Light at the end of the tunnel

[Clayton]

After waiting for 7 months for the consulate to get around to my wife's visa application I was advised to send a email politely asking at what stage things are at and would it be much longer to Yan getting her visa.

No reply, but 2 days later Yan gets a call from them asking her to come in on the 19th for a " Chat" . Not bad are they, they wait for the busiest time of the Chinese year and expect you to drop everything for them.

Yan had already paid for her fare back to Wuzhou on the 18th for the new year, so she called her case officer and was able to put off the appointment till after new year.

Anyway it's reassuring to know Yan's application finally reached the top of the heap.

Are these "Chats" normal? last time she was called in for the interview but this time they are calling it a chat
 
I'm not worried about it, I'm just  glad things are starting to happen.

Cheers
Leeroy

[David E]

Leeroy

Ming's interview was as a result of her case Officer calling her on the phone for a "chat"...after talking for 40 minutes or so, she decided that there was no need for her to travel to Shanghai for a "face-to-face" interview........maybe your wife will get lucky too

In any event, they are really a "chat" because there is no formal, pre-ordained structure to them, they just want to be certain that your wife knows enough about you, your situation, your future plans and all that stuff, so that they can proceed with her visa. I think you will find that the spouse visa carries alot more weight than a fiance visa. By the time you two have gone through everything and got married, its really a done deal, isn't it !!!!

But a fiance, that is a different animal...too many opportunities for a fraud when going down the fiance track...the Case Officers are are a lot more cagey then !!

[Clayton]

Thanks David, this is very encouraging

Cheers
Leeroy

[Neil]

That is exciting news.  I was encouraged by your post so I looked into it at the Canadian Immigration website.  This is what I found:

Case Specific Enquiry

You may use this form if:

You have submitted an application at a visa office abroad.
The information you seek is not available on E-cas.
Your application has exceeded normal processing times. We will not respond to your enquiry if the application is within normal processing times. Information on processing times.
You wish to report important changes regarding your application, such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces, adoptions, changes in address, changes in employment, acquisition of a new educational credential, results of an approved language test.


Current processing time for Hong Kong is still 19 months.  I'm seriously thinking about looking into a temporary resident visa, but I'm not sure if we can do that while having a permanent resident visa application already in progress.

[Jason B]

Good luck Leeroy and Mrs Leeroy, Xia did an "informal" chat on the phone for her interview as David mentioned for approx 40 mins.  Then she was told that there was no need to go into Guangzhou for a more formal interview.  They did ask her all the usual questions; family, where met etc. but in a less threatening way or environment.  Maybe this is used to put the interveiwee at ease.  But one tip that really worked for us was to email or qq or whatever the answers to the most obvious and common questions so your wife has them on hand so she answer more easly.  I think (but I am too lazy to check) that there is a list or two in the various visa requirements section of the site.  Once Xia did this phone interview she was told to then go for her medical and the rest was down hill or down under from there.