[GoingtoChina]

For those of you who have to get your documents authenticated in Houston on your own, I just want to let you know that you cannot expedite the authentication process if you are mailing your packet in. If you hand carry it in yourself or if you have a courier hand deliver it then you can get it expedited. My agency referred me to this courier service: http://www.mychinadocs.com/ . I used them and it worked out great for me. I didn't have any problems with them what-so-ever.

Hopefully, that information will be of use to you.

K

[waiting4babies]

Thank you for the information. I am getting ready to send one document to be authenticated in Houston and will be using mychinadocs.com. A friend referred them to me and she said they were great as well.

[mbachand]

What is the charge to expedite your documents for authentication?


Thanks,

Marlene

[GoingtoChina]

It depends on how many documents you have. I didn't wait until the last minute to get my documents authenticated so I didn't have to do a rush service on any of them except the last document- I-171H. The courier fee has a minimum fee of $60. Then it cost me $40 for the rushed authentication. It was well worth it for me. If you have several documents that need to be rushed through then the courier fee is $15 per document plus the Consulates fee. If you don't wait until you get your I-171H before sending your documents to be authenticated, you can save yourself quite a bit of money.

K

[onehope]

Has anyone mailed their documents to the Houston Consulate? How long did it take to get them back? Thanks for posting GoingtoChina I didn't know you couldn't expedite if you mailed in your documents. I am hoping to send my next week.
H

[GoingtoChina]

H~ I mailed all of my documents with the exception of the 171H. I mailed those documents on 1/7/05 and received them back on 1/19/05. I had a total of 12 documents that needed authentication. I wasn't in any rush for those documents because at the time, I hadn't even had my fingerprint appointment scheduled.

K

[suse151]

I just paid $50 a document to expedite my docs (I had a few remaining). They definitely did not turn it around in 24 hrs - I believe it was 3-4 days which is supposed to be the norm. My dossier service is the one who gave me the rates - so I'll be really bummed if I was mis-directed there and wasted a couple hundred bucks. At this point, I don't really care b/c my docs got back in time and I s/b DTC tomorrow.

Curious to know if the Houston consulate would refund the money if someone overpaid. hmmm.

s.

[GoingtoChina]

Did you hand deliver the documents yourself or did a courier do it for you? If a courier delivered it for you then maybe the extra $10 per document that you paid was the courier fee. If you delivered it yourself then it shouldn't have been $50 per document. Also, they have two different types of rush services. One is a 4-5 business days at no additional cost (unless you have to pay a courier). That option is available via hand delivery only. The other rush service is the next business day expedited service. That one is also via hand delivery only and it costs $40 per document plus courier fee (if you use a courier). The next day service is the one I used and it worked great for me. Lastly, the normal snail mail route which can take 10+ days at a cost of $20 per document and $5 extra per package. I have no idea if different consulates have different fees and/or rules though.


K

[Mailbox13]

Thanks for the post. The information will be a big help. We have to send our docs to Houston too! Our agency recommends that same courier.

[suse151]

Just an fyi - we used a dossier service and I did double check with her. She told me that Houston DOES accept expedited docs thru the mail - not just from couriers. She's been doing this for years. She said many times the couriers will advertise this to get the business. In any case, my docs were completed in 3-4 days. They were mailed on a Friday so I did not receive until Monday. Hope that helps.

s.

[GoingtoChina]

http://houston.china-consulate.org/visa/english/yj.htm

"5. It takes 7-10 business days to process applications received by mail.
*No rush service is available for applications received by mail. "