BuffaloPaul

Good question. I made the same mistake and will be in China Feb 6. Good, er bad, thing that the Bills are not going to be in the game. Thanks for the info.

Yep, did all of those

Well, I finally got the 129F finished and in the mail today. Quite the nerve-wracking process. I thought I had checked everything several times, then when I did a final check just before going to the Post Office, I found I had left off the address where Jenny will live in the US. I hope I did not screw anything else up. Doing part of this in China and part here led to confusion as to what was filled out and what not. In addition, Jenny had a last minute panic attack Sunday. I think the reality of what she was about to do hit home and she was yelling at me not to send the pettition in. Fortunately, after sleeping on it she wanted to go ahead. I'm sure that there is a lot of stress to leave your home with your child for an uncertain future. Hoping the VSC pull us through quickly.

Does anyone have any experience with fiancee's that have minor children? Specifically, do the bio fathers have to give permission to let the children leave the country? Jenny has custody of her daugher, but has no idea where the bio dad is (missiing for 10 years)

Thanks for the ideas on the photos. I read the info suggesting using ACCO binder but not sure which one to use and what is spacing for punch holes. So is top punch binder the correct one?

Anybody have any suggestions on how to attach/ enclose photos. Assume they can't be stapled to the application, but I don't want them getting lost.

Defintely miss an American breakfast, baked goods (especially chocolate ones)

My big concern is with this Chinese characteristic of "saving face". My SO has already told me that the 90 day period means nothing because she would never return home no matter how unhappy. She feels that after she has already told her family, and sold her home that she must stay here. This is a little unnerving to me.

see this article in Forbes titled "Is Sex Necessary" http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/08/cz_af_1008health.html here's the pertinent part: Pain-relief: Immediately before orgasm, levels of the hormone oxytocin surge to five times their normal level. This in turn releases endorphins, which alleviate the pain of everything from headache to arthritis to even migraine. In women, sex also prompts production of estrogen, which can reduce the pain of PMS

Sorry to have offended anyone here. I don't have any political agenda - I'm just an avid reader. I thought this was just an interesting perspective that would help all dealing with long wait times. I see lots of people getting angry at Immigrations but rarely see any information or discussion about the other side of the coin.

I saw this at a blog called Instapundit.com and thought it offered an interesting perspective from the other side: "I read your site and enjoy your comments, but I'm motivated to write by a few posts you've made recently about the immigration system. I feel like I ought to give you an inside perspective. I'm a consular officer serving in a very large visa-issuing post. I'm writing anonymously for obvious reasons... First of all, I agree that the system is broken and decrepit. Far too many illegitimate travelers use our system to illegally migrate to the US, and the resulting procedures are cumbersome for legitimate travelers and immigrants. However, most of us involved in it recognize this (it's driven home to us hundreds of times each day), and would love to fix it. But we can't. I have to say, I think your criticism of the process is misplaced. I will be the first to agree that I think DHS/CIS (ex-INS) makes boneheaded decisions all along the way. But you have to recognize that they are often forced to make boneheaded decisions by the mass of precedent accumulated over the years by Board of Immigration Appeals rulings- one bad decision at the top forces a future of similar bad decisions, even if the actual adjudicators might disagree. Thus, we have people who snuck across the border and made completely bogus claims of asylum being granted adjustment of status (green card) for "skilled labor" in critical shortage, like bricklayers and cell phone salesmen. Trust me, I've seen both of those approved by the Department of Labor. Us lowly "grunts," who are the ones doing the heavy lifting of actually interviewing applicants, making decisions at the border, etc; are actually very constrained in their discretion of what to do. So the decisions that everyone complains about and shakes their heads in disbelief, are usually not due to some stupid officer or inspector who can't think straight. Secondly, the complaints about service and rudeness, while sometimes warranted, need a little perspective- we see hundreds (for consular officers) or thousands (for border inspectors) of applicants a day, a large percentage of whom are frauds, cheats, or liars, and our job is to 1) very quickly sort out who is honest and who is not, 2) decide if we can do anything about those who are not (very often the answer is no), and 3) send them along with the right visa or parole or admission or approval or denial. While it would be great if we could treat everyone with kind pleasanteries and happy conversations, we simply don't have the time. If we did that, we'd reduce some of the complaints about service, but increase the complaints about the backlogs. DHS/CIS has immigrant petitions stacked hundreds deep on the floors of their office- they're not to blame for not having the staff to handle them all! And we'd still get the complaints about service from everyone who is denied- they always feel they've been treated rudely no matter what we actually say. Along with that, the more illegal immigrants we let stay in the country, get green cards, and become citizens, the more work for our system: the number of applicants grows exponentially, because every relative in the village back home (and some non-relatives who are going to make fraudulent applications) is just waiting with bated breath for their lead scout to get that green card and start filing those petitions! Professor, my point is mainly this: there is no one who knows better than the lowly consular officer or border/port of entry inspector that the system is broken. But please don't blame us functionaries- the blame belongs solely with Congress and, in a larger scope, with the American people. Congress writes the laws that make us give benefits to people who don't deserve it, and the huge amount of abuse tolerated and encouraged by Congress and the public is what makes us all so suspicious of everyone applying for something. I can't tell you the amount of fraud I've seen, and so when I get a legitimate marriage between an American 56 year old woman and a foreign 20 year old man, who don't have a common language between them, and have only met once, at their marriage, I'm sure that that legitimate woman is going to feel that I was unreasonably suspicious of their marriage. Please get this perspective out there, on behalf of us long-suffering consular officers doing the dirty work of our country's immigration system. And if you think the system is broken, then get Congress to fix it!"