PapaBear

Are you saying they hold 2 passports, US and PRC? Is this possible? I thought not. PapaBear B)

Sorry about the detour, I got caught up in the history and forgot you were focusing toward philosophy connecting related dynastic history. By the way, you've done an excellent job and I am quite enjoying what I'm reading. Alot to absorb! The bible salesman I mentioned was Charlie Soong. He had three daughters, all American educated, who married some of modern China's most influential men. One married Sun Yat-sen; one married Chiang Kai Shek; and the other married H. H. Kung. Thus it was said; One married for love, one married for power, and one married for money. Interesting stuff. Also, I remember that Zhou Enlai married Deng Yingchao, but mistakenly thought she was Deng Xiaoping's sister. She is not, my mistake. And Mao Zedong's wife was a junk-yard dog (in her own words) bit whoever he said to! I'm so enjoying learning all I can about the Chinese culture, history and yes philosophy. Sorry I side-tracked with my previous post. PapaBear

Whew.....so much history to digest. Again, David, you have done an excellent job in Chinese History 101. So many dynasties and emperors, then kingdoms and peasants. Glued together! Me thinks with all this information.....I just might be able to pass the Xiucai Exam? I'm ready to try......or maybe not. Thank you David. I enjoyed your writing immensely! Looking forward to the next chapter! Oh yeah, I wondered why you didn't mention the Chinese Bible Salesman, the three daughters, and their relationship to modern day China. Sun Yat-sen? Chaing Kia Shek? Zhou Enlai? Mao Zedong? OH....I'll bet I'm jumping ahead. Sorry about that. PapaBear B)

Thanks David for posting and writing this. So much food for thought! I am faintly familiar with most of the concepts you're describing here.....but I have a lengthy journey to understand and connect them as you are doing here. Your efforts are greatly appreciated! I can't wait to go on and read the next installment. PapaBear B)

Hello Gao Yuan! We don't have a complete experience with filing for Advanced Parole, but we did submit our application about 1 month ago (we were "pending" our AOS and in a security/name-check and wished to travel back to China this Spring). So I'll relate to you what we know about the process. When you fill out your I-131 form you are required to explain why you wish Advanced Parole. As I understand it, USCIS will review your reason and based on your reason will either grant or deny the request. Our reason was that my parents (aged nearly 80 years) planned to meet her mother (over 80 years) and family. We stated that their age and the "pending' status of our AOS necessitated our travel happen this year (next year with the Olympics would be a hardship). We filed on 12/18/06, and then received approval and our green card around Christmas time......so, approval or denial of our request is a moot point now. Whew.....thank God! I also can tell you that when you fill out the I-131 application, you will be asked for your anticipated date of travel and length of stay. After answering you will be asked if this is for single entry or multiple entry. Again, I believe that approval depends on USCIS's interpetation of the need for AP. A request for AP to go on a honeymoon to Singapore may not be at the top of their list for valid reason to grant AP.....but I really don't know for sure. I might suggest you schedule an appointment at your nearest USCIS Office through the InfoPass System and ask and Immigration Officier for their advice. Again, I don't believe they will have an definative answer for you (of course they can not make the decision themselves unless there is a dire emergency pressing. Hope this helps give you some options before filing and paying out another $170 in application fee. Good luck to you and your's! PapaBear

Thanks to everybody for your well wishes and congratulations! This couldn't have come at a better time. We had already shelled out $170 for our Avanced Porole Application and were ready to shell another $200 for a visa extention.....of course her dirver's license and EAD were ready to expire with her visa. So.....our green card hadn't cleared, we would have been out a whole lot more money! Whew!! Oh yeah...Dansm, we bought our airline tickets yesterday to take my parents back to meet Lao Po's family. They better like hot-pot as it is our favorite dinners while in Beijing, also the Peking Duck! Yummy! It's all good! Anyway, we're happy and blessed! Thank you again to everybody here at CFL. Without your help and support it would have been a real nightmare! Thank's to all! And good luck to those still in the beginning throughs of this process.....the wait and the effort will be rewarded!! PapaBear

Yahoo got the GC in the mail yesterday. thanks for the replies, It was a 2 year card but the issue date is 12/28/06 and it says the expiration date is 12/28/08. Based on that it looks at least my wife's card is not based on her interview but rather when they printed the card. So she's at least good for a couple of years. So the year long wait doesn't sound to good to remove conditions. hopefully that'll go quicker in a couple of years. So what are you supposed to do while waiting to remove conditions? more i-131's and work cards? Congrats Papa Bear & wife plus all the others getting greencards. May the rest have a short as possible wait & good luck Dansm Congratulations Dansm!! Glad to hear your's received her card. Looks like you have alittle breathing room too! I noticed your's was printed the same day our's was (12/28/06). Sure feels good to have the government's blessing with the green card in hand. You can sortta feel the freedom we all too often take for granite with the restrictions lifted with the issuance on the green card (residency,travel, employment, etc.). Again......Congratulations!!!!! PapaBear B)

Yeah Whoo! Well, the wait and test of patients is finally over! Lao Po received her LPR Card (Green?) in the mail today! Both of us hugged, kissed and jumped for joy....all at the same time together. Looks like we have a little room to breath now! Looks like we'll be taking my parents back to Beijing to meet Lao Po's mother and family! We're so happy! We have to thank everyone here at CFL for lending their support and help during this process. The long wait, lengthy stay in security/namecheck, and patients tried had us pulling out our hair every now and then.....but the end result was so worth it all!! Thank you CFL and everyone here! To everyone who is waiting for Visa or Green Card, keep up the faith!! I know how dissappointing the wait and separation can be! Hang in there!! There is hope for a beautiful finish!! PapaBear B)

Yes....Learn to repeat this to yourself and to her.....often! You can't go wrong, it'll always be the safe approach! File your I-485 asap. As the others have stated, the sooner the better. I waited a year to file ours (K3 -> AOS) and we were suspended in a black hole instead of possibly receiving approval without an interview. So I ditto all the previous advices given.....do it now! PapaBear

Congratulations Dansm! That was a nice Christmas present! We know, because we cleared "Name Check Hell" on the 15th of December and our Welcome Letter sent out on the 22nd of December. Yes it does feel good. Our time in "Hell" was shorter than yours, about 10 months (started in March 06, although our AOS Interview was in July 06....so we only had a 5 month wait after passing our interview). Whew it is a good feeling. And it will even be a better feeling when the green card arrives (ours is going to be a 10-year card according to the Welcome Letter). Again, Congratulations! PapaBear

Me and Lin went to the Manhatten Office. We didn't have an appointment and got into the building, however we could not talk to anyone. The only thing they let you do is use the info pass machine to set up a meeting. I had an info pass meeting for 1/9/06. I cancelled it and set one up for 1/4/06. The denial letter was dated 12/12/06, I could wait until after our info pass meeting on 1/4 to file the appeal or I could file the appeal now to ensure it is received before 30 days. Suggestions ???????? Toni......I'd wait and go to the 1/4/07 InfoPass appointment. This thing should be resolvable in an InfoPas Appointment. If you happen to get an IO who doesn't want to help you, ask to speak with her/his supervisor......as this is an urgent situation! Keep up the faith.....that it'll all work out! I know how frustrating it can be!! PapaBear

Yeah.....could be. I followed your link and read about a signature/photo request on form I-551.....but didn't find said form at USCIS's form list. Also mentioned is a finger print on form I-89. These together for the green card. I guess we'll have to wait for our Welcome Letter and see if ADIT processing is requested. We have had biometrics processing, same day as our AOS Interview. Whatever....if a request accompanies our Welcome Letter we'll make the appropriate response. At this point we are just happy to see things moving. We were quite prepared to endure a much longer wait as some "black hole" cases are held up for a year or years longer. That "mushroom" feeling has gone away! Sure feels good! PapaBear

I checked our "On-Line" Case Status at the USCIS website today. Finally, after months and months of viewing the same old message of having received our submittal requested in an earlier RFE dated May 2......I see this change: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Case Status Receipt Number: MSCxxxxxxxxx Application Type: I485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS Current Status: Notice mailed welcoming the new permanent resident. On December 22, 2006, we mailed you a notice that we had registered this customer's new permanent resident status. Please follow any instructions on the notice. Your new permanent resident card should be mailed within 60 days following this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later. If you move before you get your new card call customer service. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is great news and we couldn't be happier! But what is the reference to ADIT processing about? Anyone know or had this refered to on their Welcome letter? PapaBear B)

Lao Po and I went for an InfoPass Appointment today to obtain an I-539 form to extend her K3 Visa. The IO was very nice (Chinese Lady) and explained to us how to put our package together and where to file. Before ending our appointment she asked if we had and other questions.....so I asked if she would please check our case on her computer. She asked for our A# and then went to the computer. All we could really do is try to read her face as she spent some time clicking and moving mouse around. Then some unexpected words came forth from her mouth. "Your case cleared security/namecheck on December 15th." She asked if we could wait another 30 minutes for her to pull our file and look into it....of course we said we could. Some time later she called us up and told us that she would be putting it on the desk of the IO in charge of our case (the gentleman who interview us) and he would review and make the decision next week. She said everything looked good, no apparent bumps in the road. Sooooo woooo whooooo! Should be getting word of some kind within the next few weeks or months! And that's good news. We won't be shelloing out an additional $200 for the K3 Visa Extension nor will we be shelling out $180 for EAD Renewal! We know we aren't outta the woods yet....not until we get our Welcome to America Letter and the Green Card which should follow. But you know....we're jazzed! Santa delivered! PapaBear B)

You are right David, appling six months ahead might get it to ya without the usual hassle....and the USCIS Application Form does say, for "Renewal EADs" to apply "at-least" 100 days before expiration. Thanks for the link you posted, I found it very interesting. During all of our inquires with USCIS and DOS regarding our expiring visa we expressed the need to travel outside the country in the near future......and their word was that if an Adjustment of Status was pending, our expired visa was still valid. We learned later that was only true for remaining here in the US. Then USCIS steered us toward filing for AP, advising us that our application could be denied.....so, why didn't they suggest another route? Your guess is as good as mine! 'nuff said! PapaBear

USCIS instructions mention 100 days before expiration. But you know how their information smells......"Zack'ta" PapaBear

Hey, thank you all for your interest and help! Yes, pkfops, we went through the MSC. Our local office here in Sacramento advised they were not currently processing these applications (I-131). They do show a processing date of September 14, 2006 for work on that particular application.....but in the same breath, the date shown for processing this application at the MSC is also September 14, 2006. So who knows if the information they gave us is correct or not. I keep taking their work as if they know what they're talking about! We have scheduled an Info-Pass appointment for tomorrow to go in discuss this matter and obtain the form I-539 which I currently can not download from their forms website. I intend to ask why we were steered toward filing an I-131 instead of an I-539. I believe I already know the answer, although I'm afraid they won't truthfully answer. Ignorance! Hey, I'm willing to admidt it on my side......but then, I don't have a full time job addressing these issues as a professional (what I expect to face in the form of an IO at these InfoPass appointments). We will also include with this filing a completed form I-765 for renewal of our EAD. Processing times for all of these filings through the MSC is September 14, 2006. We will learn more as we journey forward! PapaBear

Thanks for the info on the I-539 tywy_99. Funny how IO's at InfoPass appointments lack the ability to despense good information when certain situations warrant something. I didn't know about this visa extension form, although I have presented my concerns regarding the expiration of our K3 and the desire to have the ability to travel as our valid K3 allows, no one at uscis has given this extension filing as an option. Instead of shelling out the $170 for possibly being granted a travel document, we should have paid the $200 and filed for the extension. Holy Cow! Live and learn! Also, I realize those stuck in the black hole of namecheck often spend year or years there. We have accepted this, although we naturally would like to be able to travel back to attend to family matters whenever we wished. We look at this as freedom deserved in a free country like the US of A. I tried to download the I-539 from the USCIS website and found that it wouldn't. I got an error dialog box stating that the file was corrupted and couldn't be downloaded nor opened. Will try again later and maybe get this paperwork going. Thanks again tywy_99! Appreciate your help! PapaBear B)

Lao Po and I have come to the realization we are Twilight-Zoners stuck in that Black Hole of security checks after our successful AOS interview. We also know that our wishes of uniting her mother and my parents in Beijing this coming spring may not happen as her K3 visa expires this coming February 13th. So we have filed form I-131 for Advance Parole and are holding our breath that USCIS will deem our request worthy of the issuance of the travel document. They could deny it and then we would be out the $170 filing fee. If they do issue it, we will likely not know that result until sometime in late March or early April. The processing date for the National Service Center currently is September 14, 2006¡­¡­about 3.5 months. I suppose our next endeavor is to file for another Employment Authorization Document as Lao Po has taken on a job and her current EAD will expire in March 2007. When will this waiting game and endless paperwork come to an end? Smiling until then, PapaBear B)

Congratulations Ed and Yilan!! What A Great Christmas Wish Come True! Here's Wishing You Both The Best Always! PapaBear

I agree! PapaBear B)

Well Said FuManChu! Ditto to the above! Family has got to be Number One! PapaBear

Wow That is fast! Congratulations! It's gotta feel good! PapaBear B)

Our AOS is also in the "Pending" status. This after a successful interview in July of this year. For the life of me.....I do not understand why USCIS schedules the AOS interview for a case before all of the name check/background checks have been completed. Lao Po and I had an InfoPass appointment last week and were informed that our case was pending and in a background check which was initiated last March (I assume when we submitted our AOS Package). We were politely told that approval could come any day, or any week, or any month, or a year or two......just be patient. Meanwhile, we must apply for Advance Parole as Lao Po's visa will expire a day before Valentine's Day (Feb 13) and we plan on traveling to China in April of this year. We were also advised that AP for our case must be mailed to Chicago and processing for AP's out of Chigago are now taking 3-4 months. I guess we'll just keep on grin'in! PapaBear B)

Hey Roger......we bought a refrigerator with our appartment. The seller of the apartment bought it a year before he sold us his apartment. He wasn't planning on selling the refrigerator with the apartment, but we liked it and included it in our offering. The refrigerator is an "Electrolux." The cadalic of refrigerators. I'm still looking where the access for vacum hose is???? I thought for sure this must be a dual-purpose appliance....vacum cleaner/refrigerator. OOps....guess I was wrong! PapaBear