Brian121247

An editorial in today's New York Times notes that the "Citizenship and Immigration Services, the beleaguered federal bureaucracy that makes new Americans, has announced plans to increase fees sharply to cover its costs . . . [The agency] is also notable for backlogs and what its director, Emilio Gonzalez, acknowledges are ¡°dingy buildings¡± and ¡°rude employees . . . The application fee for citizenship would rise to $595 from $330. The fee for permanent residency would increase to $905 from $325, and charges for bringing in a foreign spouse or employee would more than double." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/opinion/...l?th&emc=th

Roger, What is the pollution level on the island? I have decided that I cannot live in most Chinese cities because of the air pollution. And on my Oct. visit to Suzhou, I noticed the horrible water quality in the canals. Being a Wisconsin native, I remember those frigid temperatures! But Florida is getting expensive, and I would like to find a place for retirement that combines affordability and a warm climate. Brian

My situation is this: on my second visit in April, 2006, I videotaped us twice - once in her Shenzhen apartment and again a few days later in our hotel in Guangzhou. On the first attempt, I decided to ask her questions about our schedule and it went something like this: "On Saturday we're going . . . (she makes swimming motions and burbling sounds) - yes, honey, to the beach." On Sunday we're going to . . . (she makes train noises) - yes dearest, to Guangzhou." On Wednesday I'm going . . . (she makes airplane noises with outspread arms) - yes my love, I'm going home." She was damn cute doing the airplane thing! On the second attempt, I recorded us communicating through her Chinese electronic translator, which we have used heavily, and I thought it clearly demonstrated that we could carry on a detailed and fairly complicated conversation. I narrated both our written messages via machine, and I think it was obviously not staged. Unfortunately, both tapings really point out that her English is poor, while demonstrating some ability to communicate through alternate means. On my most recent visit last month, I really didn't realize until after I returned home that she had picked up several useful words that we used daily: "We go to: bank, taxi, eat, sleep." She also learned "money," "You Like?," "You Buy?," "Dollars," and "Toilet." She was one mean negotiator when we argued prices with the vendors every day! Anyway, I didn't try to make another tape, and I mailed the ones I previously made to her last week. If the VO sees the airplane segment, it should at least rate a smile! My visa lawyer has been telling me that she will not get her visa unless she improves her English. So I've been urging her to return to the classroom or hire a private tutor to help her learn at least enough English to let her recognize and answer a few of the most common questions. What I'm hearing in the feedback so far confirms my assumption that it really depends on which VO she gets as to how the interview is conducted and how important English is considered. I remembered some advice a few days ago that I read on CFL regarding writing a timeline and attaching photos to serve as a description of the evolution of a relationship. I started doing one for us last night, and am currently working on a section tentively called "How We Communicate." I want to keep the whole document fairly short (with mostly carefully selected photos) so the VO can read it quickly after my SO slips it under the glass window. But I hope to describe how we have communicated over the past 18 months using several different methods: email, human and electronic translators, gestures, Yahoo Messinger, ESP, you name it. Maybe I can head off any pesky questions about her Engish by addressing it this way! Brian

After about 6 months in Administrative Review, I've learned that my K-1 application has been forwarded to Guangzhou on Oct. 16. Now I'm worried about my SO's limited ability to speak English at the interview. I believe this has been less of an issue lately than in the past. What is the group consensus based on recent interviews about the likelihood of getting a blue slip because of inability to speak English? I've been pressing my fiancee to go back to studying and have sent her more money for classes. She confesses that learning languages is difficult for her and it has not been a problem for her friends at recent interviews. I'm trying to decide how much to press her on this and how to come up with a strategy to learn at least just enough to get through the interview. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance. Brian

You can see a critique of the petition here: http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/petition.asp And you can see a report on what the senate actually voted on here: http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration...ialsecurity.asp (summary: The subject of the proposed amendment was not about giving (or denying) Social Security benefits to illegal aliens; it was about whether a select group of formerly illegal workers (i.e., those who might obtain legal immigration status if the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 were enacted) should be able to receive credit for payments they made into the Social Security system using phony Social Security numbers (i.e., numbers that were invalid or had been assigned to others). Such persons would still be eligible to collect Social Security benefits in the future; they just wouldn't receive credit for payments they had already made into the system.) Brian

My case is generally similar in that my first (Russian) wife left the U.S. abruptly in 2004 after adjusting her status, but before her conditional residence visa expired. I filed a second K-1 application in December, 2005 for my current fiancee who lives in Shenzhen. My application has been in admin review since March/April at the NVC. I just got off the phone with my lawyer and he said he is convinced that the delay with my application is due to NVC/FBI's concern over my ex-wife's location and whether she violated any INS rules before she left. There should not be a big problem in proving your ex-wife's location and status, but I think you can expect a delay at the NVC while they investigate your case. My lawyer indicated that this delay is true for anyone with a previous K-1 application in their past. He mentioned that they have a lot of admin review cases to process, and "the trick is to get them to do it sooner rather than on their own schedule." My lawyer also told me about certain communication channels available between immigration lawyers and USCIS/NVC government officials where applications have been delayed far beyond normal processing times. The last resort is using a certain official's phone number that he called the "nuclear option" of last resort. We are in the stage right before that one, but he is preparing to pull the trigger on the nuke in about 5 more weeks, the time required for his current attempt to pry my app loose. Brian

My application has been in administrative review at the NVC since March. In July, I wrote to my senators for help. I got a form letter reply a few weeks ago from one senator that was no help, nothing from the other. In August, I hired a lawyer who specializes in fiancee visa applications. He said that getting additional info in front of the NVC/FBI people at this stage is one of the hardest things to do. He plans to petition the NVC for permission to give them additional evidence in my case. He said that most fiancee visa lawyers merely tell their clients to wait it out, but he intends to be more proactive. The lawyer thinks that, in my case, the delay is due to my first wife (a Russian) leaving the country abruptly in 2004, and they don't know officially where she is. But we're not certain what the issue(s) may be since the app simply vanished into the black hole and nobody's talking. I used this same lawyer to get the visa for my first wife and was impressed with his ability then, so I figured paying him to pry the app loose from the NVC would be worth the money. I had already completed all the forms, so I really didn't need him for that. But others have waited for a year or longer at the NVC, and if I can cut the wait time, it will be worth it to me. Good luck! Brian

Hi, I would be interested in learning Chinese online. I am thinking about teaching English in China in the future, and would like to learn at least elementary Chinese to augment that preparation. I haven't used any online tools yet to learn Chinese, but I was impressed by your Englishtown website and notice it has TOEFL preparation. You can reach me at brianlynch@sprintmail.com Brian

Try these: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos083.htm http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos173.htm http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos165.htm Good luck! Brian

I don't think my wife's Russian passport had anything to "swipe," but I'd be happy if they recorded her departure in some way. Since her emails indicate that she still is mentally unstable, I don't think she'll be much help in establishing her location for my benefit.

Hi Eunice, I agree that establishing her location is probably a concern of the government. The evidence I have that she left is circumstantial - emails from her from Moscow, and from me to her. I have an email from her son stating that she got back and was staying at the time with her mother. I could get a statement from her brother in San Francisco that he put her on the plane to Moscow. He may have had some subsequent contact with her since her return, but I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't. My lawyer has an office in Moscow, so I presume he could collect some evidence if he thinks it's necessary. I guess I'll follow his advice on this since he is very experienced with K-1 visas, particularly in terms of Russia and Eastern Europe. He also has an office in Guangzhou, and is familiar with that consulate. It may be that the government is trying to establish her whereabouts now via the background check. If I knew that for a fact, I could address the issue. I'm counting on my lawyer to find out the problem and then address it.

I have a somewhat similar situation in that I was married to a Russian woman who became depressed and then psychotic, and then returned to Russia. I sponsored her for a K-1 and she arrived in May, 2002. We were married in July, 2002. She started coming unglued in August, 2004, during our record hurricane season in Florida. I had to commit her to a local mental health crisis center twice. She left for San Francisco in September to visit her brother and get her Russian passport renewed at the embassy. She ended up in a mental ward for a week at a hospital there. In spite of my and my family's attempts to persuade her to stay in the hospital, and my promise to support her recovery if she returned to our home in Tampa, she left the hospital against medical advice and got on a plane to Moscow in October, 2004. We were divorced in December of 2004. Since I knew that she had left, and wasn't still in the U.S., I did not bother to notify the government of her departure. And they never asked. In 2005, after her conditional residency had expired, I got 4 notices from the INS and Homeland Security: one acknowledgement of her change of address filed in 2002 when we moved to Tampa, and 3 identical "Welcome to America" letters. That was my total communication with them. In all the forms and documents I saw during the K-1 process, I never saw anything that said I had a legal obligation to notify the government if the marriage failed. If I knew that she had violated U.S. law in any way, it certainly would have occured to me that I should notify the government to legally protect myself, but no violation occurred. The reason I bring all this up is for background to my present situation. In December, 2005, I filed a K-1 petition for my current fiancee, who lives in Shenzhen. I dutifully noted the previous K-1 petition on the form. The CA service center approved it in March and sent it to the NVC, where it has languished ever since. About 3 weeks ago, I visited my congressman's local office to ask for help. His assistant told me that the government was probably holding my current petition because I never resolved the first petition. Although they would have seen my divorce decree with the notation that a copy was sent to my former wife at her address in Russia, the government would assume that I have two active K-1 petitions at this time. I have no idea if this is really the problem. I was told by a woman at the NVC that the FBI was doing a background check on my fiancee, not on me. I doubt that this is completely accurate. At that point, I decided to hire the lawyer who had helped me with the first K-1 visa. He specializes in K-1 visas, and he was very helpful previously. He is just starting the process of representing me and contacting the government to see if he can find out why the petition is being held in administrative review. A few months ago, I read a newspaper article stating that over half of the aliens in America who are listed as illegal actually came here with valid visas. The vast majority are presumed to be Mexican. Since they were required to make a round-trip to Mexico and back every 6 months or so, when it became a problem and there seemed to be few consequences, they just stopped doing it and allowed their visas to lapse. And the government NEVER TRIED TO KEEP TRACK OF THEM! After reading that, I realized that our government did'nt have any idea of the location of my former wife. I had vaguely assumed that she would have had to show her passport at the airport when she left for Moscow, and there would be a record. But now I realized that the only countries that checked passports and visa on both arrival and departure (in my experience) were Russia and China, not the U.S.!! So I provided my lawyer with a lot of evidence of my first wife's admission to mental institutions, the large amounts of money that I paid to get her teeth fixed, emails from her Russian sister-in-law describing her crazy behaviour in San Francisco, and a statement from my relatives describing our marriage as valid and our attempts to support her. He told me that he would take care of notifying the government of my circumstances and press them for info about the delay of my petition. It will be interesting to see what he finds out. In summary, I assume that most other men who have had a problem with a foreign wife DID notify the government when the marriage failed, unlike me. So the government MAY have a record of that. Or not. Based on my experience so far, any problems caused by former marriages to foreign women will come up at the NVC stage when the FBI computer flags your name. If the petioner already has furnished a lot of info about former relationship(s), it may not be a problem, but I wouldn't count on it. I think people in this situation are in the minority, so unfortunately, there isn't much anecdotal information on previous experiences. And there doesn't seem to be any efficient way to find out at this point what the problem might be, or a really reliable way to furnish more info directly to the people doing the investigating to resolve the problem (if you knew what the problem is). I feel foolish in that I didn't realize the potential problem after my first wife left the country and I didn't notify the government. I knew where she was, and at the time, I wasn't thinking about marrying another foreigner. The government didn't show any interest in her status. I remember wondering when I got the "Welcome to America" letters if I should write them a letter, but figured that I would get some official form any day then asking me for details when she didn't show up to adjust her status. I vaguely thought that they never asked me where she was because they knew she had returned to Russia. Well, this was all pretty stupid thinking on my part, but I had more pressing things on my mind, liking paying off all the debts I had incurred in supporting her. I feel sorry for my first wife because I could not help her when she was here. I'm sure she's not getting good treatment for her illness in Moscow. But I'm glad that I met my current fiancee because she has reminded me of the happiness that a loving and well-balanced woman can bring to my life. Now I just hope that my lawyer can resolve any problems and get the visa petition moving again.

Great news, Jessie. Wishing you all the best! Brian

My K-1 application has been stuck at the NVC since March in administrative review. I called about a month ago, and they won't tell me anything except it was in review. I called NVC again two days ago and a nice Chinese woman told me that the delay was caused by a name check on my SO that was being conducted in Washington. She said my SO's name was fairly common (Xing). Didn't say anything about my name, which is also fairly common, but at least not Smith or Jones. Of course, she wouldn't say ANYTHING about when it might be resolved!

Congratulations!! All the best to you both!