To End This Call, Hang Up the Phone

As some are aware my girlfriend and I are in the process of getting her a fiance visa so that she may come to the States and that we may live happily ever after.  A little research into the K-1 visa process will quickly show that it is a long arduous process fraught with terribly long waits and the potential for bureaucratic nonsense derailing the entire enterprise.

A while back, nearly a month and a half, I received a document from the USCIS  which stated that our visa petition had been accepted. (Don’t get excited, this just means we can go ahead with the next step which is actually applying for the visa.)  The document further stated that our file would next be sent to the National Visa Center (NVC), which would then send it to the U.S. consulate at Guangzhou, China.  This should happen within 2-4 weeks and if I did not receive some notice in that time I should contact the NVC.

Naturally I received no notice, and after a month and half called them.  The NVC had never heard of me, nor my petition.   I then called the USCIS, and found they really do not want you to speak to a human being.  After 10 minutes and multiple levels of recorded menus I finally got to the following (and I paraphrase):

If yours is a life or death situation, or similar, press 1; if you want to hear the previous message, press 4; if you want to return to the main menu, press 8; to end the phone call, hang up the phone.

I guffawed.  Uncontrollably and sardonically for about 5 seconds until I followed their last instruction.

I’ll try again, but my faith in the powers who oversee this all-important visa process has gone from nothing to something below that.   The USCIS website, and the helpful recorded guy on the phone, both say that my petition is still pending despite the fact that I hold within my hands a document that says it has been approved.