audelair

thanks again, everyone! and thanks for the link to the other thread. very helpful

cool thanks for the quick replies! what is the required time per year and for how many years is this required? I was reading about being a PR on the US government site, and it mentions that trips longer than 1 year in duration require a re-entry permit, but it didn't say anything about the required time spent per year to retain PR status. Thanks again!

After completing a DCF in Australia, my Chinese wife should be obtaining a PR upon entry into the US? Will we be able to leave the country easily or is it going to be a lot of paperwork, and are there some potential difficulties that might make it impossible for awhile? The main problem is that she needs to go to Europe to do her defense for her Master's thesis. Thank you very much! I did a search for info on this and couldn't find anything but maybe i didn't use the right keywords? I'm sorry if this has been discussed to death already!

thanks for the reassurance i guess i'm just really worried about being turned down at the interview, since we are trying to do this in Australia, and if we get turned down, and her Australian visa expires, i don't even know how we'd proceed (perhaps continue the process in Guangzhou? ) But yea, probably the paperwork will go through smoothly and her familiy will get the right stuff

thanks. i hope they'll find some translators at the notary office that can do it. still seems a bit vague to me. does it mean anyone can translate if they are certified? And who does the certifying? sounds like you can certify yourself?

thanks for the response. that is good to know! i'll see what my fiancee's sister can do for her. i guess i'm just a little worried, because i have no idea how to tell if something is the correct document, and whether it's notarized and translated properly. the whole thing seems kinda gray to me! like can anyone translate it? or is there some official translation place?

Thanks for the feedback. actually we are doing a DCF in Australia, so she doesn't need the "never married" document. I sure hope that she doesn't need to go back to China to sign these documents, because she won't be able to take a trip back for this, and that would mean we would be out of luck on even attempting the DCF. I hope someone with experience in this can offer some advice! Basically all we need is the police certificate and birth certificate, but she is unable to retrieve and sign for these (and notarize and translate them) in China. If it means we cannot proceed with the I-130 and the interview without these, then we will have to completely change our plans soon

Hello, This was lost in the upgrade crash, and there was a couple good replies in there, and i hadn't written everything down, so i thought i'd ask again! My fiancee was born in 1978, and not in a hospital, so she has no birth certificate. Someone mentioned there is a notarial birth certificate that can be acquired. Does anyone know more info on it? Especially important is that my fiancee is in Australia and will not be able to pick any of this up. What is the normal procedure that her family will have to do to do this as well as the police certificate? My fiancee was thinking that her parents could pick up the local police report and birth certificate locally where they live (in Guizhou), but that they would have to send it to a friend or other familiy member in a major city (like Guangzhou or Shanghai) to get it notarized and translated? How many pages should the police report be? (she got one a year or so ago that was very small and didn't seem like much of an official document). Any help would be greatly appreciated. I just want to make sure her family knows what they should do and that they get the correct documents before sending it to her in Australia. Thanks very much!

thanks guys... yea we put the decision on hold for the past couple of months, since it was too difficult at the time to decide how to proceed. With the help and advice from people on this forum, i think we are ready to try the DCF option. i will definitely update on the progress here thanks again for your advice. i will start having her seek her police record.

hehe, the replies actually make me even more nervous. so are most of you skeptical that this can work out in 6 months? also, does anyone know if it is possible for her sister or mother to get the police certificate for her and mail it to her in Australia? thanks again!

THanks for the encouragement. I have to admit i am very nervous about this. I just had a conversation with my fiancee and we are both excited and skeptical at the same time. Please wish me luck. I will be sure to keep constant update on here, as i'm sure others will be interested in how it goes

yea, i was concerned about that as well. but the embassy said that we can do it even if i'm a US Citizen, as long as my fiancee is legally residing in Australia during that time. i do hope this works out! thanks for the links... i've read through a lot on visajourney.com, but the DCF process can be different in all countries, so i will definitely have to get this straightened out as best I can before we decide to proceed! Thanks again.

After carefully pondering our options, we have decided to pursue a direct consular filing in Sydney, Australia for my would-be Chinese wife. We plan on getting married in Australia sometime in July, as soon as I arrive. We need to begin the process by early August, since her visa is only good until mid-February. She needs to prove that she is residing in Australia for a minimum of 6 months before she is allowed to pursue the I-130. BTW, I am a US Citizen, and i have received a response from the embassy in Sydney saying that she can pursue the I-130 as long as she can prove she is there for the 6 month minimum. Can anyone tell me what else to watch out for in this application process? Getting married in Australia and filing an I-130 is the procedure for direct consular filing right? And the result would be an immediate permanent residence upon entry into the US? One problem is that she is already there in Australia and may not have all the paperwork she needs. For instance, she has no police record. Is it easy for someone to get her police record and mail it to her in Australia or does this need to be done in person? I hope this can work out, and i have to say i'm a bit nervous about it, because we are going to invest a lot into this DCF method, including me quitting my job early so I can move there and be with her during these 6 months. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much for any information you can offer

actually i have taught English in China for a year... that's how i met my fiancee (she wasn't my student but a master's student in the English department). I actually really enjoyed it and would look forward to pursuing another contract at a different University (or even the same one). Thanks for the warning against the K3's... hmm, DCF within China would be through GZ, right? I hope to hear from some people who have tried it. Thanks again, you've been a big help in helping me sort through this

thanks again for the detailed response. yikes, one year for a K1? for some reason, i thought 6 months was pretty do-able! I don't think my fiancee can stay in Australia for that long without extending her visa there, nor would she want to. Hmmm.... Another option.. Do you or anyone else know how easy it'd be for me to gain residence in China if i marry her there? And just live there for a year or two, while we wait for a K3 visa to get her into the US? Or is that even do-able? At this point, i'm pretty much throwing everything in the air, and seeing every option I can think of!

Ah this is a good method. let's see... 1) Being here in the US not much later in December is very important to us, for emotional reasons, but no other practical reason (waiting a little longer is ok) 2) Authorization and ability to work is not important for the first half year (up to a year if necessary) or so after she arrives in the US. 3) Green card status would be important, since we plan on traveling overseas (she needs to finish her thesis and do her defense in Europe in summer 2006, and we have family reasons for returning to China once a year). 4) If the fees and paperwork for work and travel is straightforward and not too expensive (what are we looking at?), it is something we can handle. I'd be looking at the need to work within a year, and a need to travel out of the country about once every 6 months. Additionally: Will her status here have any effect on whether she can get health insurance either separately or through my employer? Thanks very much. I appreciate the time you are taking helping me decide. This is exactly what I need right now

Thanks for the advice! Your take on it is similar to how I was feeling, since I wouldn't be able to start the process right away. However, they did mention the difference in terms of the DCF process being able to allow her to get an immediate green card / permanent residence upon arrival into the US. the K1 process would be a much more tedious process after arrival, is that correct? That was the main issue that was brought up in recommending the DCF process over the K1, despite the advantages that you mention in support of the K1. Any thoughts? Thanks again for your feedback!

Thanks to everyone who replied. It's great to see so many people that have stuck around to help others. I hope someday soon, i will have my stuff taken care of and i can also be of help and service to those that need it. The bureacratic process is all the more painful because it is 2 people in love that just want to be together. At the moment, I have no idea whether i can pursue the DCF process in Australia (her being a Chinese citizen going to school there, and me being a US citizen NOT residing in Australia). So i am trying to gather all documents i might need for either the K1 or DCF process. I sent in an email to the consulate in Australia and if i don't hear back soon, i will give them a phonecall. Thanks again for all of the advice. The lists have been really useful. I think i might go to the office store and pick up some folders or binders or something, because it looks like this is going to be a huge project!!

After reading through some of the visa FAQ's, i seem to have a pretty good idea of all of the documents and material that will be needed for this intense visa petition and application process. There are some things i keep hearing about (like the police record) that i haven't really seen mentioned much in the FAQ's and guides, so i assume that stuff is mentioned in the application package later on in the process. I was hoping to compile a list of common documents that need to be gathered. I feel really overwhelmed with the whole process, being unsure whether to go K1, K3, or DCF, etc... At this point, i think i'll feel a little better if i just spend a couple of days gathering and acquiring all of the supporting documents that i might need for whatever visa route i end up going with (much of which i probably won't need, but the more i have gathered, the more i'll feel at ease). Here's a list of stuff i read from the guides: Birth Certificates (both) Divorce documents (if divorced) Death certificates (if widowed) Passports (both) Make copies of all pages of Passport (both) Certificate of Name Change (if applicable) Marriage certificate (if applicable) Passport photo (both) 3 Years of US Federal Tax Returns 3 Years of 1099 and W2 if joint returns Recent Pay Statements from current employment Statement from Employer 12 months of bank statements (if assets are to be considered) - or Statement from Bank Officer Proof of having met in past 2 years - photos of both together - boarding passes when visiting - photocopies of passport stamps - email correspondances - letters and phone bills There are a few things that I don't know much about: - Police Records (what exactly is this? what is the official name/document that I should ask my fiancee to acquire?) - Are there any medical records needed? I know a medical exam needs to be performed, but is there anything she should start gathering? - I remember someone mentioning providing documents of to prove you are single. Is that necessary and how do we acquire this? Anything else I am missing? Any other document no matter how unlikely will be needed, or how little it might help would be worth noting, since I want to be as thorough as possible. Thanks very much, and i hope this thread will be helpful for others

Hello, I have read many of the FAQ's available for the K1 Visa. I think I have everything covered except for one possibly minor factor. I am a US citizen (living in the US) and my fiancee is a Chinese citizen currently going to school in Australia. Is there going to be any difficulty in performing the K1 Visa process while she is abroad? Or is it easier for her to deal with it while living in her hometown in China? Also, I plan on moving to a different state in a few months, even though I would like to start the Visa process ASAP. I would then have to update information on my place of residence halfway through the K1 Visa process. Is this likely to cause problems? I also understand that the medical interview and examination needs to be performed at designated hospitals, located in the major cities in China. Is it absolutely necessary to do this at these designated hospitals, or would she be able to do it in Australia? Another possibility, she will be in Guangzhou next month, but there is no way we can get the petition approved and get her K1 visa documents ready in time for the medical exam. Is there a way for her to do her medical exam before we even apply for the K1 Visa? After next month, she will be in Australia and it seems it will be hard for us to take care of all of this while she is there. Has anyone had any experience with this or have any advice on the best way to go about this? Thanks for any advice you might have!