ABC trying to apply for China L visa
Am i screwed? I am kicking myself for buying the china flights already because i feel like i may have a hard time getting the L visa.
Sorry for the long read but here is my situation......
I applied for me (ABC), my spouse (ABC) and kid (ABC). I previously had FOUR L visas but this was 20 and 40 years ago. My spouse and kids have never been to china. I had no idea NYC consulate changed their rules recently regarding chinese people. My parents were here on a green card when i was born but they do not have any of that documentation anymore! I put in a recent request with US immigrations but who knows how long that will take, or if they will even find anything. The first request with Immigrations for my mom's info came back saying they didnt find any records for her, so i opened a new request that is pending. Since they are chinese, their names are different in many places based on variations of american spellings. I'm really hoping they just pull her files from the A number this time instead of looking for her actual name i provided, which may be incorrect.
My spouse's parents had their US citizenship approved before his birth so I am ok there I think. Oh also, neither of us have our birth certificates anymore! I requested a copy of ours on the same date. For some reason, mine was delivered in mail today while my spouse's status for birth certificate still says Processing ( i guess if anything he can go to manhattan to get his the same day). Oh and they mailed me the "Short form version" of my birth certificate (doesnt have hospital name or parents birth place, it only has my name , my place of birth, their names and thats pretty much it). To make matters worse, the last name of one of my parents on the birth certificate is spelled wrong (off by one letter, supposed to be a G but they keyed in T!) Do you think China Consulate will accept the short form version?? I dont have the original Long form version but i was able to find a photo copy of one, again the last name of my mom is spelled a little wrong on that as well)
So tell me, how screwed am i???? The trip is planned for August. I did submit the application on COVA last weekend, and a week later it is still under preliminary review.
Would I have been better off using an agent??