nousername

hey, all just want to run this buy quick ... don't want to be missing anything critical. all edith will need at her POE (... PDX) is her visa/passport, the brown envelope, and the x-ray tube, correct? does the POE officer ever pull a fast one and ask for something obscure? thanks Ryan ps - less than 3 days!!! woo hoo.... :D

*sigh* ... ... *sigh* ... ... not trying to be harsh, but what's so hard to understand about 90 days? i don't know your situation, but i think you shot yourself in the foot... or maybe even worse. even if you do love her, i don't know if marrying her now, as others have suggested, will help.

It is a grenade. Some people do use it for fishing. 135269[/snapback] The problem with traveling on AP (advanced parole) is not getting in or out of the US. It is the country you are visiting. A green card is accepted in most countries the US is friendly with but often times an AP is not. For instance one friend of mine's wife went to China to visit on AP. For the return trip she booked a flight with a stop in Canada. When she went to board the plane they wouldn't let her on because she didn't have a transit visa for Canada. I would check with the visa section for the Bahamas and see if AP will be accepted in lieu of green card. Oh and I have seen bait before and that is it. 135310[/snapback] i thought AP and green cards were only about getting back into the US... the suspect the reason that person couldn't stop in canada is b/c they didn't have a canadian visa.

i actually have looked into this quite a bit. as for cruises, if your SO is here on a K1 and you do not yet have your green card, then you will need AP, unless you go on one of NCL's hawaiian cruises. this is b/c NCL is the only cruise line with american flagships, "the pride of aloha" and the pride of america". if it's not an american ship, then us laws require it to stop at a foreign port... at which point you would be leaving the country. to address the initial poster, since your criuse is not one of NCL's hawaiian cruises, it will be require to stop at a foreign port, whether it's the bahamas or not. i also believe that if a cruise stops at a foreign port, you will have to re-enter the us whether or not you actual got off the ship. fyi... in the past, others have express concern about the us vigin islands and puerto rico. the main thought was "eventhough they are us territories, it seems risky; so don't take the chance." i PM'd with someone over at VJ who got married in st. john while on a k1... no immigration problems whatsoever. of course, there still is the question what if the flight needs to divert for safety to another airport? what if it is a foreign airport? i guess it's possible, but i would highly suspect that any us/us terr bound flights would only divert back to us airports... that's my guess.

i think you might want to check on this. i know for sure my dental coverage does cover pre-existing conditions, not sure about medical. i wouldn't immediately be discouraged by this statement... but don't go on my input alone. others correct me if i am wrong. more importantly, i too am sorry to hear of you situation. i send you my condolences and prayers as well. take care. Ryan

well, as for place to visit... the only real scenic place i have been to is hainan. really a beautiful place. i'd highly recommend it. one question... where is that place that is the setting of the last scene of crouching tiger hidden dragon? ... the place where the city and road is kind of built right into the cliffs? always wondered....

I've been to china twice. The first time during National Day week. The second was across New Years. I actually preferred seeing the country awash with people traveling and in a very excited mood, etc. New Years was deafening mayhem and a smile on every face.. every man turns into a boy. It was great fun to be there during that time. You just have to be willing to put with the extra wait and crowding, etc. 135107[/snapback] people might be excited, but definitely too excited when they are on the trains! i visited edith over the may holliday this year, and we had to take a train from wuhan to guangzhou... my gosh!! it was unbelievable. i have never, and will never see a more packed train than that. we entered the car at the wrong end, and we literally walked over people to get to the other end... it took us a good 30 minutes just to move from one end of the car to the other!! not only was it packed, but when it gets that packed i guess people's moods get "packed" too. a fight broke out among the passengers and the food service people (who stupidly tried to push their cart through the train...) .... 3 or more people were hurt, and blood was shed... two women especially got hurt... it was a tough ride.

yeah, for chinese cooks gas is a must. i am going to be buying a new range too, and i am just wondering if any one knows exactly what BTU output gas burners in china is? i know here in the US it somewhat easy to find a 16K or 17K BTU burner for home ranges... is this comparable to chinese burners?

just last week i signed a purchase agreement with a builder. many people have mentioned to me the importance of making it "our" home... so that's what i've tried to do. so far the only decision i've made is about the floor plan (which she did see, though; and agreed on), but all the interior stuff i am going to wait on until she is here. then we can go to our builder's design center, and we'll (*ahem*... she'll) choose all the interior colors, styles, designs, etc... i'm hoping this is a fun process... but at the same time i fear things might get tense, there are a ton of changes in both our lives (marriage, moving overseas, building a home, immigration, etc...), so i'm gonna do my best to keep the stress level as low as possible... try to take things in stride, not to worry and just accept the fact that these things are inevitable ... it's just life.

i am really expecting this to be a non-issue as well. all the med plans from my company say that "a spouse" is elligible... period, no exception clauses. i hope this should be easy... knock on wood.

great ... thanks tony. that thread pretty much answered all my quesions. but, i'm still interested in other experiences too...

Hello, eventually my SO will change her name in some form or another after we get married. the thing is, we will go visit her hometown next Feb, and i want to get the tickets now... what name do i use? will her maiden name and passport still be valid for international travel? any one have experience with this? thanks, Ryan

edith just bought a one-way ticket for her self from some guy in GZ near the consulate. i guess on 001 he has a reputation of being "a really nice guy". it was by far the best deal out there. ticket was a flight on NWA for $671.... that same price was advertised on uschinatrip.com, but was not available when i called... closest was $900+. flychina.com also only had tickets in the $800-$900 range. the same itinerary from nwa.com was $1100. if you really want i could ask edith for that guy's name and number. let me know.

Wow... tough interview!! but in the end, all that matters is the color of the slip... CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

good news.... CONGRATULATIONS.. :D

david!! come on!! this wasn't in your FAQ! ok, joking aside... just calm down! it sounds like your doing fine. no worries. yeah, an additional letter of intent prepared for the interview is suggested... i did one, but it wasn't touched. this is DIFFERENT than the required for she signs in front of the VO. take care!

let's all hope's it's still there tomorrow too...

wow... congrats. that does look really fast. out of curiousity, how does those HK marriage thing work? can any chinese citizen marry there? (assuming they can get the visa to get there) i suppose this only works if you marry... it'd be cool if we could just go there propose to our SOs and then declare it our consulte...

me and my SO just had a rather long discussion about this. she definitely understands all these supersititions are just that... superstitions. yet, understandably, she they still affect her thinking. i guess this year is doubly bad for us, b/c in addition to it being a "widow" year she is also 24 years old.... and aparently being 24 is a bad age to get married. but, being such a great gal, we are going ahead and getting married this year. but to ease her family, we will go back next year for some chinese marriage traditions. not only are we waiting for this year to pass, but we also have to wait for a specific day of the week... we must do it on a 5th or 15th... the pronunciation of these sound like another word for some kind of "good fortune"....

this feature does sound quite useful... there have been a few times where this really would have come in handy for us. maybe i could still set up an account when edith gets here for her and her mom... just to make it easier for those two to communicate. how has the quality been with bigzoo and pincity?

hmm, i guess i don't remember if i used skype to phone... i haven't used skype at all in a while, and i know it's evolved a lot. is this a new feature? how much does it cost? even when we used skype computer to computer, it wasn't too good. i guess i think's it b/c of the network she is on at her school isn't very good. it's quite unreliable.

i think onesuite is the exception... you get MORE than you pay for. i use some other internet phone cards that sucked compared to onesuite. although, i have had few issues with onesuite, NONE of these issue happened often, nor do i consider them a bother. also, the audio quality is great. never had any issues with that. well, the intermitent problems i have had are: - call get cut off - local access numbers are busy - automated system doesn't recognize my phone, and i am requested to re-enter my pin that's my view on onesuite. you cannot beat the price nor the quality. i guess skype does have a good internet voice chat, but for us it was hit and miss, and it was too restrictive... you could only talk if you were at your comp. phones offered much more flexiblity. i agree with the sentiment that there's nothing quite like hearing your SO's voice, and with phone this cheap i don't think you can go wrong. we talked multiple times a day (morns on the way to work, and nights), plus we chatted once in a while. chatting was just not the same. our most ideal way to communicate was to talk on the phone and use the webcam. ps - fyi, the best thing about onesuite is the automatic pin entry, and speed dial... from my cell phone, i could connet to edith, at any of her locations, with only 5 key presses... sweeeet!!! ... just another little perk from onesuite. (13 key from my home phone... still not too shabby!!!)

yeah, i am still wondering the same thing me too. i know what notorization is. i know what a notary pulic is. i know how to get a document notarized. i understand the difference in definition (given by a few) between "notariztion" and "certification", but that does not answer the question: is a notarized copy of a passport, considered a "certified copy"? (if not, how does one get a copy of a passport certified.)

i agree that immigrants are not "taking" our jobs, but i also don't think any companies are "exporting" jobs either. immigrants are "getting" our jobs for a couple reasons. in the case of "labor" workers are lured here by the market b/c the pay is better. same is true on the other side of the work force... professors, scientists, researchers, they are lured and kept here b/c of the market, opportunities are better. same is true for the notion that us companies are so horribly "exporting" jobs. no they are not. the market is pushing them overseas. for me, i think that's fine. keeps things cheaper for me, AND, more importantly i believe it saves US jobs too. there was great example of a company here in MN not too long ago, that was about to gone under. thousands, not hundereds, of jobs were at stake. but, part of the production was shipped overseas, and the company and many jobs were saved. as naive as it may sound, i say let the market rule. I agree with 'let the market rule'.... and the global market if you ask. I don't like to hear people complain of their farm going under due to competition.. I say, "go find a different job if the market will not support your farm".... funny you mentin this b/c my uncle is a farmer and he did just this!!! (well, almost) it was a while ago, so i don't remember all the details. but i believe he used to raise lambs. then that market went really bad, and he had a wife and 5 kids to support. he didn't go crying to the government to give him a hand out. instead, he switch over completely to dairy farming. it was a huge change. he had to renovate multiple buildings and buy a ton of new equiptment. it was a risk, and it worked out for him.... and had it not, well, that really would have sucked, but i know he would have simply sought work elsewhere.

i agree that immigrants are not "taking" our jobs, but i also don't think any companies are "exporting" jobs either. immigrants are "getting" our jobs for a couple reasons. in the case of "labor" workers are lured here by the market b/c the pay is better. same is true on the other side of the work force... professors, scientists, researchers, they are lured and kept here b/c of the market, opportunities are better. same is true for the notion that us companies are so horribly "exporting" jobs. no they are not. the market is pushing them overseas. for me, i think that's fine. keeps things cheaper for me, AND, more importantly i believe it saves US jobs too. there was great example of a company here in MN not too long ago, that was about to gone under. thousands, not hundereds, of jobs were at stake. but, part of the production was shipped overseas, and the company and many jobs were saved. as naive as it may sound, i say let the market rule.