANYONE FROM ALBANIA??	QUOTE (Rick in VA @ Mar 9 2009, 02:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I have a question. My wife needs to send me documents from Tirana. What is the best way to get them here in USA? I use FedEx to send to her but..... Any suggestions are appreciated. Rick As far as i know there are a couple of options. Theres regular mail, then theres something im not sure what it is but you pay extra that you can have everything in a week or so and then theres dhl which is expensive but very quick.	beniecenvet	Male	Albania	2009-03-09 16:10:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Vermont Finally Moved	[b]Congratulations!!!!	vpocsi	Female	Romania	2006-06-15 11:07:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	We got an interview date!!!!!!	Congratulations!!!	vpocsi	Female	Romania	2006-08-01 14:16:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	South Africans in the US	I will be holding thumbs for you guys, hoping that you will be over here (together) soon!!	ExSaffer	Female	South Africa	2008-03-28 16:03:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	South Africans in the US	Just wanted to find out where the South Africans are living in the US? I see some of you posting on here, and just wanted to say hi I am new to the forum, I live in San Francisco, with my American husband. Just wanted to know how you guys met? How has the Saffer adjusted to life in the US?	ExSaffer	Female	South Africa	2008-03-25 15:55:00