SirLancelot

Roger, BH is right about this report being a "concept" of what they want and intend to implement. It has NOT been implemented yet. However, Sections 3 and 4 are about current practices and procedures. It describes in exquisite details about how everything is handled from the very moment your petition and application is received to how it's finally adjudicated. It is extremely detailed. If you read nothing else, read Sections 3 and 4. It's invaluable. I actually believe DavidZ should directly incorporate Section 3 and 4 into the FAQ. The report actually details exactly why certain things take so long and it actually reveals--through a lot of the footnoting--that USCIS is very aware of all their problems and customer complaints. They are addressed with this new system concept. I had no idea how antiquated USCIS's information system actually was. Now that I have a better understanding of their entire system flow, I now believe they're actually doing a decent job given their antiquated system. Of course we all want it to be faster, but I don't think they actually can do it faster with the current paper based system. BH is right about them taking several years for this to be implemented and I'm sure there will be corrections and changes as they implement the new concept, but this concept will be implemented. There is no turning back from overhauling the fundamental system to a paper-less system vs. the current very paper-based system. Roger, don't expect to see any of these changes implemented for your current I-129F application. But if your wife eventually wants to be come a citizen and files the N-400 application, then these changes should be implemented by then and it will help your wife out. Again folks, I highly recommend Sections 3 and 4 if you have no time to read all the others. It explains in painful detail every aspect of the entire system.

Well that actually sounds pretty positive. Sounds like you may make it through the AOS afterall. Good luck. Please let us know how it turns out.

http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments...onOps_Mar07.pdf This is an absolute must read if you want to know all the details of what USCIS actually does from how your petition/application is received and how name checks are done and why there may be long delays. Make sure to read all of the footnotes as it's in the footnotes where all the juicy details reside! I can't believe they've disclosed so much information. It answers everything you've ever wanted to know on why it takes USCIS such and such time to complete the processing of your submissions. It's a bit long but well worth the reading.

Yep, it's definitely different. I knew how much electricity I'm was using at the apartment each month from the electric meters in the hallway. I'm billed for each kilowatt of electricity I used. In fact, in SH, many of the buildings have dual metering. There are two separate meters. One for 6:00am to 10:00pm and the other to meter from 10:00pm to 6:00am. The electric rate was .61rmb for each kw from 6am - 10pm and .30rmb from 10pm to 6:00am. I was lucky enough to have dual meters in both my apartment complexes. The monthly electric bills I received showed exactly how many kw I used from each meter and charged accordingly. Through those metered electric bills, I was never billed for any of the electric use you mentioned above. As for the "management fee", each apartment is billed based solely on the sq/m. It's a set rate multiplied by the size of the apartment. At the newer apartment I lived in, it was between 3-3.5rmb per sq/m and the older apartment was like 1.9x per sq/m. It's possible they charged each floor a little different price but at least for each apartment, the rate is constant. The 3.5rmb or 1.9rmb per month rate did not fluctuate monthly. I did quite a bit of apartment shopping (intent to purchase) during my stay there and never once did the agents tell me that the rate of the management fee would change monthly. Each time I asked about the management fee of the complex I was looking into, I was quoted a specific rate per sq/m. That is consistent with the semi-annual "management fee" bills/notices I received in my mailboxes. I actually think this is a moot discussion. It is my belief that regional and specific municipal policies may vary widely. So what may be the case for GZBILL may be very different for Chilton in ZS and very different yet again for Beijing residents. I cannot believe these policies would be universal all across China.

Yes, I'm sure they lump those misc charges into this "management fee". It's somewhat like an Association fee in the US for town homes and condos. This fee pays for the part of the upkeep and maintenance of the apartment complex which can't be directly metered for each individual user on an individual basis, such as the electricity used in the hall ways and the electricity for the elevator and the electricity for the security guard office.

My "guan li fei" was strictly only the management fee, nothing more. I paid the electricity bill directly to the electric company. I paid the gas bill directly to the gas company. I paid water directly to the water company. I paid telephone bill directly to Shanghai Telecom. The management fee was only for the maintenance of the building, the security guards, and the landscaping, nothing more. In both apartments, they were billed every 6 months. I just passed the bill notice onto the landlords. Interestingly enough, both actual owners were living abroad (one in Australia and another in the US) and had their respective relatives in SH collect the rent. Actually for one landlord, I simply deposited the monthly rent into his bank account each month. Really? Your tenants do? I've rented two apartments in SH and both times it was assumed--of course I made sure of that--that the management fee was paid by my landlord. Obviously he could easily have incorporated the fee into the rent, but I certainly wasn't going to be bothered with paying that bill to the management office myself. It's interesting. I'm curious if the law states that by default if it falls the tenant or the landlord. My assumption is if it's not strictly written in the rental contract, that the default would fall onto the property owner, rather than the tenant. Of course the legal responsibility must be on the property owner since the management company / homeowner's committee have no recourse against anybody else for nonpayment. Your landlord could very well have agreed to handle that, but of course that must be factored into the rental price. I, however, would never agree to assume that duty because a) I wouldn't be travelling to Shanghai or beijing every month to pay the fees nor would I want to bother with calling to see how much the fee was every month and B) because the amount changes every month. Regarding "b", the amount billed to each unit every month not only includes the fixed amount for management fee, but also includes charges for water & electricity for public spaces, a monthly variable charge for streetlights and often cable TV charges and potable water services. The vast majority of landlords will include this as tenant responsibility. You're lucky yours is so nice! All of my houses but for two are rented out to a certain company as housing for their expat staff. They pay a full year in advance and each tenant is responsible for management fees, public charges, incidentals and their own utility service.

Really? Your tenants do? I've rented two apartments in SH and both times it was assumed--of course I made sure of that--that the management fee was paid by my landlord. Obviously he could easily have incorporated the fee into the rent, but I certainly wasn't going to be bothered with paying that bill to the management office myself. It's interesting. I'm curious if the law states that by default if it falls the tenant or the landlord. My assumption is if it's not strictly written in the rental contract, that the default would fall onto the property owner, rather than the tenant.

Actually I think you're right about it being a no-brainer now. In the past, even just a couple of years ago, it was more--sometimes much more--difficult for Mainland people to visit HK. So not many went this route. But it is getting easier and easier for Mainland residents to visit HK now a days. So it's a very attractive option and perhaps should be highlighted more often on CFL. But future petitioners should realize that it's ONLY for K-3 filings. A K-1 is not possible via HK unless their SOs actually legally lived or worked in HK. Good luck Lee. I think for your particular situation, it may indeed be the best route to marry in HK and file through HK. Please keep in mind that the petitioning via USCIS will be the same processing time. It's only the processing at the US Consulate in HK which will be sped up significantly. Roger, if you had a chance to do it over, would you have gotten married in HK with your wife? Lee, the main reason is that most Chinese women won't find it so easy to get access to HK. Being a resident of ShenZhen or GuangZhou makes it easier to obtain a permit to visit HK but it's not that easy for many others. If the Chinese SO can get into HK, then going the K-3 route via HK is indeed a smart choice. The only other consideration is that with a K3, your SO comes into the US as a wife. With a K1 she comes in as a fiancee. I know--and even advocate--that a K1 visa should not be used as a visiting visa to see if the pair should marry, that it should be used as an immigration visa to actually marry. But the fact of the matter is that on a K1 visa, the couple still has a chance to not marry if they really don't match or shouldn't marry. But on a K3, the couple is already married and would need to get a divorce if it doesn't work out. That's something to keep in mind. I do NOT advocate people use the K1 visa as a visitor visa. Thanks Lance. While I respect the opinion of each couple regarding which choice to make, Ping and I have looked at the K1 exactly as you look at it. We made our decision to get married before we filed our petition. We are not looking for a trial period before we get married. We chose the K1 option only because it looked like it would be a faster way to get her here. Had we known about this Hong Kong option we would have opted for it from the beginning, and she might already be here by now. We don't mind the idea of waiting once we are married and she is here. It is this interminable waiting before she is here and we can be married that is bothering us now. Ping went to Hong Kong with me from Guangzhou earlier this year. We have already planned a family vacation in Hong Kong for next month when I am in Guangzhou. We might have to scramble to get all the paperwork ready, but marriage in Hong Kong sure seems like a viable option now.

Lee, the main reason is that most Chinese women won't find it so easy to get access to HK. Being a resident of ShenZhen or GuangZhou makes it easier to obtain a permit to visit HK but it's not that easy for many others. If the Chinese SO can get into HK, then going the K-3 route via HK is indeed a smart choice. The only other consideration is that with a K3, your SO comes into the US as a wife. With a K1 she comes in as a fiancee. I know--and even advocate--that a K1 visa should not be used as a visiting visa to see if the pair should marry, that it should be used as an immigration visa to actually marry. But the fact of the matter is that on a K1 visa, the couple still has a chance to not marry if they really don't match or shouldn't marry. But on a K3, the couple is already married and would need to get a divorce if it doesn't work out. That's something to keep in mind. I do NOT advocate people use the K1 visa as a visitor visa.

Just a clarification that my post was targeted towards the general audience more than specifically at SinoT. SinoT is well traveled and behind all his Texan humor lies a very educated person whom I respect. When he's not making all the Texas wisecracks, I appreciate what he says. And I believe he's put in a lot of time and effort to learn about Chinese culture. I believe his relationship will work out nicely. My intention in my post was more for the general audience to not believe or assume that every Chinese SO will adjust to the US life as easily as some of the ladies mentioned on here. All the Chinese ladies may say they'll easily adjust when they get to the US, but you can't believe every word they say, not because they're directly lying to you, but because they themselves don't know better. They'll know better once they're actually here and have lived here for a few months. Then you'll see for yourself if they are easily adapting. So don't try to hold the Chinese SOs accountable for something they said back in China about the US when they really shouldn't be held liable for what they say. That is all I meant by my post. I sincerely wish SinoT and his lovely fiancee best wishes in their relationship. For that matter, I wish everyone the best with their SO/wives.

Ok, now I'm confused. What is AOS without I-485? I thought the I-485 is the Adjust of Status application form. So how does one file AOS without filing the I-485 form?

Did this come from Carl? Why does it sound like exactly what DavidZ would say? For those who actually have their wives/fiancees in the US, I will accept their posts at face value. Some have been quite lucky to have Chinese women who have adapted relatively quickly and easily. For the rest who still have their wives/fiancees in China, I would strongly urge you NOT to believe everything that is said over the phone or webcam and take that to be set in stone. Or try to set into stone what you heard over the phone/webcam. I believe you'll be very disappointed if you do. As Tony pointed out, people change. It's a given. I believe 100% that most of the Chinese SOs have no idea what life will really be like in the US. No matter if they've seen 1000 photos of your home town and hundreds of videos of life in the US, they'll have no idea until they've actually lived it. Especially for the folks who live in more rural areas in the US where there's little to no Asians, there is no way you can or should believe your SO that it won't bother them not to see other Asian people. That's just ridiculous. For a race of people who are not use to seeing any laoweis and seeing 100% Chinese all day every day to suddenly be dropped into a strange place where there are no Asians, that will be bewildering to say the least. America will be as strange to your SOs as China was strange to you the first time you went there. I rarely talk about my wife because I like to keep our personal lives private but on this issue, I will disclose somethings, to use as a personal example. My wife is from Shanghai, born and bred. She's relatively cosmopolitan compared with the rest of China. She lived with me for a while when I was in China and I had exposed her to a lot of western food. She worked at an education company which recruited foreigners to teach English in Shanghai. She was exposed to (and in fact managed) a group of loweis on a day to day basis. She was plenty exposed to the behavior of Americans. She embraced most things Western like so many of the urban youths in China today. She thought she would have no adjustment period to the US at all. She told me plenty of times in China not to be concerned and that she'd embrace the US easily and quickly. Well, that was then, and this is now. After having been here 5 months, she's really starting to miss SH. We eat Chinese a lot at home, but she is still extremely hungry for real street food from SH. She's always talking about food from China. Even though she loves pizza, filet mignon and green salads, she's always talking about real Chinese food lately. I can sense how she's missing SH/China more and more. Additionally, she's talking more and more about going home for a visit sooner, rather than later. She's really starting to miss her parents--and her twin nieces. This has even surprised herself. She never thought she'd miss her parents as much as she does now. Speaking with her nieces on the phone can bring tears to her eyes. All of this is hitting her like she'd never have imagined. She admits she never thought she'd feel like this, but she does now. I've disclosed all this for no other reason than to convey that Chinese people have no idea what life will be like prior to getting here. No matter how much you try to tell them, they really have no idea. It's only after they get here and have been here a month or two when reality will really sink in. Too many CFL members have complained on here "But that's not what she told me when she was in China." "That's not what she said she wanted before." I've always hated reading those posts because how can you expect the Chinese ladies to foretell how their lives will be in the US when they really have no conception of what life will be like in the US. Even if she believes she knows, she really doesn't. It's like asking an American if he really understands what living in China for several years would be like if he's never been to China before. He can't! One can't sincerely expect our SOs to 100% keep to what they said back in China. If you do, you do at your own peril. We've read stories such as Rak's and Jim's. I don't dispute their happy stories. Their ladies seem to have had a very easy adjustment, but there are plenty of stories which are either not told, or are only told on 001/002, where the adjustments have been miserable. For all the folks advocating aggressive integration into the US culture, just imagine if you were to go live in China and had to always watch Chinese TV, always eat Chinese food, only befriend Chinese friends, and always conduct yourself with Chinese mannerism and etiquette. I think everyone, including myself, will utterly fail. So don't try to push this onto your SOs. While I respect Jim_J very much and I hold his posts in high regards, I don't think his success with his wife will directly translate to everyone else. I support what he suggests in moderation, but I honestly believe the Chinese SO will be much happier to see a lot of Chinese things at home. Sawadee, being a Chinese SO, so eloquently described what it meant to her, even to have one Chinese newspaper or magazine. These kinds of small connections with the home country are truly priceless. They mean a great deal more than their actual cost in dollar amounts. With all due respect to Sino and his lovely fiancee, I do find it very ironic that a Chinese lady who has been living in the US for three years being disregarded for giving--what I believe to be--wise advice. While it may indeed turn out that Sino's lovely fiancee won't need any of the things suggested by her friend in OR, I think what the friend suggested was very apropos. I would urge many of you to seriously consider what that Chinese lady said. Yes, people are all different. But with all due respect, I certainly would take the advice of someone whose been living here for three years over someone who has not lived in the US for one day. Just my two cents. Y'all are free to disagree.

Hey Heather, glad it's all working out for you. I also suspect that the letter from the Senator's office greatly sped up things for you. I suspect GUZ did reply to your Senator's office and that you'll be receiving a letter from the Senator's office soon.

There is no downside to this HK scenario. The only problem is the "second part" of your question. Despite some people having success in traveling to HK, many of the ladies will find it very difficult to get to HK in the first place. Bigger city residents (SH, GZ, BJ) will have an easier time, but smaller, rural Chinese residents will have a much harder time getting to HK. And one would have to do a K-3. You couldn't do a K-1, based on this idea.

China just spent millions of $ to issue new ID cards about two years ago. The ones you mention are only going to be supplemental for those inter-city migrants that inevitably gravitate towards bigger cities in search of a better life. Think of it as a hukou book turned ID card. My wife applied for her new ID card when we were in China in March/April. She received it last month (July). How does this work? Was it sent to her in the US? Was it sent to her in China? Do they send it via POST at all? Or do you have to personally go into the office to pick it up? Or can a relative go pick it up? Inquiring minds want to know. Thanks!

The guy, Zhang Shuhong, who committed suicide is a HK citizen. The press is much more free and open in HK. The truth will come out for this incident. If the best friend was the real culprit, I hope he's summarily executed.

Lou, this superstition is with regards to shoes generally, not just house slippers. The Chinese word for "shoe(s)" has the same pronunciation (in pu tong hua) as the word "evil". Obviously not every believes in this, but it's said to be not a good idea to give shoes as a gift or to buy for someone, as if you do, you're giving them (or buying for them) evil. That is the idea behind why one should not buy shoes for another or to give shoes as gifts.

I was in Monterey Park, CA... where the town is chinese run.. so prices were low.. as were wages... In S. Florida, despite Lance's statements that illegals drive down wages and prices...the state seems to resist lowering anything that might make life more enjoyable. Haha.. Well David, we'll just have to see what happens to your already high prices if all the illegals are kicked out in S. Florida. I'm against illegal immigration. I'm firmly on record as being in favor of kicking out all illegal immigrants. But there will be a downside. For anyone who thinks prices won't be affected, they must be living in another kind of economic reality than the one we live in. Just think of it this way, if all workers in the US were in a union, just imagine what prices would be like for everything. Thankfully, we have legal non-union workers all over. Then we have the illegal workers. We have a 3-tiered system. If you take out any of the layers beneath the union workers, prices will definitely increase as the cost of labor just increased substaintially. If you take out the illegal wokers, the next tier left is the non-union workers. They certainly will demand more money than the illegals. If cost of labor increase for all employers, you bet your sweet buns the employers will raise the prices for his end product or service. There is no way the employer will assume the cost increase. If prices are high now, it'll be that much higher when the illegals are gone. But that's a good thing for all liberals who wanted higher minimum wages to begin with. Without the illegal workers, the cost of labor will naturally rise.

I don't know about your other stuff, but for the I-485 (AoS), you sent it to the correct address if you sent it to the address Dan posted.

So if you're over 18, you can still take the test online?

Who posted they sent to their local office? You sent it to the correct place: Chicago lock-box.

amberjack1234, I gotta agree with Yimi, that was a very touching story. The part where you held your wife's hand and stayed with her until she passed, it certainly brought a few tears to my eyes. I'm not religious, but your story was very touching. Larry had told me about his new wife a little in PM, but I knew nothing about his previous wife. I'm happy to read about his two happy marriages. Lots of good wishes going forward for a long and happy life Larry!

Sorry RLS. I deleted my previous post.

Roger, as far as your able to ascertain, what is the intention of the wife? Does she want to stay in the US or go home? If she wants to go home, then it's just a straight divorce as Randy suggests. It's only if she wants to stay and fight to stay in the US that problems arise for everyone involved.

Carl, the situation you describe is different from Roger's "acquaintance" in that they are not even married. I think it'll be extremely difficult for this person to do anything besides leave the country. Even if the man is arrested for physically beating up this woman, I don't think she can file for anything as they never even got married. At the most fundamental level, doesn't she need to at least enter into the marriage in good faith before she can try any sort of appeal? Randy, there has to be more consequences than what you've paint: If nothing consequential happens to either parties, then I'm positively certain that many people would go this route simply to enter the US and stay. Wouldn't Roger's acquaintance have filed a I-864 to get as far as an AOS appointment? I'd imagine no interview would have been scheduled without submission of a signed I-864.