Paperwork Helps: Couriers
When its time to send off that passport for your visa, you will want to have
a courier for the State Dept./Chinese Consulate. I’m going to put an example
or two of problems people have had when it comes to the courier question:
<I
had to send my dossier to DC but did not use a courier. I could not afford a courier and just enclosed a prepaid return
UPS envelope when I sent the documents to the
State Dept. and Consulate. It might have taken 4 days longer to get everything complete. >
If it took you just 4 days longer than if your docs were handled personally,
then you have been very blessed. Here's the scenario for docs brought in to DC:
1) The Dept of State does docs while you wait.
2) The same day, they are taken to the
Chinese embassy.
3) If you pay for next day processing,
they are picked up overnight and you have them back the day after that. Total time: 3 days.
4)
If you pay the Chinese for regular processing, they are picked up in 4 business days. I know some couriers have said (promote)
they do it in. No. Period. It is 4 days. It seems like 3 because China is the only embassy that counts
the drop-off day as the first day of processing. You would have your docs back in one week.
Now,
if you send them in:
1) The Dept of State can take anywhere from a couple days to 6 weeks.
Since 9-11, packages are flagged at random. Those that are selected are re-routed to the Brentwood
holdingfacility elsewhere in DC. They are sniffed. Dusted. X-rayed. Sometimes, opened. Once cleared, sent back to the US Dept
of State. It is random, but we have had at least a dozen folks ask us to track their packages that have been routed.
2) Another day for overnight shipping to the Chinese embassy. Please
note that you have had to put in 2 overnight mail airbills -one for the US Dept of State to send to the Chinese Embassy and
one for the Embassy to return all to you or your agency. We have heard of cases
where the wrong airbills were used. More delay.
3) The Chinese embassy does NOT offer express processing. It is 10
business days for mailed-in documents. I know, there are some folks who will
say "I sent my docs to the Dept of State and the Chinese Embassy at 9:00 in the morning, and I got it all back by noon the
same day!!!" Sorry. I exaggerated the point. The embassy has a 10 day processing
time for mailed-in docs. If they can get them done faster... GREAT! But, count on the 10 days.
So, it is always faster to process documents in person than in the mail. Whether
you bring them yourselves, have a friend or relative do it, or hire a courier. It's faster. And usually, the difference is
longer than 4 days.
Another tip: Use FedEx—not USPS!!! Couriers that do this for a living will tell you that they
have more problems with lost/delayed mail with USPS than they ever have with FedEx. USPS lost our passports for a few days—they
showed up dripping wet and chewed up looking. It was very stressful!!
