hankster

Thanks Dan, I'm drafting an explanation he can take with him now.

Thanks, Beachey, and Dan..............just made the infoPass for Monday at the Seattle USCIS. In hindsight I think this may have been my fault. The stepson came home to Knoxville for a month beginning August 21. I figured that the appointment letter possible would be coming during that time period. sooo......... Because I'm so smart, I got on USPS website and had his mail forwarded from his Seattle PO Box to our home for that month.. nothing ever got forwarded during that month soooooooo.............now I'm thinking................. USCIS mail probably reads something like: "DO NOT FORWARD"..........................I'm so smart!

"You were scheduled to appear for an interview on your application for Naturalization on Wednesday, October 03, 2012 at 09:20 AM. Our records indicate you failed to appear for this interview. You have thirty (30) days from the date of this notice to explain why you did not appear. Failure to respond to this notice will result in your application being administratively cloxed without further action." This was on a form I-797C received by my stepson yesterday. He's in school in Seattle and has a USPS PO Box, but he never received the interview notice from them. There is an 800 number and a USCIS mailing address at the bottom of the 797C form . Should he call the number or write a letter? Don't know why he didn't get the interview appointment notice, and I don't know exactly how to handle this......................any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Hank

Thanks, everyone. Yes, Dan, we asked the conditional greencard interview officer to change her last name to married name on the GC back in 2007, but her chinese passport, of cours,e still shows maiden name.

I'm sure I used to know this but can't remember now: Lily has a chinese passport with her maiden name and green card with married last name. She will fly to China via Hong Kong soon. what name do i make her reservation in. thanks, hank

Good Info..............thanks, Dan

One more thing just came up. Our student is 17 and his mother has asked me if he can get his own bank account here. He has a valid F1 visa plus a current I-20. No SS # though. Anybody have an idea?

Thanks, everybody, a friend of mine, who is a local attorney, told me to have the mother bring a translated notorized document stating that she is the parent, and has custody of the boy, ( she's divorced from the father) and we could do a limited power of attorney for health care and school issues. Lily contacted the mom, and the attorney's fee is fine with her. I also told her to bring his immunization record and translated notorized birth certificate Can you guys think of anything else I should get them to bring?

Lily and I will be the host family to a 16 year old chinese boy for the upcoming school year. His mother and Lily were friends in China, and she is willing to hire Lily for this service, and Lily has accepted. The boy has already been accepted to a local non-boarding private high school and has his I-20 in hand. Just wondering, if any one has gone through a similar situation in regards to having either legal guardianship, Power of attorney, or simply a notorized letter from the mother to give us permission to make decisions for health care etc. The mother and the son will be arriving in a couple of weeks and i want to have the necessary documents prepared before she returns to China and leaves her son with us for the school year. any suggestions? Thanks, Hank Edited for punctuation

My wife is an expert shopper also, Tsap. Frequently, when I get home, she'll show me a piece of clothing with a brand name and ask, "How much?"..........I'll put a pained look on my face, clutch my chest, and answer, "$100 dollars"..............she'll start hopping and giggle, "4 dollars!"........of course, she wears petite or small and here in good ole East TN, I doubt there's a lot of demand for that size.

My story exactly. Even the ceiling fan on our screened-in-deck, "on low speed", on a 90 degree summer day, can cause a cold

You answered 25 out of 33 correctly — 75.76 % I knew gov. of the people, by the people for the people was Gettysburg address, but I answered Constitution

Yep, I believe you're right David. Silly me, should have read "D" and tied it to "E".

Did legal name change for my stepson back in August and filed I-90 to get a new green card with new name (My last name). Used Reason "E" (Name has been legally changed etc etc) Nowhere in the instructions, that I saw, did it say send back old greencard. Now I get "Request for Evidence" asking for this: "You must submit your previously issued Form I-551, Alien Registration Receipt Card, before your application for a new card can be processed. You must furnish original card. You may keep a photocopy of the Form I-551 for your records, but you must surrender the original I-551 card with this request." Did I miss this on the instructions?

Happy Birthday to my Guz Cuz. Been almost 5 years since the ACH and Interviews, Dan. Time flies when you're having a good time.

I made 2 trips by soft sleeper slow train. Kunming to Guangzhou (24 hours) and Shenzhen to Yongzhou. ( about 12 hours) I had ridden passenger trains (Not Amtrak) many times back in the fifties and sixties as a child and teenager, so I wanted to do it for nostalgic reasons. My wife's friends thought I was being "cheap", but wife understood and It was a great experience ....... Soft sleeper compartments were clean and the rest rooms had western toilet seats and were fairly clean. Saw the China countryside through a "picture window" while rolling along at 30-50 mph. They are old trains, but heated and air conditioned. They look like the USA passenger trains of years ago. (Southern Railways, L&N etc) The dining car served very good "hot" meals. It was a wonderful experience, and I would do it again if time permits.

Congratulations, Yu, From your old GUZ BUDS, Hank and Lily

Recently watched 4 episodes of:"Missions That Changed The War: The Flying Tigers " on The Military Channel. They accomplished a lot under Chennault's leadership..........Great History!

Update: I was off work today, so this morning we tried the SS office again. After reading and printing applicable sections of the SSA Program Operations Manual, I was loaded for bear. We had about a ten minute wait and were called to the window. I had asked James and his mom which SS person they had when they were there on Tuesday, and they pointed to window C. We got called to window A and I told the young lady why we were there. Before I could 'draw my guns', she said, "No problem, can I see your Court Order?". We were out of there in 5 minutes with the SS card name change document in hand.(We'll receive the new card by mail within 2 weeks) Now it's off to the TN Driver's license office. We chose a different one down the road in Rockwood TN this time. I was loaded for Bear, again, with an email from the TN dept of safety. Didn't need it..........Same story..........we were out of there in about 15 minutes, with a new TN driver's license with the new name on it. No problems today.......Different person at SSA, Rockwood instead of Knoxville office for Driver's License ........Moral of the story? You tell me. Now, we'll mail the I-90 and have a new Green Card soon. (Thanks for the help, Dan) Hank

Right, Randy, trying to get it done before he takes off out of state to College so he can do the name change when he arrives there. We'll try with SSA again this Friday, and take the Program Operation Manual with us to point out their own procedure. Don't know how we'll make out with the Driver's License if we try again. However I sent an email to the TN Dept of Safety in Nashville to try to get clarification. Haven't heard back from them yet. I have the I-90 filled out, and will send it tomorrow, but I'm worried about the Biometrics. The stepson will be at his college by the time they schedule and will have to have his bio somewhere in that vicinity. Know how that will be arranged? Edit: Also, I might add, The court order states his "previous name, age, address DOB etc. legally changing name to New name, age, address DOB" So using common sense, even presenting his Green card for ID, it's obvious, that he is who he is. Sure that won't matter to TN Driver's License, though.

My stepson, James, just turned 18, and will be off to college in a couple of weeks. He wanted to legally change his name before he leaves, so yesterday we appeared in Chancery Court and received a Court order (Court approved) name change. (Very smooth and easy process) BUT...When he went to Social Security and then TN driver's license office, he was turned down for name changes. He was told at both offices that he must have his name changed on his Green Card before they will change name on SS card and Driver's License. (We will apply for new Greencard, but hoping to get SS card and License before he starts college) From what I read last night on The SS and TN driver's license websites, I think they are wrong. My question for our members is: Has anyone gone through this scenario or anything similar? Thanks, Hank

Thanks to Don for all his work over the years keeping this invaluable board going, and Thanks to Carl for stepping up to make sure it stays alive.

Here is an update for our Chinese Passport experience , which was initiated by this Post by Clayton. LIly and I travelled to Memphis TN from Knoxville on Saturday morning Feb.5, 2011. We arrived at the Engineering Auditorium at the University of Memphis at about 2PM, where we met Clayton and his wife who had arrived earlier and already picked up their number. There were a couple of hundred Chinese in the Auditorium by this time and it appeared to be mass confusion. Apparently there was only one rep. from the Embassy there, and she was overwhelmed. We finally found out where to get our number (It was in a different line than where Clayton's wife got hers) and proceeded to wait. After we had waited a couple of hours, I decided to go check into a hotel in the area, that I had scouted on the internet. (When we left Knoxville I had thought that we might be able to travel back the same day, If all went quickly).......but I could see that wasn't going to happen. About 6pm, Lily made it to the front of the line, and the Embassy Lady looked at her application and stamped it.........That's it. We were instructed to send the stamped application and Lily's passport to the Embassy within 2 weeks, along with a self addressed pre-paid Fedex or USPS envelope and $60 cashiers check. The following week, I did just that, but fearing that this wasn't going to go smooth. Yesterday, Lo and behold, my self addressed Fedex Envelope arrived and in it was Lily's new Passport plus her cancelled old one. So the trip to Memphis, instead of DC turned out to be a successful one.........just didn't expect the huge crowd in Memphis. Clayton: Feel free to add to this. Hank

Good Luck on the 1st

Thanks Clayton, I received the same email from John Chen last night so I guess we'll head that way Saturday morning. So now it's Saturday instead of Sunday as was posted on the Embassy's website............ 375 miles to Memphis vs 505 miles to DC .....Hope it works out for us both, and we don't have to make a return trip for pickup, like Mick's wife. Maybe we'll see you there. Hank