Dan R

Getting through the visa process has often been made bearable by my visits to CFL. Now as we reach the interview it has helped with advice and resources. My SO was stressed out looking at the official papers. She worried about the answers and what happens if she answers wrong or incomplete. We talked but I think the best thing I did was to send her the link found in the CFL resources to a sister site. http://http://usa.bbs.net/bbs/01/index.html She had not been interested in this until now. She spent an hour there and had her questions answered and confidence restored. This is another way, besides direct participation in CFL, that the sister site can be helpful in the process. CFL has played a multifaceted role in getting us through this process. I sincerely thank the creators, moderators and fellow members for the existence of this community. This is a difficult and stressful experience for a couple starting together. CFL makes the unbearable bearable.

Jim, give it til Friday. Even if DOS is open it wont do any good while GUZ is closed. No use punishing yourself when DOS wouldn/t have any updates from GUZ. Hang in there goatman.

Thanks! I hope we get by without needing a waiver. So was this a freebee? Can I keep my post count?

This is great news. I'm happy for both of you. It is amazing that you still sound rational after all this. Best Wishes.

*bump* anyone else have advise before I call her tonight?

Thanks Gene that looks about what I did but just the K-1 difference and that one little personal problem.

*bump* Help Me! Help Me!

Asian Actors have long complained of the few roles available to them in Hollywood. Margaret Cho is one of the few seen often on TV these days. She had a short lived series in 1999 about a multigenerational Korean family called All-American Girl. Flower Drum Song was the only U.S. major production of all Asians. I liked it very much. It had some of my favorite actors in it including Jack Soo. It is only available on VHS and never put to DVD because of lack of interest. Anyone interested can go to Amazon.com to request it and vote for a DVD release. Apparently there has been enough requests that they are now asking customers. Margaret Cho has a website and you can find out when she is on there. http://www.margaretcho.com/

http://home.comcast.net/~donahso/P4index.htm This is where I got the forms from the links and resources that I am using to help my SO complete them. http://home.comcast.net/~donahso/P4index.htm

Ok, so we have the appointment date and yesterday she received P-4 with the forms. This morning she calls unable to sleep and worried about how to fill out the form. I down loaded from the links and resources and filled them out. So now I'm worried about making a mistake and causing a delay. I have questions that perhaps those who have walked this path before can answer. Yes, I know these have been answered many times before but we are desperate people. Don I am even willing to have my post count reset for the answers. DS-156 here is what I did and please give me your thoughts 21. Present Occupation = Waiting for Visa (should I just say "non"?) 26. How Long Do You Intend To Stay in the U.S. = N/A 27. What is Purpose of your trip = Marriage 28. Who will pay for your trip = Finance/Petitioner 32. Do you intend to work = yes - Intended but unknown at this time. 33. Do you intend to study = yes - to become an esthetician 38.d. Have you ever violated the terms of a U.S. Visa, or been unlawfully present in,.... yes (explain at interview that she overstayed a bussiness visa by 1.5 months. She was having difficulty doing her assignment because of limited english skills and wanted to complete before returning to loose face. She also thought as she performed poorly she would never have another chance to come back and see America. Yes I know how everyone feels here about visa abuse but at the time we never thought this would be happening. In fact we did not think about this until 2 years later. Thank you friends for whatever advise you can give from your experiences.

Could that be because you are in Tennessee? As soon as they become a part of the US, the language thing should clear right up.. David don't you know that having a different language is the right of a semi autonomus zone like Indian reservations and Tennessee.

That's great. Congratulations!!!!

Could that be because you are in Tennessee?

Nice - when you don't have to think the translation you have made the jump to another language and the culture using it.

Fantastic :

Paul, You'll like it. How did she miss the directional guidelines for all of those? They all must be correctly placed by the compass directions. And of course the year of the sheep is a southwest orientation so this affects everything else for construction this year. Don't you know all this stuff? Try this sight http://www.fengshui-books.com/ and start studying the Bagua (Yi Ching). Roger can't help he is starting a drive to the point of no return

If we don't wait to give the new system a chance and the government a chance to see if it works any early questioning or complaint would only look like "Sound and fury signifying nothing". I work with government inspectors every day from several Departments. The thinking is all the same. Don't complain or ask before we have a chance to see if it was a good idea or not. You only hit up against a defensive attitude and a view that "you ask us to do something and when we do right a way you gripe before seeing what we did". I think we just need to keep a close eye on this so we quickly learn how it works. Let it play out then see if this is an issue really worth a fight.

Most people seem more tolerant of the traveler than other races or ethnicities they must live with. Racism was aggressively institutionalized early on by segregation of religions in colonies and formal slavery of Africans. As time went on slavery was banned and racism continued to be enforced by law. Technically this ended with the 1964 Civil Rights Act and continues to be tightened up as laws for age, gender and etc. are added. At all levels of government group interests dictate application of law. Often they push for return to a "Golden Age" of security and racism. This is not drunks or isolated individuals. It is application of the laws we live under. We should be aware so we can help our SOs as new immigrants deal with what comes up.

I'm not sure how 'universal' this is.. but i thougth that was one of the chinese prejudices.. It is and one we are working on before she gets here. Ir isn't anything real strong from what I heard and I am sure once she meets friends it will vanish with experience. I am more concerned about when she learns Chink, Gook and Kike but they know about prejudice and have much to learn in our society. My SO is clever and it is just part of adjustment. They will quickly learn they are not the Han majority here if they were at home. If they are not Han they will already know these things well. I had long suspected that the reason the 'black pearl' fear started at 001 was self-evident... I don't think people from this board would of jumped to a label just because someone was hard.. unless we had some prejudice against them or their race. Sad but true I'm afraid. When an SO has an easy or friendly interview with her it is regarded as out of character rather than taken as filling out a better picture of her. When I was a teacher the teacher's lounge was like that. They would fill in each other as to the problems of specific students. This was how many of the teachers decided who to make an effort with. Always ethnic and racial designation was prominent. I felt sorry for the students. Several I was warned about I had no problem with. One in a few weeks became an A student in my class only with perfect attendance. Forwarned can be a useful advisery of caution as long as we do not use it to create self fulfilling prophecies.

Squid who do you know that I don't know? Please don't let my SO know I could have done better than 11 months. You started the month after and moved up in line to the month before. I'm impressed. Now how do I convince my So that America is different and it isn't that I'm too stingy to grease the wheels to get her here fast. Really dear I do care!

Squid you take the paper work reduction ast too seriously. It will always be overridden by the need to reduce unemployment and shore up the economy. King thank you for the information. During this change we need all the input we can get. In this you are probably the best source we have. Forget anything I ever said about lawyers (you to Mrs. Wang). Somtimes in a bushel of rotten apples you can pull out a good one. But seriouslu, all the input, as the new system is applied, we can get is much appreciated. It goes a long way to making this almost bearable.

Don't be mad. Negative vibrations don't accomplish anything. Join us sister J in the Way of The Blue Thingie. Release what sanity you have left and he will be here before you know it. Feel the energy. Join in! Ooooooohhhhhhmmmmmm Bbbbbbbbllllluuuuuueeeee Tttttthhhhhiiiinnnnngggggiiiiieeeeee

With three days they don't have extra time to think (nope not going there- slap). The visa is picked up from Chinese P.O on third day. It must still be sent out theday after interview. So not only did they not gain extra time (control of the post interview) but the question is will the P.O be handing out rejections? There is no mention of that. Perhaps the decision by the VO when the slip is handed is actually final as it should be.

I'm not sure how 'universal' this is.. but i thougth that was one of the chinese prejudices.. It is and one we are working on before she gets here. Ir isn't anything real strong from what I heard and I am sure once she meets friends it will vanish with experience. I am more concerned about when she learns Chink, Gook and Kike but they know about prejudice and have much to learn in our society. My SO is clever and it is just part of adjustment. They will quickly learn they are not the Han majority here if they were at home. If they are not Han they will already know these things well.

Well they sent it to the right email and snail mail addresses. Seems like more than any citizen has a right to ask for. To overcome this I recommend learning the way of the blue thingie. There are numerous posts directing the way but mostly in the enlightened LL