NY-Viking

Jenny, provided you qualify under one of the two conditions (see my previous posts), you won't have to pay any taxes on your China salary through filing the 2555-EZ (or 2555). It lets you exclude up to $80,000 in foreign earned income on your 1040 (slightly less in previous years).

Shameless ...

Just wanted to add my congrats too!

If you fill out the 2555 OR the 2555-EZ, you'll need to fill out the full 1040. Deciding to fill out the 2555 or the 2555-EZ will depend on what all you want to exclude. If it's just income, the 2555-EZ should be enough. If you need to include foreign housing and what not as well, you may need the full 2555 - look at the forms. You need to fill out a 2555 for each tax year you file - so one for each of 2003 and 2004 - to correspond with the 1040 you file for each year. But note that you don't actually have to file on a calendar year - you can file for a tax year that doesn't correspond to the calendar year, which may be useful if you work in a job like teaching that has you working for work years that do not follow the calendar. Please note though, before filing the 2555 or the 2555-EZ - make sure you qualify on one of the tests in order to take the exclusion. If you've just gone to China to teach English for a month - you probably do not. The full explanations for the tests are on the forms.

ooops - looks like I was a little too quick on my reply.

I went through all this some months ago, and you still need an Affidavit of Single Status to be married in China. You can get the format at the Chinese Embassy to the US website. You need the statement notarized and the notary further certified by your Secretary of State with an Apostitille. Once you have all this it needs to be sent to the Chinese consulate that serves your area and they need to certify and notarize it themselves. Once you have all these documents you will be free to marry in China. Read his post again. This is NOT what he's talking about. He does not intend to get married in China; his Chinese fiancee needs a certificate to show her marriage status at the interview for the US visa. The Chinese fiancee can get this quite easily at the local public records office. I haven't seen that, but I have seen the police certificate. It's more or less like a statement that the individual has never been arrested, etc. and can be obtained from the PSB.

I'm starting to think there's no rhyme or reason. Although I understand that it has something to do with each person being in charge of a stack of applications, and when they are done, they can move on to the next set. So, receipt dates that are slightly different may have to wait different periods depending on who is reviewing the app.

Well I'm sure that it was worth at least $10! Only reason I responded was to share my experience of never providing a separate sheet and instead listing the explanation right on the 1040. But like you said, some explanation is necessary.

In the mid-west too ... brrrr...

Yeah, now that I read the P-3 again, I guess this is pretty clear: 8. Marital Status Certificates. Married persons are required to present a certified copy of their marriage certificate while the unmarried persons at a marriageable age a certified copy of their non - married certificate with one year validity. A marriage certificate issued by a local notary public office is required for applicants who registered their marriage in the People's Republic of China. Proof of the termination of any previous marriage must also be submitted (e.g. death certificate of spouse, final decree of divorce or annulment). Like a lot of the jibberish in the various instructions, this one has it's own merits. I'll underline the relavent part for your situation where neither you nor your fiancee have been previously married. Yes ... I understood that. What is not so clear in that though is that I don't need to supply any equivalent document (and just the applicant). But that does seem to make sense.

True. Was just thinking of a possible alternative to making up one's own form to substitute the W-2. In retrospect, if one is really below the minimum, I think just writing "No W-2 issued." on the left of the "Wages, salaries and tips" line might suffice without the 2555-EZ or other form. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks ... but that's not my question. I understand that, but we decided to go the K-1 route, and are pretty close to the end, I think. And getting married in China would cause us to start again at Step One.

Thanks ... but not really. If I had been married, then I could produce something (a divorce decree, etc.), but as it stands I cannot. Anyway, I think donahso is correct. She'll get a Single Certificate. She'll also have my tax forms for the past 5 years, so that should show I'm single, I guess.

Yeah, now that I read the P-3 again, I guess this is pretty clear: 8. Marital Status Certificates. Married persons are required to present a certified copy of their marriage certificate while the unmarried persons at a marriageable age a certified copy of their non - married certificate with one year validity. A marriage certificate issued by a local notary public office is required for applicants who registered their marriage in the People's Republic of China. Proof of the termination of any previous marriage must also be submitted (e.g. death certificate of spouse, final decree of divorce or annulment).

For the years I worked in China, I was above the minimum for the amount to file U.S. taxes, but well below the maximum allowed to declare as foreign earned income ($80,000 for 2004 ... a couple of thousand less each year before) and not have to pay taxes on using a 2555-EZ (or 2555 if you need the whole form). I didn't have a W-2 either; my employer wasn't Chinese but foreign. I wrote my total income on the Wages, salaries and tips line (line 7 on the 1040) and wrote "No W-2 issued." on the dotted part of the line. The 2555 has information where you include your employer's name and the amount of your foreign income. You can then subtract this amount on line 21 (of the 2004 1040 ... slightly different other years, of course). Even though you're not liable for taxes, using the 2555-EZ might be better than including a page of your own creation. Please note: (1) In order to file a 2555 foreign earned income exclusion, you need to pass either a (i) physical presence or (ii) bona fide residency test. If you're working in China, you probably qualify for one of these, provided that you're there for an extended term. Read the 2555 instructions, though. (2) This is what I did for about 6 years, but I am NOT a tax lawyer and I ask that you please not hold me responsible should you follow what I did and it turn out to not be correct. (3) You should be able to get most of the forms and instructions as pdf documents on the IRS website. (4) If you file the 2555-EZ, you'll have to file the 1040; you can't use the 1040-EZ, but it's not that much more to include.

I know this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find anything doing a search. I know that if either of you have been married previously that you do need to provide evidence of a divorce, but my fiancee just asked me, so I thought I should verify just in case so she doesn't get a request at the interview for something she should have had. Provided that neither of you have ever been married, no certificates are necessary for a K-1 .. right? Or should she obtain a single certificate?

Well, nice for me, but not so much for everyone else. I assume it won't be TOO much longer for mine ... I thought DHL didn't seem right ... don't think they can do domestic China stuff. Good news on your pants though ...

Yet another benefit of my language study ...

Mabe they're waiting until the finish up ours so they can send them all together ...

I just did mine this past year and got the same thing - with the hole punches. I'm almost positive I put this in the request letter, though. I also requested the larger passport (48 pages), which should save me a few trips to add pages later on.

Do they not just do it automatically? I have all three passports that I've been issued (the current one and two expired ones). I guess I've always requested the previous ones without thinking about it, come to think of it.

Internet massages??? I GOT to get me one of them!!!!!!!!1 That makes two of us ....

Just wanted to add my congrats as well - Congrats and Best wishes for a happy life!

Well think of this way .. they're interviewing your fiancee, not you. While it's true that you could provide lots of help in the interview, lots of other fiancees might be obstructive. They need a chance to interview the foreign fiancee to issue that person the visa; if the USC is there, they might not be able to do so. You can of course enter the consulate at around the same time and go to US citizen services if you need pages added to your passport, want tax forms, say hi, register, etc., but you can't go to the visa area. The official reason I've heard was that they used to allow US citizens in with the applicants, but that they don't have enough room inside. Take it for what it's worth.

Well, best of luck, but you have an up hill battle, I'm afraid. Before my Chinese fiancee was officially was my fiancee, she was able to get 4 visitor visas (I think) to come visit me. I'm convinced the first time was a combination of (1) luck; (2) my fiancee just having a trusting personality; (3) a LOT of supporting documentation; (4) her situation (worked for a U.S. company for a number of years, owned her own home, had descent savings, previous international travel); and (5) the company I worked for at the time, which had some sway with the Consulate (that is, they had previously been able to get the Consulate to reverse denials for student visas, and when my fiancee mentioned the name, the VO seemed to indicate she knew it and didn't want to have to deal with giving a rejection that would only be reversed later). The second time (a little less than two years later) provided a few extra hoops for us to jump through (had to show proof of my residency in China - they wanted to know we'd both come back), but still not too bad. After that, she had no problems. Anyway, like others have said, she needs to show sufficient ties to Korea so they know she'll return. Given her current situation, just going to visit her boy friend (while perfectly honest, I'm sure) will most likely result in a rejection. If you lay out exactly what she'll be doing during the trip on each day, so that the trip looks well planned out (rather than just going for "a visit"), it might help some, but I wouldn't get my hopes too high. I don't think you can actually be a sponsor for her for just a visitor visa, but I could be wrong.