Rob and WeiLing

Wow, thanks to the embassy for that . Now for the question: How do those traveling or residing in China access this service? Is ACS: Recommending users break local law and use proxies to bypass China's internet censorship, or Assuming that expatriates and visitors are already breaking the law, or Ignorant of the fact that China's firewall blocks Facebook? I'm going to go with the last, and think that time spent on Facebook is a waste of their time... {edit} Of course, I may or may not commonly be on Facebook

I doubt that she'll be able to mail in. WeiLing had her visa delivered to her sister in Shanghai and they required her to fill out most of the EMS label herself--including the sender's signature. That said: It wouldn't hurt to ask the consulate, and you might find out something useful.

I think the abuse here was by the "firm". It seems like when the firm was properly dumped that everything went well. Congrats, and welcome, Ming!! As for how the can system be made better? Thats a pretty tricky question. Most people in America don't understand how difficult the visa process actually is, including politicians. And for those that do: I can just imagine the hate mail one would get after suggesting an increase in the budget for "helping people come take our jobs."

I flew a couple domestic Chinese flights without my passport. What I used in place of it was a photocopy of my passport information page and a receipt from the Chinese Exit and Entry Bureau stating that I was still awaiting my second residence permit. Airport security was super lax and didn't give me any trouble. In fact, I went through the VIP and staff line one of the times. In short, she should be fine with passport copy and ID card. Best of luck today! (CFL shows you posted yesterday... I hope I'm not too late!!)

Since the site is blocked in China, I've copied the text to here. The pictures are pretty disgusting though, and I might know at least one shop that engages in this kind of practice... WeiLing got sick each and every time she ate there-- And she's Chinese! Needless to say, we avoid any shop that even looks remotely similar.

It seems that just about every week I'm hearing about a different "dirty little secret" of Japan. Seems the other week was this one: http://www.bachome.org/ and I think I saw it on VisaJourney. I know all countries have their secrets, but the Japanese ones just keep coming out lately... Why is that?

When I filed DCF, I put the apartment that we'd just rented. We hadn't been there a month, but that didn't raise any questions or problems. I don't think this item will cause a problem for you unless your case is pretty shaky in the first place--and in that case I think there might be other things to worry about.

Y'know, I almost fell for that. "Who is tsap seui?" I was thinking. Then I noticed that this "new guy" has almost 5000 posts. You aren't getting away that easy... Anyway, keep us updated. You've got enough material for a full book, and I think I know some who might buy it... You just gotta find out how it ends first, hm?

Congratulations! What financial support didn't they want? I'm sure they at least wanted a copy of the I-864... By the way, was the officer a woman, middle-aged, overweight, friendly, and wearing glasses?

Quoting from http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...st&p=557944 so as to not derail that thread... You probably have already, but you might stick that mess into a three-ring binder with page-protectors, dividers, and most importantly--number each page (# of #, and count every page including gov't forms, continuations, etc). If they throw it out of order again, at least California would be able to see that the pages are out of order.

Women's clothing that was originally sold in China probably won't work too well. Think size differences. The only thing that I see the larger Chinese women wearing are equivalent to cloth shopping bags; I don't think ANYBODY would look good in them. Some things that may or may not sell well are pens. I was at the "Silk Street" market in Beijing when I bought a Jin-Hao branded pen as a gift. It's got a gold dragon design around the outside, a full box and "authentic" certificate (though who has ever heard of Jin-Hao?), and just looks really cool in general. The girl originally showed it as one of her store's most expensive pens. She ended up giving it to me for 100RMB. When she was moving to grab a new one (aka, not one that's been on display/touched by others/etc) the owner of the store asked in Chinese how much I was buying it for. The girl just told her boss "没事" (or "Don't worry about it."). I chatted a bit afterward, and she said that people go in there and sometimes buy it for 1,000; usually 400 at the minimum. I have a feeling the store owner got it for about 60-80 RMB a pen. I can't remember clearly, but the girl may have told me this outright. We talked in English (I didn't let on that I speak Chinese), so I don't think her boss followed very well. I don't know where Eureka is, but Montana has a section of Yellowstone National Park. If you've never been, it's a beautiful location. I once drove through Montana and was amazed by the scenery even before Yellowstone started. Coming out in Wyoming after dark was awful. Drove forever just to find a small town with a hotel we could sleep in, while tired and with NOBODY else on the road. Oh, and it was snowing. I've seen plenty of 2 RMB stores in Shanghai. I've never spent much time in dollar stores in the states, but the 2 RMB merchandise looked about the same as what I'd expect in Dollar Stores. If you ship enough of the junk here to the states, I'm sure people would be curious about Chinese writing on everything in a similar fashion (would even sell for a markup at dollar stores!). Chinese people enjoy shirts with English like "Saucy Gird", and American people like shirts with Chinese characters across them. Of course, I'm generalizing terribly, but there's always an interest in "exotic" things... By the way, Griz... you've probably seen this before, but make sure your shop isn't too formal. You know, like Wal-Mart is: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v457/BlackFridayRuler/walmart.jpg Edit: That jin-hao website isn't designed very well. Here's the page after the broken flash introduction: http://www.jin-hao.cn/en/indexen.asp ... If you can get the page to work, you'll see that they spend their time designing the pens--not the website. The pen I got for 100 RMB is http://www.jin-hao.cn/en/product_blank.asp...135&pid=723 -- the one listed RP-555-1

Is the navy still riding around in wooden boats like on that flag? And what's with the big picture of a cigar on the sails? Honestly though, I think that's a good picture (And after looking at that flag more. What the hell is going on in it? Is that an eagle or a boat? Is that an anchor or part of the boat's sails? I am totally confused.) Being somewhat of a kid myself, I usually assume that things I send back home will be shared with all living there. This includes phone calls. I typically call my dad to chat, and only call my mom for specific questions--or when Dad doesn't answer. I usually expect things to be relayed between them (and my brothers) regardless of who I call. But of course, my family is probably different from yours. If John hasn't specifically asked you to keep things private, I'd be sure to ask in the next letter you send to him. Just say you're a proud dad and want to know what you're allowed to share. I don't know the kid, but I don't think he'd be upset by that... After all, I think everybody knows that proud dads like to brag. By the way, congratulations on being a good dad! As much as he inspires you, I'm sure you're inspiring him just the same. Probably even more-so.

Thanks, appreciate it! The visa got here tonight, carried by my sister-in-law from Shanghai. It's the real deal. (And the immigrant visa is pretty. Who knew?) Now for a question: The Immigrant Data Summary sheet is wrong. It's stapled to the corner of documents that sticks out of the brown packet, and doesn't list a form number or anything. Where it's wrong is that it lists WeiLing's mothers name Zaixin as Xaixin. Not only is it incorrect, but PinYin and Chinese pronunciation doesn't even have a "Xai" sound. Should I bother contacting GUZ about this, or is this such a minor detail that it should be fine? My thinking is that if it's typed wrong there, it could be typed incorrectly in the database, and I don't want this to be a problem if we later invite Mom to come visit... Getting denied a visa because of a typographical error on GUZ's part, I'm sure it wouldn't be the first. Any ideas? Contact GUZ now, after we're in the states, or never?

A couple free options are: As mentioned above, TOR. The main website is blocked, obviously, as are most of the initial connections it needs. To get around this, one has to continually add bridges--obtained either by sending an email from a GMail account (very specifically gmail), or by going to a specific website. But because of the hassle and the gov'ts high amount of crack-down on it, TOR isn't very reliable in China. Since its design also assumes users want to remain anonymous, there are privacy/security concerns. For example, I can setup an exit node right now and start tracking websites that some people on the network connect to. If they log into unsecure websites, I'll have their passwords. Free U/FreeDoor (NOTE: Door should be replaced with something that rhymes with Hate, maybe with a G) - These are basically the same products. It's a small program that you run which will automatically find and connect to a proxy server. FreeU is run by triple-double-you .dongXXXX.com, where XXXX is "tai" and "wang" together (The organization behind that website, by the way, is funded mostly by members of Fall Un Gong -- misspelled to avoid censor). And it's pretty sophisticated--despite being automatic and freely available, it is usually very reliable. GTunnel - This is similar to FreeU. It's also free, but hasn't been updated as regularly. One problem that I have with it is it's inability to properly reset proxy settings when it is closed. It is, however, able to use Skype's network to connect. This is pretty unique in that it's very hard for transparent firewalls and DNS hijacks to block GTunnel's Skype method (both are techniques that China uses). You'll have to have a Skype account (no Skype credit or subscription required, just a free ID) to use the Skype network though. Everything here is free, both in the "free speech" and in the "free beer" meanings of the word. I expect freedur.com is probably using only one of those definitions. Anyway, more information about those (and more options which I haven't tried) can usually be found at triple-double-you internet XXXX .org (where XXXX is "freedom"), but of course China blocks that website too. If anyone needs help obtaining these programs, I wouldn't mind. PS, Trying to post this message unedited from China resulted in a "connection drop". I've modified some of the content in hopes that retrieving this post from China won't bring unwanted censor attention to CFL. PPS, Awww hell. A couple extra posts in there. I hope this won't cause problems for readers in China.... Feel free to delete if it, in its current state, still does.

Mods, please delete this post.

Mods, please delete this post.

This is about a month late, but maybe it's still relevant. My wife had some prior English experience in school, but what she remembered was nothing more than "Hello" and literally "san-ku-yu" (as she was originally taught). When WeiLing found a Chinese person to tutor her English in China, she studied out of a set of New Concept English (NCE) books, level one. A few of our Chinese friends that speak very good English swear by this series, one of whom is now in graduate school in America. Having watched WeiLing study from this, the results are pretty impressive; though I must say we paid for a tutor for 2hours/day, 4days/week, and WeiLing spent her free time practicing, endlessly writing words, etc. The only problem: all of the pronunciations and spellings are British. I commonly tell WeiLing to put more emphasis on the ending "R" sounds in words. (For example, British would say "Robert" as "Robeht").

Is there anything that indicates these subjects are at a higher level, similar to American "honors" or "advanced placement" classes? I know that some American schools allow honors and AP classes to go up to 5.0 with standard classes maxing at 4.0. I don't know the specifics, but it might be something similar.

Looking at some of your back posts, you mentioned that you are living in Shanghai. If this is still the case, you will submit the I-130 petition in Beijing--not Guangzhou. You're lucky: Beijing is newer, cleaner, friendlier, and (most importantly) faster. If you are comfortable with your petition going through the Chinese mail system, you can pay the $355 fee in the Shanghai consulate. When I DCFed in March, one option was to give my petition to the Shanghai consulate who would mail it for me. (I opted to take it to Beijing myself and pay there; Nice excuse for a weekend trip.) However, I don't know if this service is still available. The webpage http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/immigrantvisasnv.html states that the Shanghai ACS cannot collect it, but I believe the meaning to be that they cannot process it.

Now, I could just be reading everything wrong. And backwards. And maybe on purpose. But here in this post in this other thread (located at http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...t&p=556107), the rejection email reads: Now here's my reading of this: "The consular officer did not issue a visa because ... she does not have a bona fide relationship with you." Clearly, the petitioner needed to have a bona fide relationship with the consular officer in order for the beneficiary's visa to be granted. Have you tried this method yet, tsap? "Sorry there, little rabbit, I gotta do this for your visa..." But in that case, I think I'd rather just move to China.

Not quite right. She's a Chinese national so she wouldn't be required to present the following documentation. The following documentation is only required of Korean nationals. Her ability to present it is moot because it's not required. Maybe I missed something. justinjessica, Is your boyfriend/fiance stationed in Korea? If he's not, I don't see how marriage in Korea would be easier than in China... You also mentioned that this man has been divorced twice before, with one of his ex-wives being Chinese. This will require more documentation when filing for an American visa. Also, what kind of age difference are we talking about? I know we have some experienced members that have completed this process with a significant age-difference, but I believe it may be one of the issues you will want to front-load if the difference is significant.

But if your wife uses the passport and GC to return to China, it would also have a Chinese re-entry stamp. In the situation I'm talking about, the Chinese passport would have a stamp for when it exited China to the US, but nothing showing that it entered China again. It wouldn't look odd to try and exit China for a second time in a row? Of course, there is a great possibility that the exit officer wouldn't notice, but it's a risk I would never take. Now, I'm also thinking that when boarding the plane in the states, a Chinese-turned-US citizen could show the US passport with Chinese visa. When arriving in China, show the Chinese passport. But the problem here would be returning to the US. How would one be returning from China without having an entry stamp in the US passport? (Of course, since the GC was taken away when citizenship was granted, the Chinese passport wouldn't be usable.) I can see this giving a red-flag at either Chinese exit or US entry... As far as HK, it's been discussed earlier. Mainland Chinese require an explicit permit to cross into HK. I think it'd be caught right away that a Chinese citizen is trying to return to mainland from HK without this. And then the problem with exiting China would be that the dual citizen would require a permit to even cross to Hong Kong--one that is usually time-limited like a visa and difficult to obtain. As dnoblett said, if trying to cross back to Hong Kong using the US passport the exit officer would notice no entry stamp. I haven't seen anything about Taiwan opening up, do you have links handy? I'm not saying it isn't the case, but are you sure they would honor dual US/China citizens (as opposed to US/Taiwan)? I think it's gotta be common knowledge among entry/exit officials that China does not recognize this. And if not, do all legal-dual-citizens need both passports stamped?

That URL took me to something evangelical in China... No thanks. Based on the tags from your quote, I found the URL at: http://boscoho.com/09Joomla/index.php?opti...mp;limitstart=5 They must've changed the site around in the past month or so... I began thinking that China may not receive documentation from the U.S., so that Chinese person would appear as a different person with the same name in Chinese books (A is Chinese-citizen, B is US Citizen; technically the same person). But when attempting to use the Chinese passport, wouldn't the K-visa or US immigrant visa in the Chinese passport be a dead give-away that something fishy was going on? Otherwise, wouldn't it even be possible to take "unrecorded" trips by flying to China on a visitor visa, and then from China to wherever else using the Chinese passport? ...Not that this would help with being allowed to live in China.

I just talked to my sister-in-law, who is working in Shanghai. WeiLing and I had registered to send the visa package to her sister's office... It was received this afternoon. From being approved on late Tuesday morning to receiving the package on Thursday afternoon... That seems unusually quick, especially considering transit time was also involved. She's bringing it to us tomorrow evening, so I'll confirm that it's the real deal then.

That line sounds pretty reassuring. From what it seems like, the most recent three tax returns are required for most cases. To avoid extra waivers and paperwork, it seems like they mark this as optional and just send "standard" cases away with the blue. Use more paperwork to avoid more paperwork. It's pretty similar to the CCP conditions: they don't list the requirements properly, and send most (ex-)CCP members away with blue for not having it all ready. In your original post, you mentioned that Xuemei felt like a loser. As has been said, it's important to note that a blue is not a white. Good to know you two are already feeling better--I'm sure the initial disappointment was pretty strong.