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Beginning Monday, June 5, 2000 ALL American Citizen
Services' (ACS), INS,
and Adoption Unit applicants shall use the Consular Visa entrance.
Security
inspection will be conducted there versus in the Consulate lobby.
As a
reminder, all visitors including U.S. citizens, entering any
official
facility are screened and searched with a metal detector. All
packages,
briefcases, purses, etc., are searched.
Please inform your facilitators that the Consular Visa Entrance
is the third
doorway from the wrought iron automobile access gate. The door
has a sign
above it that reads in both English and Chinese "Entrance."
If one is facing
the door from the outside of the Consulate, he or she would see
a number "2"
on the left side of the door and a number "3" on the
right side of the door.
In the future, a sign will be posted marked, "ACS, INS and
Adoption Unit
applicants."
Starting June 5th, facilitators or traveling agency representatives
should
directly approach the window to the immediate left of the door
marked
"Entrance" with a picture form of identification.
The facilitator should
tell the guard manning the window the name of his group and their
appointment time. The guards will process all individuals and
groups in
the order that they arrive regardless of scheduled appointment
times. As
such it is vital that groups be on time to their interviews.
Because the security inspections will now be conducted
just inside the door
marked "Entrance" it may take longer for groups to
be processed. Please
inform your facilitators that this might initially slow down
the groups.
Please encourage your facilitators to inform the adoptive parents
of a
possible wait so that the adoptive parents do not become frustrated
with our
guards. Please inform your facilitators and adoptive parents
that the
Consulate's local guards are performing the job that they were
hired to do
based on policies initiated by the U.S. government. If there
are complaints
regarding this new access policy change please contact us and
we will refer
you to the office responsible for maintaining post and personnel
security.
Once a group has cleared the intake area (search area) the
facilitator should
lead the group into the Consulate building. Once inside the
building the
groups will proceed as currently by entering through the door
on the
left-hand side of the lobby. Families choosing to bring strollers
may leave
the strollers just inside that door to the left side against
the metal
dividers. From this point, families proceed up to the second
floor. Please
inform your facilitator to immediately seat his/her families
just to the
right of the stairs next to the public restrooms in the lobby
waiting area
facing the door to the Adoption unit offices. Once a group is
seated in the
lobby the facilitator should enter the "Baby" room
(aka: the interview room)
to assess whether or not his/her group should enter. If it is
almost time
for the families' appointments and the room is either not fully
occupied or
if it appears that local ACIVU staff has or is almost to complete
its
document check of the last few persons of a preceding group,
the facilitator
should bring his or her family into the interview room. On the
other hand,
if it appears that the room is over-crowded or that the ACIVU
staff is
running behind in its interviewing, the facilitator should notify
an ACIVU
local staff member that he/she and his/her group have arrived
and are ready
for their interviews. At that point the facilitator should ask
the local
staff member at what time should he bring in his or her group.
Based on a
staffer's affirmative answer, the facilitator should escort his/her
families
into the "Baby" room.
Please inform your facilitators and adoptive parents that
as soon as each
member of a group completes his/her child's visa interview, the
parent should
exit the interview room. If the family prefers they may leave
the Consulate
building at that point. If a family would rather wait for its
facilitator or
another family in the group, the family should remove from the
interview
room to the lobby area just across from the Adoption unit offices.
In order to process groups in a timely manner we make the
following
recommendations:
· Inform facilitators and parents that they may appear
15-10 minutes prior
to their interviews. However, due to security concerns and lack
of space,
if parent or a group appears more than 15 minutes prior to the
scheduled
appointment or if the parent or group appears at the wrong time,
our guards
have been instructed to deny them access to the Consulate at
that time.
Should the entry processing take longer than expected the Consulate
will
adjust the time appropriately and we will keep you informed of
any changes
made to the times groups can be processed for appointments.
In addition, if
ACIVU is running behind on its interviews on a given day and
the waiting
room and lobby areas are still full, the guards will inform the
facilitator
regarding the reason for the delay and the group will be delayed
entry until
the ACIVU is prepared for more families to enter.
· Inform facilitators and parents to comply with the
local guards'
requests. Our local security guards have been instructed, as
mentioned
above, to screen and search with a metal detector all visitors
to the
Consulate facility including U.S. citizens. All packages, briefcases,
purses, diaper bags, strollers, etc. will be searched. As such,
if possible,
we would recommend that adoptive parents not bring their child's
stroller.
We understand the comfort and convenience provided by a stroller,
however,
all strollers brought onto the compound will be searched which
may slow down
the access process even more.
· Remind both facilitators and adoptive parents that
the use of cellular
phones and cameras is prohibited inside the Consulate.
[Registration of Facilitators]
In addition to the aforementioned policy changes to improve
post security,
U.S. Consulate Guangzhou announces that ALL adoption agencies
are now
required to register their adoption facilitators with the Consulate.
Facilitator Registration Forms are available from the ACIVU now.
Within the
next week, Monday, June 5th-Friday, June 9th, each agency will
receive via
fax a copy of the Adoption Facilitator Registration form. The
registration
forms must be completed by the Adoption Agency and signed by
the facilitator.
Each and every facilitator employed by a given agency must be
registered
with the Consulate. In addition to the registration form, agencies
must
provide three passport or visa size photos of each facilitator.
Please
return the completed registration forms with the pictures to
the ACIVU office
by Consulate close of business--China time (5:30pm) Thursday,
June 29, 2000.
Facilitators not registered with the Consulate by that day will
not be
allowed into the Consulate until the appropriate paperwork &
photos have
been submitted and processed by the ACIVU staff. The local guards
have been
instructed to deny entry to any facilitator whose name does not
appear on
the facilitator registry. (If such a case occurs, adoptive parents
would still
be allowed to enter and process their cases but they would do
so without the
benefit of their facilitator.)
We regret that circumstances require the Consulate to implement
tighter
security measures. We understand that some individuals and groups
will
experience frustration should these new procedures increase the
time it
takes to enter the Consulate compound for an adoption interview.
We at ACIVU,
however, believe that implementation of these enhanced safety
guidelines is
essential to provide more adequate protection for all U.S. Consulate
employees who work and live in the Consulate building and also
all Adoption
Unit applicants. We appreciate your assistance in complying
with the
changes to the Consulate's security policies.
Sincerely,
Arlissa M. Reynolds
Vice Consul
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