I was Xiaoli's Stephen

To dnoblett, It has been three years since you gave me the advice listed above, which I passed along to my co-worker. I felt I owed you an update just to let you know that you were 100% right on the money. My co-worker did indeed take her US citizenship, she did work as you outlined and take the steps necessary to get her mom a green-card, and it all worked perfectly! She now has mommy living with her along with her husband, her three-year old baby boy, her sister (here on a student visa), and assorted chickens and ducks! 😊 I am greatly blessed in that her little boy has adopted me as his YeYe since he doesn't have a grandfather here in the US and the two girls (my co-worker and her little sister) are as close as I will ever come to having daughters. I came back because all too often good hearted people like you offer suggestions and advice but never know how things have turned out. Well my friend, it turned out very well for her and her family and I am here to say thanks! I hope your life still goes well and that you have found your happy future!

Thanks again! Your first post did a lot to put my coworkers mind at ease and this should do even more. I'm buying lunch for her, her husband, and her mother tomorrow (to celebrate and wish good luck to the new baby) and will give this to her then. Having lost my Xiaoli these many years makes me want to do everything I can to make this sweet little girls' dreams of a happy future here in the US with her loving husband and sweet new baby come true. I appreciate all your help and info on this issue and I am sure she does as well. I am glad your dream with your sweet girl came true and I sincerely wish both of you a very long and happy future together!

Thanks dnoblet, it sounds like sound advice and I will gladly pass it along. The only new info I got today was that she is about 3 years married here in the US and that they have obtained the paperwork and forms to request an extension to her mothers visitors visa. It sounds like it involves a $500 fee. Since I know so little about these aspects of visas I can't say if requesting an extension now would help or hurt her future prospects of coming here permanently. Any insights anyone? Oh, I did want to ask you, when you say "the actual visits tend to be set to no more than 6 months at a time and no more than 6 months in a year" do you mean once she goes back it would be about 6 months before she can return again? Thanks again for the excellent reply and advice. I have it printed and will give it to her tomorrow morning.

Hi to any old-timers here, it has been 8 years since I was here last. After losing my Xiaoli I moved away from my home town and got a new career, but no luck on the personal front. But that's not why I am here; I came here to seek advice and information for a coworker. I work with a sweet little Chinese bride who has her green card, is working on citizenship, and just had a new baby with the man she loves. And before anyone here gets the wrong idea, I'm not envious of her husband (she's barely half my age) I actually envy her father. She has her younger sister here attending university on a student visa, and her mother is here on a visitors visa to help with the new baby. Her question to me was "is there any easy way to get her mother here permanently as part of her family?" I have no idea as that was not something I had researched in the past. And all her Google searches turn up sites and publications that neither she nor her husband can understand. But then I remembered how much help and guidance I had received here and thought how could it hurt to ask. Her mothers visitor visa probably doesn't last much longer (I didn't ask) and she is OK with her going home to China for now. But she would really love to get her here permanently to help with the baby as she and her husband both work fulltime and once her sister graduates she will be going back to China, so no one will be left to help with the baby. Since I'm not asking this for myself, but for her and her husband, please don't be offended if I don't promptly acknowledge any posts or advice offered. I will need to either tell them what I have received here, or, ask them for further info you all may need. And since I know probably the first suggestion will be to get one or both to sign-up here, yes I will try. Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions!

Thanks donahso. We have talked this out, and she has agreed that the advice she got on getting married in the Chinese Consulate was probably not the best idea. The time-lines posted earlier in this thread help with that decision. We are going to wait to get married here in the states. Also, I believe you are right on with the fee comment. As for moving quickly, believe me, that is exactly what I keep saying to her. Thankfully the buddy of mine at work that introduced us is in the final stages of getting his fiancee from Xi'an to the states. He is helping to make her understand that, if she wants this to happen, it needs to move a lot more quickly now. I have wanted to file the I-129F for two weeks now, but dont have her G-325A, her letter of intent to marry, or her passport photo. I'll keep trying to make her understand the need for speed. Her son is a great kid and I would really like to have a "whole happy family together" (her words)! BTW - can anyone tell me the actual age at which her son will not get a K2? I have seen 18 mentioned elsewhere and have also seen 21 mentioned, but really don't know the facts.

To pkfops - Yes, Canada is great. I've been to Toronto three times now to visit my sweety and love the area. But I am 52 years old, stuck with a house in "smalltown" Illinois that carries two mortgages, and frankly is of more value if I burn it down and plant the lot with corn. Also, I would be hard-pressed to find a position that pays what I now make working for Caterpillar. To Randy W & LeeFisher3 - We are going to list Guangzhou on the I-129F but we are making a back-up plan for Montreal, just in case.

Yes, you are right. We have already discussed this very point. But she is aware of the potential for her son to "time out" of eligibility for his K2, that is why she wants to do them together. She knows that going to China for her interview will allow the visas to process concurrently, rather than filing for a K2 follow to join. If she gets both visas in hand, she doesn't have to worry about the time lag of Montreal to Guangzhou to her son. We will request Guangzhou on the I-129F, but we are discussing the possibility of needing to go to Montreal anyway. Personally, I would prefer Montreal as I can drive to Toronto and take her to Montreal myself.

warpedbored, thanks. We have thought about this. Her 16 year old son is still in China, living with family. She cannot bring him into Canada on her work visa, and she is completely determined that she will have him with her for the interview. Someone in Canada has spooked her about having her interview apart from him. She thinks he will not get his K2 unless they are together. She already knows she will need to return to China and has been planning to do this next year anyway, to visit family. So she will simply plan the visit when she gets her notification from GUZ.

OK all, thanks for the great input/advice/comments!!! With your help I have made her see that having Chinese citizenship, with Canadian residency status, will make it very very difficult to get US residency status and her K1 visa. Also, I think she is finally starting to believe me about our universities being equal to (or possibly better than) their Canadian counterparts. To any Canadian reading this, PLEASE don't take that as a slight against Canada. I personally think Canada is fantastic! Just this week the service she works for has changed her employer (she is employed as a live-in nanny for Chinese babies/children) so we need to wait again to file the I-129F package as we don't have the new address information yet. Oh, just to clarify a point, she was talking about getting married at the Chinese Consulate in Toronto, in basically a civil service, much like being married before a judge in the US. Now we are going to wait to have a proper wedding when she comes to the states. Thanks again to all who have given me benefit of their wisdom on this very complex process!

warpedbored, thanks, I have heard this same thing before. She even got this same info from a Canadian immigration attorney she consulted. This situation is actually far more complex than I have layed out here. She really wants to wait and become a "Resident" of Canada before we marry, so that her son in Xi'an can come there to attend college. If she follows this plan, she will not be able to come to the US until sometime in 2010 or 2011. Maybe this is a bit much? Besides, the US has many fantastic colleges and universities. Ours may be more expensive, but I would be happy to help with this difference in cost. Also, I think her becoming a Resident of Canada as well as a Chinese National would really make it hard to get the K1 to go through. Any thoughts on this?

Darnell, thanks for the input. Maybe someone reading this can tag into the CFL info files that in Canada ALL K and CR visas are processed only through Montreal. Toronto and the other Canadian consulates handle only NIV's (student, work, etc). I got this as an official reply from the Toronto Consulate. I still think she is getting some really bad info from someone there. Everyone here appears to agree that there is no fast way to bypass the system. Oh Darnell, I got the PM, sorry I don't have their number. I'll try to get it, if I can without causing any problems between her and I. These new wrinkles in the process are already causing a strain. Thanks!!!

Thanks LeeFisher3. Those are the same time lines I found when I looked. I still don't get how any "visa company" can offer a faster route through the established official process. From what I see it take what time it takes, period. I tried to get more info on this visa company, but since Toronto is almost a Chinese city itself, she is not giving me any further info. Thanks for the reply! By the way, for any USA couples that want a great taste of china on the cheep (no airline ticket expense) try Toronto. Dozens and dozens of Chinese Markets, restaurants, and shops everywhere. Many businesses in Toronto sport signs in Chinese first, then English below.

To LeeFisher3 - Thanks, I will talk with her about getting some type of documentation when we have our weekly Yahoo messenger session on Saturday night. As for the marriage at the Chinese Embassy or Consulate in Toronto, my concern is would a highly organized and traditional culture such as China simply allow "walk-in marriages"? I don't live in Canada and can only visit for 4 or 5 day visits near holidays (my job has limited vacation leave) usually only 2 or 3 times a year. But thanks for the input! To Rob & Jin - Thanks, I had already checked out the "time lines" postings both here and on the VJ board. I pointed these out to Xiaoli, but she is getting advice from many different Chinese sources in Toronto. When she talked with a Chinese immigration attorney there, she was told she would need to take her interview back at Guangzhou for several reasons. The most worrisome reason for her being that her 16 year old son is still in Xi'an with family, "how would he get his K2 visa"? Now this "Visa Company" is telling her a new and different plan for a fast visa. I am worried she may be getting scammed. To Randy W - Thanks and Hi, I think you gave me similar advice back in July when I posted a thread asking about having her interview in Canada. I never did get a chance to email Monteal, but I did verify with the Toronto Consulate that ONLY the Montreal facility does K type visas for all of Canada, much like Guangzhou in China. I hope I can keep her from spending more of her money before I get a chance to contact Montreal. I will shoot them an email ASAP. To all - Thank you for the great input and advice. Having her bring this Visa Company up now, when I was nearly ready to submit our I-129F package is very disconcerting. I know the clock doesn't start ticking until the I-129F is officially received, but that it is already ticking on all the official documents and translations I am currently holding. Does anyone on CFL have any personal experience with Montreal?

I come here to CFL when I need expert advice. Here is my situation: I am a US citizen engaged to a Chinese citizen who resides in Canada on a work visa. We had begun to assemble an I-129F package and I had hoped to send it off next week. Today she called me and asked about switching from a K1 visa to a K3. This threw me as we are not married and, I have read on the internet, we cannot be married in Canada as law does not allow two foreign nationals to marry there unless both are on visas to Canada and have resided there for some time. Basically the same requirements you would need to meet for a DCF. She told me that a "Chinese visa Company" (???) in Toronto advised her that the fastest way for us to be together would be for me to come to Canada and we would go to the Chinese Consulate in Toronto and be married there (Civil ceremony). They have told her she can be in the US before the year is out if we arrange this. Everything I read on the internet says a K3 takes as long, or longer, than a K1? Am I misinformed? Is she being scammed? Can anyone give me some advice or input on this? Anyone with actual knowledge of the US and Canadian laws, please join in. Ask any questions that you need to clarify this strange situation.

Thanks to Randy W and all the others who have given me advice and info. I have sent off an informal letter to the Toronto Consulate to ask their opinion on my sweety being able to do her interview there. For now I am sitting and waiting on the package of papers from her mother in China. If this thread is still live when it arrives, I will get it back to the top. I really do appreciate the great help and tips offered up by the members of this forum. My buddy was right, you are a great bunch of people!