CR-1 spousal via approval - Guangzhou, China
Aug 18, 2015OUTCOME: CR-1 visa approval
The U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China approves the CR-1 spousal visa for an applicant who is a non-meaningful member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). We filed the I-130 application with the USC ... IS office in Guangzhou as the U.S. citizen spouse held a Chinese Residence Permit. The Chinese applicant was accepted into a U.S. university and must arrive in the USA by August 21, 2015 to receive a scholarship and begin school (offer of admission is only valid for fall 2015 and cannot be deferred). We tried to expedite the case in every aspect we can. The spousal visa petition ready to be filed with USCIS within 2 weeks after we were retained. The USCIS officer told the U.S. citizen that he was impressed with the length and thoroughness of the petition. We requested that USCIS expedite the case and USCIS approved the case in 4 days. The Consulate interview was 5 weeks after USCIS approved the case. The Consulate approved the case on the day of the interview, pending the administrative processing required as a result of the applicant’s CCP membership. After 2 months of administrative processing, the Consulate informed us to submit the applicant’s passport, which the applicant immediately did. We were 2.5 weeks away before the applicant would need to arrive in the U.S. or lose her admission offer and scholarship. The couple lived in Yunnan province, so I suggested that they travel to Guangzhou to pick-up the passport and this would shave a few days off the wait time. They did fly to Guangzhou, waited 2 days before the visa was available and flew to the U.S. the next day. They arrived in the U.S. 2 days before their deadline.
