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Thanks everyone! I always realized it was hard (seeing students being denied for their parents to visit them for graduation), but never realized how hard it actually was! As my precious's aunt said to her "this is our lucky year" finally. I guess that I am so happy that I just wanted to share specifics so as to help the rest of you to be able to reunite your families too. I have to say that one of the clinches for them seemed to be that I have been to china 4 times before and that even my parents and brother have been to china once...this seemed to really turn heads. However, still one question remains, what do the "stars" on the visa mean? One has 1 star and the other has 2 stars... Thanks again everyone!

Woo Hoo. My in-laws not only did very well on their interview! They got their B2 Visas! And this was on their first try to Beijing. They were asked many questions, many of which we never thought of before. They also had to do all of this in under 2 minutes. Some of the tougher questions were: 1. How many times *I* have been to China 2. What the names of people in photos were (my name and my one of my parent's names, the CO said that if they just said my dad, he would have denied the visa). 3. Itinerary while in the US (listing all major places that they will visit). 4. Specific location of some photos (eg: not just huochizhan, but which city huochizhan, not just by the beach but yantai ..., etc.) We are excited that we can spend time together for a couple of months now in the US and will plan our trip back to china for next summer when we have a couple of months free too. Ok. enough for now. I hope that this helps others going through the process...

This is really foreign! In Qingdao, foreigners are allowed to have a free-city-sponsored lawyer fight for them if they are not paid on time (note that most foreigners here are Koreans and Japanese). And for 2000RMB a month, you can have an Awesome place!

Very good! Two points of interest: #1 - it is ILLEGAL TO WORK IN CHINA WITHOUT A Z-VISA. This is emphasized on the Chinese Embassy Website in London and in Berlin (in English and German respectively). I knew someone in Yantai who had a similar problem as you mention, and without the Z-visa, the police can not help, since although you MAY BE ABLE TO RECOVER in court, you will likely be jailed after obtaining the money for breaking the immigration laws in China (this happened to someone I have heard...) #2 - you can DEFINITELY RENT an apartment for only 1000RMB a month. It is no problem. The only problem is that in Nanning the local police are quite conservative and take a dim look on people renting out houses to people on tourist visas. Again, if you have a residence permit (or a D visa I believe, but I am not sure) or a Z-Work Visa, then you can not be harassed by the police in this manner. Some people we know are going through the slow paperwork to open a school in the North East and right now dealing with the issue of trying to obtain legal work papers is frustrating.

Chicago, on the other hand, mails them to different places. And then the city that you are in sets the timeframe for the interview. Last I checked, New York City was running about a 2-3 year wait. If you moved across the river into NJ, it would cut the wait to only 1-2 years. :-( We too are waiting. We finished biometrics many months ago (they have been used for the EAD too...which we have had now for more than a month already), and have not heard heads or tails...welcome to the North East... Good Luck!

Our AP took only 2 months to be approved, but it took more than 6 weeks after it was mailed to reach our house. The USCIS claims the Post Office was responsible, and the Post Office said that the USCIS was responsible. All I know is that we were the ones stuck in the end. However, for a reason, it seems to depend on the officer who reviews the case. We posted two reasons, one which was just to visit family and the other for a professional reason. It seems that the professional reason caused them to process it faster, since it would have gotten to us in time to attend...had one or both not seemed to take 6 weeks to deliver a parcel of first class mail! Good Luck

one more note i forgot to add...we already had our interview...we submitted I-485 april 2004, had interview feb 2005, and were told by interviewing IO that we should have it within two moths, and if we didn't then to call back...and write a letter...call who?? i tried that and it got me no where...they acted like they had never heard of what he told me...so i wrote the letter, never heard anything....then called BCIS, they said, we cant give you any info now, call back may 1st, i called back may 1st, they said, we cant give you any info now, call back when the processing time listed on the website is 30 past his date...so i called then....they submitted an inquiry...i called back 2 weeks later because we had heard NOTHING from them, they said, you have to wait 30 days, and if you still have heard nothing, call back again and submit another inquiry...so we did that, just yesterday we submitted another inquiry...so who knows...... we just want that EAD at least so he can keep working, but i think he will feel better when that green card actually comes.... this is all so frustrating!! thanks ....i think my little man is pretty cute too! he is my heart!!! kim 133705[/snapback] Sorry to hear about this. Here is our experience with this: NEVER CALL THE 1-800-MIS-INFORMATION NUMBER! Each time, we get the same wait 30 days thing too. Then each time, we go on infopass and make an appointment to seen an immigration officer at the local office. After waiting 2 weeks, we go and see the same person. We chat about how life has been, he then gets on the phone and yells at MSC and suddenly, a few days later, whatever we were waiting for arrives in the mail... I am not sure it will *always* work this way, but so far every time they have clearly made a mistake it has... Good Luck!

Mari, We are on top of a grander version of this already. Send me a PM. I am happy to hear that finally your hurdles have cleared! Still want to take you up on the PR visit...we hope to do that this winter. Get back to us and be well.

Wait! if it is not too late, could you please make a copy of them and send me some too? I have been learning after traveling with my wife. We are hoping to go back once my schooling is done, and I would love to have a copy too. In fact, I will promise to make and distribute personal copies to all who want them, so long as none sell them.

This is really easy to do...it just takes time. There are two ways we found to do this: 1. go to the vendors who sit outside of the gong yinhong (you know which one it is). They always trade, but you do not get legal papers this way. 2. go to a country that DOES ACCEPT BOTH RBM AND US$. I recommend Vietnam or Thailand. Just go there, in person. Both are heavily dependent on Chinese Tourists and hence will gladly accept RMB. Then just trade from the local currency to US$. there is a third way too...but we have never tried it: 3. go to a boarder town on the russian boarder. Most russians entering into China come armed with US$ and want RMB. Make a private transaction trade with them. and a possible derivitive of 2 is to do the same in HK, but I am not sure if this is easily done or not... Good Luck!

yeah. it is funny. two of our three checks were accepted on april 15th, but the third, which arrived one day later, still has not been cashed. my guess is that they do them all, one day a month, and likley today or tomorrow is that day.

I would argue that they are different SPOKEN LANGUAGES. However, since the Qin Dynasty, more than 2000 years ago, there has been a common WRITTEN LANGUAGE. This is definitely the case. When I speak in Qingdaohua most of the students at my university, even the graduates from Tsinghua who can speak cantonese can not understand me, except for a single person who comes from a different part of Shandong, and even he can only barely understand me. Yet, my darling can speak this, mandarin, and even another written the same way without a problem. Just my opinion. However, the argument for new centers is an old one. I must have posted that argument a long time ago, and likely others far before me as well. I hope that the idea can burn brighter, but I do not feel too optimistic, until we unselect the current administration...

Do you know much about Louyang? I will visit there next month Well, I am not sure if I know "a lot" about Louyang, but I can recommend some nice 3-star hotels for RMB100 a night, a few good places to eat, and a way to best maximize your time to see the sights, based on whether you have 1 full day, 2 full days, or more time, or whether or not you want to go into the countryside. I have only been to here once, but my wife has been here a second time... Send me a PM with more details, and I can fire back some suggestions. Have a good time, and enjoy the shiku (my second favorite to the one in Datong)!

This is something we are thinking of anyway in the future, after we are both done with school! The food in China is MUCH better. The opportunities for business in China are MUCH better. After the recent racially based assault, and a few other incidents not posted on the site here yet (since we are still recovering), she is eager to leave, but knows that until I can leave, that we must stick together. It has been very tough here. We are looking everywhere in the world, just so long as we are together, that is the important thing. And if you two feel that way, then you will survive and flourish! Enjoy your time together...

Again, what is your purpose of getting the visa: If you want a tourist visa, we are usually looking at a bank roll deposit of 100 wan or more, which could also include a home. When traveling out of china, they are looking for visas generally to the EU states, Canada, the US, or the Japan. Often times visas to other countries do not help as much, or at all. If you want to immigrate, then that is a different story. Your wealth will not factor in much anymore (other than surviving the tough process). The two of you will have to prove that you want to live together, forever, and that your only reason for going to the US is to want to live with him. Good Luck!

Being serious: It is POSSIBLE. If your SO is as well known or wealthy as Yao Ming, Zhang ZiYi, Wen Jiabao, etc. then in all liklihood, it will be possible. However, if this is not the case, you are still free to try, but the liklihood of it happening is quite slim. Welcome to our nation's "elected representatives" at work, continuing to represent blatant prejudice against countries which are poorer, not politically alligned in our sphere of influence, and generally have people of darker skin than us.

Woah! Scrap NASA saves about 20-billion Cut the Military by 50% saves about 300-billion I do not see the interconnection here... But the fact that the US has money to spend and chooses not to spend it on things which many people find important (health care, education, securing roads from terrible drivers, etc.) is a cause for concern.

Hi, maybe I can help. 1. I have been to venice 2. I have been to more places in China than most other westerners I know here is what I think: there are a FEW PLACES in china which look better than venice. however, these are not well known and are not the highlights on the map. ZhouZhuang is nice, but it far too overrun. Suzhou is not as nice and is still too overrun. But both of these places are sufficiently historical as to be worth 1/2 day and 2 days respectively. Yangzhou and Wuxi, both in the same province of Jiangsu, are quite worthwhile, in that both offer as much beauty as the first two listed here, but are less overrun. Each can be visited for 2 days, unless you also want to go to DingShan, in which case Wuxi can be visited for a 3rd day, or Tai Hu, in which case another day is required. There are many other options too, but I do not want to release all of my secrets here...at least before I someday get my idea for a travel company off the ground! have fun and remember, some of the best things to see can not be understood without some history to back them up, so if she says to go, go, but she better be a good tour guide!

If she has a valid visa to the US and a flight, then you DO NOT NEED A PERMIT. I posted a link to the HK government immigration department many months ago, which explains what exactly is needed, based on the circumstances. Just search for my old post. This applies if the visit is under 7 days in duration, and can be done instantly.

Try the student credit cards. They seem to readily take people. It was a piece of cake for us through that route...the only problem is the very low credit limit ($500-$1000).

Ling's brother in law is looking into this, and he will be sending me some info in the mail soon. He and his father are into real estate. Soon as I receive, I will be posting what I can. I just hope that what he sends me is in English. True on both accounts. And the construction of the subway line will increase properties in the correct places as well. That is why we just purchased in Qingdao...

I am *SO* glad that we are done with GZ! If we ever need to go to the US Consulate in China again, it will be at the Hong Kong Branch, I swear! This is completely absurd. So my darling, if we were not already done, would have to shell out MORE MONEY to stay in the CRIME RIDDEN GZ, or to go and travel elsewhere. She and her parents spend so much time and energy just waiting the extra day to pick up the visa. How the hell could they have gone back to Qingdao and back to GZ again? This seems to discriminate heavily against people who are poor, or who live far away, or who are both, unless they open up IV units in every consulate and let people use the one closest to them. We are so glad that we are done (with GZ at least) and feel for the rest of you who are still waiting...

Well I am certainly glad that we finished our business with the consulate a couple of months ago! This seems like a nightmare... for those with 2-3 days on your hands I recommend going by bus/train to Xiamen and Gulangyu or the other way to Yangshou. If you have a hukou which allows you, go to Omen/Xianggang. Not too much to see in guangdong unless you know where in the countryside to look... And what about others like my dear wife, who live really far away? This seems like more than an inconvenience...

Short Update ---- I do not want to write too much, since the thread is continuing in an interesting way... But yesterday was the first day that Rong was not scared to go back outside alone for a short period of time. She still is worried, but most of the fear is gone, a very reassuring first step!

I already can see a difference! What about all of the jj and dd out there too (jiejie and diedie)? Why do some people from China always assume that people are meimei and gege? But, thank you for a very interesting topic of discourse!