ameriken

Oh man, got the email about the domain change from "Carls estate" and I knew. So sorry to hear this about Carl, many prayers for his wife and family.

We got it figured out, this is not something we did before, we went to the site and had to set up new accounts for each of them and we finally got a confirmation that the visas will be sent.

Just when I thought we had no more questions... This is the letter GZ gave to Jie's parents. This process has taken so long that no one remembers setting up an account on ustraveldocs.com or choosing a CITIC bank to receive the passport and visa docs as per the letter. Any suggestions as to what direction they need to go? http://i57.tinypic.com/iptc9j.jpg

Thanks Greg!

Questions asked of Jie's parents: How did your daughter and son-in-law meet Where is your daughter working now Who is providing the financial support Are you members of the CCP What kind of work does your son-in-law do Then the IO asked for all the documents they brought and took all the I-864's, I-864a's, 3 years taxes, police certs, etc. Only thing they didn't take was my proof of current employment.

Well my in-laws just left the consulate with a PASS! Thanks for all the help. The package we Fedexed to them with all my docs ended up being around 3 lbs. Don't have the details yet on what questions if any were asked, or what documents they needed to provide to the IO, but I'll post when we get the details.

She is divorced so she would be the only one filing. Yes, she'll have to provide returns that include her ex husband, but I don't see that as being an issue, and that can easily be explained at the interview (if necessary). So her ex does not have to file.

Thanks Ronnie, that's why we're doing this now, another 5 or 10 years would make it that much more difficult.

Makes sense, thanks Dan.

After 2 years and 2 months of battling the snails pace of NVC, everything was finally sent to GZ and we have an interview date for Jie's parents. We're getting ready to ship original documents and I'd like to clear up a couple of questions. GZ is asking for 2014 taxes as well as originals of 'financial evidence'. I assume 'financial evidence' means completed/signed I-864, I-864a, 2013 tax transcript, taxes, employment letter, etc. 1) As for the I-864, I emailed those last year based on 2013 tax returns. In the interview letter GZ is also asking for our most recent tax return (2014). If I am providing the 2014 tax return, do I need to update the I-864 and I-864a to reflect 2014 or just send the original we did last year for 2013, and just supplement it with the 2014 return? I don't care either way, my main concern is screwing up GZ up by changing something already in the system. 2) As for the 'original documents' of the 'financial evidence', since Jie's parents will be at the interview together, do they need a copy of everything for each person, or will GZ accept one copy for both people? I know they each need their own I-864, however do I need to send duplicates of my paystubs, employment letter, taxes, etc? Hope that makes sense. Thanks!

What Carl said. Such a simple and easy solution yet Congress cannot get their shit together.

Jie doesn't want to handle the finances at all, she tells me 'you handle the big things, I'll handle the little things'. But at the same time she makes it clear "my money is my money, your money is my money".

Mary Schiavo on CNN pointed out from the vid that it looked like a left engine failure.

Asia and planes just ain't getting along well lately. This from yesterday. It clips the taxi.

ameriken is a combination of 'american' and my name 'ken'. Movies? One that both my wife and I really liked was 'The Book Thief', set in WWII about a young Jewish girl that gets adopted by German parents during WWII. Excellent and poignant story. One thing that helped my wife when she first came to America was watching American movies that had Chinese subtitles so she could hear the English while reading the Chinese. Then we switched to English subtitles so she could read what she was hearing (or hear what she was reading). Now she can watch movies without any subtitles.

Just learned about a two part series on Sundance titled "One Child" with Katie Leung. Started tonite and finishes tomorrow, but they'll repeat part one tomorrow nite as well. http://www.sundance.tv/series/one-child

I just booked Delta Airlines from DEN-PVG for $735 RT. Leave Jan 8 and return Jan 15. Next lowest fare for the same period was United for around $1100.

Happy Birthday Dennis!

I might have found the answer, it appears that assets are not necessary (optional) when income exceeds poverty guidelines. If we listed assets it appears her 401k would be listed on the I-864, not the I-864a.

Since I am in a similar situation (wife going to school and has no income), let me add a related question to this thread: I am completing the I-864a (to bring her parents here) since I will ultimately be the supporting family member. My wife does have a 401k from her last job. When completing the assets section on P2 of the I-864a, does her 401k get included here, or only joint assets and assets in my name only?

Vids = videos NASCAR = National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html

Best tip I can give from my own experience is not for the Chinese immigrants, but for the spouses that bring them here: don't force feed them American culture and food and people unless they are ready for the challenge and openly want to be immersed in it right away. Do it little by little to give them a chance to acclimate or until they are ready for more. I cringed at Doug's example of "When having a Thanksgiving party for family and friends, at your new home with your hubby, don't be surprised if some of them don't like your Chinese dishes." Doug, this may work for your wife, but for mine this would have been a social assassination. Thrusting her into new and unfamiliar cultural holiday with many new and unfamiliar faces with much new and unfamiliar food. Having to sweat over whether or not her English was good enough or the feeling of not being able to engage in the conversations about football or other American issues. Stressing about what kind of impression she would make and what everyone might think of her. Now add to that the worry about how her food would be accepted and if she will make a social mistake that might offend someone. Doug mentioned helping her understand how the American folks might respond to her food and how to deal with it, but what about how she'll feel and react to the American food everyone else brings? Should she just tell the Americans 'your food sucks' or should she do the phony polite thing and say 'it tastes great' when she really wants to puke? There's no correct answer, but I imagine all these feelings just adds enormous pressure on some of the newly immigrated Chinese ladies who may just barely have started getting used to all the other cultural differences they encounter on a daily basis. For my wife, we did things very slowly in tiny bits and pieces which helped her get acclimated at her own pace, and greatly reduced the cultural shock I expected when she first arrived. If I suggested something and she wasn't ready for it, we just didn't do it until she was ready.

When we went to China earlier this year, we visited my wife's cousin who lives in Songjiang outside of Shanghai, and she took us for a walking tour of Thames Town (aka 'Fake Town'), and she couldn't believe that after 8 years of marriage we still hold hands when walking. She was like 'nobody married does that here'.

Speaking of hotels at PVG, my wife and I stayed at the Jin Jiang in 2006, was a decent hotel and back then was only about 300 RMB. http://www.hotels.com/ho351635/jinjiang-inn-shanghai-pudong-airport-ii-shanghai-china/

I've been to Shanghai several times and flown out of both airports (though never as a connection) and personally if I doubt I would fly in to PVG and connect with at SHA in 4 hours. Yes, it's doable but could be a royal pain in the ass...if your flight arrives late (which happened to my wife when her flight was delayed in SFO for mechanical issues) you've got even less time to do it all. My wife is from Shanghai and she said she would not do it and would try to fly in and out of PVG. I mean you've got immigration, baggage claim, finding the right bus, travel time, hoping you encounter light traffic, then checking in at the other airport. Just one of those things that looks good on paper that you regret when you are actually there after a 13 or 14 hour overseas flight and trying to do it all within a 4 hour window. Not a large margin for error.