Bert

No advice really, but I encountered a young guy last April traveling back to the US with a similar dilemma. He had his computer, a carry-on, and his guitar. His problem wasn't the guitar; he just couldn't carry his carry-on and a guitar. He was trying to find someone to take his carry-on for him so he could take his guitar. He found someone willing to do it. His plan was to leave the guitar behind if he couldn't find someone. You have nothing to lose except for a carry-on.

Even China's one child policy only applies to a little over a third of the population. Some ethnic groups can have as many children as they want. Who decides which group can have more children than another on a worldwide basis? It's too early to say that the Chinese policy works. We will see how the gender imbalance is going to play out. We would have to see if our values would change to allow us to drown a child in the river if it didn't turn out the way we wanted. Even a strict one child policy is too hard to implement. There are some people and some cultures that just wouldn't comply. Would you sit idly by why another culture overtook your own? It would have to be a one world government to enforce compliance. And how do you enforce it? Fines don't work, unless you are willing to put poor people in jail when they can't pay. My wife's father was put in jail. Still had two kids. You can murder the excess babies, but I don't see that going over well. Force abortions and sterilizations haven't worked in the past in the US. The lawyers will kill that idea. You can curb births in the US by eliminating the tax benefits for having children and even make families pay more, but it only impacts those people willing to obey. Those that pay no taxes won't be affected. It is probably those, who can least afford it, that you most want to control. How about when there aren't enough working people to pay your social security? How will you impose measures that contradict religious doctrine? There goes the separation of church and state. I don't see it ever happening in the US. It would violate somebody's rights.

You didn't get her a SSN ? If so that's all you need. If not, then you need the ITIN. Yes, since you are married, you can file together as long as you are legally married. It doesn't matter where you both live - since US Citizens are taxed on "world-wide" income. Don't forget if she "earns $/RMB" in China you will have to claim them on your "joint" income tax return. Thanks. I should have gotten a SSN, but we didn't need it to get married. In hindsight, it was a mistake.

I've read all this and I am still a little confused and was wondering if someone could straighten me out. Maybe it's early, but I am starting to think about what to do for income tax filing. My then fiancee came to the US in mid July 2009. We were married in October. She returned to China mid November. She has been and will truly be dependent on me in 2009 and will not likely have any income for 2009. I don't know when or even if she will return the the US at this point. I may be the one joining her in China next year. First question: If she remains in China, can I claim her as a dependent in 2009? Second question: If so, I know I will have to get an ITIN for her. It will be next to impossible explain to my wife what to do to meet the requirement of having a copy of her passport notarized/certified in China, not to mention the difficulty of travel. I do have a copy of her passport; however, the notary "... must see the valid, unaltered original document and verify that the copy conforms to the original." Would a webcam suffice with screen captures as proof that this took place?

I tried dialing the Beijing number (011 86 10 11185) about 5 times before it ever picked up. I entered 9, but it still continued in Chinese. I used the Shanghai area code (011 86 21 11185). It did give me the option to select English by pressing 9. However, a voice in English said, "The English service line is busy", and, then, immediately dropped the line.

She went to the PO. They told her to dial the 11185 number and select English. She did it. She had to dial 9 for English once the menu selection started. Otherwise, they suggested that you send your fiancee by the post office with the tracking number. No other solution was offered.

it wont even let me make a phone call i tried like 10 times to each one, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai dialed 0-11-86-11185, as soon as it connects it just automatically disconnects me, except the number for Beijing, which gives me a message with other numbers to call but in Mandarin, then it disconnects. what else do i do ? how do i get in touch with someone that can help ? My wife is in China. I will ask her to call and see if they have an English help line.

There are 2 reports out there. I was a little confused for a while because I had read the other about a week ago. Each report paints a different picture and ranks countries differently. For instance, Canada ranks 21st in the first and 1st in the second one. The first looks at the end result. Some countries have a lot of retirees or imported cheap labor, which may not have a high income. Some, like Hong Kong, might have a lot of highly paid expats. The first seems to compare how relatively well off the expats are, whereas the second looks at how well you can live there. Both are very interesting. http://www.offshore.hsbc.com/1/2/internati...ics-report-2009 http://www.offshore.hsbc.com/1/2/internati...nce-report-2009

I found this web page for calling EMS internationally. The number it says to call is +86 10 11185 http://www.ems-tracking.net/contact-ems-china.html I don't think it matters whether or not you use "10" for Beijing or "21" for Shanghai or "20" for Guangzhou. The number does work, but it is in Chinese.

The short number works in China, but that doesn't help in the US. My wife said she was able to call using Skype by putting a 021 in front of the number. It never worked, according to her, with any other calling service, only Skype. I did dial 86 021 11185 with Skype a moment ago. I do get an answer in Chinese, which doesn't help me much. I have no idea if it was EMS.

At first, I thought the PPLive was all Chinese programming and I wasn't worried about it so much. But I soon discovered it had international programming on it as well. They absolutely infringe on the copyright laws in the US and beyond. My wife mistakenly believed that since they were Chinese websites, she could download whatever she wanted. I had to remove PPLive from her laptop several times.

thank you all for the information. I don't know if they stamp your passport when you exit the country....at least not on the U.S passport....I'll have them check with the airline before they board.... When my wife went back to China, I had her go to Immigration to ask them where to turn in the I-94. They told her Immigration could not take and that she should turn it in when she boarded the plane. I told my wife that she needed to check with the front desk before boarding. She told me that they took the I-94 then. She might have been a little confused, but somewhere along the boarding process, they took the form.

I tried this today on my work laptop. It is just as it says in the wikihow except that I have to choose "Touch up Object Tool". In the past, I have been successful in altering the government forms and even saving forms that with the Reader you can't save. The only issue I have had is with Chinese characters. Sometimes they want to drop below the line.

If the big computer says the P3 has been sent, you are safe. As soon as it said the P3 was sent, we mailed our P3 the next day. The P3 package sent from the consulate to my then fiancee was received 9 days later.

Nope, they are free. I ordered some earlier this year and they showed up in less than a week. It's just a tad nerve whacking not knowing if this latest one got lost. I'll wait a couple more days. Sorry for sounding like a broken record. But my scripts are still MIA. Anyone else in the same boat? More specifically, did anyone order some recently and have experienced a delayed delivery? Just call them up and have them faxed to you, as DNoblett suggested, if you have a place for them to fax it. You can call the same number. I called late afternoon. The faxes started arriving promptly at 6:00 the next morning. If you have a modem, you can probably set your computer up to receive a fax while you are not there.

We didn't apply, but I looked up the information for SC. It only requires proof that you have filed for an adjustment of status. I would research and have a printout of the information, if you find that it is different from what you have been told. Also, we have to go to a specific department of transportation to apply, not just any will work.

Expect a lot of stress as she turns your life upside down. As my wife says, if she doesn't put me under stress, I can't improve myself.

We finally got married just before our visa was about to expire. My wife's motto is never do today what you can put off to the last minute. That gave us a late start on filing the AOS, getting a driver's license, starting school, etc. Jie Lin goes from being very happy to being depressed. She is stuck at home while I am at work. Things will change as soon as the ball gets rolling. I think it would help if she could talk to other wives in a similar situation or have gotten beyond that. Does anyone have a wife that might be enjoy talking to Chinese? The more local the better. She is from Haokou Town, Qianjiang City, Hubei Province. Thanks in advance for any help.

I had trouble in Guangzhou at the Shanghai Development Bank. The bills could be read by their machine, but they refused to accept some of them because they were too old or had a slight tear or a small ink spot on them or some imperfection. When I went back to Shanghai, I exchanged the bills without a problem. My fiancee said that had happened to her once before when I gave her money to exchange. I asked her what she did with the bills. She said she gave it to her mother for her "collection"...grrrrr. I prefer to exchange cash. I always try to make sure that I have crisp, new, one hundred dollar bills.

Congratulations!

The last box that I shipped was the first of three to come in today. It was shipped on July 4. So, it took a month and a half, about half the time that they told us. Two other boxes were shipped on July 3. The difference? I wrote "personal effects" for the contents for this one. I didn't do this for the first two. Who knows. Looks like they re-packed the box, and did a better job, I might add.

My sweetheart has more shoes than Amelda Marcos.

My fiancee and I came back together. I was able to check two 70 lb bags and she was to check one 50 lb bag, no charge, plus we each had two carry-ons. I would first check with the airline to see how much she is able to carry free and how much an extra bag or two would cost. We shipped three approximately 20 kg boxes back to the US via China post. They said it would take about 3 months. It's been about a month ago, so I haven't even checked. That is what China Post recommended. They charge by weight. It cost approximately 350 RMB per box. They gave us green boxes with a waxy surface. The boxes weren't that big, something like 12" deep, 24" wide, and 18" high, if I had to guess from memory. You have to assemble the box yourself. You can stuff as much as you want up to 20 Kg. It is difficult to stuff that much in the way of clothes. After you get it all packaged up and sealed, they will probably make you open it up again to ensure that you aren't shipping anything illegal. Edit: Just remembered. I have the receipts. It appears to cost just under 25 RMB per Kg, more than I remembered. Plus 8 RMB for the box plus insurance, if you choose to do so.

Anybody used any of these sites?

If you have insurance, their is a limit to what the doctor can charge. I can visit the doctor for $25. I pay the whole bill. That's it. Without insurance, they can charge anything they want. To liability to too great to go without. I tried the AskBlue earlier in the week. The website was down until today, I think it was. I will try that again later. BCBS was our former insurer. I am familiar with their system. We switched to United Healthcare. It's a nightmare. Everything is contracted out. Nobody knows anything. Once married, it's no problem. She just needs time to ensure she can adapt here. She likes it, but has trouble sleeping. Hopefully, that it is resolved in time. She is also afraid of my basement and attic. She wants me to brick up the basement and get rid of the attic. That's a point of contention.