True Blue

Hahaha No, I don't do Facebook And I'm no Sherlock Holmes But I did learn to read. Your family name is in your posting name Catherineli = Catherine+Li Google or Baidu "Occam's Razor" Professor Li - the simplest explanation is usually the most logical one. Regards, True Blue

We can understand where you are coming from Professor Li, I taught college in USA 40 years ago. Many of us, hit by the economic downturn of the past 10 years here in the USA have seen our incomes cut by 75% or more. The work level we are now doing if we are lucky enough to have a job is 21st century slavery. So even though we are native born Americans, we can feel your pain. I am now making what I made coming out of college but now I have 40 years of experience. I'm in a dead end job with a young know it all (not really) boss but I have to trudge on. Because once you reach 50 in the USA (I am 60) jobs are very hard to come by. Most US companies do not want older workers. Scrapping by on 1/4th of your old salary, you come to learn humility quickly. I work 15 to 18 hour days and I am salaried with no raise in 7 years and several large benefit cuts.. So I essentially make less in total comp than I did 7 years ago (benefits cuts) while I make the same per hour as I did 40 years ago, but with lesser fringe benefits. We get how you feel coming from China as we used to be (somewhat) important early in our careers here as you have been. The difference is you can retire at 55 or 60 in China. Many of us here must work until 70 or we drop dead (whichever comes first.- though I suspect my company won't even let me clock out until 8 pm on the day that I drop dead). We live very frugally by the way - save every nickel, rarely eat out, tiny house, 13 year old car, use the windows for air and rarely run the air conditioning even in the hot Florida summers. So glad my wife is not a gold digger or she would be long gone when the gold mine went dry years ago. Keep a good attitude and enjoy nature, clean air and clean water. Love your spouse, your kids, and for some your grand-kids. Life is precious and it could be worse (and for many people each and every day it surely is). Best wishes, True Blue (a/k/a "Confusedus Jr.")

Joecy, You are not alone in some of your feelings. I am American born and raised and I have lived here in USA for 6 decades. I too am scared of talking to Americans whom I don't know and also of going to the grocery store. I basically grocery shop late at night. The folks you meet while shopping for groceries at 2 AM at Walmart are really weird and creepy. (except me of course....well no----honestly maybe I am weird shopping that late too but you go through the cashier line a whole lot quicker when the store is empty True Blue ps to Dan = your wife is at a truly wonderful place. Guilin/Yangshuo is an incredibly fun trip that every visitor to China should experience at least once---. 5 Stars

Yes that is helpful. To follow up on this, we have had many visitors from China. here is an example of a day by day itinerary that I have successfully used (complete with Florida tourism sites). I think it helps to list the flights to and from China since the US visitor visa is contingent on the Chinese visitor having "strong ties" to China and the presumption that the visitor will leave the USA and not remain illegally. Showing the flight home reservations (which can later be changed) is helpful in this regard. A detailed day by day plan has always worked for us. Itinerary and Travel Plan for (Your Visitor Name Here) – Florida May/June 2008 May 26, 2008 Leave Beijing, PRC United Airlines Flight 850 to Chicago Connection to United Airlines Flight 1258 to Tampa, Florida (airline reservation copy attached) May 27, 2008 – June 10, 2008 Accommodations at ABC Condominium Unit xxx at 101 E.Main Street in Tampa, Florida 33601 · May 28, 2008 Sarasota, Florida including Ringling Art Museum · May 29, 2008 St. Petersburg, Florida including Salvadore Dali Art Museum · May 30, 2008 trip to Homasassa Springs, Florida Manatee Sanctuary · May 31, 2009 tour to Tarpon Springs, Florida including Greek Sponge Diving village · June 1, 2008 Historical Ybor City museums section of Tampa, Florida · June 2, 2008 Downtown Tampa, Florida including Tampa Art Museum, University of Tampa · June 3, 2008 Clearwater Beach Gulf of Mexico - swimming · June 4, 2008 Busch Gardens Tampa Theme Park · June 5, 2008 rest day / local shopping available · June 6, 2008 Tampa Museum of Science and Industry · June 7, 2008 Bok Tower Nature Sanctuary Lake Wales Florida · June 8, 2008 Adventure Island Theme Park Water Park · June 9, 2008 St. Petersburg Beach Florida - swimming · June 10, 2008 St. Petersburg - Deep Sea Fishing trip to Gulf of Mexico June 11, 2008 – June 21, 2008 Accommodations at Walt Disney World Contemporary Resort · June 11, 2008 Walt Disney EPCOT · June 12, 2008 Walt Disney Blizzard Beach Water Park · June 13, 2008 Sea World Orlando · June 14, 2008 Walt Disney Animal Kingdom · June 15, 2008 day trip to Kennedy Space Center · June 16, 2008 Universal Studios Isles of Adventure · June 17, 2008 Orlando outlet mall shopping trip · June 18, 2008 Walt Disney Hollywood Studies · June 19, 2008 day trip to St. Augustine, Florida · June 20, 2008 Walt Disney Magic Kingdom · June 21, 2008 Gatorland Alligator Farm and Swamp Buggy Ride and Tour June 22, 2008 – June 26, 2008 Return to ABC Condominium Unit xxx at 101 E.Main Street in Tampa, Florida 33601 · June 22, 2008 Tampa Bay Rays Baseball Game/local sights · June 23, 2008 Honeymoon Island Nature Preserve · June 24, 2008 day trip to Florida’s Silver Springs Park · June 25, 2008 Canoe trip - Hillsborough River June 26, 2008 Return to Beijing United Airlines Flight 1243 to Washington (Dulles) (airline reservation copy attached) Connection to United Airlines Flight 897 to Beijing, PRC FWIW most of our Chinese visitors loved nature and outdoor activities like parks, swimming at the beach, canoe trips, boat rides, nature preserves, alligator farms, zoos a lot more than the crowded man made tourist traps like Disney World or Universal Studios. Most of our visitors were reluctant to go on any roller coasters or thrill rides and they seemed to get annoyed with the crowds (which really surprised me since there are lots of crowds in China). Small things that we Americans would ignore like seeing a squirrel in a tree or a bird on the lawn really stood out to them. Kennedy Space Center is a big hit as it is unlike anything they have seen in China, - as is the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota and Bok Tower Gardens. Also everyone loved going out to east and shopping as everything (even stuff made in China) is "so much cheaper in the USA" Hope this helps. True Blue

Hey buddy. Sorry I won't be able to pack any Great Wall bricks as I have to disagree about tryin' to keep em out. Now that walking across the border has become more accepted, and actually become "the other legaI immigration" route I have decided to put my entrepreneurial cap back on and am going back into business. Yessiree, I am going to strike while the iron is hot and go make me and my family some money. At least recoup all of the money I stupidly wasted by going through the USCIS and DOS route for immigration. The so called Legal Immigration route. What a stupid waste of time, effort, and money that turned out to be for me. But, not one to sit back and bitch about the past....I see new horizons to explore. I am in the process of buying a fleet of nice buses, driving them down to Guatemala and am going to set up shop for any and all wannabes who seek to come share in Murica's golden paved streets, able to pluck hundred dollar bills off of the trees with the mere flick of two fingers, and live the life of luxury all of us in Murica enjoy and thrive upon. Wenyan is going to be our Chinese agent and we have started advertising heavily in Chinartucky to help folks have a less dangerous passage to the land of the free. Down with those awful snakeheads, our symbol will be of the dove...as in peace, love, dove. As well, I have contacted an agent in Guatemala CIty to help those whom speak Spanish. Plus, we have an attorney now in Guatemala City who is experienced in Chinese visitor visas to that great country...so we can gettum in where they can start their wonderful journey northward to the land of free medical, housing, and educational care. Our slogan is...."Now that the back door to America is fully open, let us drive you to America safely and comfortably on the scenic route to wonderful America. Our drivers can take you through the border and deliver you to whatever closed military base or the hastily built encampment of your choice that your new Uncle Sam has built for your convenience." Instead of giving $80,000 to some evil snakehead, send that money to Uncle tsap seui and Auntie Wenyan. Uncle tsap seui and Auntie Wenyan can get you to your destination in style....AND....they can get you jobs working at the US Treasury Department....printing up MONEY. No more working in hot sun of the fields or sweaty Chinese restaurants, living crowded together in tiny roach infested apartments. Your Uncle Sam cares about YOU!!!!! Disclaimer: just beware when you become an actual citizen. The company name is OLI...sorta like the happy word OLAY. OLI of course stands for The "Other Legal Immigration" route. We plan on having a bus (from our lovely fleet of patriotic red, white, and blue painted buses) leave every hour on the hour from sunny and wonderful Guatemala City. We will serve fish heads n' rice, or tacos...riders choice. I may well run for the highest of public offices as we will be passing out millions of flyers stating "Vote stap seui" in the next election. Don't forget who brought you to America." If elected, I plan on abolishing rules and laws. That way my cronies and I won't have to worrying about "breaking" any of them. Yes, True Blue...I say LETTUM ALL IN. As long as the Chinese are dumb enough to keep backing up our debt, debt built up over the years from leaders who couldn't run a one man janitorial service business in downtown Washington, DC....much less a business like an entire country, then let the Chinese pay for it all. We can keep printing the money, they can fund our paper. tsap seui DISCLAIMER: Mr; suei has no care for (and very limited knowledge of) political party actions, disputes, or accusations. They are one and the same....equal, in his eyes. Tsap- you made me spill my Mexican beer I was laughing so hard !!! True Blue

Here in Florida we have a large illegal Mexican population and they are the nicest, friendliest, happiest people and they seem to work hard and have good family values. Mexican food and Mexican beer is a great combo. I can definitely sympathize with them as their wait for legal immigration is almost 25 years. I think if the USCIS dropped the wait time to something more reasonable like 8 years, a lot of the people would try to immigrate legally. I don't know. Perhaps the fees are too high for a large family to afford. I do know when you set a quarter century queue that many/most people are likely to try to find another way in.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/hondurans-vow-flee-again-after-foiled-trips-u-s-n148736 Good article to show just how determined these illegal immigrants are to enter the USA. Their plight is very sad, especially the children. However their illegal immigration attempts take away from the US Governments resources as senior USCIS officials now must take their eye off the ball for processing legal immigrants to deal with the border crisis. Sadly, the result will be to slow the government's ability to process legal immigrants and the arrival of our loved ones will be further delayed.. Hey Tsap, on your next trip back to China, before you return do you think you could sneak a few trillion bricks from the Great Wall of China into your wife's luggage and leave them stacked up in a 30 foot tall line between California and Texas? Best regards, True Blue

From an immigrations point of view, the I-693 Vaccination section is all that is required. Once the Civil Surgeon (even in China) has signed off on it, she's good to go. Nothing further is required. From a MEDICAL point of view, that's between you, her, and the doctor - you may wish, and it may be advisable medically , to complete the sequence of vaccinations. Make damn sure that you get a CERTIFIED English translation for your wife's medical and vacination records. We did not and had them translated once she reached the US. Our local civil surgeon (TAMPA) would not accept the fact that my wife had all our required vaccinations in China and insisted that she again get each and every one here. She had 12 vaccinations in 3 days, swelled up like a strawberry and I had a $800 bill because our insurance would not cover the expenses. Some here said it was a money grab by our local civil surgeon and I agree. Unfortunately the alternative would be going to Miami or Atlanta as our city only has 2 civil surgeons certified and they are partners (in crime). Travel no problem as long as you do not leave the airport. True Blue ps there are no "disagreements" with our wives - they are always right and we are always wrong (at least that is what my wife tells me)

Dan, I really like this post as it points out the futility of situation we are all in. Option 1 filing the I-130 for sister is 13 years Option 2 filing the I-130 for mom, then have mom file for sister is 17.5 total years if I added that up correctly Option 3 which is a bit of technically "scamming the system" by bringing yet another child to the US (which "in theory"/but not legally will take away a spot for another legal immigrant) appears the only way around this and could be 1 year or less. Would this still work with the planned loosening of the one child policy? I may be wrong but I was under the impression that Han majority can have more than 1 child if they pay fines/taxes/penalty to cover the cost of education of the 2nd or any subsequent children True Blue

Hey Tsap, you have a great point there For sure the fastest way and with so many others streaming across the border she would hardly be noticed. I just need to teach her a few Spanish words or have her eat lunch at Taco Bell a couple of times and she would be set. Only possible issue would be if she got hit in the head by the swinging door at the entrance to Texas or California at the border. If questioned, she can just reply that she is from Baja-Beijing, Sonora-Shanghai or Chimichanga -Chendu and she will be welcomed with open arms. And as a bonus they might even give her a couple stray immigrant kids to care for so she won't have to go through the pain of childbirth. "America Land of the Free" and everyone wants to come in and get their free stuff! Ain't it wonderful! True Blue

Thank you,,Randy and Dan. I guess we just need to wait the remaining 4.5 more years and see where we end up. My wife was a bit miffed because at one time the LPR line was almost a year behind the US Citizen line. Thus the shorter line was the primary impetus behind her become a US Citizen. Since she naturalized, the US Citizen line has been getting slower and slower. Now (at least for this month) the almost one year advantage for being a citizen is gone and it is actually flipped to become a 1 month disadvantage. For the past 2 years the lines have slowed. The lines move about 2-3 weeks for every month. We also worry about "immigration reform" and whether that will slow the lines further for those legally applying. We also worry whether the backlash against "immigration reform" will create other issues to slow those who choose to immigrate legally. I guess there is nothing we can do, but wait. We have received a RFE in my adult stepdaughter's case stating the USCIS didn't see the birthdate and birth month on the translation of her birth certificate. We sent another original with a new certified translation that clearly shows the dates (the other copy we sent earlier was a little faded) plus a copy of the family household records, a couple dozen family pictures with the wife and daughter together from birth until last year and my wife's divorce decree where the daughter's name and her birth date are clearly listed. We are hoping for the best. We will see how that turns out. If USCIS does not accept this, another option is to have daughter DNA tested. The long wait continues. Best regards, True Blue

F2B Legal Permanent resident is now faster than US citizen. (at least for this month it is) - see July Visa bulletin http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/bulletin/2014/visa-bulletin-for-july-2014.html. I believe a US citizen can request the faster of F1 or F2B. Can anyone confirm? FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES First: (F1) Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens: 23,400 plus any numbers not required for fourth preference. Second: Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent Residents: 114,200, plus the number (if any) by which the worldwide family preference level exceeds 226,000, plus any unused first preference numbers: A. (F2A) Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents: 77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit; B. (F2B) Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older) of Permanent Residents: 23% of the overall second preference limitation. Third: (F3) Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens: 23,400, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences. Fourth: (F4) Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens: 65,000, plus any numbers not required by first three preferences. On the chart below, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed (see paragraph 1); "C" means current, i.e., numbers are available for all qualified applicants; and "U" means unavailable, i.e., no numbers are available. (NOTE: Numbers are available only for applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed below.) Family-Sponsored All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA-mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES F1 01APR07 01APR07 01APR07 01FEB94 01JAN03 F2A 01MAY12 01MAY12 01MAY12 15MAR11 01MAY12 F2B 01MAY07 01MAY07 01MAY07 22NOV93 15AUG03 F3 15OCT03 15OCT03 15OCT03 08AUG93 22MAR93 F4 22DEC01 22DEC01 22DEC01 15DEC96 01JAN91

I haven't been here for awhile. I just logged in to say hi and saw this and I had to laugh out loud.. Yes, Yes and Yes LOL. My wife can pack 3 full suitcases worth of stuff into 2 - no problem. So can my stepdaughter. Perhaps a skill taught as part of the education system. Regards, TB

Thanks for the tip. Wife loves her Chinese shows and movies on iPad and based on your comment I just ordered refurbished Apple TV from Apple ($75) so we can stream to big TV. I admit that I might not have done that quite so fast and I would have spent more time "researching the Apple TV" if football season was still in full swing I think she will be happy to see her shows on a bigger screen. Cool, I bought an apple-TV a couple weeks ago, works great for playing Chinese TV on the big TV Got ours - love it- easy to install the hardware and add it to our home network. Had to look up a youtube video and an internet article to figure out how to get the software going, as the enclosed manual doesn't begin to show you all the things it can do. It can take your photos and put them on a screen saver (even from a PC) and also show videos (mp4 format) if you add them to your PC's itunes. It really is incredible when paired with an Ipad. Anything on the ipad can mirror on the tv and we can see pptv movies in 1080 high definition with no lag using the ipad to wirelessly connect to the apple tv. Great choice if you have apple products for sure. Thanks again for your recommendation!!!

Thanks for the tip. Wife loves her Chinese shows and movies on iPad and based on your comment I just ordered refurbished Apple TV from Apple ($75) so we can stream to big TV. I admit that I might not have done that quite so fast and I would have spent more time "researching the Apple TV" if football season was still in full swing I think she will be happy to see her shows on a bigger screen.

I have diabetes also. I hope you like Chinese food. A Chinese diet with limited rice and noodles but lots of fish vegetables and fruit will help you enormously. Go to your local Asian market and buy a Chinese vegetable called "bitter melon". It looks like a withered knobby cucumber. Stir fry it in oil with garlic and with other vegetables and it will knock 30 points off your sugar level. Takes some getting used to as it is "bitter" not sour. Apparently this was one of Mao's favorite foods. Agree with everyone else - after 2 years you should be communicating directly by Skype webcam or some other web messaging system. If she doesn't have a kid and wants one but you do not, I think that is a deal breaker so either reconsider or move on. If she has a kid and wants another one, your saying you do not want a kid may raise her concern whether you are going to be a good step dad. Think about it. Do you talk every day at least 4 to 6 hours? If so, you probably aren't the #2 guy. If not, crank it up a notch and see where it goes before you buy a ticket. Also if you communicate only several times a week, she may think she is the 3rd stringer and you have 2-3 others on the hook. Consider things from her point of view. Best of luck to you. In any event, communicating directly without a middle person can only help your relationship. If she doesn't speak much English it may help if you have a Chinese speaking friend or coworker at your side until you and she can get the web cams set up and translation software running. If you are on web cam with her try to eat healthy when she is watching and save the beer and the junk food for later. Good health is important consideration to both she and her family. Best regards, True Blue

A little off topic, but around Black Friday time, I found slickdeals.net to be a great web site. They list current and pending sales and deals out there. People post sales and upcoming on-line deals as well as in store only deals. I found a three things on my Chiristmas shopping list there and got them 30%, 50% and 72% off. Not everything is on sale and I could not find the many of the things I was looking for. Also the site lists some deals that you either need to jump on or they will be gone in several days or even several hours. The site just lists deals as they come up somewhat randomly so you have to browse the list each day. As always do your due dligence and check out the reputation of any vendor that you don't know before ordering. I found a few good deals there so I thought I would pass it along. As an example of what you might find - last week they listed a sale for a Cabellas all in one multi-tool (has a pocket knife, saw, scissors, plyers, corkscrew, flat and phillips screw drivers, bottle opener, nail file and several other tools of dubious value) for 4 bucks last week, so I figured I'd buy one and stick it in the glove compartment. I'm sure the quality is not craftsman but as a small emergency tool it will work just fine for that price. True Blue

Thanks to all who posted pictures of money in this thread. It looked somewhat familiar.... Since I got married I pretty much erased all memory of what it looks like, The bright side is I have a large vacancy in the middle of my wallet for which to carry coupons and to produce them at "The Banker's" request. I guess my life pretty much mirrors the United States - no money in my pocket and the only way to get bills paid is by sweet talking the Chinese banker TB

My wife uses several free IPAD apps to watch Chinese TV and movies on her IPAD. We have the IPAD to TV cable from the Apple store but it is apparently a hassle for her to hook up as she likes to flip channels and hooking the IPAD to the TV requires that she get up out of her chair every time she wants to change channels. (like we all did before the invention of the remote control). Seems a shame that my wife spends much of her time huddled on a chair in the kitchen watching Chinese TV and movies in her IPAD when she could watch them in the living room on a comfy chair on a large screen TV. Our cable only has 2 Chinese channels and they cost $35 a month with some package and my wife can get lots of Chinese, Taiwanese and Hond Kong TV channels free on the IPAD. Apple makes a product called APPLE TV. It sells for $99. We had heard that it can stream "most things" on an IPAD or IPHONE to a relatively new TV. Our TV is a year old and comes with all the bells and whistles for smart TV although no 3D (which is OK since there isn;'t much 3D content out there and we saved $300 from the same TV with 3D). The guys at the local Apple store could not tell us much - other than APPLE TV works great with LED TV's, with some LCD and plasma TVs but generally does not work and you will have lots of trouble with tube and rear projection TVs. As for what content you can stream, they said Youtube and Netflicks (which I can already get with my smart TV without the Apple TV box) and APPLE TV "should but not always" work with many other apps". I asked if we could try one of the Chinese TV apps in the Apple store but they were unable to get it to work. They were also unable to get Youtube to work (which even other customers at the Apple store said works great for them at home). Even after they got several of the kids from the "genius bar" they had problems but the "head genius" (he looked to be about 20 while the other kids looked high school age - hahaha!) blamed it on the mall's internet feed. I don't know. But that was enough of a red flag that I decided to tell them I want to do more research. Hence my question to all here. Anyway, does anyone out there have APPLE TV? Do you like it? Have you tried it with Chinese apps? Does it work streaming sound and picture to your TV? I do recommmend the IPAD to TV cable with these reservations - the connection always needs to be wiggled to get it to lock in, it is a short cable so if you have anything larger than a 20 inch tv you will be sitting far enough from your tv that you will likely be getting out of your chair anytime you want to change the volume, mute it or change a channel. But it does bring in high def continent to your TV based on whatever movie or TV IPAD apps that you have. I am not sure if using the IPAD to TV cable would work with streaming content from TV apps on an IPHONE, but it is the same connector so I think it might. Thanks for any responses. TB

I searched and found this "unofficial link" from a Passport and Visa service that shows whether a tourist visa is required (red) or is not needed (green) in various locations. http://www.passportsandvisas.com/reviews/travel-visa-requirements.asp?countryOrigin=China We used this last time and it was spot on for bringing our Chinese relatives on a cruise. Check the chart but in general if it is a Western based and relatively wealthy destination, a visa is required. If it is more of a poor country or banana republic, they want every tourist dollar they can get so any short term (less than 1 day) cruise ship visits and excursions can be done with no additional visa. There are a few exceptions to the above rule so check the chart and the consulate web site if you are unsure. Worst that can happen is they only let you off the boat into the little local shopping area near the dock, but we had no issues at all and we were pleasantly surprised that we could take our Chinese guests with us with no problems whatsoever in the countries are cruise went to (all noted in green at the web site). We have more Chinese guests coming over Chinese New Year's and we have another cruise planned as it is a great treat and goes over well since China mainly has river cruises. Plus it caters to the 5 of the great wants of Chinese people - (1) TRAVEL to other countries to photograph and learn about different cultures, (2) SHOPPING for expensive jewelry and brand name fashion goods, (3) GAMBLING at the casinos and even with bingo (4) LEARNING by taking classes to learn how to dance, cook, make towel animals anything they can learn and (5) last but not least and perhaps this should be #1 for sure - EATING & DRINKING lots of good food together and lots of beer, cocktails especially the rum and tequila drinks in Margueritaville!!! Our Chinese guests rated a Caribbean cruise as #1 favorite activity over NYC, Washington DC, Niagra Falls, Canada, Disney World - seeing animals in the wild - you name it!

Check with the cruise line and you may be surprised. While this seems logical advice, check with the cruise line as this may or may not apply to your cruise. We found out that apparently as long as you are on a very short (less than 1 day) visit some destinations will bend the rules a bit. Mexico is no problem for sure. See this note re Mexico http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1157662 We brought Brother in Law and Sister in law (both Chinese citizens) to US to cruise from Ft Lauderdale last year. Choice was Eastern Caribbean (St Thomas US Virgin Islands, St Martins (Dutch/French) and visa was required due to St Martins/St Marteens stop. But found out we could go to Western Caribbean Haiti (Cruise ship private Island), Jamaica and Cozumel( and did not require a VISA as long as we gave the Cruise ship their passports to hold and that we booked excursions through the ship. This was last February/March and we sailed through Royal Caribbean. Contacted Carnival and Holland America and they both referred us to checking with embassy's. If you go to Ft Lauderdale save money by getting the offsite parking (less than half the cost of the cruise terminal parking garage). we used Park N; Go or something like that. Check www.cruisecritic.com for recommendations. If you go to Cozumel take the "Twister Boat" excursion which is a Miami Vice style speedboat ride to the Isla De Passion (the island where they film the Corona Beer commercials) great all you can eat buffet. unlimited rum drinks, beautiful beach, hammocks and cost is $85 per person. My inlaws loved it!!! Isla de Passion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dERnHhxylvo Twister Boat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWEGflWCg2A Have fun!

Very interesting article and given the number of Chinese tourists I regularly see shelling out for thousand dollar purses and shoes at the Neiman Marcus at our International Mall, I think the article might be spot on. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/07/chinas-zero-sum-game.html

A small TERM life policy naming your wife as beneficiary could also help. Get one that you can pay for month by month and make a payment, show the beneficiary forms with her name as beneficiary, then cancel it when/if you no longer need it. Also could contract for a month or two for several low cost bills and later cancel them or change existing bills (cell phone?, internet?) into both names. You don't have to spend a lot - think of some inexpensive services like gym membership or some club membership that can be paid for month by month and later cancelled easily. True Blue.

Don't give up. You can really get some of the stuff you need. Why don't you go on the internet and find some will forms - property will and living will and prepare them? (1) There is no cost to prepare other than perhaps a small notary fee when you sign and one day this will be needed. (2) You can open up a small joint credit card at Target or JC Penny's or Kohl's and get some % off. (3) Pictures together are helpful. We took 4-5 changes of clothes and drove to 10-12 different towns one weekend and had our pictures taken together in front of signs indicating the name of various cities and locations. Adding, subtracting and changing hats, glasses/sunglasses, jackets shoes and outfits, and varying the camera settings for exposure it looked as if the pictures were taken over the course of a year. We never added dates or misrepresented anything but it helped establish our relationship (indoor pictures with various family and friends also works). Copy all pictures into MS Word and then print them out. And yes the parents letter will also help. But I would not only rely on that. Good Luck. True Blue