The Jeff

We live in a sleepy college town in northern California. We can walk to the supermarket, downtown shopping with little boutiques is just a few blocks away, and it's green. The only difference in the lifestyle is that there are few night snacks to be had in Chico. The missus is from a subburb outside of Changhsa, Hunan province so the size of the towns are pretty much the same. But we enjoy our little town. It's very clean. People don't smoke and pedestrians have the right of way. But the absolute best thing we like are the fruits that are in season right now. We've been going pretty overboard with all the cherries and strawberries on sale at the farmer's markets and roadside stands just outside of town. California has the best fruits and nuts.

When my other half and I went back to China four months pregnant, everyone was saying how sure they were that we were having a boy. It¡¯s the shape of your belly, they would say. It points out more than girls do. It¡¯s your navel line on your stomach. Only boys make that line so dark. You¡¯re also much uglier than before. Girls make you glow and beautiful. Boys make you ugly and miserable. Also, my mother-in-law, after choosing some prenatal super fish from the local market, discovered that she had randomly chosen three male fish at three separate times all in a row. It was a sure sign that it was a boy. When we would go to restaurants, waitresses would say how sure they were that it was a boy. When we returned to the states, we visited our favorite Chinese buffet and the waitresses there were also certain that it was a boy. So we visit our doctor and have an ultrasound. And guess what? It¡¯s a boy! The doctor burns some of the telling pictures on a disc as well as some mug shots and sends us on our way. So how did they know? Was it just chance, or was it some kind of traditional perception techniques that somehow really work?

No, for emergency care there is no need to repay anything if you are covered under Medi-Cal. You do not need to repay anything related to the pregnancy either. Prenatal care is usually at private clinics, and most doctors accept Medi-Cal as an insurance provider. On your card, it will say which benifits you are entitled to. You will not be billed for pregnancy related costs. You would only be billed if you entered fraudulent information when you applied for public benifits. If you used you new medi-cal card to say, get a bone spur removed or have corrective eye surgery, then you may get billed for the services. But being that the government would also have fraud charges up against you, the medical bills would be the least of your worries.

Hi Barey Jones, would you comment more about this coverage of "pregnancies" in CA? Does it cover the entire prenatal period or only the actual delivery? Thanks. It covers all pregnancy related issues. Prenatal visits, medications, doctors visits and everything else related to the pregnancy

My wife and I are both students. She's starting her second year at community college and I'm also starting University this comming semester. About seven months ago, I had to have an emergency apendectomy. I had no job and no insurance so public health was our only option. Then we found out that we were pregnant! As college students with no job and no insurance, it sure was stressfull for a while. We even went back to China for three months to see about the feasibility of having the child in China. Plus my wife missed China a lot as well. Anyway, after our trip, and seeing China again after living in the US for more than a year, we decided that life in China was not an option for us. Health care, education, traffic and environment were all sub standard when compared to what we had in northern California. After having some conversations with some social workers back in the states, we found out that health care for permanent resident holders is available, but only for pregnancy and emergency related care, which is all we needed anyway. Even if you tried to apply for public benifits, such as food stamps, welfare and other non emergency medical care, (corrective eye surgery for example) you would be disqualified immediatly. The affidavit of support is just a back up in case for some reason, an alien used fraudulent information to recieve welfare checks or food stamps. Most other public benifits are available to non-citizens. Financial aid for college, emergency and pregnancy health care coverage is all available. I'm not sure of the public health care system in North Carolina, but in Callifornia, pregnancies and emergencies are covered for non-citizens. My wife also had some issues about the American public school system after seeing my bratty out of control nieces. After more exposure to American schools and young American students through our church though, her opinion changed dramatically. Especially when she started college. The Chinese public education system really can't compare.

I have an Aroma model arc-838. It works fantastic!

Eggs and ginger work woners for the flu.

Hi, we¡¯re based in Northern California, but my wife¡¯s cousin back in China has a friend who is in need of an interpreter in Dallas for a business trip in October. The candidate needs to be able to speak English and Mandarin Chinese pretty fluently. My wife would have taken the job, but she¡¯s pregnant and we¡¯ll be having a the baby at the time he comes to the US. If there¡¯s anybody that knows of anybody or any interpreter agencies in the Dallas area, please reply, or PM me if you are interested in the position yourself and I¡¯ll give you the person¡¯s contact information. Thanks!

Doesn't Evian come from France?

So do Chinese GC holders in the US need visas to go into Canada? My wife has some friends in Canada that we met before in China. We were thinking about visiting some day. So does Canada require visas for Chinese citizen residents of the US?

Chinese made higher end brands are safe enough. I really like Darlie. It's strong and keeps my breath fresh for hours! At about two dollars a tube in China, and one of the most popular brands, I don't think there is any danger at all.

We're just waitng to do it when we file citizenship papers. Seems much easier. Social Security Numbers, Bank account numbers and Driver Licence numbers all stay the same anyway. Changing the names assocated with these documents also dosen't seem to be very hard. (Heck, divorced people do it all the time!) Once a certificate of citizenship is issued, you can apply for a passport. Using these two documents, changing drivers licences, SSN and etc shouldn't be so hard at all.

So we took the old lady down to Sacramento to get Biometrics done after getting an apointment notice for Dec. 20th. So they took all the fingerprints and whatnot and put a little stamp on the apointment paper and sent us on our way. So I look at the USCIS website a few days ago just to check up on how long it should take. At the Sacramento Service Center, it said that they were now processing AOS apps with a receipt date of around June. So does that mean that there's still another 7 months or so to go before my lady gets her green card? Please Lord, say it isn't so!

The reason that the EAD was denied was prolly because you didn'tfile it together with the AOS. If you are K1, then you must file the EAD with the AOS or after the AOS has been filed... or at least I think so. Only K3s can have the option of filing the EAD without the AOS.

congratulations on the HK interview. You can actually be there at the interview!...unlike us unfortunates who have to wait outside the consulate in GZ.

The ripping of the Birth certificate was just to streamline paperwork, I suppose. We just brought photocopies of all those little chinese packets, (birth, police and marriage) to the medical just for that reason. (we saw the staff doing it the day we went for the medical, made the copies before we went to pick it up 2 days later) Did you only have one birth certificate made? When we did it, the notary gave us about 15 copies.

I think the Civil Surgeon just needs to fill out the supplemental worksheet here I'm a little confused, too...just where does that medical packet go once we go through customs? The same place we send the AOS?

Cool, I'll be sure to take a print out of that website when we go to the Civil Surgeon. That along with our own I-693 sup. worksheet and the chart that says which vaccinations we need. Just to confirm: There are 3 vaccinations needed, right? 1) MMR 2) Varicella 3) Adult Tetanus Also, do we get these just once, or do we have to get them twice, 30 days apart? We want to know exactly to the tee what we are going to need. I've been reading a lot on this site and on visajourney that sometimes Civil Surgeons rip off immigrants and get them to do the whole medical exam again, along with lots of unrequired shots. Thanks so much for helping us get ready!

Does anybody know what medical requirements are needed for K3 AOS? I was reading the form and it dosen't say anything about k3. Is it the same as K1, just getting the sup. Shots at a civil surgeon? Or do we need to do the whole medical again once in the states. Real confused.

When my lady and I were first dating we had some problems checking into some hotels in Xi'an. We where on vacation there and a lot of the staff flat out denied booking us a room because we weren't married. That was at the beginning of 2002. In southern China, however doesen't really matter. Do register, though. This last summer, I was doing some part time teaching at various schools schools in my wife's home town. I was very popular and as a result, because I was unable to do classes at every school that wanted me, I was reported to the local police. They arrived at my in-laws home, drove my wife and I down to the police station and interregated us for around 2 hours. At the same time, they were asking the principal of the school that I was doing most of my classes at some of the same questions in a different room. Luckly, he and I had discussed an excuse in the unlikely event that the police found out about my "illegal" teaching. We just said that I was visiting my wife who also worked there. Anyway, they couldn't fine us anything, even though everybody in the whole town knew that I was teaching. But about 2 days later, they finally did come up with a way for us to pay. I had neglected to register at the local police station, so I had to pay a fine of 300RMB. So. Register!

Awesome, man. Just awesome.

Awesome! ...The visa that is, not the cancer. You'll pull through it, man!

You are so lucky to have your interview on Halloween! If we had our interview on Halloween, we would have totally dressed up. Candy for the VO would be definatly on the list. What would we be...? Hmmm.... Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai! Either that or Monkeys.

Might depend on the Joint-sponsor. If it's a member of your family or a business partner, don't really think you would have a problem. If you're K3 you don't have to worry about the 3 years, at the interview they only ask for the last years returns.

They don't?