[tarap3]

Hi,
Could you please tell me about how long the Houston Consulate is taking? They received my documents on Tues. Jan 10th. I really expected them to be at least back on their way to me (tracking via Fedex).
Thanks,
Tara

[Mailbox13]

Originally Posted by tarap3

Hi,
Could you please tell me about how long the Houston Consulate is taking? They received my documents on Tues. Jan 10th. I really expected them to be at least back on their way to me (tracking via Fedex).
Thanks,
Tara

Did you have them expediated? If they aren't expediated then it takes about ten days from when they were received.

[knadlersachs]

How do you get Houston to expedite authentication? I couldn't find any information on this and -- guess what? My DH Fed/Ex'd out our 797 (equivalent of 171h) to Houston just today. Believe me, I would've paid extra for expediting, but now it's too late!But to answer the previous person's questions: it's taken anywhere from 7 days to 18 days turnaround so far (and we've used Fed/Ex in both directions).

[andreagaspard]

In Houston, documents can only be expedite it they are walked in. There isn't an expedite option for mailed in documents. Mailed documents can take 7-10 business days.

True, the information is hard to find. I remember reading you can walk it in, but I don't know where I saw it. I know it was somewhere. Maybe I saw it on a courier service?

It is #5. http://houston.china-consulate.org/visa/english/yj.htm

[journeytograce]

As far as I know the only way to expedite is thru a courier (or maybe if you live close you can take it in yourself?) Either w/a next business day pickup (which is $20.00 more - $40.00/document) or 4 business day turnaround (which is the same price ($20), but have to add courier fees). On the G1 form it has a box with requested pickup date (for walk-in service only). This is my experience, we actually sent our 797 to the courier today.