Bert

Anyone have any advice on short term health insurance? My fiancee is here with me in the US now. We already had to go to an urgent health care center for a non-urgent problem. The original plan was to marry as soon as possible. It would have been easy to get her under my work insurance plan. But plans change. I need coverage for her for one to two months. She is used to going to the doctor at a drop of a hat. Just having a plan with help. I called BCBS today. They won't cover her until she has a green card. Is this true for all insurers? Thanks in advance for help on this.

I agree and I told her that there are good and bad people of all colors and all races. I explained that he was just a bureaucrat with control. It had nothing to do with his color. Her uncle plays a large part into how she feels. Something happened in Wal-mart that shows a little about her perceptions. She was trying to find something. She went up to this black woman (not an employee) and asked her if she knew where she could find it. The woman was very nice and helped her. She later told me that she asked her because she was also an English language learner too and might be more willing to help. She has a lot to learn. I had to tell her that she was born here as well as most likely were her parents and grand parents for several generations. She has a lot to learn. I was raised in a county that was and remains about 70% black. We will go there this weekend. It will be interesting to see how she reacts. She is learning and has met mostly good people of all colors since she had been here. She had a difficult time accepting some of my Filipino friends in Shanghai because of skin color. She finally got over that and has become good friends with them too. She, herself, is dark skinned. The US uses intimidation as a tool for immigration and airport security. China, IMHO, does just as good a job without the intimidation. I wish the US could learn from that.

Congratulations!

My fiancee went through Atlanta as her POE Sunday night. We both went down the non-resident line. The woman directing people saw my US passport and told me I should go to the US citizen side. I explained that I was with my fiancee and we need to go together. She insisted we both could go to the US citizens immigration line and lifted the tape so we could go directly to the line in front of an immigration officer. So, we didn't have to wait in the long line. Great. We were off to a good start. There were two or three people in front of us. Things went smoothly. Finally, it was our turn. Jie walked up to the immigration officer with me behind her. She greeted the officer with a "Hello". His response was, "What? You don't think I see you down there." Officer Holmes was the biggest arsehole US immigration officer I have ever come across. Then he turns to her and says, "Did you read the sign before entering?! Do you understand English?!" Then he turns to me and asks the same thing. I have know idea what his problem was and didn't care enough to ask. Then it became time for the fingerprinting. He said, "Raise you right have and put your four fingers together." She did exactly what he said. Then he asks her again, "Do you speak English?" Then he turns to me and asks, "Do you speak her language?" He was so condescending towards her. I don't mean to offend anyone with the following; I am just stating what happen. When he finished with us, Jie turns to me and says, "I don't like it here. I want to go back. He looked down on me because he is black and I am Chinese." After that, he chats with his buddy about nothing for no good reason. I guess he just wanted to see if he could rattle us. Then he had someone take us to another room. We followed. The guy drops off the package, says nothing, and leaves. After 40 minutes, they finally call her. After 10 minutes, it was done.

We made it home safe and sound last night.

Age doesn't seem to mean much in China. When I first met my fiancee, she asked my age and then I asked her age. She just picked a number. She later explained that no Chinese women is going to tell you her real age when you first meet. I remember being met with laughter when I asked her best friend what her age was. My fiancee finally told me her "real" age. It is further complicated in that the Chinese count age by the Lunar Calendar. As it turns out, her "real" age didn't match her ID. Her mother gave the wrong age when the police force her to register her daughters, probably trying to hide disguise the fact that she had a sister, or perhaps someone just made a mistake. So, I finally think I know her birth year. Then I see on Facebook a different year. She say, "Well, that is the year by father says I was born, but I was born so late in the year that I claim the next year." Sounds so logical to her. I think I finally know the year. We celebrated her birthday last December and we had the candles for her age. Three months later she tells someone she is a year older. I'm like "3 months ago you with such and such age". She says matter of factly, "That was last year." Oh, boy. Her family has two hukou bins. One shows her father's birthday 8 years off. Quite often, Jie will encounter a woman she doesn't know. The woman will tell her how old they think I am and how they think she is, but they never tell each other their ages. This happened maybe 5 times in the short time I was in Guangzhou. The Chinese are just as bad a guessing my age as I am guessing their age ...lol. The youngest guess so far for me is 20. The oldest, 30. Nowhere close. They usually tell my fiancee that she is approaching 30. Drives her nuts. I just tell her I am robbing her youth ...lol. OTOH, there was this guy they were telling me about that was 75 years old. He was very old and tired, they said. I envisioned a skinny, gray haired old man on his deathbed. When I met him, I would have said he was no older than me. There is this Chinese woman at work that if I had met on the street, I would have put her age at 18. I figured to be in her position, she had to be at least 22 or 23. She is 35, still living at home with her parents. Age just doesn't seem important here.

When we arrived at the Yangs apartment, Mrs. Yang asked Jie Lin a few questions. She then told Jie Lin that she had a 99.9%+ chance of passing the interview. That really boosted her confidence, whether true or not. Mr. Yang later told her that the case was solid and had a 100% chance of passing the interview, depending only on the final preparation. For 200 RMB, they could prepare the P4 documents. They did push this on us, only offering it as a service. I had already done this, except for filling in the Chinese documents and a new GIV-24 document (which turns out not to be required). I thought that I was well organized, but I knew I was doomed if I didn't do everything possible to ensure that she passed the interview. Resistance was futile. Either that or risk a lifetime of "I told you so." So, we engaged Mrs. Yang to fill out and organize the P4 documents. She did a great job, filling out all the documents that came in the P4 package and organizing the documents in order in which they would be asked for. She caught a few inconsistencies. She knows the process at GUZ land.

I took the gamble and lost. If I had to do it over again, I would probably do the same thing, except allow for a few extra days. In my international travel experience, I find that a changeable ticket typically costs a lot more that paying the penalty to change the ticket. If you can get a good deal, go for it. If the rules haven't changed, they used to let you keep the ticket open for a year. When I first booked her tickets, the round ticket was much cheaper than the one way, so don't assume the one way will be cheaper.

The Yangs have been great. Mrs. Yang booked our tickets to Shanghai and will now book tickets for my fiancee's round trip to GUZ. I used Delta because that is who my company uses and I am allowed to collect the Skymiles. I paid for my flight over but used Skymiles for her flight. I thought it was smart because I could change her ticket without change, but Delta screwed me, saying they didn't have the fare class for the day I wanted to fly. In fact, they didn't have any for the range of dates we could fly. I did get the Skymiles back, which are worth at least $1200. The money out of pocket hurts. Although I am on the same flight two days later, I had to pay a premium to fly on Sunday, plus a $250 to change the ticket. Delta was the only choice for us to fly together. The $2500 includes both our tickets plus another trip to GUZ land. My back was up against the wall with vacation. I had to come over to meet the parents. She wanted me to make a separate trip to show the importance of this event. I was able to compromise by coming a week earlier. I have been here 3 weeks already. I am almost out of vacation. I thought it was safe. The VO assured her it would be there in 2 days. I have an extra day just in case. Her ticket actually ends up being cheaper with the last minute changes; it is just money out of pocket. My complaint about GUZ is not the delay but the refusal to provide any information. You can't talk to anyone. If they could have told me that they were running behind and that it would get there as soon as they could process it, I would have stayed. Not telling me anything, I made the best decision I could. GUZ is a disgraced to the nation.

I think GUZ gets some kind of perversed pleasure in screwing with US citizens. They finally gave me information in the visa. It is now at the post office. The only problem is they waited so long to give me an answer, I had to leave for Shanghai to catch my flight on Friday. Without further information, I made the best decision I could. It might have been weeks. So, now, I am faced with sending my fiancee back to Guangzhou to pick up the tickets. I am on the phone now trying to navigate the ticket maze with Delta. I can't change her ticket to a reasonable date. I can change mine at a steep charge. I can cancel her ticket and purchase a ticket for her (the current one is with Skymiles). I got a round trip for her because it was the most cost efficient. I am on the line with Delta. A round trip ticket will cost over $2000. I don't know exactly yet. They are killing me. A one way costs $1400. The only problem is that Delta is saying I MUST purchase a round trip ticket because she is Chinese. They are checking further into it now. Anybody know if this is a requirement? Complete B.S. Tell them that she has an IMMIGRANT visa and will NOT be returning to China. I booked a one-way for my Wife 2 years ago through United without any issues. Thanks, man. That gave me the information I needed to tell them to go ahead and book. This is crazy. They told me I could book a flight with a longer layover and save $200. The only problem is that it took the fare class away from my fiancee, which raise her ticket price by $600. Anyway, I got it all worked out. GUZ costs me $2500, but it is worth it.

I think GUZ gets some kind of perversed pleasure in screwing with US citizens. They finally gave me information in the visa. It is now at the post office. The only problem is they waited so long to give me an answer, I had to leave for Shanghai to catch my flight on Friday. Without further information, I made the best decision I could. It might have been weeks. So, now, I am faced with sending my fiancee back to Guangzhou to pick up the tickets. I am on the phone now trying to navigate the ticket maze with Delta. I can't change her ticket to a reasonable date. I can change mine at a steep charge. I can cancel her ticket and purchase a ticket for her (the current one is with Skymiles). I got a round trip for her because it was the most cost efficient. I am on the line with Delta. A round trip ticket will cost over $2000. I don't know exactly yet. They are killing me. A one way costs $1400. The only problem is that Delta is saying I MUST purchase a round trip ticket because she is Chinese. They are checking further into it now. Anybody know if this is a requirement?

She can not pick it up, correct, but the post office WILL delivery visa to Guanzhou addresses, instead of pickup. So, arrange for post office to deliver passport to the Yangs, then they forward to you, for a fee. Simple, and straight forward. She arranged for pickup after the interview. It cannot be changed now. There is one option for which I don't have time. We can go to a lawyer and draw up papers that will allow someone else to pick up the package. That comes from the China Post Office. The jerks won't respond to emails nor faxes. I visited the consulate once again and got denied once again. I can understand delays. Things happen. But it is inexcusable to keep people in the dark.

Mrs. Yang says she can't do it. They will ask for an ID card. The Yangs had 8 people saying with them who had their interview Monday. Of the 6 that received pink, 4 got their visa Wednesday. One has her visa scheduled for Thursday. We have nothing. Just bad luck, I guess. It's a sorry excuse for a consulate that they refuse to provide better information.

We got pink on Monday. The VO told my fiancee there were no more checks and told her she would have her visa on Wednesday. We made plans. By Tuesday, EMS didn't have it. I knew we were in trouble. We went to the post office on Wednesday anyway. Of course, it wasn't there. It is now Wednesday night and EMS still doesn't have it. It is unlikely we will receive it Thursday. I have to leave Thursday no matter what to catch a plane out of Shanghai on Friday. Since I can't get any information out of GUZ, my fiancee will have to return with me. I have emailed GUZ. No response. I went to the consulate. No answers. I bought a Citic card. No answers. I called DOS Tuesday night. They said there were no problems; I just needed to wait. The only shot we have is I am having Mr. Yang fax a letter to the consulate tonight. Maybe they will have the decency to respond tomorrow. There are a couple of precedents of couples under similar circumstances going directly to the consulate for the visa. Today, they wouldn't give me the time of day. Maybe, just maybe, the fax will help. It is my only hope. I will call DOS at 11, but I am sure they will be useless once again. This place makes me hate my government. It is no way to treat people.

The lady that related this story to my fiancee received blue. She didn't speak any English whatsoever. She communicates with her fiancee with hand signals. Her fiancee had 3 previous marriages. She didn't have all the required documents, such as tax records, plus, she didn't have the papers on the final divorce. Plus, there was a large age difference (like with us). Still, she got blue. I am happy for her, but it proves again that there are no rules. I thought she had a relatively weak case. My fiancee witnessed many interviews, since she was among the last. She said many of the ladies were asked by the VO if they spoke English. Most said "Yes". Most could not understand a word the VO was saying and had to have a translator.

Good luck!

Thanks, everyone. I couldn't have done it without you. As a side note, Jie was one of the last to get interviewed, so she saw a lot of people go through. She said the guy with the long, curly, brown hair gave out nothing but pink.

Jie received her pink slip this morning. The little devil came down the escalator waving a blue slip. I snatched it away from her to see what was missing. It was just a flyer. She had the same woman VO that I had during the ACH. She remembered me. Perhaps it even helped. She said the woman was very pleasant and easy to talk to. She complimented Jie on her English. The questions were simple: How did you meet? What was the date that you first met? Why do you love him? Do you have proof of your relationship? Yes, I have photos. Can I see them? How can you love a man so much taller? The VO complimented Jie on her answers. They then chatted for a while. Then she was told that she passed and they chatted some more. Jie said she enjoyed the conversation and understood her well. Jie asked her for her name, but she could not give it to her. Mr. Yang said there were 8 people staying with him that had interviews today. Two got white. The rest got either blue or pink. Jie said they were giving out mostly pink.

I'm here with the Yang's now. They have been very helpful. Mrs. Yang helped my fiancee find her medication that she neglected to bring enough of. Seems only one pharmacy in Guangzhou carried it. The Yang's have been very supportive. And Mrs. Yang has had the patience to deal with all the phone calls from my fiancee. They have been great. The apartments are typical Chinese apartments. The first one we were in had two bedrooms. It looked dirty, but really wasn't. There was a band of dried glue on the floor all the way around the baseboard, which held on to the dirt. It looked bad, but it was clean. We moved into a single bedroom apartment after a couple of days. It is reasonably nice and clean as well. Ok, the bathroom is the toilet, shower, and sink. There is no separate shower stall. It's a little awkward, but it is ok. In both places, the water heater vents into the apartment; you just have to be sure to open a window before taking a shower and to close it before leaving (or risk someone entering the apartment). My fiancee is very picky. She likes it here. That's good enough for me.

It was similar to what happened when I arrived on the 28th of June. They did business class first then let them deplane. Then they did coach. If the head scan was elevated, they used a thermometer. The kid behind me was seriously ill. They did a secondary check and let he passed. It took about 15 minutes to check everybody. Otherwise, it was business as usual. Nobody came to check up on me in Shanghai.

If she has a driver's license in China, you might want to look into getting an international driver's license. Someone from Pennsylvania did this. It allowed his wife to drive for 3 months until she was able to apply for a learner's permit, IIRC. It cost about $70. You just have to send a copy of her passport and Chinese license and they will translate everything. I don't know if it will work where you are, but it might be worth a try. I haven't looked into it, but I am told you can search for such a place on the internet.

One of the women who had her interview on Wednesday and received a blue slip related a story of another woman also having her interview at the same time. As most of you know, there is no privacy during the interview. She said the woman was about 60 years old and her fiance was close to 80. She didn't speak any English whatsoever and her fiance didn't speak any Chinese. The VO apologized to her when he told her that he just couldn't let her pass because she could not communicate with her fiance. She said, "Oh, please let me pass. I love him so much. We can communicate in other ways. I can sing for him every day." She commensed singing songs in Chinese for the VO there and then. The VO gave her a pink slip.

Congratulations! Everyone we have talked to here has received pink. I went to the ACH on Monday. I had the female interviewer. I don't know if she is the same one. She was tall, brunette, with moderately long, straight hair. When I went to the window, she was giving me the bch from hell look. My first question was about age difference. She gave me the robotic response, "It depends on many things..blah, blah, blah." Then she switched to human mode and we had a very pleasant conversation. In the end, she told me that she didn't see a problem with any of my concerns. When I left, she said, "Good luck with your interview" and seemed to be very sincere. She gave me the impression of being tough but fair. It amazes me how many women are here without the support of their SO. I did meet several at the ACH and I met USARichard and his wife and a couple of others, but it seems most are here without their SO.

We just went through it today. There isn't much you can do. We just handed the blank P4 medical forms over to the medical staff along with her passport, one photo, and invitation letter and they took care of the rest. We didn't fill out anything. There were 4 women there at the same time. Jie was the last of the 4. It took about 45 minutes to process her. It was a little faster for the first two. The Yang's picked up the X-rays and paperwork work a couple of hours later, so we didn't have to hang around.

It's crazy. I booked the same flight for my fiancee. I saw the same thing. For some reason, a two way ticket is also cheaper going from the US to China. I got a two way ticket for my fiancee to come to the US. I set the return date 3 months out. I decided to use points for her tickets since it allows me to change it twice without too much of a penalty, and, in the worst case, I won't be out money. The Northwest side of Delta is cheaper, but the flight leaves much earlier.