Shosetsuin

Everybody, Im still working on planning my trip back to the states and recently learned from 001 that my son needs the same yellow(orange) little immunization booklet that my wife had to get when she was getting the medical check before her interview (CR-1). Anybody know the procedure for this? Just curious...couldn't find anything about it on the site. thanks, nate&molly&nicholas

Katrina, Congrats! I'm was in the same boat...I've just been waiting to get the visa so my wife and I could go back (and our son!) Now we can and we will celebrate her birthday (cinco de mayo) back home! Of course, we plan to come right back to China after that...but its the idea that counts! Congratulations again! nate&molly&nicholas

Hey all, Now that my wife has the visa and we are ready to head back, there comes more trouble, this time from the Chinese gov't side. For those that dont know the story, my wife and I have been married for several years, and in the process of waiting for her CR-1 visa to go through, our son, Nicholas, was born. Now we have everything we need, and want to leave. It seems, however, that the Chinese gov't doesn't recognize children born here, naturalized by the American Consulate, and holding American passports. We went to the PSB here in Shenzhen and they gave us some craziness about going back to my wife's hometown to get a Chinese passport for our son. Of course that was out of the question. We then called the American Consulate and were told that we needed to get an "exit permit" for him to leave. I also requested they tell me in Chinese so that the PSB here in Shenzhen would know exactly what we needed. The Chinese is 离境证 (pinyin: li3 jing4 zheng4). Once we told this to the people at the PSB they then told us they could take care of it for us. THIS IS ONLY WHEN WE SAID WE NEEDED THIS THING EXACTLY IN CHINESE! We had to bring the following things to the PSB and they it went quite smoothly. Here is the list of things they requested: -my US passport, my son's US passport, my wife's passport -my 'Z' visa -my health report that I was required to get for work (orangish/red booklet) -my residence permit (green booklet) -my wife's Shenzhen residence card (we live in Shenzhen) -our son's birth certificate -our marriage certificate -4 2" white background pics of the child. They also wanted several copies of many of these things, so it is best to make many before you come. After we spent the morning there they approved our "exit permit." They told us that we could pick it up the day after tomorrow and that it would be good for 15 days. We then said that was too soon and they expanded it to 30, they wouldn't, however, to any longer than that. Ok...just wanted to share my experience here with you all so that anybody going through the same ordeal can make take control. nate

What can i say? You were right!

Congrats!

We arrived at 7:15, my wife was finished at 12:00. Only about 5 hours, not bad. She got up to the window as was asked the following questions: When did you meet your husband? Where does he work? Looked at a few of the docs we prepared...and that was it. Visa approved. I would like to thank all those who have posted and all the support that was given. Good luck to all those still waiting. Also, Thanks to Chad, Randall, and the guy with the Brooklyn accent for keeping lively conversation as we all waited for what we have waited so long for. Thanks all! nate, molly, nicholas

Congrats! Jesus Christ I hope my interview goes that smoothly. I have a bad feeling about this. nate

Let me relate my situation. I first came to China on a student visa...left the school I was in to be with the person who became my wife...bought tourist visas for about 2 years, and worked...finally found a legitimate job and became z visa...was able to start processing visa for wife, and now we have the interview on mar 9th. It is very possible, and as far as I am concerned, quite easy to change a tourist to a working visa. The hard part is finding a company that will sponsor it. The classic thing here in shenzhen is that every school/training centre/company will offer you a working visa, but none ever come through. It can also be really trick trying to find a good legitimate job. I would recommend trying to find something at home first, and then just come in that way. I just got lucky! Regardless, it can be done. In South China they seem to be really lax about the rules. I accidentally let my tourist visa expire for a month once and I didn't get into too much trouble! nate

Thanks for the comments everybody...now my wife can rest a little easier. Still she is nervous as hell...but I guess that is to be expected.

Hey all, My wife were just reading through posts and she is dying to here some opinions on whether or not there will definitely be a translator available for the interview. We only communicate in Chinese and she is really starting to worry about having to handle it in English. Anybody have a concrete answer on this? nate

Dear all, I just want to send out my deepest thanks to all those here at CFL. I haven't been here long and don't post often, but I still feel that this is one of the most helpful, positive, interesting, and downright awesome web communities around. It's just like a big family! With that said, I have a final bout of questioning I'd like to send out before D-day, so here it goes (I apologize ahead of time for the length): Background I am getting a CR-1 visa and have been working on it since my wife and I were married in Nov. 2003. I live in Shenzhen and have for the past 3 years. I now have an 8 month old son, Nicholas, and have bought a place here (paid one year of a 15 year lease). Questions 1. We have prepared everything for the medical exam, which my wife will do this Thursday. (oops...not a question) 2. For the interview we have prepared the following things: -AOS info (I-864, I-864a, tax returns for 3 most current years for joint sponsor) -Domicile info (letter from joint sponsor, my father, claiming our relationship and my intent to move to his address; driver's license with parent's address, letter from a old friend of mine offering a job when I get back) -Photos (tons of photos of my wife and I, many with our baby) -joint bank acct statements, joint ownership of our house (in china) Now: For the I-864 my biggest concern is that I have no tax returns. I know that joint sponsorship is the ticket, but my job here in China is enough to meet the requirement. In light of that should I add that on the I-864? It is a Chinese company with no ties to the US. I also pay tax here, not in the states. It seems to me I should leave that blank and just go with complete support from my joint sponsor (aka my father). For domicile: I am thinking I should leave anything related to our property here out as it shows that we are somewhat tied to China. Any opinions on this? It seems our son should be a major point as we want him to go to school in the states, but how can we show that when he is 8 months old? He already has his American passport by the way. I'm gonna cut it off here and call this part I. Please add any opinions that anybody might have! Again, thanks for being so damn great everybody. (sorry for the poor organization...ive been reading over tax info for the past 3 hours) nate

This might be a stupid question, but... I have been reading what everyone wrote and im starting to feel more and more nervous about the AOS stuff. I was under the impression that i would prepare the information and just bring it to the interview....is this wrong? My interview is Mar. 9th... I am also getting a CR-1 visa...could that influence it? I'm still nervous because as far as my job, taxes, property, etc. its all in China! nate

Dear all, I emailed the Consulate yesterday to confirm that they had received my new address, and they emailed back saying that they have, and that I an interview date would be set soon. I took this as incredible news and so called my wife to tell her. The result being that she had just received a package with our interview date! Mar 9th! This is great news, but now we are thinking about how to tackle this interview. First off, my situtation is different than most here as I live in China and have since 2000. We are applying for the CR-1 visa. Here are some other special details: 1. I have been working a steady job here in China since the beginning of 2004. In light of this I am not sure how to handle the AOS stuff. I haven't worked in the US since 2000 and so I have no recent tax records or anything like that. I haven't worked or done anything there to pay tax! I have, however, been paying tax here for the past few years. How would this reflect on my AOS? 2. Our son was born last June. He is now 8 months old and already has his American passport. I am thinking that this will help a ton in validating the relationship between my wife and I. 3. My wife doesn't really speak English, but I speak Chinese. I have heard other people needed to prepare videos and stuff like that. Does anybody have a definite bit of info on this? We also have joint property here in China, lots of home movies that we have taken with our son, and tons of pics. 4. We are planning to head to the states after we get the visa, but then come back to China after a month or so (as soon as we can get the process started in the states) as my work and our house are here (shenzhen specifically). I've heard this isn't a problem...again, im not sure. ok...im so excited that we are going to have a chance to go back. I personally haven't been back in the states for about 3 years and I am ready to take a break from China's little annoyances. Thanks all and im happy the wait is finally over. Congrats to all those who have received their p4s and let me know if anybody is going to be in Guangzhou around Mar 9th as I will certainly be there. nate

oops..just a little correction. I said we sent in p3 stuff mar 2004. I meant to say mar 2005!

Hey everybody, I don't know if anybody remembers me from almost a year ago, but I had a few posts then. anyhoo. I live here in China (Shenzhen) with my wife. We got married in November of 2003 and started processing her visa shortly after that. In March of 2004 we received the P3 stuff and sent it in a few days later. Since then until now we have heard nothing from them. I bought phone cards from the CITIC bank and called the visa information hotline, but they just told me that they are still doing the name check? Has anybody heard a similar story? Waiting a year for the namecheck to clear for a CR-1 visa? Please let me know if anybody has some extra background for this situation. On a lighter note, my wife did give birth to our son this last June. He is now over 6 months old. nate