Carl

I added this post to my youtube account. If you want to read mine and others my account name is "CaseyinTexas" "Sharon Stone is another of the ignorant Hollywood elite who live in a fantasy world thinking themselves experts on all subjects they have absolutely no clue about and that the world hangs on their every word"

Yeah, it is actually removal of conditions. I think she sort of blames me because I didn't include the affidavits on our initial package, but at least it will be handled on a local level from here on in.

Ying is worried that she may have trouble leaving China with an expired green card despite the fact she has the letter that extends it for a year. Will she have any trouble leaving China?

I sent three sworn affidavits, a letter from my bank stating Ying and I have had a joint checking account, copies of joint leases, and tax returns, fulfilling the RFE request. Today (Saturday), we got a letter from the CSC that the case has been transferred back to the local office in San Antonio to schedule an interview. I am wondering just how common are the interviews? The thing is, Ying and I are leaving for a trip back to China Tuesday. I will be back in two weeks and Ying will return on June 1st. How accomadating will the USCIS be when scheduling interviews based on a families travel plans?

Another option is adoption. That is one Ying and I have talked about. Granted most parents are looking for an infant, but I for one am not against adopting an older child, preferably a girl because I wanted a daughter. Any thoughts?

I posted this in the other forum, but it was suggested I move it to here.

Ok....this is what threw me: "Evidence of the Relationship.Submit copies of documents indicating that the marriageupon which you were granted conditional status was enteredin ''good faith'' and was not for the purpose of circumventingimmigration laws. Submit copies of as many documents asyou wish to establish this fact and to demonstrate thecircumstances of the relationship from the date of themarriage to the present date, and to demonstrate any circumstances surrounding the end of the relationship, if it has ended. The documents should cover, but not limited to,the following examples" To me should does not mean must, so I didn't interpert it as required. Now that being said I was properly chastized and after extensive groveling I was forgiven and am now back in her good graces

Oh great!! Best to start groveling now Carl, cause I DO feel your pain. trust me......the groveling has begun

Two sworn affidavits ARE required--I'm guessing that's why the RFE. Oh really? I swear I did not see anything on the application saying specifically that two sworn affidavits were required, unless it was among that fine print way down at the bottom. I'm willing to bet that they have to be from individuals not related to either you or each other (i.e one from a man and the other his wife?)

Back in October last year (2007) I filed our I-751 I included copies of all the leases Ying and I signed, including the one where she was added in the middle of my lease, a copy and translation of our marriage certificate, copy of her SSA card, tax returns for the last three periods we filed joint and a copy of our bank statement showing we have a joint checking account, all the required forms and copies of her visa and green card. In January we went to San Antonio for her Biometrics. Today, April 14th I get a blue form in the mail requesting more evidence of a good faith marriage (i.e. financial records, residence). EXCUSE ME?????????????? WHAT MORE DO THESE IDIOTS WANT???????? Pictures of us in bed? Any suggestions you guys can give would be welcome. Ying is mad at me because I decided a sworn affidavit from some of our friends was not necessary to be included. She swears that is why we got the RFE. Monday I will be calling them and find out what else I could possibly send them to prove our case.

Yesterday Ying and I went to San Antonio to get her fingerprinted. I was amazed by the upgrade in technology since the last time I had mine taken (about 4 years ago) with the digital scans. I almost made a major boo boo. I put in the address of the actual Immigration Office, off the website, in my GPS, which did take me right there. When I asked Ying what office we had to go, she showed me the letter, only to see it was it was a different address. Luckily we left home early and had about an hour to go till the deadline. I punched in the new address into the GPS, which basically led me just around the block to a strip mall where the Immigration Application office was, so we were still an hour early. There was quite a few people there so Ying, thinking we had a long wait handed me her purse and ran to the "little girl's room." The clerk asked if I had the appointment, but I told him my wife did, but she was using the facilities. He said if I had her letter and green card I could fill things in. I did have those so we got started. Ying was given #60 and the counter said 57. It turned out that I-751 were using the white tags and blue and yellow were used for another form for which many of these folks were there for. Ying noticed and commented that most of the people there were Mexicans, I reminded her that this is Texas.... To make a long story short, we got there around 10 AM for an 11 AM appointment and was finished and out by 1055. Hopefully Ying will have her green ard in about two weeks or so. I'll keep everybody posted.

That gives me hope. We mailed ours to the Texas Service Center and it was transferred to California. The same thing happened to my I-130 packet over three years ago. Texas must be so swamped with requests from "south of the border" that it has to farm out all its other work to California. Well Yinghas her Biometrics on the 10th, so hopefully she will have the card before the end of January.

Ying has been here for two years now and after a couple months of pins and needles she finally has her appointment for Biometrics in San Antonio. It will be on January 10th at 11 AM. I was worried about driving there, but I got a GPS for Christmas , so I will never be lost again. To think I will never have to stop and ask directions ever again.

There are FAQs and WHWs (what has worked). I'll take WHW over a FAQ any day. I started the visa process well before I ever heard of Candle and was happy to know I did the right things and in the end things did work out and she got here. I am glad it worked out Carl!! I am always cautious of reading anything from a former "rocket"!! But I did live in Oregon for many years, so I guess that makes me an honarary "DEEEEE-UCK." But then I went to college at Portland State so I will always be a Viking. One thing that was different in my case is that there was some circumstances in China that caused me some concern for my Ying's mental well being (Look up some of my old posts from about 2 1/2 to 3 years ago) which caused me to contact Maura Harty, then Dept Secretary for Consular Affairs. Her personal assistiant got Ying's info from me, then contacted the Chief of Counsel in GUZ who assured her that Ying's case would be expidited to some extent. As is the wait was still about 15 months, but on the Dec 20th we celebrated Ying's second anniversery here in the states.

There are FAQs and WHWs (what has worked). I'll take WHW over a FAQ any day. I started the visa process well before I ever heard of Candle and was happy to know I did the right things and in the end things did work out and she got here.

Another consideration is by marrying her you can apply for a CR-1 visa which gives her immediate residency, allow her to get a SSAN without work restrictions, bypasses the 90 day restriction on having to get married and the associated adjustment of status along with the associated fees. The down side is that in two years she will need to apply for removal of Conditional Resident status for that of Immigrant Resident status which is good for 10 years. After three years of continuous residence in the US she will also be eligible for US Citizenship (which my wife dearly wants). The only fees I paid in the entire process from beginning to now have been: 1) The I-130 filing fee 2) State Department income verification fee 3) Visa Application fee 4) Medical Exam Fee (in China) 5) Removal of Conditional Status/Biometric fee In a couple years we will be paying the Naturalization fee, but each and every one while high was not onerous, but worth every penny to me.

When I filed my financial data with the NVC, I sent them copies of my employment letter, 2003/2004 taxes, w-2 and w-7 and transcripts from the IRS for 2002. I also the same to Ying.....didn't have a lick of trouble

For the women: Go to a local departmant store and pick up authentic trademarked clothes from the last season that stores are marking down to in some cases 75% off. Ying has picked up some Nike t-shirts, US Polo Club, South Pole, Addidas and others. According to her the clothes, even of they are from last season such labels are still very expensive in China. Last time she found 2 pair of nice boots, marked down of course, made in Brazil. She gave them to her sister, but they were just a little to big for her, but she just stuffed some paper in the toes and she absolutely loves them. Ying has also managed to find new clothes, still with the tags, at some of the varoius thrift stores. For the men: Take some various adult beverages, like Jack Daniels, a good brandy, some local wines, tequila, and the such. Just make sure they are well wrapped and padded inside a sturdy suitcase. We took about 5 or 6 bottles and thay all made the trip. Also Leatherman tools and US made Boy Scout pocket knives are good choices. American chocolate and hard candy is liked by all. Tootsie Pops, Tootsie Rolls, Crunch bars, Butterfingers, Snickers, Baby Ruth, $100,000 Bars and Hershey are extremely popular, especially with the older ones who were given some of these by the Americans during WWII. If possible look, look for the various Mexican candies that might have some jalapeno or chili powder (if they like some heat). Ying has suggested some music CDs; Her family likes Country & Western. Thes are a few suggestions, but there will be more, trust me.

We live in a small city in Texas. Ying likens it to living in a park because as she puts it....there is clean air, no noise, small buildings, green grass, large trees, a river with real woods on the bank, turtles sunning themselves on logs, wild ducks and geese in the park and wild deer that walk by our window every day. She loves it, but then she says she grew up a country girl who later moved to the city. I am sure your fiance might find the experience different. I'd live there myself, but Ying has said she does not like cold winters, and I doubt a PSU Viking would fit in the land of the Grizz.

Interesting.....I thought I might add my few cent's worth to this. I mentioned to Ying that I was looking at Dish network for a chinese packagem but she said no, she is more interested American TV to improve her English. She buys some Chinese products and cooks Chinese food for me every now and then, but she has learned to inprovise and substitute American products and has even learnedhow to cook American food by watching me when I do baked or oven fried chicken and fish, make chili, spaggetti, omelets or any of the many dishes I know how to cook. If she needs her Chinese fix she will go to any of the many Chinese or Buddhist websites, talk to her family on QQ or call them on Yahoo webphone for $0.015 a minute. She is happy with a trip to China at least every other year, but this last time we was there for only a few days before she was, as she said it, "Ready to go back home to Texas." She has adapted so well she now refers to herself as a "TEXICHINICAN," and says she wants "Texas" citizenship as quickly as she can get it. The locals however still consider me just another DAMN YANK. Don't do anything special and she will let you know how much or how little she wants.

let's not forget that every baseball game begins with the question....."JOSE, CAN YOU SEE?"

Let me add my congratulations

Congratulations on Li Ren getting her US citizenship. I decided I was not going to try to influence Ying in any way about and allow her to make her own decision. All it really took for her to decide was to read the title page of my US passport and compare it to the title page of her Chinese passport for her to make her decision. To her that statement in the US passport was a statement of power and a demand for respect. Since arriving in the US her decision has been reinforced in her mind because she believes that the American social system seems to actually go out of its way to help those who are truly needy or have an infirmity that requires assistiance. She also thinks that Americans are more forthcoming in their desire to help even to the point of helping a total stranger simply because they need it. Right now we are biding our time. Ying will be getting her 10 year green card this December, but she wants to apply for her citizenship as quickly as possible. She has even had me fill out the online forms with our current information just to make the filing that much quicker. Wish me luck, the roller-coaster ride is still going on, but at least this time I have somebody sitting beside me.

I asked Ying to e-mail me with a microsoft word attachment of her address in Chinese. I added her name in English at the top and her city, province and China, PRC at the bottom (mainly for the US postal workers). Post Office was always cheaper and I never had a package lost. I would always send it either Air mail or at least Global Express, so that way I knew it would never take more than a week for het to get anything.

When Ying had her interview back in December 2005, she had an Asian woman.