phil

I did not think it was possible for him to have dual citizenship. You are saying if at the time of birth we choose for him to be Chinese, we can to the consulate at anytime and still get him a US passport? Wouldn't that revoke his Chinese citizenship though? I suppose even if so that would be better than making that pain in the ass trip to shanghai within 30 days. You can get him an American passport without divulging to the Chinese government that he is an American citizen. When it comes time to go to America then you will need to get the child an exit visa. At that time you may need to chose. If China will let him keep dual citizenship you are home free. If not then I'm not sure how you would go about getting a visa for a child that is technically a US Citizen by birth. As others have pointed out your wife may also have a hard time keeping her green card if she doesn't make periodic visits to the US for a significant time. At least every six months is preferable unless you get a re-entry permit. What do you mean by an exit visa? A visa to exit America or China?

I did not think it was possible for him to have dual citizenship. You are saying if at the time of birth we choose for him to be Chinese, we can to the consulate at anytime and still get him a US passport? Wouldn't that revoke his Chinese citizenship though? I suppose even if so that would be better than making that pain in the ass trip to shanghai within 30 days.

My wife got the green card (or the immigrant visa) while we were living in China. Since getting the PRC in America, we've only been here a few months. Sometime within a year of when we left America, she'll go back and then try to obtain the re-entry permit (thats what we were told to do by the folks in foreign service). My real question here though is about my son's visa. At this point I'm not that concerned about his actual citizenship, I just want to know how difficult it would be for him to get a visa to live with us in America as an immediate relative of his father (a US citizen) and his mother (a PRC holder). I assume he could eventually get US citizenship after staying in America a certain amount of time and renouncing his chinese citizenship.

Hi All, Last year my wife was awarded a PRC. We are still currently living in China though we do plan to move back to America eventually but we don't know exactly. Just this week she gave birth to our 2nd son in China. Now we are faced with a difficult decision of deciding which citizenship he will have. Naturally I would prefer he have American citizenship but in the short term its really not so convenient. We'd have to make a 2 hour bus trip to Shanghai with the newborn and her mother within 30 days (which if you know chinese women is quite a terrible thought). That's not really the big deal though, he also could have free and quality health insurance under his mother's plan, we'd get paid back for all costs related to the delivery here, no chinese visa matters for him and we'd get a big break when and if he goes to school here. My real question is if we let him be a Chinese citizen for now, how hard would it be for him to get into America with us later? Could he get a temporary visa if we decided to travel to America next year? Would it be easier for him to get a PRC than it is for a spouse to get one? Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

I'm currently living in China with my wife who just passed her interview for the visa. If you marry her and want to live with her I was told you could get either a 6 month or 1 year visa (sorry, i dont remember which) but you couldnt legally work or earn money in China with this visa. If you want or need to work, I also suggest you get a teaching job which are rather easy to come by. They'll support your visa and you'll have something to do instead of hanging around the house waiting for your honey to come home. Or if you have money perhaps you could study Chinese in a university which can also support your visa. About the visa process, I filed my papers with the Beijing consulate in March and got awarded the interview last month but we postponed until November. So about 7-8 months I guess for us.

Congratulations on the pink! My wife also got pink today though she wasnt done until around noon. In her case the VO only asked her a few questions about her previous visits to America. No other questions about our relationship or finances, etc.