Jocelyn

It is the city where your SO's hukou is. And, yes, they would have a record of any crimes they had committed anywhere in China b/c every Chinese person's full permanent record (Dang'an) is located at their hukou. If they committed a crime somewhere outside of their hukou, as far as I know it would get put into their permanent record in their hukou.

Another thing I'd like to add...in terms of the waiting time between filing your I-130 and getting the P2 approval, it seems that people in the BJ district get faster service. I filed mine January 4, but we didn't get the P2 approval from BJ until April 5. And when I looked at the date it arrived in BJ, it was January 19/20 or so, which suggests to me that it may have been sitting around SH before someone even bothered to send it off!!

Sorry for the confusion! I didn't mean to suggest that DCFers don't submit an I-864. I just meant we don't need to submit one with our I-130. We only give them the I-864s at the interview Anyhow, looks like you guys figured it out. Sorry...

AOS is only if you do a fiancee visa (K types). If you do either a CR1/IR1, then you do not need to do AOS -- you are essentially granted your green card once it's all over. As far as I know, the green card gets mailed to your US address so technically you're ready to go once you arrive. Of course, we'll still have to remove the conditional residence later on, before the "2-year anniversary" of John getting his green card. And, I (being a sponsor) will have to alert the US govt of my address change when I go back to the US. But other than that, we'll be set after the process is over.

I DCF'd. Yeah, totally, do it in person. And just check the consular websites -- they will tell you what provinces belong to the consular district. Last thing you want to do is show up at the wrong one. BTW, you should know that DCF petitions are different from the average ones. You don't supply evidence/I-864/I-134 with it. They just want the facts with these. That means: -- copy of passport -- copy of work permit and residence permit for China -- copy of China visa -- original of marriage certificate -- four passport sized photos of you -- four passport sized photos of S/O (note that photos must be according to their standard size) -- money to pay the initial filing fee Plus the paperwork (I 130 and biographic info sheets). That's about it. Get it filled out quick and throw it in the pipeline.

I e-mailed GUZ about my name check -- they said it was done, but did not say when!!! That was back at the end of June when I mailed them, so I guess it must have been pretty quick. May or June. I suppose I could ask again...but I just dread those canned e-mails... :-(

It's been about seven months for us. I used to be the only one obsessed about it, but now that my husband's graduated, he's joined me (he was checking the mailbox everyday for at least two weeks last month!). We're going on vacation to Huangshan starting from this weekend, for two weeks. A good break from my work and this GUZ waiting room we're stuck in... ;-)

I was reading through David's FAQ -- David, it's such a fabulous document. Thanks so much for your efforts on this! But I have a question about something mentioned in the FAQ, under the "Financial Statement and Employment Letter" section: Is that really true? I have a hard time believing this because, when you get the P3, you have to prepare all of your evidence at that time and then report to GUZ that everything is in place (including an employment letter and other financial evidence such as bank statement). So how is it that you have to tell them you have all of the evidence at the time of receiving the P3, but yet they won't accept it if it's older than 45 days from the day of the interview? Doesn't make sense to me -- if that's the case, then when you send back the P3 checklist, wouldn't you be lying in telling them you have all of the evidence requested? The affidavit of support says that it is valid within 6 months of signing, which also goes against this 45-day "rule": Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Thanks.

Congrats on your triumph! Glad that you both got through it smoothly.

That's great news. Thanks a lot for giving us all of the details on what happened.

Congratulations! And thanks for all of the nitty gritty details on the interview.

Congratulations! Gong xi gong xi!

David, is this only available from you by e-mail? Or is it a work in progress? I would love to see the FAQ as well.

Good for you! Always a thrill to hear another one of us made it through. Enjoy and celebrate!!!!!!

Hi Darian, welcome! (feels strange saying that 'cause I'm a newbie too...but what the hey...;-)) Sounds like David's advice is pretty kosher. I would think the important thing is not the exact amount, but rather a history of ability to earn a living. I mean, if there would be big gaps in her previous income-earning history, that might be a problem. But it sounds like that's not the case, so you should be OK. I'm still feeling my way around this DCF stuff, but you're free to e-mail/PM me anytime.

That's what I'm doing -- I'm a DCF also, filed in Shanghai. And I checked with an immigration lawyer, who did confirm that if you do not own property in the US, you need a cosponsor on your I-864 (even if your income meets the poverty level requirements). I asked my dad to do it.

Da jia hao! What a godsend it's been to find such a wonderful online community! I felt completely in the dark about this entire process and it's a relief to find I'm not alone in my frustrations (already three canned e-mail responses from GUZ, sigh...). Also really great to see foreign girls out there grabbing Chinese husbands too -- my Jun has brought my life untold blessings. Also, thank you SO much to the generosity of everyone who makes this possible -- you guys really rock. =) I've spent a lot of time combing the threads here, it's almost like an encyclopedia on just about all of the ins and outs of GUZ. I'd like to pose a couple of questions of my own -- I know they're nothing new and in all actuality a bit stupid, so you'll have to forgive me. So, here goes... -->Translations I got my husband's birth certificate, police certificate and our marriage certificate notarized and translated at the gov't notary office (Gong Zheng Chu). And, correct me if I'm wrong, but other translations do not need to be notarized? My husband insists that not notarizing other documents (ie. our lease, credit card bills, bank records, my pay slip) is OK -- the advice here seems to agree with that. But I'm not sure what "certification" or "attestation" the translator needs to show to meet GUZ's requirements? Incidentally, I asked GUZ about it, and they gave me the answer along the lines of "your interviewer will decide if it's okay." Great advice.... -->Evidence of financial support The DCF P3 packet I got said it would be good to bring anything that can establish how my husband will be financially supported in the US. My income exceeds the minimum requirements for the I-864 poverty lines -- but I also plan to show my bank records from China and the US. Since I meet the I-864 requirements, is it OK not to mention my assets in the document, but rather as just extra evidence of financial support (ie just in case the office wants to see it)? Or should I just go ahead and add them in to the I-864 as a kind of FYI? As an aside, sometimes I just feel so neurotic about this process, I can feel trapped and lost in the minutiae of it all. One of my friends told me that it's pretty much expected you'll be obsessive about it...<sigh> Although my husband sometimes gets frustrated with me. I guess I just want to make sure all of my "i"s are dotted and "t"s are crossed. Anyhow, look forward to hearing from you all! Jocelyn