DocMartin817

very nicely done

good luck on the apartment - I am sure it is going to be great for you two. It was also great to meet you while we were there in Wuhan.

we have experience in Wuhan - we own one completed apartment and an unfininished townhouse. My wife's brother and my mother in law have just finished apartments too and we know of good contractors here. I think we need to talk about it. my wife is great about getting things done here - we are here for one more week so let's get together - e-mail me Marty

I like wuhan too - taking the new subway several times - what a great way to get around town. I can hardly wait until it extends closer to our apartment

We are here in Wuhan safely ahead of the great migration that started the day after our arrival. Everywhere we go we see people dragging wheeled suitcases and carrying bags on their way to family gatherings. We had our first one two nights ago at a local restaurant - lots of great food, white wine, and ganbeis!. Another family gathering in two more days and them some more visits to relatives is on tap. We are flying the family to Shanghai next week so Liwen's mother and father can visit old friends and we can go bird watching at the bay.

We had no problem when my wife's parent's visited us. We carefully followed the procedures outlined at this site and all went smoothly. Good luck!

a great career but he did it to himself by his failure to act decisively. Child sex abuse is a serious crime and his lack of action brought him down. His assistant was terribly wrong and it should have ended when it was found out and not allowed to continue with more innocent children being abused.

Great game and finally the Ducks broke through and won one of the big ones. We have had a very good team recently and after suffering through the years of bad times, this win is the frosting on the cake. I just hope we keep it up and continue to field competitive teams. Loved the uniforms and new helmets. Marty

I have been using Magic Jack for around 4 or 5 month now. Most of the time it works fine. But on a regular basis I get interference that makes it impossible to hear who is calling. The other day I was talking to a friend in the same town on it and suddenly he could no longer hear me speak but I could hear him perfectly. I am getting rid of my Magic Jack and switching to Vonage this month.

Or get a transit visa. They are simple to get. We had Liwen's parents both of who speak o English, successfully go through the Vancouver airport. I filled out the forms here and emailed them her parents and they got the transit visas shortly thereafter. No charge

Thanks, That is exactly the info I needed

We are in the process of finishing a new apartment in Wuhan for my wife's parents and when we visit. Liwen wants to buy a 220 volt cooktop here in the USA and bring it with on our next trip to China. Most adapters I have seen are for 110 to 220. Are there adapters available for 220 american to 220 Chinese plugs? Are there any potential problems besides wrong plug size that we need to be aware of? Any info would be appreciated.

The last time is shipped a package to my in-laws in Wuhan, I asked the postmaster if it could be shipped by "slow boat to China" in order to get the cheapest price. He replied that boat was not an option and that everything from them goes air mail now.

I use www.Nobel.com.com. It is 2.5 cents a minute and no surcharge --I have used it for the last three years. Right now my wife is with family for the New Year in wuhan and I call her every day with perfect connections. Never had a problem with them

Yesterday, Dec, 30, 2008, we received Liwen's permanent resident card and welcome letter in the mail. We had mailed everything off on Sept 3rd so the timeline is better than what is posted at their site. Since Liwen is going back to China to visit family in about 2 weeks, it is very nice to have her 10 year green card to carry with her. Overall our process so far has gone exceedingly well with many thanks to the information provided at this site. Next step is citizenship -- after Liwen comes back from her visit we can start working on that.

We live down in Eugene Oregon and have used several different airlines with varying costs. Liwen's parents came to visit last summer and the best price we found was Air Canada -- it was several hundred dollars cheaper -- you need to apply for a transit visa which costs nothing and connect from Vancouver BC to Seattle. The flights are available from either Shanghai or Beijing. Even though they spoke no English they had no problem with the transfer in Vancouver -- everything is well marked and there is help available who speak Chinese. Northwest to Portland and then to Seattle is another option that sometimes can be cheap. Liwen is going back to visit in January and has a flight with United -- it is free because she now has enough frequent flyer miles. Air Canada for her parents was below 700 round trip for each one. good luck Marty

My wife's parents just visited us for the last month and we had them fly to Vancouver and then down to Portland. The process of getting a temporary Canadian visa was super simple -- just fill out the form that is available online and enclose two pics. It was all done for free and Liwen's parents received it from the Canadian embassy in Beijing by mail to Wuhan. It was good for both coming and going. It took about two weeks to process. The plane tickets for a flight to Beijing were significantly lower by flying Air Canada.

We are getting Canadian visas for them, all I was talking about was the process of getting to the plane. On the way in for sure they will go through customs. But from what I read on the way home they can go direct to their flight if they have their boarding passes.

Liwen's parent's are both retired, although her father still teaches mathematics part time at a university in Wuhan. They have two adult children still in China who also live in Wuhan. They do not own their own house but live in a university apartment. They do not have much in savings and live a simple life. I think the key to their success in getting the visa was the careful documentation that we provided based on the guidelines posted at this site. We did have recent pictures of us all together from our trip to visit them last month. Her father answered the following questions: why do you want to go to USA? -- to visit my daughter How did she meet her husband? What does she do for work? What does your son-in-law do for work? Why did you move from Shanghai to Wuhan? That was all the questions. Two people in front of them were rejected -- one an older woman who was crying and begging for a visa. My wife's parents saw this and thought that they would not get a visa. But for them it was smooth sailing. Again I think careful preparation was the key -- look closely at the guidelines posted here. I just do not think you need a financial support letter. But we provided the rest of the documentation.

Thanks for the replies. We were able to get tickets for Liwen's parents for a trip here this summer. The price to Portland,Oregon was under $700 each round trip by flying first to Vancouver, B.C. This saved us alot of money since we are paying for the trip. From what I read online about the airport there, when they arrive in Vancouver they go through customs that counts for both the United States and Canada. Also on the return trip since they will have their boarding passes for both flight legs, they will not have to go through customs but can go directly to their connecting flight and their luggage will go direct too. This will make it easier for them on the return trip, since they do not speak English, have a narrower window of time on the return trip, and we would worry about them taking to much time if they had a long customs wait. My father in law says that several people in front of them were rejected visas at the Beijing embassy but they had no problem. Again the guidelines posted here were very helpful -- we did not do a financial support statement but had lots of pictures, a good invite letter, info on our income, employment letters, and tax returns. The main questions they were asked were: how did their daughter-in-law meet me, what does she do, and what do I do.

The good news first is that Liwen's parents went to Beijing last week and both got visitor visas. We followed the guidelines here fairly closely and made a good case for them and visited last month and took lots of pics. Now we are trying to get them good price tickets to fly to Portland Oregon where we would meet them. The cheapest option is for them to fly to Vancouver BC and then to Portland. Is there a problem with them flying first to Canada? Do they also need to get a Canadian visitor visa? Also we thought maybe we could take the train up there and meet them. Could they as an option take a train from Canada to USA or would there be problems? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks David once again, You are a little ahead of me but I will start planning for our removal in the near future and sending it in right at the ninety day mark. Your info is a great help -- especially having it all in one place.

Great to hear that and continued good luck in the future!!

It says to send certified checks or money orders. I sent a money order with mine

Liwen's passport extension arrived in the mail yesterday from the SanFrancisco embassy. It took a slight bit longer because I forgot to make a copy of the passport pages and include them. They sent everything back including the check with a request in Chinese for the passport pages copies. Overall it went quickly and smoothly and I was pleased at how fast and responsive they were. So now her passport is good until 2012. She is going back to visit family in February so she is very happy that this is all taken care of.