PJ

Calaf&Turandot, Your timeline looks fine up until the point where you said you returned P3 at the beginning of March and still don't have an interview date. I would highly recommend calling DOS and emailing the consulate and find out what's going on. P.J.

Wow, that is very valuable information. Thank you very much for sharing that with all of us. I had never heard of that much useful info coming out of the Thursday info session. Incidentally, I had wanted to go to the sept 30 one and thought about it, but was too busy having a fever and dashing to the restroom to go. Glad someone made it. P.J.

Thanks, Frank. I guess we'll take the card with us then. P.J.

I believe that faithfulness is an absolute requirement. I made it clear from the get-go that things like spending habits, sleeping habits, annoying habits, etc are compromise, but I would be 100% faithful and loyal always and expected nothing less.

I would call back. If they said December and know for a fact, then it must be in their systems. They don't set the date, GZ does, they only check it. Ask directly "has an interview date been set". P.J.

Yeah, we meant the Chinese ID Card. Thanks for the response, Carl. Has anyone out there who has been in the US for a while found a use for this ID card? During travel to the US? AOS interview down the road? AP? Going back to China to visit family? We'd much rather leave it with her family, but I'd hate to end up needing and not having it.

Not according to the place that did our health check. They just wouldn't do it, said come back after you get the visa. Not sure if others are different. We went to the health check on Shamian Island on the same street as Victory Hotel (not sure what it's called, can't remember and am too lazy to look it up right now). P.J.

Hi All, For those whose fiance/e/wife/husbands have already gone to the US ... is the "shen fen zheng" needed or of any use? We'd rather leave it with my fiancee's family, unless it is necessary. Thanks, P.J.

Hey everyone, Thanks for the congrats and well wishes. Hmm, other observations: * Immunizations: we had to go back AFTER getting the white slip. They wouldn't do it otherwise. Think this is new procedure, at least for the place we went to (the one listed on the sheet in Shamian). According to the consulate, these need to be done before leaving China. So build in extra time after interview for immunizations. Only takes about 2 hours or so. More to come as it comes to mind. P.J.

Hi All, My fiancee got her visa yesterday!!! It's been almost exactly 1 year after submitting the petitition. I was there for the interview and sat outside in that Friendship Garden that runs down the middle of Shamian Island. Worried. Played Gameboy. Worried some more. Went to a little Internet cafe called Blenz that's on Shamian. Couldn't get onto Candle from there. I opened a yahoo.com.cn email account, since it's MUCH faster than the regular yahoo.com accounts here. If it's a .cn account, it goes to servers in China instead of the US. By the way here is a tip for everyone: transparent bags aren't necessarily allowed. I went to Wallyworld and bought two competely transparent backpacks (you know, the ones that are trendy these days because of increased security). You can see right through them. These still were not permitted. She brought in a TON of evidence. Photos, all our emails (which was 2 huge binders worth), phone logs, everything. Someone else there for an interview commented afterward "hey you're the girl with all that STUFF". In the end, the VO asked very few questions. How did you meet? How many times has he visited you? What sort of work does he do? She looked at like 1 page of pictures. Didn't look through any of our other stuff. I'm really tired now. It's been a long trip. But ... we FINALLY GOT OUR VISA so I am happy!!! P.J.

Just about any US movie you buy in China from the DVD vendors that is in English will have Chinese subtitles. We're out here and I'm picking up a bunch. P.J.

Hi All, Well, never having shopped for a wedding dress, was curious what most of y'all ended up doing. I understand that they're supposed to be pretty cheap in China. However, if we could rent one in the US for cheaper we'd just do that. My fiancee has no partiality to keeping a wedding dress for sedimental reasons or anything. Anyone know about how much it costs to rent a wedding dress in the US versus buy one in China? I know it would obviously differ by quality and style, I'm just looking for some insight / ideas / comparsion. Thanks, P.J.

Hi everyone, Thanks for the kind wishes. Well, my fever is gone now. Without getting into too much detail I still have an unfortunate case of the "whoever is in the bathroom GET OUT NOW" syndrome. P.J.

Hi All, Well I'm out here with my fiancee and I'm still alive. I'd been burning up with fever (yesterday it was up to 38.3 C). I woke up this morning and not having taken any medicine all night I'm back down to 36.9 C all by myself. I think this is about normal, though my grasp of Celsius is still tenuous. Being sick overseas is painful, and it sorta ruined my mid-autumn festival experience. We went to a park in Foshan and it was very crowded. I just kept thinking I was going to drop to the ground from fever. P.J.

Staying at the Victory hotel. Actually the stuff I bought was for me. Sorry, maybe next time.

Went to GZ to register my passport so they know I'm here for Candy's interview. Everyone was really nice to me there. Chatted with a lady in ACS about the hurricanes in Florida. Navigating the consulate was a bit on the confusing side. I was never quite sure where to go and where to wait. Fortunately, I was happy to discover that I didn't end up having to wait in the long line because I am a US Citizen. It didn't seem quite fair that there was a non-moving line of 40 or so people and I showed my passport and hopped pass all of them. Oh, well, I have long known that life isn't fair. Also, what was said about needing to take in transparent bags, transparent folders, is definitely true. Chatted with a guy who's starting the process, has no idea what's going on. I tried to direct him to this website, don't know if he'll ever check it out or not. Didn't write it down for him, neither of us had a pen. We went shopping in Guangzhou afterward. That was fun. Bought stuff until we ran out of arms to carry it all. P.J.

Actually my future in-laws recently told me a story that someone was killed because the thief was trying to steal their necklace and it didn't come off, so the thief ended up choking the person to death. Really sad. The money belt under clothes seems to be quite secure, unless someone outright mugs you. And I'm carrying only what I need, nothing more. There seems to be little of that here, though, I haven't seen or heard of it. Mostly pickpockets. I've started carrying only a bag of tissues around in my pocket. It makes a nice bulge same as a wallet. And my sweat towel, since I'm used to my nice air conditioned car, and there is no A/C here. I almost hope someone goes through the trouble of snatching my sweat towel. It would serve them right.

Hi All, Well, I can confirm firsthand that pickpockets are definitely a problem here in China. I was waiting to get onto a bus in Foshan, my fiancee had already gotten on (you know those mass crowds of pushing people). I had just gotten out my bus fare and put my hand back in my pocket when I felt another hand (other than my own) in my pocket. The hand disappeared fast, fortunately my wallet was still there. Also fortunately for that person I didn't see who it was, since I'm in a rather bad mood today. That would have SUCKED, I didn't think about it before but I've been carrying around my credit cards and insurance cards and stuff, most of which is useless here anyway. I guess figure that whatever you take with you in your pocket, figure there's a probability it could get stolen. P.J.

Wow, you have a great and positive attitude about it. My hat's off to both you and your wife! I hope this is resolved quickly. P.J.

Actually I wasn't suggesting that ... I don't believe it is ever a good idea to lie on the applications and would never recommend it. I was just bringing up a point of why USCIS might not acknowledge a PO Box as a valid address and it would be best to contact them first. Thanks, P.J.

202-663-1225 Press 1, 0 to bypass automated menus. Call between 8:35 AM and 9:00 AM EST for the shortest wait times.

I'd be really careful on this one and definitely contact USCIS. I mean, if all one needed was a PO box to establish their location, I know that myself and many others would have gladly paid for a PO box ... in Vermont. P.J.

I wanted to fly NWA since I have the most freq flyer miles with them. Unfortunately they do not fly directly into Guangzhou until November. I *really* thought about flying NWA to HK and then crossing over, but it seemed so much more convenient to go directly into GZ. GZ has a brand new airport, Candy said it is very nice. She showed me pictures, it reminded me of HK's airport. NWA is adding service there. We went through the old GZ airport on a trip to Beijing and I remember it was not nice. We waited like sardines for a shuttle to take us from check-in to the plane. People were pushing and shoving. Fortunately nobody there seemed to understand the "s---, g----d-it!!!" that seemed to emerge from my mouth everytime another person shoved me. P.J.

I use the following method: go on travelocity and expedia to find out WHICH airlines fly the routes you want, then call that airline directly. You can actually end up getting a better price (I got a better one for Delta) with fewer stopovers. P.J.

We did both as well. The P3 was simple enough, we did it in an evening. The P4 is the one that takes a lot of time to fill out. P.J.