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Hold on! I have a question that needs to be answered first: 1. You state that you want to *change* her citizenship but then 2. You claim that you only want to go back and forth to the US to be able to visit the family. Currently the *law* in both China and in the US prevents people from being citizens of *both* nations simultaneously (although I know of a small number who currently hold passports to both). So, I must ask you this question, does she want to become an AMERICAN CITIZEN, or merely obtain a Green Card, so that she can travel back and forth unimpeded. Note that in order to keep the greencard, she *may* have to have a permanent address in the US, and will definitely have to come to the US at least 1 time every year. Please note that if she obtains a US CITIZENSHIP, that it may then be very difficult for you and she to live in China in the future, although with laws changing, there is no way to tell if it will get easier or more difficult in the future. Good Luck!

In reality though, I am not too worried about crime. As Michael says, use common sense! 1. Do not walk down dark alleys alone at night in a location you are not at least 100% sure of and even then, try not to go alone. I would do the same thing in Boston or NYC. 2. Try to fit in. Learn some of the language. If you can listen to what people around you are saying, or call out for help, it can be an advantage. (this can also get rid of the prostitutes bugging you as he mentioned) 3. Never leave valuables in an easy place for someone to steal, whether on your body or in a hotel room somewhere! Instead, I am still much more concerned with being hit by a passing car/bus or having a respiratory attack due to the elevated particulate levels in the air. I believe that these are far more likely to occur than a violent attack.

I would also like to put in a plug for the poor maths education which most people have in the US and England. Having taught maths in HS for a year to some of the brightest, it was sad to see what basics they had not been taught. It is quite possible that the kid resented that you knew something that he did not. I think that if you go about it in a different way that you could really help him. I do not know if it is possible, but if you can make it interesting, that would go a long way. It as worked for many people that I have tutored privately as well as in the school. And if you could do that, it would be a gift the host family would most likely be grateful for!

I have seen them in the US before. I am not sure if they have been snuck in illegally, or if the seed can be considered safe by somehow going through a process...*tis* sad though! I love eating huge amounts of them.

I definitely agree that there are far too many qualified people who have the sole aim of studying and then returning who are denied visas. It is really sad. I am also so happy for you that he was able to get a B2/B1! When looking at the stats which come out from the state department, they are extremely hard for the average chinese person who is not extremely wealthy to get (have you gotten lucky and found a wealthy guy???).

Thanks for that!! So then good new to everyone in Boston: At MIT they are playing it this Thursday and Saturday. The fee is only $3.00 and it is open to anyone who wants to come. It will be in room 26-100 and if you do not know where that it, then send me a PM and I can help you find your way.

I am sorry to hear that he is worrying! I also did *not* know about the knives, yikes! Except, there is potential hope too. In Vietnam, using a knife to cut a bag away is a common trick used by thieves. However, the people are generally very willing to help out an obvious foreigner there, and hence foreigners are much less likely to be targets. Hence, if you were to travel together, maybe you could reassure him? Does anyone have a breakdown of crime directed against foreigners as compared to Chinese in GZ? And if nothing else, you could go and kick their butts!

From what the law states, all you need to do is to show the person at the boarder that you have an onward ticket for sometime in the next 7 days or less and that you have a valid visa to go to the places listed on that ticket. From what a person who works for them told me when I asked him to clarify, that it should be no problem, but that they can not 100% guarantee an entrance. However, he definitely did not in any way dissuade me, which leaves me to believe that it should not be a problem. If you are really worried, go to the website and send them an email detailing your situation and I am sure that they can get back to you in a few days (it took them only 48 hours to get back to me when I sent them an email asking a similar question).

They indeed do! However, at a local hardware store I was able to purchase a device (it cost my 9$US) which is capable of converting from their electric sockets to my appliances purchased here. My guess is that a converter which goes in the other direction can also be easily purchased for roughly the same price.

I hope that you were able to enjoy your time and to see many of the wonderful things that NYC has to offer. Currently at the metropolitan museum of art there is an exhibit on Chinese Art from 200-900AD and it is really worth the $7-$15 entrance fee (depends on if you are a student or senior or such). Did you get a chance to go down to the old coney island area? I think that many people really appreciate it, although it is not heavily advertised in the tourist literature.

I was only reading what the consulates brightly displayed on their websites. If you could kindly pass along the law or at least a link to an official government website which confirms this, I would be most happy about it! Until such time however, I would strongly recommend that people *not* travel through a 3rd country airport, unless they want to take the risk of having a loved one held in jail for an immigration violation. I know that this once happened to a person who was flying through Toronto on their way to the US but did not have a Canadian visa. I certainly hope that you are right though! It would be really nice if you are. But my intention is not to scare people, and rather to give people fair warning, and appropriate links to consulates and the rules that they post. It has already occurred that people I know have been turned away from flights departing from China to intermediate points because the Chinese Police do not see a visa for that intermediate point that the airplane is saying that they are going to. So, based on these experiences, especially in the wake of nations increasing restrictions over the past few years, I will personally remain skeptical and encourage others to look carefully into this to consider the pros and cons, especially when there are *many* direct flights from HK,BJ,SH,GZ to the US. I only want people to be careful and come home safely!

Ok, here is the law on this. It *may* be possible to land in Japan if you have a CR1 or a IR1 visa, and you have documents proving that you have a job waiting for you immediately when you arrive in the US, and you have gone to a consulate to ask for a visa. However, unless you have all of these combined (or a green card, but that can not be at the present time), you the USC will need to find someone in Japan to post a *large* sum of money to guarantee your wife (you can not do it yourself, that person MUST be a Japanese Citizen). There is one other possible way, and that is to have the pilot of the aircraft make a personal appeal on behalf of your spouse. The law says that this is possible, but in Japan, I do not know of it ever having occurred before. If possible, you may want to alter your flight schedule. Sorry! ----------- http://www.cgj.org/en/d/02.html Applicants Who Need Additional Evidence Applicants for a Temporary Visitor Visa who have a national passport of the countries listed below are required to submit additional evidence made by an interested person (Guarantor) in Japan. However, this may not apply to applicants (and their spouse and minor children) who have the nationality of the countries of list A or B below and have: --Legal U.S. permanent residency (Green Card); or --Legal status (U.S. visa) which allows the applicant to work in the U.S. for more than one year (excluding F and J visas) and evidence which shows the applicant has a socially and financially stable status in the U.S. (a certificate of employment, a bank statement etc.) Also, this may not apply to students or researchers of the nationality of the list A below who can prove that they belong to an educational or academic institute in the U.S. and the purpose of visiting Japan is attending an academic meeting or conference. 1. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan 2. People's Republic of China 3. Cambodia, Cuba, Lao, Mongolia, Viet Nam

You may want to *first* check with Japan if they allow that or not. I am not sure about today, but the last time I looked, it required obtaining a Visa first. Fortunately these could be readily obtained in Beijing or Shanghai if you had at least 10,000 RMB in the bank for 6 months or more on a continuous basis (but you could not take it out for at least 6 months after your visa was issued). Are you saying that you have already flown on the flight and hence know it is ok? If this is so, then that is great news! Can you please show where the link is allowing that? I do know that there are *many* direct flights from HK/ShangHai/BeiJing to LAX and SFO and even direct flights from HK/BJ to NYC. I am not sure how these prices would compare in terms of connections, but these flights are quite affordable. I *also* know from experience that flying through south Korea is possible once a visa is in hand, but Japan may be an entirely different ballpark...

Well, if she can get to Macao, then that is great! That *also* means that she can get to Hong Kong. So I guess that you can fly from there to LA direct too! Enjoy your coming home together.

China town in NYC is too much like GZ? I am surprised to know that. One of my best friends from GZ is living in NYC and she works somewhere near the China Town, but she never felt the same. As a native GZ gal, I don't agree with these comments: "the buildings and shops were too old" ummm I won't use the word "old" to describe the buildings here in GZ. I would prefer "historical" which can specificly give ppl a real picture of what GZ is like. I'm proud that I'm living in a city with a history of over 2000 years rather than being drowned among skycrapers. Actually there are way too many new buildings and huge fancy shopping malls in GZ. I've never been to the Chinatown in NYC, however I do believe it has its unique culture and history that Chinese ppl should take pride of. "the streets were too dirty: True, in the past, some streets in GZ were too dirty. But now things have been changed. I dare not say that all streets here in GZ are dirtless, but all major streets are clean, that's for sure. I hope that ppl here who have not yet been to GZ won't be given any wrong perception of the city. I never thought of GZ as dirty! However, I have been warned by 4 students currently on f1 visas who all hail from there that theft is a HUGE problem, as compared with elsewhere in China. I additionally was warned by a bus load of tourists from GZ who were traveling from xuenkongsi to datong (my precious and I caught a ride with them after agreeing to help them with their english) of the exact same thing. I also met a person my first time in China from GZ who warned me of the same thing too. The numbers of people warning, in addition to multiple guidebooks which state this, lead me to believe its true. However, those that had traveled to Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City have since reversed their comments about GZ being dirty and now only claim it is mildly dirty. Oh, and in NYC, which Chinatown did you go to??? Could you please clarify so that we can better understand your perspective. Remember, some of the chinatowns do not have any GZ influence at all and even the one on the map labeled as such is just as much of a HK influence as a GZ one.

Tough Call! It seems that most people do just that and return the form immediately. However, I would have reason to believe that it may greatly increase your probability of obtaining a blue slip, as it likely raises a red flag. However, I have not seen anyone try to do a statistical analysis, so there really is no proof to my assertion, and it is based on only a handful of cases. I would like to know of all of the people who got blue slips, how many returned their checklist right away? Is this another possible red-flag that can cause problems? *sigh* the whole process is so frustrating!!!

There *IS* a formal mechanism to apply for her to be able to go that way. However, it is a nightmare. It basically comes down to at least one of these: 1. She has to have at least 1,000,000$US (approximately) 2. She must be invited by a formal company using their annual alloted allowances (which were just filled a week ago for the next fiscal year) 3. She is married to a person with an id card for the island I would honestly forget that option. There are many really cheap flights through beijing on air china or through shanghai or guangzhou. If you want to try something different, book a flight from Seoul and take the ferry from Shanghai or Qingdao. Your chance of getting into S. Korea is much higher. Or you can try to go via Singapore. Although tough, it will still be far easier than Taiwan. Oh, and Macao itself will not be easy for her to get into. Unlike Hong Kong which allows up to 7 days, Macau does not seem to grant this same allowance (or if it does, I can not find the law on it). GL!

I beg to differ - Jack got a tourist visa relatively no prob, student visa denied twice (and not very kindly). I do not know why he was declined. I am sorry that he was too. However, i personally have met more than 400 people in this past year who have been accepted from China for an F1 or a J1. And in addition, the actual stats do not agree with you. Roughly 37% of people from China who apply for a f1 get it, and more than 60% of those for a J1 get it. I believe that the B1/B2 route is far less than 37% from what I have seen, given that the official statistics do not keep track of people who have stopped their applications at the RFE stage. However, if I have not seen the most up-to-date stats, please let me know! And it still *stinks* that only 37% are getting a visa. It should be much higher, I do agree! So many good people miss out on the chance, but in the long run it will hurt the US more than anyone else...

She can leave the airport and stay for up to 7 days, so long as she has a booked airplane ticket to somewhere else and a valid visa. The only reason she will be denied is if they think that she will stay beyond the 7-day limit. Again, please read through this carefully...it seems like it should work! I would like to know from people who have *tried* however, has it worked? http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_9.htm

I have recently tried to tie a pair of socks together before placing in the washer. And low and behold, not only do they come apart, but always I start with an even number and end with an odd (and smaller number)! And although there is *some* lint out at the end, the mass is not enough. Is it possible that someone is watching and when I step out of the door, comes in, stops the machine to steal just one sock, and then turns it back on, just to toy with me? I think not, but, who knows... Or maybe the boogeyman *is* real!

True! But a student visa is much easier than a B2/B1 to obtain... And although much harder than a K3, it is MUCH faster to obtain a decision (although usually the decision is negative).

I posted the link to the HK immigration website. Let me get it again: http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_9.htm It is quite clear. They will not *guarantee* entry. However, if she has a booked ticket from Hong Kong to the US, then they will consider her case and *likely* allow her to stay for up to 7 days time (almost always this is the case is what an immigration officer told me when I sent a specific email asking about the how often is it accepted, I think he said more than 99% of the time it is OK under these conditions).

*soft* means that it is hard to trade or yields a starkly different exchange ratio in various different region. *hard* means that it is relatively easy to trade and yields a roughly similar rate in different regions. for the RMB for example in China or Thailand or Hong Kong or Vietnam, one can get an equivalent of about 8.2?:1 but in the US, it is more like 9.?:1 and hence it is considered "soft".

who attacked who? I am confused...

There is another way to do this. If her intent is to go to SCHOOL/UNIVERSITY, then she can apply for a J1 (not the F1, because the F1 requires that you leave the nation for 2 years after it is completed). If she is granted a J1, this shows her intent is to study. There are many people who then, in the course of studying, adjust to status. It is quite rare to see the marriage route occur, but I have seen it before. It happens *all of the time* to adjust for status for a work-issued green card. Either way, this has happened before, and it is quite legal, if she actually does want to go to school full-time. Just a thought...