bob&haiqing

Hey Michael, I agree with what you're saying. I've also thought it would be nice for the USC and the beneficiary to interview together, what better way for us to show the sincerity of our relationships. I've also thought "why doesn't GUZ do this?" and other than the possibity of longer interviews I think the real reason may be this: If the USC is allowed at the interview and they feel that their "rights" in this legal process have been violated in some way, it would now open up a big bag of worms regarding potential law suits. GUZ would basically be handing the USC the ammunition they need to justify a law suit and challenge the law as it's currently written where as it stands now the USC has none. Keeping the USC out of the interview keeps this door of opportunity closed. You are also very right about your next statement. We in this visa process have to remeber that no matter how emotionally invested we are in this visa process it is not about "our LOVE" ... it is a legal process pure and simple. There is nothing in the visa laws to my knowledge that states a visa will be issued based on how much you love one another. I think we're all best served to keep our emotions at bay when dealing with the USCIS, DOS and GUZ and work to understand the law and the process as best we can in order to navigate it successfully. Will this guarantee success? No. Will it increase your odds of success? Definitely, and if you run into the brick wall that some here on CFL have you also have some good resources here to help you find a way around it. I can understand where some would want to band together and start a class action law suit to challenge GUZ authority but think of the time, money and emotionally draining effort this would take. Read toplaws post to get a good perspective on what you'd be up against. It could take many more years to challenge and change this than it would to work through the process as it now stands and find another way to the visa, after all, is that not the real goal? Follow the perfect reference tsap seui made to this, persistance! Best of luck to everyone! Bob

CONGRATULATIONS! To both of you, I hope you have a terrific life together and a safe trip back to the USA. Enjoy! Bob

I would be on my way but I start conditional testing for my new police department tomorrow. In the mean time, I'll just police it up at my current department, until the sun comes up. Here's to hoping things go well soon, and mark my word, if we don't make it for dinner with ya'll in Shenzhen or GZ, Wendy and I will take a weekend up to Chicago. I've never been, and neither has Wendy, so new experiences all around! One way or another, we'll get it done Dylan Good luck in your new position! Bob

Hey lubmahgrl, When the power goes out and then back on again the router and modem will boot up at the same time and that may be why it doesn't want to work properly for you. Try this, turn everything off, wait a minute, turn on the modem and wait several minutes until it completely boots up, when it's finished then turn on the router and wait until it completely boots up, it should now successfully find the modem, now turn on your computer and everything should work fine. This used to drive me crazy until I figured it out. About six months ago my cable modem bit the dust and I replaced it with a Motorola cable modem/wireless router all in one. Even though my wireless router was fine I thought it was a prime opportunity to eliminate one piece of hardware and also avoid the boot up sequence required with a separate modem and wireless router ... works like a charm FYI: Another thing that will break a wireless internet connection is a cordless phone as some models work at 2.4GHz just like a wireless router. I used to have one and every forth or fifth phone call would put it on the exact same frequency as my router and break my internet connection. I've since tossed the cordless phone for a wifi phone that works through my wireless router over the internet and eliminated that problem. If you have a neighbor in close proximity that uses a cordless phone they could be breaking your connection also. Hey Charles, If your router is a little older it may not recognize your wife's newer laptop. When I replaced my older router with the new one there was something about newer settings in the new modem that Comcast told me would make my connections more reliable ... they were full of you know what as I had better service from Cox in California than I've ever received from Comcast using the same hardware ... anyway ... I digress ... back to the subject. Try going into the laptop and giving it a static IP address, then go into your router and enter the name of the computer into it's list with the same IP address, then shut down everything and boot up in the sequence I mentioned above and see if that works. I had to do that with my router here in China to get my wifi phone to work. I had to enter it into the router with a static IP address and then it worked fine. The funny thing was, this wifi phone was an exact replacement for the one I had here last year and I didn't have to do that with the old phone I don't understand why it was necessary to do that with the new one but at least it works now Good luck to you! Bob

Hey Richard and Amanda, Have a safe trip and a lot of fun together ... how for you both. If you make it down to Shenzhen let Haiqing and I know and perhaps we can get together ... we're still waiting for Dylan to get here so we can go up to Guangzhou to meet him and Wendy for some Enjoy your time together Bob

Hey LaurenAmber, Do they "quack" if you squeeze them? I remember my sisters having ones that did that when I was a kid Quack, quack! Bob

Hey warpedbored, Check out http://www.timelyvisa.com/ in the Los Angeles area. I've used them for some time now, talk with Ray Yu, he'll help you. Good luck! Bob

Hey 406camaro, We have the visas in hand so there's no concern with GUZ at this point. Two reasons we're waiting, Haiqing has a nice bonus coming the beginning of next year and if she quits her job now she forfeits the bonus and being so close to the end of the year leaving now makes no sense, also her son is finishing a semester in college. My business is 100% mobile so I can work from here no problem. We're going to spend Chinese New Years up north with the family and a few weeks after that come to the USA together on the 18th of February So in the mean time I get to enjoy the food ... went out for a nice lobster and oyster dinner last week on her Birthday Yum, yum, yum Bob

too good ... and don't forget "Special"

Oh ... one thing I forgot to mention. I think that if you do have a multi-entry visa and you extend the stay past 30 days it will invalidate your current visa so you will no longer have a mutli-entry visa and you can't use it on a future trip. You'll need to get a new visa for future trips in that case. Good luck! Bob

Hey Carl, I'm not 100% certain about this but I have heard that the visa can be extended once you're in China, I'd verify this once you're here. If you didn't receive a mutli-entry visa, your other relatively easy option is to fly to Hong Kong, spend a day or two and get another visa there. If you did receive the muti-entry visa you can fly to Hong Kong also, stay one day and re-enter the mainland and the 30 days start ticking again. 30 day tourist visas are pretty much the norm unless you have business interests here or property in China. Once you can obtain a 60 day visa, like I have, it's easy to get them again. You simply request them and provide a photo copy of your last one when applying for a new visa. Since I'll be here a total of 4 months, we'll make a two day trip to Hong Kong in December which will reset my visa with a new 60 day stay that will take me to the time we'll fly back to the USA Have a terrific trip! Bob

Hey Patrick, Dan already has you covered on most of your questions. Regarding Chinese retirement and US citizenship, this is a topic that Haiqing and I have been discussing because she has a considerable amount of money put aside towards her Chinese retirement fund. Just last night we were talking about it again and she mentioned that the Chinese government may or has changed the law so that if you're a white collar worker you can't retire and collect until either age 60 or 65 (blue collar workers apparently are permitted to retire sooner because of the physical rigors of some jobs). She has told me before that she can continue to make personal contributions to her fund (her company contributions will stop when she quits her job to move to the USA) which will increase her retirement benefits once she retires. From what she has told me before yesterday, she believed she could retire as early as age 50 and collect her retirement money. This was our original plan as she would be within 5 years of collecting her Chinese retirement and we would put off her becoming a US citizen until after she started collecting retirement benefits. Since the age has been moved back to 60 or 65 (she's still not 100% certain on this and she's checking it) we are looking at taking another course. She seems to think that she won't be allowed to collect Chinese retirement benefits if she's a US citizen. We don't want to put off her becoming a US citizen for 15 or 20 years, consequently she will lose her Chinese retirement benefits. The other option she believes she has is to retire early when she quits her job next year and take a one time lump sum of 40% of the money that is now sitting in her retirement account. She doesn't like the idea of forfeiting 60% of her money but it's better than getting nothing! I'll try to remember to come back and post more when we get more info. Have a terrific day! Bob

CONGRATULATIONS! Great interview details! Have a safe flight to the USA Best to you both! Bob

Nice to meet you Dave and thank you for sharing such wonderful news! Something I hope to post about myself in the future Best to you both, Bob

Hey HelloWorld08, We did very similar to what David has mentioned here. When we filed our I-129F petition we included two letters of intent to marry one written, dated and signed by each of us that were also an evolution of relationship to that point. We included how and when we met online and in person, how we communicate, what we did together, where we traveled together, when I met her family and why we wanted to marry each other. These were not notarized. For the interview I did an updated Evolution of Relationship letter again expressing the intent to marry her when we came to the USA. This one I had notarized in the USA before coming here for her interview. Like Darnell has mentioned, check the kitchen sink and include anything you think will help your case. Best of luck to you! Bob

... I second that!!! Like NUWORLD mentioned, I have mine on right now too Bob waiting for pictures. haha i promise i will post this , right after you all do mods,gob's, ladies, senoir members then us. ok Roger heres your chance ? Clever move Rob ... Martial Arts training certainly is useful isn't it Enjoy your evening! Bob

too good! Thanks for the Bob

I with you on this one. Richard Thank god i'm not the only one Oh God! ... I won't wear them in the shower either I hate that squishy wet yuck feeling Only when dry for me Bob

Hey ShaQuaNew, If you have a wireless router it's a good idea to password protect it so you don't have people jumping on to your connection. I look for open connections like this when I travel and will sometimes use them in a pinch. The risk you run in having an open router is that some other person could change the settings on your router, put a password on it and lock you out. They probably won't do something like that because you'd then be wise to what they are doing and why would they want to lose a free connection The other risk you run is having someone who is very savy get into your computer while you're online. Make sure you have a firewall set up so that can't happen. Have someone here in China who can understand the language help you with it. My future brother-in-law who speaks English well helped me figure out the Chinese language wireless router I bought here in China a year ago ... works great and we're on DSL too. The other problem you may be having is adware and spyware on you computer as you surf the internet, this will slow your system down also. Check out Ad-aware, they have a free version that you have to run manually but it's worth it. I run it about once a week, did it last night and deleted 94 things from being on the internet this week that my computer doesn't need Good luck! Bob

... I second that!!! Like NUWORLD mentioned, I have mine on right now too Bob

I love that movie, I can't wait to share it with Haiqing when we get back to the USA ... I have it on DVD

Fingers and toes crossed for you Charles, keep us posted Best of luck to you both no matter what day it is! Bob

will do Randy

Dan and warpedbored, As always you both provide great information and guidance to those of us who have yet to experience these things. I have copied your replies and sent them in a email to myself for future reference when Haiqing and I go through this process in March. Thanks and have a terrific day! Bob

CONGRATULATIONS! To both of you, have a wonderful and happy life together! Best to you both, Bob