kkimm

you are right! if you are traveling to the US via Canada, say you stop at Vancouver, you will for sure need a visitor's visa. What happens at Vancouver airport is that you will actually enter the US inside the airport, and the next flight you took will just be a domestic flight... I have experienced that myself, and have to drag all my luggage through custom check points twice: first time exit the Canada, second time enters the US...

I hate to say this, but I believe the main purpose of the trip was arms sales if I remember my readings on this ( subs and few fighters ) .. as China, US, Russia, France and UK are the biggest suppliers of that stuff. We just can't stand Khameini, so I guess we didn't send a door-to-door rep... 1. The trip to Iran came about the time right after Bush declared "Axis of Evil", I think it is more a show of gesture than anything practical. The trip might invlove technology transfers such as Radar or communication. But I doubt very much on the sub and fighter jets, etc. On the other hand, US is the No.1 supplier... 2. China has its own problems domestically that it has to make sure on the power transition. 3. The US has been asking China to make moves on North Korea and Iraq issues. China has other reasons to be unwillingly co-op, since the Bush Admin has been very stiff and sided on sensitive issues such as Taiwan, which is generally believed a 180-degree turn from those of Clinton's Admin.

Call 202-663-1225.. Press 6, then 6 again Expect to be on hold a long time. Good luck This is the only number in the US that does not have music when on hold...

in case you still want to, Asiana will do the transfer visa for you, last time I flight with them...

Let's do a simple math: Given: 1. GZ normally processes 400 cases per day. 2. DOS nowadays cables 1000 cases each day to GZ. 3. GZ will work one day each weekend to clear the backlog. 4. "Old Backlogged" cases totals 10,000. Assumptions: 1. During normal work day, GZ will spend 50% of its capacity to clear backlogged cases. Question: How long it will take GZ to get back to processing times before August last year? In each week, GZ will process backlogged cases: 400 X 50% X 5 + 400 = 1,400 cases while generating "new backlogged" cases: 400 X 50% X 5 = 1,000 cases Now, assumming "N" is the number of weeks to clear all backlogs, so: N X 1,400 = 1,000 X N + 10,000 Gives N = 10,000 / (1,400 - 1,000) = 25 weeks man, that's half year!!! If counting from Feburary, that's exactly 1 year for them (conspiracy??)

agree, but if everything has to go with logic, this whole mess would not have happened at all!!

Congrats to everybody that have finally received the "EMS VISA". Hopefully everything will be moving in the good direction and good news will come out everyday! Congrats!!! BTW: does GZ still hand out white paper slips these days?

I am not seeing anything MSFT will lose, they probably would be better off make their base code public, given a lot of pressure from companies than have switched to free, low cost software like Linux, StarOffice, etc. One of the reasons some people believe MSFT won't public their windows source code is because they pirated code from Macintosh, and other OS systems, though probably by now it's already been covered...

we talk about it, but not as public. And it only happens between close friends, etc. like I am in a lunch and complaining about my work

To an extent yes, but how does one know this information about you to be able to look it up? Very few know how long I have worked in a given field, and most have no idea what level the work is. Say you say you work in finance, are you a clerk, are you a manager, are you Sr. or Jr. etc...., same with saying you are 'in computers', are you a help desk person, a programmer, a sys admin, an analist, or a CTO? And what about income from assets, I could be working as a pizza driver, and have rental properties, or a trust that pays me. I could have the job as a pizza driver to throw people off from the large trust etc. agree... it's being there to be found out or it's been being talked about are two different issues.

an mutual understanding is very important and that would build a solid foundation for any relationship. As Owen said, in China, money and salary is an open topic, for an example if in China one person meets his long-time-no-see high schoool classmates on the street, a possible conversation would probably go like this, which is unbelievable in the US: Where do you work now? XXXXX How much do you make each month? XXXXX This is very common. You don't have to be exact, but they are expecting an direct answer.

unbelievable!! Microsoft must see China a big chance of big bucks...on the other hand, China is so wise to ask for the source code

thanks PJ for such a wonderful forum with so many people helping each other...I am not of K visas, but am facing the same difficulties as everybody else, this site is really helping!! Thank you for your hard work!!!

Oh Goodie !! I missed the INS since I dealt last with them in February 02 !! Woohoooo ! can't wait !!! There is no INS any more, the new agency is called BCIS under DHS... I read it on the newspaper, I guess BCIS is bureau of citizen and immigration service...

Mark - it depends on who you are talking to. Eric had a post yesterday and was very obvious it does make a difference. If you were told by DOS info line, it could be that they are giving wrong information; you might want to call CA directly to confirm that...

TP is right, over-preparation do no harm...

I think the "information team" is receiving their continuing educational training so they won't give out the wrong information or mess up the computer system in the future I found out that I got better / quicker response if your phrase your email title/ subject in a more "catchy " manner.. rather than "GUZ12345678.. case status ?" or " Is case GUZ1234567 cleared? " Remember, thousands of email every week asking basically for the same stuff.. they're weeding out.. So ya got to be inventive.. here is what my next email will be: Subject: IRAQ!!!!! Is case GUZXXXXXX cleared?

why would it not happen if it has a full staffed correspondence office?

I think the "information team" is receiving their continuing educational training so they won't give out the wrong information or mess up the computer system in the future

I don't know what you mean by "amazing", the visa delay or it takes this long for the reply?

I think the format on CPTracker.com is good but might be overkill a little bit. Is it possible to compile a table with columns like <Name> <P3 Date> <Interview Date> <EMS Date> <Visa Date>

I called Friday last week, and made up my mind I never call them again. I was on hold for more than one hour and the lady interrogated me on my intentions of this call, very reluctant to check it in her computer, at the end, it takes another few minutes for her to look it up and only came back saying: no, not yet. and wouldn't answer any more questions, like what the latest date of namecheck request, etc. DOS info line is just a piece of s**t, don't know where George is these days...kinda miss him...

may I ask whom did you get a call from?

I mean from DOS info line or the GZIV email address... It seems they don't reply to emails any more? and DOS info line is taking l...o...n...g time on hold

PJ. good to see you are in a good spirit, here is a website I recommend: http://www.pricewatch.com