Craig and Mingjun

I just had to chime in about the red envelopes. We had just a ceremony for her family and friends when I was visiting in June, since we are unsure we will make it back in a reasonable amount of time once she is here (we did not register, didn't want to screw up the K1). We definitely had quite the haul, I think it was on order of 22,000 yuan. About a quarter paid for the spread and gifts to guest, but that left us quite a bit for a honeymoon :-) I just received an email on Monday about my I-129F being approved and the NOA2 being in the mail. So soon we will be applying for a visa! Craig

I will let you all in on a little secret about flying to the US via Vancouver, Canada. If you fly Air Canada or United, when you land in Vancouver, there is a special direct route from your arrival gate to US customs. If you fly any other airline, you have to clear Canadian customs, and then go check-in through US departures. There is a special Air Canada/United baggage claim after you go through your special customs gate if your luggage has been checked through to a US destination. No Canadian transit visa required. In addition, my experience is that US customs in Vancouver is much quicker and the agents politer than say LAX or SFO. I was seriously thinking about an Air Canada flight home too, but we could not figure out how to get that stupid transit visa. I had emailed the Canadian embassy in Guangzhou, and they said they don't do the transit visa there. Then I tried the one in Hong Kong, and they never responded. We gave up on the idea, because I had no idea how to get this transit visa..