Q & A January 15, 2006Q & A 1. Guangzhou Consulate Going Overboard on Marriage CasesTim Reader Asks: I am a U.S. citizen. I married in Guangzhou in 2003. This April, I accompanied my wife to U.S. Consulate applied for K3 visa but was denied. In early May, we submitted documents for the 3rd time, and was noticed that our case had been sent back to U.S. for investigation. My wife and I were both married for the second time. We provided
consulate with many documents to proof our bonafide marriage. We
met one year prior to our marriage. I had taken her to Hong Kong,
Macao and China visited my relatives and friends. After the marriage,
she took me to Beijing visited her parents and brother, as well
as her relatives in Xian where she was from. We had over ten thousand
minutes of telephone records every month. For the past 2 years,
I went to China visited her 6 times and had over 200 emails. We
had several hundred photos taken in Hong Kong, Macao and China,
including pictures with wife’s parents, as well as several
hours of video records. But the Consulate still found our marriage
was not bonafide and returned our case back to the U.S. We were
anxious, felt insulted and angry. In this situation, how could we
rescue our case? Could we ask our attorney to write a letter to
Guangzhou’s consulate requesting reconsider? If we refile
the immigration case, will we encounter the same fate at the time
of visa interview? Dear reader: Unfortunately you along with many others have been caught in the strange situation in Guangzhou in which its officers appear to have gone overboard on many marriage based cases. Just on anecdotal evidence alone, we have seen the consulate deny and return to U.S.C.I.S. in the States many cases such as yours without apparent reason. No other consulate that we are aware of disregards good evidence. The practice in Guangzhou at this time appears almost unconscionable. First off, the consulate after first interview usually requires further evidence and after making the final decision returns the evidence to the individuals instead of retaining it so that the U.S.C.I.S. can review the entire record when the case is returned to the States. The second way that Guangzhou frustrates individuals is by stating that cases are returned to the States when they are not. We have now created a form letter just for Guangzhou asking it to affirm exactly what date it sent a case back to the States since we have learned through experience that the U.S.C.I.S. many times does not have the case as it is still in Guangzhou. A third problem is that U.S.C.I.S. gives low priority to family revocation cases and has no tracking system that individuals can access. The Vermont Service Center of U.S.C.I.S. has promised to rectify its tracking system in the near future to accommodate family revocation cases, but the timeline for this change is uncertain. You have asked whether your attorney can write a further letter to Guangzhou to request reconsideration, or whether you will encounter the same fate at interview if you refile the immigration case. If the case is no longer in Guangzhou, the consulate will tell you that there is nothing to reconsider. If you refile the case, there is a good likelihood that you will encounter the same fate at the time of interview as the consulate officer may say that Guangzhou refused the case previously and the refusal was not overturned by U.S.C.I.S.. Recently, we requested the Vermont Service Center of U.S.C.I.S. to inform us whether it would be advisable to submit new I-130 petitions in light of the long processing delays on returned cases from Guangzhou. We are still awaiting an answer. In closing, I quite understand your anger and frustration as it mirrors that of many people who have been given short shrift by the consulate in Guangzhou in bona fide marriage cases.
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Copyright © 2003-2006 Alan Lee,
Esq. |
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