nousername

amber, thanks for the welcome and the response. ok, just to clarify....i assume when you write xiaoming, you are writing it according to the chinese ordering, right? if you did this, doen't it confuse the consulate at all since in the US we would understand his name as Ming Xiao??? maybe, i am getting too techinical. i am sure all the people at GZ are aware of this issue, so maybe they don't even care. maybe they just make sure both names are there... any order. as we all know, it seems that you never quite know what to expect from GZ.... i just don't want to delay things from some pathetic reason from GZ like "invalid signature"

Hey all... As some of you know, i was just in china visiting my baby. I got back on tuesday after a great trip. Been too busy and tired to give a detailed update here... that will come later. More importantly, we just got P3 today!!! wooo hooo, we are quite excited about this. But with this brings a few questions: 1) How should my SO sign here name? In chinese or pinyin? Also, in what order familyname-givenname or givenname-familyname??? I am leaning towards telling here to just keep is simple: only sign in pinyin, and in given-family order, since the is the "offical"-"english" form as known by the USCIS.... and even to sign this way on all the chinese forms too. 2) Does she need to write in Chinese on the Chinese forms? 3) Does she need to return both the chinese version and the english version of the forms? 4) How should she write the date? Month/Day/Year??? these are a bunch of technical little details that we have thought of.... sorry if they were asked before or if they are too trivial. Ryan

i cannot say much... but i arrived on Dec 18th, and everything went so smoothly, no hitches or anthing.... so my only real advice is don't worry. I leave in a couple weeks so i don't know what it will be like checking in and all... you'll need to learn about that from others.

thanks guys. this advice has been great.... much appreciated! Especially, that you mention NOT giving the origingal NOAs. I wasn't going to, but i felt i recalled that maybe they were asked for at the interview.... now, i know for sure... i will gaurd it with my life!

hey guys, i am getting ready to go see my baby for 2 1/2 weeks. we are currently expecting P3 sometime in the few weeks,... we hope. just want to be prepared, and make sure i am not forgetting anything for now. Below is a list of what i am currently bringing to her now.... can you think of anything thing else for right now? I know that most the the "P3 list" of things can be gathered while waiting for P4.... those things i am not worried about. Here's what i will give here when i see her: 1) a complete copy of the initial K1 app: the I-129F 2) the originals of all the photocopies i submitted with the I-129f, includes - my birth cert, here birth cert, boarding passes, train tickets, etc 3) Copies of my NOAs... (she eventually needs the originals, yes?) 4) A CD with pics of each page i submitted with the I-129f. (I took digital pics just in case i ever lost my hard copies. ) does this seem complete to you at this point in the game? thanks everyone in advance. ryan (just a couple more days before she walks into my arms... ... cannot wait)

yeah, that's for sure. money ain't never bought anyone happiness.... especially, money that wasn't earned or deserved. i think it's great when people understand the true value of money. unforunately, some have to learn the hard way.

must be nwa... i am going minneapolis->tokyo->GZ on friday... oh yeah... going to see my baby! guess you're on the flight... so i can probably say, hope you enjoyed the trip... let me know how it was... never flown nwa for long distances. My father had *no fun* on the trip, with him being held up in Narita for a long time (it seems they wanted to search every white and Chinese person's bags very thoroughly). From that point on, we have decided to boycott Narita. really? wow... this is 2 for 2 from people i've heard.... a guy from my work just flew nwa through narita, and go stuck there for a while too. I flew through narita on my first trip to china, with united, and there wasn't a problem. i guess i have to hope for the best.

well, what was it may i ask? if not, i understand. man, i cannot imagine.... 2 years is a really long time. anyway, wish you guys the best. ryan

man! i thought this was a joke at first... didn't quite get it. so i looked it up... found it here: http://www.usavisacounsel.com/article-60.htm anyway, it doesn't really explain their "speed" now, since this occurred back in 2002... but i guess some some apps do take years to process.

must be nwa... i am going minneapolis->tokyo->GZ on friday... oh yeah... going to see my baby! guess you're on the flight... so i can probably say, hope you enjoyed the trip... let me know how it was... never flown nwa for long distances.

i think people can make whatever connections they want... i really doesn't bother me. I can accept your connections, reject them, or laugh at them. (had you really been making those connections... you know which of these i'd be doing. ) also, go ahead... post those journals. BUT, at the same time i don't think that articles connecting immigration and terroism really belong here, b/c that doesn't really help anyone here get through this process any faster. whereas, if this post were true, it does shed light on the process we are dealing with.

I hope you are talking about Instapundit.com and not CFL. There's more than just facts at CFL but experiences from people that have already been thru the process and who shares with others in hopes to give insight to the process. CFL is more than just a list of links. It is a site intended for real people who have been thru the real process. i think a re-read of my post (and the posts to which i was initially replying) might be in need. actaully, I was referring to both websites. As i type, I am about to post here-- on CFL-- my own biased, personal, and even at times political views--as do many others on CFL. There no getting around this. Part of my point was that i think all here need to understand that we as humans do this.... on ANY website. What you said in the end of your post supported my thoughts. You refer to CFL as being a goups of individuals sharing their personal experience... that's what CFL *is* and *should* be. My point was that I believe if we take Lele's advice to it's logical end then there will be nothing left of CFL.

biased... YES... prejudical... YES... "just another excuse"... YES, possibly... could it be faked? made up? YES... couldn't anything I say or you say be made up or faked or biased? YES. so who cares about this stupid post? what's the big deal? let people read it if they want. no one said this was fact. it was simply stated as being from a "blog" and that it was "interesting" ... was it not? if we remove everything from CFL that is "not fact", "biased", "being from one's perspective" then CFL would be reduced to a list of links to goverment websites and a statement of immigration laws... is that what we want? i think we all need to realize that EVERYTHING written on this site or any other site is BIASED... since it is written by humans. we are by nature beings with biases. if you don't agree with it don't read it again. But i think it is great if guys like Cerberus and Lele point out what they learn and find out from their own research about any given post or source. Let us know that instapundit contains "little independent factual reprotage"... i think that is helpful to anyone... saves us from doing the research work ourselves. my biased 2 cents.

I am glad that a thread like this popped up... i have been around here for the last couple batches of P4s, but i alwasy felt overwhelmed to post a *congrats* in everyone's individual thread!! yeah, yeah, ok... i admit it... i am just lazy... but anyway.... here's a big one for everyone: CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! maybe someone should be responsible for starting a thread for congratulating those in each batch of P4s!!

I had a friedn who had a rather dangerous situation with a motorcylce taxi too. He was in Dongguan (this is near shenzhen??? yes? someone correct me..). He had been regularly going to this gym across town, and had always taken motorcycle taxis to get there. One day his driver went in the opposite direction from the start.... my friend new something was up, but just gave him the benefit of the doubt hoping the driver knew a short cut or something... well, this was no short cut. the driver ended up taking him to the opposite side of town and drove him down an long alley... at which point, you can imagine my friend was getting a little scared. then at the end of the alley the taxi let him off, but asked for .... here's the kicker... a whopping 30 yuan instead of the standard 3 yuan fare!!! at this point a bit of relief came over my friend, but i don't know if it was arrogance or what (on my friend's part) but he decided to argue with the driver about the fare... saying "bu yao... bu yao ... 3 yaun!! ... 3 yuan!!" (maybe "bu yao" is the wrong thing to say, but it's what he said.) well, this didn't sit too well with the driver and he turned to his motorcycle, grabbed a knife and held it out to my friend and said "30 yuan" .... at which point, i think, my friend threw him a 100 yuan note and took off running....

Great news!! congrats!!

ditto here...

What?!? You never tried mao's home cooking??? Some of it is pretty good, especially when they have the mala doujiang (is that right, or have I mangled it with something else??). sorry man!!! i know.... i am ashamed.... it's one of those things... always heard about it... everyone's eating it all the time... just never yet crossed my path..... ????? wish it wasn't so!

hotpot.... one thing i haven't had... edith promised me we'd have it this time... let you know when i get back... again, i too like spicy stuff. never had hubei food (...that i know of). we hit a bunch of hole-in-the-wall sichuan places are the school and guicheng where she now lives.... but the food is great. know sure exactly what "cantonese" food is... i just not that they will eat about anyting... a few times, i was fed stuff like snails, and goose intestines.... only once... i had macau food too, tame though interesting ... not my favorite. Ryan

i think we like thse posts.... your always had a good turn out so far... right??? i never was really into american-chinese food, so i didn't know what to expect when i went to china my first time. but as it turned out, the school i worked at had a great restaurant on campus, and i loved the food... i left china craving the food afterward. craved it ever since. cannot wait to go back there... i guess edith has been trying to perfect some of my favorite sichuan dishes!! since being back in the states, i've been trying chinese-american places a little more.... nothing like what i had in china, especially the sichuan stuff...

Won't NVC tell you the tracking number? I'm in a similar situation. NVC sent mine on Dec. 2. Also, I just got off the phone with DHL and there were about 4-5 shipments that left on Dec. 2 and 3 to Guangzhou.... all of which are in a "customs delay". So does this mean that it has already arrived at GZ? So i my case also waiting to be picked up? How often does GZ go and pick them up?

hey congrats, guys!!! Glad to hear that Nebraska pulled thru for you!!!

yeah, i'll be around guangzhou, but to be honest i am not going have much time... only in china for 2 1/2 weeks. we're travelling south to hainan, going to her family's hometown too. PLUS, my parents are coming part way through to meet my favorite little lady.... ah!! needless to say, this will be an action packed two weeks. we only have a couple frees day in guangzhou... anyway, so what are you planning on doing? if something can be done i love to partake, but i also am not even at the GZ phase yet. still waiting for the NVC namecheck... ryan

Just when i am getting excited and hopeful about things!!! AND I am getting ready for another trip to see my baby..... leaving on Dec. 17th..... daaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! not the news i wanted... 6-9 months once they get the petition???? man!! PS - thanks for sharing though.

work at a research center in the aerospace division of a US engineering co... Edith is an English teacher at a college in china. She's wondering what kind of work she can do in the US once she gets her. Any input on this????