How to Cope With Guangzhou

We've received literally hundreds of phone calls and emails from folks who were delighted to see our firm's memo on the web. However, there was one unintended negative consequence of the memo as some people expressed concern that the situation in Guangzhou is so bad that they might never see their fiancée or wife again. Let me state emphatically that there is reason for hope; and this is true whether the Guangzhou Consulate changes its current policies or not. My office’s own experience over the last eight months will illustrate the point: we haven’t had a single full service case sent back by Guangzhou for revocation since August of last year (we had one case sent for revocation in December but it was a "Consulate Only" case; we realized only after the interview that the petitioner included documents with the I-129F petition that greatly damaged his case). This occurred during a time when all reports indicated that the Consulate had not changed any of its policies and that it was continuing to send a large percentage of it’s marriage-based cases back to the CIS with a recommendation for revocation. We’ve successfully completed 12 cases in this time period. What’s our secret? There is none. In fact we don’t believe there are any tricks, innovations or clever stratagems to beat this problem. There is just good, solid preparation. We improved our success rate through the following:

1. Increasing our understanding of what the Consulate was looking for in terms of red flags. The more cases we did, and especially after we started doing exit interviews of our Guangzhou interviewees, the more sophisticated we became. We have shared a good part of this knowledge with the world in my memo. Everyone who reads it has a better chance of avoiding a failed interview than they did in the past.

2. Careful issue-spotting from the outset of the case. In effect, we took what we learned in 1 above and applied it to our case intake, formulation of case strategy, and advice for clients about how to minimize any weaknesses or problems in the case.

3. Careful monitoring of the case as it develops and also of any changes in Guangzhou’s processing. In other words, it is essential to keep the benefits from 1 and 2 “fresh” throughout. Things can change over time.

4. Prepping the fiancee or spouse at length (and with a Chinese interpreter on the line regardless of the fiancee/spouse's Enlish fluency) to enhance her understanding of the potential pitfalls in the interview and to improve her confidence and calm going in.

Really, that's it.

Status of Complaint Memorandum: Still Waiting

So far there's been no reply from DHS to my memo.

We called called Janice Jacobs’ office two weeks ago and were told that they hadn't yet processed the memo because all mail arriving in the State Department these days is sent to a subcontracting firm in Maryland for processing and that, therefore, the State Department doesn’t see the mail for about four weeks. This was somewhat surprising since the State Department typically processes and replies to complaints within one week. I myself called three days later and spoke with a one of Janice Jacobs’ aides, who stated that he was aware of my complaint memorandum, and promised that a reply would be provided, although he didn’t specify when.

I was not troubled by this news, and fact it is at least partially heartening, since the memorandum appears to have achieved one of its prime objectives, which was to be “not manageable” by one of the State Department’s canned replies. My view is that DHS is probably stalling while they are trying to figure out what to do. It’s fortuitous that the Obama administration is currently searching for a new ambassador to China to replace Clark Randt, Jr. (who resigned from his post as Ambassador on the first day of the Obama administration). This increases the likelihood that high officials in the Obama administration are aware of the complaints, since they could scarcely be attempting to fill that post without an awareness of the current criticism of the Guangzhou Consulate.

When I receive a reply I will contact the State Department and ask them which part of the reply I might post on the blog. In any event, I’ll post at least the gist of the response on my blog.

Entire Complaint Now Online

The author of Case History #3 has agreed to add his story to our blog. We now have online the entire complaint package that was sent to the Department of Homeland Security on 3/17/09 (although some of the personal information has been blacked out). I present the whole set of documents below:

"Guangzhou U.S. Consulate: A National Disgrace. A Memorandum of Law and Fact by John F. Roth, Immigration Attorney"

Gaungzhou Memorandum Appendices

Case History#1 (redacted by petitioner/author for public viewing). The file is very large (9.8Mb), so be patient while downloading.

Case History #2 (redacted by petitioner/author for public viewing).

Case History #3 (redacted by attorney for public viewing).

Case History #4  (as submitted).