change2marrow

The green card came back 3 weeks after it was sent, although it looked like it was pulled behind a boat across the pacific. Seriously, sent by USPS and came back in a make-shift plastic baggie, and was handed to me soaking wet. The green card was fine though.

talk about a roller coaster ride!!!! To get one step forward, turn right 4 times and what do you get? The same damn place. After getting the Dept of Homeland Security transportion letter, the airline wanted to charge $2000 per person to fly out before the expiration date of the original tickets. After a few calls to Continental (found the right person to help) I was allowed to get the return flights at normal change fee, processing fee and whatever else was thrown in at $660. No complaints from me. We were able to extend my daughters visa in China and leave within the expiration date (30days) of the transportation letter. leaving Shanghai and entering the US was fine with the letter, but at the 3rd and final leg of flight, my so had 20mins to get to the next gate. Not knowing it changed my SO scrambling around to find the right gate and myself calling the around to see what I can do to get the gate to stay open 2 more minutes. (No hope there) Airline said you have to wait for the next flight..... tomorrow. Five minutes past by after my So told me they were heading to the gate... ten minutes..... fifteen minutes goes by. The plane departure time is 7:40pm and it's now.... 7:40pm and we all know the gate closes fifteen minutes before leaving. SO calls "I'm IN the plane!!" Wahoooo!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY THERE BACK!!!!! The airplane door was already closed and had to open it back up to let them in. Unheard of and lucky. Now.... we are all decompressing and thankful.

UPDATE: The good new: the consulate did call and a nice officer helped out. My SO is going to the consulate today to fill out the paperwork and pay $165 for the processing fee. The bad new: This could take 14 days for my SO to see the "transportation letter", regardless of the medical emergency. The ugly news: If this goes beyond the 27th or take the full 14 days, my SO will have to rebook a one way flight for her and My daughter. And, my daughter's passport will also expire and will need to be extended involving more money. Hope? If her Green Card shows up the ugly will go away. If not, I will have to plead with Continental Airlines in hopes of extending the re booking deadline.

Thanks for the help. I've made a few calls and got a little further, but hit a wall when trying to get in touch w/DHS in Beijing or Guangzhou. I have to wait until 3pm to get in touch with Chengdu. Randy W, thanks for the info, looks like I will have to go that route "Lost and Stolen" and hope the letter can be sent to the Chengdu consulate.

Issue: My SO was denied at the Shanghai (pudong) airport when attempting to leave China due to her Green Card showing an expired date. We provided the only document available at the time showing her Green Card was extended for one year, but Chinese port authorities did not accept this. I received the proper documents, Letter NOTICE OF REMOVAL I-797C and the ten year Green Card. I attempted to send my wife the new Green Card showing the proper expiration dates, but the Green Card did not arrive. Stuck: Can't apply for a new Green Card without my SO being present here in the US. The closest consulate, Chengdu Consulate, only handles US citizen affairs and non-immigrant visas. To add to the fire, she is currently have difficulty with her pregnancy and needs medical attention for her symptoms. I'm attempting to get in contact with a consulate officer now, but not sure what I can do. Any thoughts?

I tried to do the same thing a few years ago and of course was denied. Later, when my wife went for the immigration interview, the officer even said that this was the proper way to come to America. Implying that we were trying to come over illegally.

Tmobile/ATT phone SIM's are locked. FCC passed a law now allowing the phones to be unlocked. So, before going to another country, you want to unlock the phones first. But be careful, often the US phones have a lot of software specific to their company. This sometimes can cause problems or conflict when trying to make a simple call. Tmobile has less issues with this.

Verizon Wireless would be the top carrier in the US. If you want a phone and service to work, choose Verizon Wireless. The down side is international calling and roaming. Vodafone owns part of Verizon Wireless, so once Vodafone becomes more of a presence in Asia, so too will Verizon. They do have dual mode/band phones, but Verizon Wireless locks the phones to only accept Vodafone SIM chips. As for outside of the US, GSM phones (Tmobile, ATT Operating system) will be dominate throughout the world for some time to come.

Thanks guys for the info.

My SO entered the US almost 2 months ago under a CR1. We received the Green Card 3 weeks later. Now I’m wondering if the SS Card will be sent or do I have to go to the SS office? My understanding was that the SS card would follow soon after the green card was sent. Am I wrong? Help, if anyone can. Thanx.

Thank you soooooo much.

I need help trying to find a US Driver's license book that's in Chinese. I tried searching for links or info on CFL, but to no avail. Can anyone help?

Iran Ever heard about the Church of England? The state doesn't run/control as it's the other way around.

There are so many aspects to teaching in China. Location: East coast of China often pay better, but you might get run ragged from town to town. Western China or as far as Sichuan area, the pay isn't as good, but the work load can be a little better and laid back. Just because the company is in a major city, doesn't mean the job is in a major city. (From my experience) One point is to contact an ESL teacher currently working for the company that you might be talking with. The more transparent a company is, the better you might feel about working for them. Homework: Company, Location, School, other Foreign Teachers and their experience. Company and School: How long and what is their experience in dealing with foreigners. Location: Where will you live, what and where will the school(s) be located. Traveling. Red Flags: Contracts, undesirable locations, no foreign teachers to contact, new schools that never had a foreign teacher, cities that never had a foreign teacher. And there's many, many more. If you have good common sense, it will help a lot. When it comes to money the only person you can trust is yourself. That's what it's all about for the ESL companies, school or anyone else in China for that matter. Money!!! It rules everything there.

I just came back from living and working in China a few years as an ESL Teacher. Getting a job is pretty easy and plentiful, but its also easy to get into trouble if you don't know the ins and outs. Check out Dave's ESL website as a starter. They have forums about jobs, living and so on. Do your homework and keep your wits about you. Good luck.

Because your filling DCF, you will be filing for a CR-1. I recommend calling the consulate to see if it's acceptable to send the forms by post. I haven't heard of anyone sending it by post. Going in person is much better anyways, because the consulate can verify that the forms have been properly filled out and that you have all the documents needed. Otherwise it could delay any approvals. "ericeblack" said: In my case this wasn't necessary. Only the Petitioner was required, and NOT both the beneficiary and petitioner. What consulate you file from won't effect your time line too much. All forms go to the Beijing consulate, so you would only save a week or two if you file thru Beijing. In other posts you talked about just traveling or living in the US, for short periods of time. I wrote this in a previous thread that follows the same subjects. Good luck.

From my understanding, all religion is state run and controlled in China. I'm sure there are exceptions to the rogue churches that don't tow the line, but it's really wired to hear "State run church."

Congrads Wish you guys well.

Thanks everyone!!!!!! I forgot that they asked the Central Party question as well.

Interview passed 08-02-06 Here were the questions: Do you speak English? Do you have Pictures? Where did you meet? (Looking at the pictures) Are these his parents? What did I do in China? What did he teach? Does he speak Chinese? What does he do now? The CO mentioned the denial of her travel visa and stated that it wasn't good (implying that we were trying to immigrate illegally ) and said this was the right way. My wife responded by saying we just wanted to be together. I think we were darn lucky. Really lucky!!! I wish all those with interviews this month and those waiting, the best of luck. I'm sure people have read this before, but without CFL I don't think it would have been possible. Thank you everyone for your help and support.

Five weeks seems like a long time for someone filing direct. Did you get a notice that your petition has been approved? Have you gotten anything? If the answers are no, I would look into it.

Called DOS Monday, but no change to the status of our case. Just called and the interview has been scheduled for August 2nd. I just hope I can stop the trend of doing everything twice. I’m really surprised to see that the time between P4 to interview is so short. But it shouldn’t be a problem, because we’ve filled out the P4 already.

Congrads!!! The fastest I've seen yet.

Hey David, My time line is updated and my current status is "Pending". All "P4" should be retracted.

Congrads to all........ and good luck.