Informational Alert! Visa applicants scheduled for interviews in Guangzhou, China: May 15-17
Consulate General of the United States in Guangzhou in China reported that the Immigrant Visa Unit at its Tianyu office will remain closed for all visa operations through Friday, May 17, 2013. The Consulate General further reported that persons with interviews scheduled for May 14, May 15, or May 16 will be contacted with instructions on how to reschedule their appointments, and advised all persons to check its webpage for updates to the status of operations.
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The decision was taken when an employee reportedly found some suspicious powder in an envelope. Chinese authorities have been notified and no-one has been reported injured. Nolan Barkhouse, press spokesman at the US embassy in Beijing, said that Consular services “will resume as soon as we have completed our investigation in accordance with all our established procedures to handle this type of situation”.
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The consulate serves the provinces Guangdong, Hainan and Fujian and the Guangxi Autonomous Region, and reportedly handles 121,000 visa applications per year. This closure could potentially affect some 1,800 visa applications including EB-5 petitions.