yemmie

Hey Guys, I have been missing in action for long time. I am resurfacing now to ask a question. My stepson is currently living and working in China for a business private equity firm. It performs mergers and acquisitions. He is always on the look-out for good investment opportunities. Lately, he has come to believe that now is a really good time to invest in residential rental property in Wuhan, China. The idea is to put down a reasonable down payment for the home, and then rent it out for a while to pay down the mortgage. I am on the fence about this for a few reasons: 1. I want to feel reasonable confidence that I will make on the investment. 2. I want to be sure of the ownership. I have heard and read that getting clear title on property can be a really tricky business, especially for a westerner. I have not actually looked at any properties. This idea is truly in its infancy. I know that some of you have invested in Chinese properties in the past, so I am interested in benefitting from your experience. Thanks, Yemmie

Thank you. I am sorry I am right, but I am glad that I still am able to read and understand what I have read correctly.

Hi all, I have a couple of tricky questions. First a little background. Wife and her son came to US in 2008. He just barely made it, got permanent residence with condition in May 20009 just before he turned 21 in September. Then, they both removed conditions on schedule, no problems. He enrolled in College here, graduated in May 2014. Problems: Each year, he went back to China for about one month during Christmas break. He also went back during Summer at least one of those years. We did some calculating, and he still did seem to qualify for continuous permanent resident and continuous physical presence at the time of his graduation, but he went back to China for an internship around July 31, 2014. The internship led to a permanent full time job for a Chinese Investment Bank. We did have the foresight to apply for a 2 year re-entry permit on his green card and it was approved. Now, however, he and his mother are talking about him applying for naturalization. And, they even want him to do it in Hong Kong. As I read the guidelines, he does not qualify for citizenship now because he broke the continuous physical presence rule (30 months immediately preceding application) so he will have to start over when he returns and stay here continuously (more or less) for another 5 years. Finally, even if he did qualify, I have not found anything about applying for naturalization in Hong Kong. My wife is not a citizen either. Am I understanding all of this correctly?

Hi Everyone, I know this may be a bit far afield, but I have a question that I have been unable to find an answer to. Has anyone here had any experience with GI2C (Get Into China) recruitment company. My Stepson just graduated from UVA McIntire School of Commerce. He studied Finance and Information Technology. He is very interested in investment banking, private equity, and corporate finance. Since he is now fluent in Mandarin and facile in English, we determined that he should capitalize on these strengths by seeking a job with a multinational company. During out searches we discovered GI2C, contacted them, and they say they have found him an unpaid internship with China Bridge Capital. I have done some research to see if these two companies are legit (am still checking them out), but I wondered if anyone here has had any dealings with either of them. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. We are a little worried that one or both of them may be fraudulent.

Hi, Still working on getting a visitor visa for my wife's parents.I have read everything here and it has been extremely helpful, but I still do not quite understand one thing. On the first post, under supporting documents, under inviters: What is the notarial certificate of relationship? I have a copy (not the original) of a notarized translated birth certificate of my wife which, of course, states her parents' names. Would this be sufficient to fulfill this requirement?

Hi everyone. I know this topic has probably been done to death, but I am having a little trouble understanding a couple of things about getting a vistor's visa for my wife's parents. I tried to get my wife and son involved to help me communicate with her parents. He says it is her job. She leaves it all up to me. So, my question is, how much of this can I do myself? I know they will have to go pay the application fees for themselves at the CITIC Bank. Do they need two applications or can it be done jointly? Can I visit the Visa Information Call Center Website and purchase the PIN for them? Can I then call the Visa Call Center and schedule the appointment for them or do they have to make the call? Can the appointment be for a joint interview or do they have to be separate? I will work with my wife and son on gathering the necessary documents. Thanks as always to all the good folks here.

Well, this does sound very serious. Does anyone here have any ideas on how this woman can fix the situation and avoid getting into trouble? I mean, if it is an honest mistake, it seems to me there should be some way to rectify it without getting into trouble. I was very glad that I was there when my wife and son got their licenses. They did not completely understand the forms, but I was able to make sure they did NOT try to register to vote by accident. I explained/reminded them that only citizens could do that.

I will play Devil's advocate on this one. I taught both my wife and her son how to drive. He was a little easier than she was. I wanted to do it because. 1. I feel they needed to be taught in English so they would think more in English and could read signs in English better when they were driving. 2. I taught them a lot of their English so I knew their vocabulary limitations and could tailor my lessons to them. 3. They need to be able to communicate effectively in English for virtually everything in America so why not re-enforce their English while they were learning to drive. Did we argue? Oh yeah, but in the end, both of them admitted I was right and both got their licenses and have become pretty good drivers.

Interesting. It costs more to make than they are worth, but what will happen if we do away with them? Right now, if a business wants, it can raise or lower prices by a penny. If you do away with it, every price increase will be at least 5 cents.

Are you kidding? I do not think it would take much to kill someone that way, just judging by how much it can hurt if another person is even a little rough. OK, no further explanation shall be offered here and I do not imagine anyone wants to know more anyway.

My wife has asked me to write and ask if anyone here has any suggestions for advertising that maybe we have not thought of for her new business. She has recently opened a massage spa and has advertised on craigslist and back page as well as in our Neighborhood Association Newsletter. Thanks.

Wow, I got 32/33 or 96.97%. Of course, I was a High School History teacher once upon a time - an underemployed one (substitute teacher) - because I was too hard on the kids. You know, we cannot hurt anyone's feelings, competition is bad, and everyone should be a winner. Eventually, I gave up and moved on to other things.

"Yes Virginia, there really is a Santa...."

Here in Virginia, they did not consider my step son a resident of Virginia until he got his two year conditional resident card. The five months thaty he was here before that did not count. Therefore, he attended school here, taking ESL classes for one year at out of state tuition rates and inelligible for any financial aid.

I have another idea that I am thinking of trying on my wife but I have not done it yet. Years ago, when I used to work at a local book store, many women liked to read the skinny romance novels. I know they have very little value as literature and the vocabulary is also pretty low level, but my wife's vocabulary is very limited and American women seem to like them very much. We used to sell used ones for 5/$1.00. I have thumbed through them. Some of them are a bit racy which might not be a bad thing if it helps hold their interest. The grammar is usually ok, and of course the subject appeals to American women, catching "Mr. Right" and living happily ever after. Of course, if YOU are not Mr. Right maybe that would not be a good thing. But seriously, reading anything is better than nothing and will improve grammar and vocabulary to some extent, preparing them for better more challenging literature in the future.