Shanghai John

My wife called Bank of China today to ask about getting this $85,000 to America. Apparently they were telling her that she had to visit some kind of government office and go through a bunch of baloney with them to do it. Stuff like, declaring what the money was from, and what it would be used for, stuff like that. Did you run into any of this? Any ideas on how to circumvent, or if she was just talking to the wrong person?

My wife has between $80,000 and $95,000 in a Bank of China account back in China. She will be returning this summer to visit for a month and we'd like to transfer that money back to the United States at that time. Based on what you've said, she should be able to knock this out in one day if she shows up to the bank with her sister or friend? Does it have to be to one of the "linked" Bank of America accounts I've read about, or can it be any valid US account with the proper SWIFT code and account number? Very interesting post, I've been browsing around all morning to look for info and who knew that my old friend CFL would have recent info on this topic!

Heh, I kinda like Guangzhou.

This morning, 5/4/2010. Went pretty smooth. Will post more later. I'm in China now too.

May 4th also. See you at the coffee shop? Heh.

I now plan to be at ACH on the prior Monday (Apr 26) as well. Maybe I will see you there (sheesh, 2 weeks from yesterday, time to get packing!)

Well, there are some specific issues to our case that are more complicated than most. Yes, I would like to attend ACH. Conventional wisdom here and elsewhere states that attending ACH is beneficial. I realize that we are at their mercy for the date of the rescheduling, but other than the agony of waiting for additional time, I don't see how it would be harmful to our case.

My fiancee's interview has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 4. I want to attend ACH which would be on Monday, May 3. However, there is a national holiday from May 1-3 in China and the consulate is closed on that Monday, so no ACH. How difficult is it to reschedule the interview, and would they be able to push it back just 1 or 2 weeks, or am I going to end up with a multi-month additional wait if I request this? Further complicating the matter, I have a new job. They are being cool about letting me have the time off so I can get over there, but I hate to add the complete ambiguity of not knowing when the rescheduled date will be into the mix. How long would it take to hear back with the new date? How far out will they push the date? Literally, one week delay would be completely sufficient from our perspective.

FYI, transporting 200 year old artifact shards out of mainland China is against their laws, and probably an extremely bad idea. I'm just sayin.

I make well over the federal poverty guidelines.... about $80,000 a year in salary, plus a potentially sizeable year-end bonus (no luck in 2009). I live in the Midwest, so this is a pretty respectable amount here. Do I need to list other assets on my 134 form, such as my home, etc? It's worth about 200k, and I owe about 125k on the mortgage. I also have retirement accounts, etc, although I'm only 32. I've heard people say that you shouldn't include other stuff if you make well over the poverty guidelines, to forget about the other stuff, but there's also people in RobertH's thread in results saying that anything under $100k could still be questionable!

Haha, good to know that the consensus is it won't affect us. I just know that sometimes countries do that whole tit-for-tat diplomacy with each other and it can have some unexpected consequences.

My visa inside my US Passport to visit China expires on February 10, so it needs to be renewed. I'm wondering if the recent US-China tension over this Taiwan arms deal could result in some additional side-effects such as denying tourist visas, etc. What's the consensus on whether it would be better to wait for a few weeks for things to cool down, befor re-applying? There is no pressing and urgent need to renew the visa immediately, but I want to have it ready to go for when I attend her interview (we're still waiting for NOA2, hopefully anyday here). Thanks!

The last time I sent something via FedEx to my lady in Guangzhou, it was stuck in Customs for a week also, and they ended up calling her to hassle her about it. She had to write down what everything was, and fax that in, even though I had already done so on the manifest/shipping slip (which got taped to the package???!?!?!). All in all, it was a nuisance, for both of us.

I have always had seat assigned as part of the booking process. That's possible, but I do know for certain that I was moved into an exit row at JFK when I checked in! I guess they took pity on the "tall" Westerner. (I'm all of about 6'1 on my tallest day)

I got into this discussion late, but yes, Asiana is a fantastic airline. I took Asiana flights from JFK to Seoul and onward to Guangzhou last summer. They didn't weigh my carry-ons. I was carrying both a laptop bag as well as a backpack. The backpack probably weighed about 30 lbs, but I just had it slung over my shoulder and it looked pretty normal, I think. The flight attendants are so on top of things, it's really great. They don't assign seating until you check in at the airport, so I was able to get an exit row on the 747 (with about 6 feet of leg room!) since I checked in very early at JFK due to my long layover. On the way back, I had a normal seat next to the window in economy, and it was still very comfortable, compared with United (where you are packed in like sardines).