Yan and Tom

Study a little Marxist theory and you will learn that Marx was not against capitalism. Inded he saw it as an inevitable prerequisite to the establishment of a modern industrial society. "Trickle down" is bullshit and always has been. All true material value is the product of labor. A significant portion of that value is usurped by the owning class. We are allowed to keep a portion of the value of our labor. The flow is always up and it is hardly a trickle. Capitalism is an effective means of building an economy as long as certain excesses are kept in check. There are of course certain trade-offs. For the US the trade offs may be beginning to outweigh the benefits. For China I believe they have a ways to go.

This 56 Trillion figure is true the same way that it would be true to say that, if it cost me $30,000 a year to live and I lived for another 30 years that I have an unfunded debt of $900,000. It doesn't take into account anything I have in savings or any future income that I might earn. It is an intellectually dishonest figure meant to scare people. The crumbling of our infrastructure however does worry me a bit. I say that it began in earnest with the rise of "anti-tax" crusades in the 80's. We've been living off the hard work and sacrifices of my father's generation (I'm 50 now) since then. If Obama's stimulus plan had been weighted more heavily towards infrastructure and less on tax relief we would be moving more quickly to restoring the vitality of our country.

My wife did her interview in Chinese but answered the questions in English to the best of her abilities. That way she could use the English words that she knew. Good luck with the interview

"I have not had a relationship with my ex wife since 2004 and we finalized our divorce in 2008. " " I am not the kind of person who will procrastinate, if something feels right I just do it." You might want to rephrase something here so the apparent contradiction doesn't stand out so much. I also agree with other posters, now is the time to be very sentimental

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This article uses the terms "arms spending" and "military spending" somewhat interchangably. This, I think, can be misleading. China has the largest standing army in the world, yet if they spend one seventh the amount we do on military overall, a significantly higher percentage of their spending must go to training and personnel, not on arms. According to this wikipedia entry, they do have a lot of submarines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count...of_armed_forces

Having just found out that Yan got her visa, I am getting info on airline ticket prices. Round-trip from Portland to Guangzhou can be had for $776 This includes flights for Portland to Vancouver, Vancouver to Tokyo, Tokyo to Guangzhou and backwards, Guangzhou to Tokyo, Tokyo to San Fransisco and San Fransisco to Portland. To be honest that's quite a deal. However a one-way from Tokyo to Portland is $2230. Theres a really good flight available from Guangzhou to Tokyo and then Tokyo to Portland. Only 55 minutes between flights, very short. I cant find the combo online though and the price, who knows? I think maybe it will be best for her to get the tickets on her end. I am concerned about her having to go to San Francisco or Seattle first as it will be difficult for me to meet her there. I am only two hours from Portland, so that is not a problem. If anyone has some tips on scoring reasonably priced one way tickets, I would sure appreciate hearing them.

I got the call last night. Yan got her letter from GUZ. She can pick up her visa on Monday. It was a little more than 3 weeks from sending the new info to getting the letter. Thanks to everyone here for their support!

In our case GUZ sent a second blue about three or four weeks after we sent the info requested by the first blue. Unfortunately they sent it to her work address after she had quit her job. No one told her and we lost about six weeks. Maybe there was another address they could have sent it to.

Get the transcripts. Get 2008's if possible. Have 2005 thru 2008 available. write cover letters to explain any annomalies.

Word I hear is that GUZ has been responding pretty fast to info that is sent in for blues, about four weeks. Good luck.

I'm curious if he got a good answer.

Heres an update with a quick time line Jan 5 2009 interview blue. need 2005 tax transcripts Jan 12 tax transcripts received by GUZ Jan 21 GUZ sends new blue slip wants pictures of us together and "any other evidence of relationship" March 30 sent new info to GUZ Two interesting things about the new blue slip. First they decide to send it to her work address (all other forms were sent to her mailing address). Second the information they are asking for now are the very things that Yan took to her interview but they decided not to look at. To complicate matters Yan (at my request) quit her job at the beginning of Jan. and her employer did not forward or tell her about the embassy mailing until a few days ago. It's hard to know what to make out of whats going on, but on the plus side, GUZ is responding to the info they receive in only a few weeks. Yan, bless her heart, is convinced that she will get her visa within a month. I hope she is right! Being a frugal woman like so many of her compatriots she does not want me to buy tickets to come see her. However I made it clear (in other words I'm trying to maintain a strong negotiating position )that if they send another blue that I will be purchasing my tickets.

Unemployment compensation is often at the discretion of the employer. Many companies do what yours is doing in order to retain employees for when business picks up. Some even do it out of personal concern for their employees. There is nothing shady about it.

Which e-mail address did you use? May I ask what "type" of blue slip did you recieve? Have you tried calling DOS? http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/guangzhou/iv/email.html They requested my 2005 tax info. I don't have the number or know who I would call at DOS

Yan was blue slipped Jan 5. I lawyer emailed them sometime in Feb. The Embassy placed a call to Yan very soon after. They claimed to have sent a "paper" to her, which she did not receive. At the time I thought it was a confirmation of receipt of the info Yan sent back with the blue slip. This Monday 3-22 I sent an email to the embassy asking for an update. Again they immediately called Yan. This time they said they had sent a second paper to her, which she has also not received. I now believe these were new blue slips. They would not tell her on the phone what info they wanted. There has been no change of address and all the mailings prior to her interview were fine. My point is, it might be a good idea to email the embassy every couple weeks to make sure things are progressing. Had I not sent my email we might have waited several months while the embassy was waiting for a response from us.

Expect three months or more. Hopefully it will be quicker

Prepare for at least 4 hours of changing cloths, and standing around just waiting And a lot of posing. I'm not sure about cost, I think around $300. We did ours in Shenzhen and it is definitely different than in the US. I don't think being American will make a difference in the price. That should all be handled when an appointment is made. I highly recommend doing this, I believe it is expected and will make her very happy. Tom

I used this company they were very good. www.mychinavisa.com Tom B

If I understood her correctly, Yan said that one of the other women was asked for the 2008 taxes. I thought this was amazing as her interview was on Jan 5. People don't even have their W-2s yet. I suggest she bring whatever tax and income records that you have from 2008 to the interview. Tom B

They are only asking for my tax returns from 2005. The instructions say to mail them in. She should be able to get them in the mail by Thursday or Friday. The instructions also say to check in "every couple of months" to check on the progress of her case. Could this really take several months to process? Tom B

Bad news. She got a blue slip. I haven't seen it yet but she told me that they want to see my taxes for 2005. The I-134 asks for one years tax return, so, to be prepared I sent two years. Now they ask her for three. I think if I had given her three years of returns they would have probably asked for something else. i want to tell Yan how long of a delay this might be. Any ideas?

Thanks Ive been watching episodes of the Simpsons with my sons. How late in the day do the interviews usually go? I know she had to get there at 7:00, but what time do they start the interviews? Do the gals stand a better chance if they happen to be adorable and funny? I don't remember if I've ever waited for a phone call that was this important to me. I envy the people that have been able to be there with their SO's. If it's not pink I would love to be there to hold her. If it is pink, I would love to be able to hold her. Tom B

Yan is at the consulate at this very moment, with her daughter. I have much confidence but I think many people here are right, it's a bit of a crap shoot. I wasn't able to be there with her. I've asked her to call me after her interview. I know she will be crying. I just hope it's a happy cry. Tom B

"Is China just a flash in the pan" I believe China is in the process of internalizing their economy. They have accumulated a huge pile of foreign reserves and have a huge manufacturing base, which they will likely be able to buy from foreign investors for pennies on the dollar. Also I believe the Chinese people (those with good jobs) are good about saving their money. While I think there will be some difficulties in the transition, I think China will weather the current economic storm better than many countries. I think a period of economic and social self reflection in the face of the current situation will be beneficial to the Chinese as a whole. That is my poorly educated opinion. Tom B