owenkrout

Thanks for starting this one Enight! Come on some of you who have emmigrated from China, lets see your additions to the list!

I haven't seen the current time line on K-3 vs K-1 but theoretically the K-3 advantage that they do get to what out the process in the US. In the past, it really didn't seem to work out that way though. As for having to register in capital city, Liaoning Province was doing that for foreigners getting married several years ago.

I learned to accept it, but I also always hated the squat toilets! Western toilet was a big selling point at the colleges that I signed on with. I'm the opposite. I loved the busses (at least in the city, the cross-country are death traps on wheels), but I hated taxi rides. The pushing bothered me more than the cutting in. There was never a "line" anyway, so they really weren't cutting in, they just got there first. It was the pushing that really got to me. I eventually learned to not give in to my Middle American tendencies and learned to hold my ground. Most of the time I was in China what we had was either 4 cm of wood covered with a 6 cm "cushion" (very little give to it even!) or, in rural Heilongjiang, a couple of quilts laid on a concrete slab. The slab was heated from beneath in the winter. I now have trouble something hard enough to sleep on as I found it better for my back. Well, not the concrete slab. Chinese TV? As far as I am concerned, at least as good as ours. All those cheap, fresh fruits and vegetables where great!

Getting passed the Immigration officials at the POE was my wife's biggest hurdle. Actually somewhat to my surprise, she has found a number of things surprising, but has had very little trouble adapting. The racial mix in the US has been her biggest shock. She compares it to watching Star Trek. "Same as Star people!" I did have to stop her from trying on a new skirt in the middle of the women's department at Wal-Mart today. After all, that is the way they do it in China. I have been shopping with her in China and been ordered to "Try on this pair of trousers." "Where?" "Here! Now!" Embarassing at first, but after being there awhile and seeing everyone else doing the same, I adapted. Her biggest complaint would probably be not having enough Chinese people around. The only jobs I have been able to secure have been in rural areas where immigrant means Mexican. As for the bed... living in a Western style hotel didn't teach you a lot about China. Make a real effort to learn everything you can about her culture. Make it a point to make a trip back with her and live with relatives. You will learn more about Chinese culture and ways of thinking in a week than you ever will by reading about it. I did it in a rural area for two months and it was probably the best thing I did as far as learning to understand her.

The first time our marriage was registered the local mayor "took care of things" and issued the papers himself. Everything was fine by Chinese government, but later on the US government decided that was not good enough and we had to re-register. This time it was in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province. They did have a 15 day waiting period and we both had to appear in person to fill out the paper work, have pictures taken, present identification, present certificates of marriageability, take physicals and pay numerous fees (including several "special fees"). 15 days later we both had to appear to pick up the papers saying we were married (as I remember there was another "special fee"). Of course this also gave us a new marriage date two years later. The kicker was that the Consulate then decided that the new paperwork was good enough that they could recognize the original marriage date! I am glad she has her green card and we are done with the paper work as the question about date of marriage always made me wonder, which time?

I actually got a day off yesterday so we took a drive around the area. No particular destination, just a short drive to view the area. My wife Rose was very interested in the rural area as it turns out since she grew up in rural Heilongjiang Province. We got a chance to stop along the side of the road and watch them combining corn and soybeans which rather amazed her. She told me of being required as a high school student to go out into the fields to help harvest soybeans by hand. Seems one uncle is a village head man and he had asked her to find out if Americans really used big machines to farm with. She said that she had heard that they did, but that she had not believed it. The size of the area that each family farms amazes her. The friendliness of people has surprised her too. People drive by and wave and if you drive by their homes they wave. The farmer in the combine gave her a big smile and wave. She has announced that all Americans are rich. Compared to how even the middle class live in China outside of the few main cities like Shanghai and Beijing, she is not far from wrong.

You are right, it doesn't matter where you get the photos for the US documentation as long as the format is correct. That is the catch, however. My experience was that it was hard to convince the Chinese photographers that they needed to follow a different format than what the Chinese government wanted. No red background for instance. The other issue though is that if she is convinced that she has to go back to her registered city, you probably won't win the argument anyway. I found it very difficult to convince anyone in China that other governments worked differently than theirs did.

How can you tell the married guys at the mall? They are the ones looking uncomfortable and holding a purse!

Welcome to the group, but unfortunately that means that you have to suffer through the waiting that goes along with it! The government is very tight-lipped about just what agencies are responsible for all the checks that are done and just who is causing the delays. As for what can you do? Tough it out. If it gets beyond reason, start with the letter writting campaigns to your Congressmen and your Senators. We have found in the past that keeping the pressure on people does make a difference. The fact is though that no matter what this is a time consuming process. I have been out of things for the last few months do to my wife and I returning to the States and an un-Godly work schedule, but our process took over two years. Primarily due to mistakes and lost paperwork on the part of the government. If I hadn't taken a proactive approach I am convinced that we would still be waiting.

My wife is slowly adapting to using the Western calender. She still keeps a Chinese calendar for her own reference. It lead to some confusion on our initial paperwork as I did not realize that she was giving me her date of birth by the Chinese system. To further complicate it, the PSB had made a mistake on some of her paper work and entered the lunar month and day. Thus she had papers with two different dates of birth. We finally got a very cooperative PSB office in Dalian to change everything to the same date at the same time that they issued a police certificate for her. Chunxia also claims to be able to determine suitability of dates and ones fate in life from the Chinese calendar. Personally, I think she is just really good at making up a good story that people like to hear.

I was glad to see that during the week that I was gone there was a lot of activity on this forum. Looks like it is building up well.

Been a long time since I got overtime. I got somewhat spoiled by the college professor routine.

Just finished a 72 hour week. They wanted us to work another 24 hours this weekend but almost had a mass work action so they decided that everyone could have the weekend off unless they wanted to volunteer to work. Nobody did. Some of those people had been working seven days a week twelve hours a day for over a month. Next week changes to six eight hour days with expected unscheduled overtime of about twelve hours a week. My wife was shocked at the bite that the government took out of the check.

There is another reason for the odd looks and for why no one uses ice. You are wisely advised not to drink the tap water anywhere in China (or most of the world for that matter). Where do you think the ice comes from?

My wife is a strong believer in the Chinese traditional medicine and after spending a couple of years there, so am I! I have arthritis and the Western medicines and doctors were only able to help through medication that has unwanted side effects. The Chinese medicines were slower to act but did so much better and without the side effects. Since we are going to be staying in the US for awhile now, we are going to have our daughter in China purchase the medications and send them to me.

I will be gone from the board for awhile. My mother has been having some heart arythmia (sp?) problems so we have decided to stay close for awhile in order to offer help as needed. I am asking my college to grant me a six month deferment on my contract. As of this week, I am working in Quality Control at a Ford tier one supplier. We are manufacturing the gas tanks for the new version of the Ford F-150. I but in 67 hours this week and we were sent home the day of the power outage because our computers are all tied into the Michigan home plant. Scheduled for 12 hour days six days a week right now. Hopefully changing to a less brutal schedule next month. Still twelve hour days but two on, two off, two on, two off, three on, two off - and repeat. Regardless, I won't have much time for things like this and won't have a computer for awhile. (Mines in China)

Problem is Dave that there is not a consistent mode of operation for government in China. There is a very large degree of local autonomy actually. Also, most people in China avoid any contact with the government or the police if at all possible. It doesn't surprise me at all that anyone in China would be unsure of how the system works. Often there is nothing that could actually be called a system.

My wife listed all the places that she had resided in over her life which was quite a lot compared to most Chinese, and she only had one police certificate. There were no problems with the Consulate. As far as needing to register with each move, many people don't these days. At one point you couldn't leave your houkow (sp) without permission and technically you are supposed to have a residence permit where you are actually living even now. However the rule is widely ignored. The police at Dalian actually finally asked to see my wife's ID card and scolded her for not registering in Dalian. However they told her that since she was the wife of a foreign expert they wouldn't send her back to her registered home or fine her and they just did the registration at that time. Dalian is the locality that issued the police certificate which was good for all her life and for all of China.

Sorry, but I don't remember the name of the stores, but the modern hardware stores are a new concept in China that seem to be catching on with the upper class. One of the biggest problems will be that even if you can find the materials, getting someone to do the job right will be next to impossible. I have been in brand new Western style housing that was intended for the very wealthy and it would fail an occupancy permit inspection in an instant. The materials themselves will be very expensive. About 70% of the people in China still live in the rural villages. People just don't live out by themselves in the country like they do in the US. Those living in those villages often live in conditions much poorer than what are found in the cities. That is where you see the third world conditions.

Friendship stores are fading out of existence as free enterprise makes the same items available on the general market and generally at a much lower price. I agree that the Nescafe Gold was the only drinkable coffee that I found readily available. If you get lucky you can get a locally marketed brand that is decent. Milk (and many other products in China) are commonly diluted or impure. "Not really" in my wife's Chinglish. The watery honey was one that I complained about a lot in China. Illness and poisonings are not uncommon due to it, but the government usually supresses media coverage of such things. Occassionally something serious enough will occur that they have to admit to it. Living in China you hear about problems with students from impure food or drink once or twice a month.

Very good point. My two years in China went quite smoothly primarily because I took the attitude of "It's China, not America." Things were often very different but you just have to be flexible. As you say, its their country and they can run it how they please.

This was the problem with my wife's clearance. They already had the clearance that they were waiting on. Resubmits didn't work because it hadn't been a year since the last clearance. (It was getting close though) If it hadn't been for meeting with Richard Adams she would have stayed in the black hole until the year was up.

Now, they took down Owen's pic off the consulate's lunchroom dartboard and put Tom's up ! WAY TO GO !! That's why all those mysterious sudden sharp pains have stopped!

Since she is still a Chinese citizen, I think she can get a visa easier than you. I know that there are people from Heilongjiang that vacation in Vladivostok. No, really! Not too far from where we got married.

Second person that I have heard of having the FBI call them about a clearance. Maybe somebodies Senator leaned on the right person?