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THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! My wife Qin and I are scheduled to arrive in Newark on March 26th. I will do exactly what you did and hope for the same results! Mark

Michael, I have been using cash this time. Qin and I stop at a Bank of China branch about once per week.. $500 USD each time they transfer for us... All previous times here, I have used my credit cards in the ATM's within the BOC. As long as you have your PIN, you should have no issues. Mark assuming you have told your bank you are going to china first. Correct. I always make these preparations in advance... Just in case I need to use my cards! Mark

Are you flying Continental flight CO88 on the 26th from Beijing? Haha! WE are on CO86 out of Shanghai in the 26th... Maybe next time.. :-) Mark

Michael, I have been using cash this time. Qin and I stop at a Bank of China branch about once per week.. $500 USD each time they transfer for us... All previous times here, I have used my credit cards in the ATM's within the BOC. As long as you have your PIN, you should have no issues. Mark

Thanks to all who supported us with your feedback! My wife Qin and I got PINK! Our case was relatively simple compared to many others. From what Qin tells me, the VO (the scary black woman) only asked her about 3 simple questions over maybe 5 minutes... Where and how did we meet?, When did I come to China for the first time? How many times have I been to China? Done! We picked up her visa packet on Thursday at the Guangzhou post office before scheduling plane tickets back to Chengdu to spend about a week with her family before flying back to the US together! WOO HOO! I booked the tckets back to the USA today. We arrive in Newark about 6:00pm Friday, 3/26/2010! Mark

I guess I'm number two! Appointment cover letter came today. Interview scheduled for March 15th 2010 at 7:30am! Thanks to all who supported us with your feedback! My wife Qin and I got PINK! Our case was relatively simple compared to many others. From what she tells me, the VO only asked her about 3 questions over maybe 5 minutes... Where and how did we meet?, When did he come to China for the first time? How many times have I been to China? Done! We pick up her visa packet today at the post office before scheduling plane tickets back to Chengdu to spend about a week with her family before flying back to the US together! WOO HOO! Mark

We got pink. She was asked two questions: 1. When did you meet? 2. How many times did he come to visit you? When she told him how often we met before marriage he said "Wow he flew to China that many times??!!??". She said "No he was living here in China when we met but we were in different cities". He then said "Oh" and looked at his computer and typed something into it. He then asked to see pictures. She gave him the first of three books (ones of us only without family). He looked at first page and handed it back to her. He then told her "Ok you passed". She then tried to get him to look at the pictures with our families until she realized he said she had passed. They laughed and then she left. She had the white handsome (according to all the girls we talked to) VO. He evidently only interviews the Chinese women married to white men. My wife's interview is on March 15th. She is SOOO nervous, so am I actually. I am flying back out on March 9th. Can I ask you? How long was it between your meeting and your interview? How many times did you fly to China that seemed to impress the VO? This will be my fourth time to China in about 1.5 years. I'm hoping for some kind of a guage against your situation to try and understand if my wife will do as well as yours did... :-) Thanks for any information you might be will to supply... :-) Mark

I think you have a few good options: 1) If you have frequent flier miles, United airlines (maybe others also?) will now let you buy one way tickets by using 1/2 the normal required miles (i.e. the RT ticket to China is 65K miles, one way is 32.5K) 2) If you will purchase, two one way tickets are prob going to be very expensive ($1600 or more). It is likely better to buy a round trip ticket and just pay the change fee if you need to change your return date. Last time I flew United (Oct-09) they were running a promotion of 20% off miles travel. Like you say, 65K miles to China round trip, I got it for 50K miles! I tried to look at miles THIS time, round trip miles to China is now 130K miles!!!! I'm NOT going to burn up 65K miles on a one way ticket... :-) Thanks for all that responded. Your all a great help! I booked with Continental, 6 flights round trip for $997.00. No more United with those ticket prices and INSANE miles charges... I'm all done with them unless they can offer better deals.

Quick question folks, My wife has her interview in Guangzhou on March 15th. I have a visa already because the last visa I was issued was a multiple entry visa and I only entered the country a single time last October. It's still good through July 2010 for up to 90 days each entry. My plan was to return now to China to be with my wife while she is in Guangzhou being interviewed. I would like to only purchase a 1 way ticket now and buy the ticket(s) back home again while we are in China, (in case my wife passes and she can return home with me) I was told by my travel agent today that I can not enter China without a round trip ticket. Can this be true? If it is, how are other folks making sure that they can get on the same flight and sit next to each other on the return trip back home? Do I actually have to purchase MY round trip tickets NOW and also purchase hers as well to ensure we can actually sit together should be be successful in the interview? And if we are unsuccessful, does that mean I bought her ticket and might not be able to use it? OUCH! Seems like a horrible waste of money! Thanks for any clarification on this matter... Mark

I guess I'm number two! Appointment cover letter came today. Interview scheduled for March 15th 2010 at 7:30am!

I have just returned home from China after another 3 weeks with my wife Qin. She has given me all the information needed for the RFE. My only question now is do I send ANOTHER COPY of the English translated marriage certificate booklet or the ORIGINAL this time? The RFE letter does not specifically state copy or original? The I-130 instructions state to send a copy of the marriage certificate, so I sent a copy. This RFE letter that was attached to the I-797E does not specifically state copy or original? Your thoughts? Opinions? Thanks again. Mark Another plain copy, unless the RFE specifically requests the original, or a CERTIFIED copy. I mailed all requested information to the USCIS on Novemeber 23rd. Today I received my I-797 Notice Of Action approval! Not bad! Now I wait to hear from the NVC.. Thanks to all who gave me advice.

I have just returned home from China after another 3 weeks with my wife Qin. She has given me all the information needed for the RFE. My only question now is do I send ANOTHER COPY of the English translated marriage certificate booklet or the ORIGINAL this time? The RFE letter does not specifically state copy or original? The I-130 instructions state to send a copy of the marriage certificate, so I sent a copy. This RFE letter that was attached to the I-797E does not specifically state copy or original? Your thoughts? Opinions? Thanks again. Mark

Well I just got my I-797E... I think I may have screwed myself... I sent in 33 lbs of PROOF of our relationship! Email correspondence, SMS correspondence, chat logs, photos, EVERYTHING! Now it looks like the government is looking for us to submit our marriage certificate.. I KNOW that I already sent that in... It's THE MOST important document! Maybe it got lost in the 33lbs of paperwork? The government also states they want a legible copy of my wifes final divorce decree that shows proof of filing issued by the civil authorities that terminated her prior marriage. I also sent in these papers... We must now also submit proof that her Chinese name today and her prior Chinese name are the same person... They say photographic evidence is the best... They also want proof of her legal name change. Looks like it's back to the drawing board! I seriously thought I had this all wrapped up too.. :-) Oh well... here we go again! My wife says she will visit the bureau of civil affairs immediately after the holidays (Mid Autumn Festival) and find out what's next... We are determined to be and keep optimistic! No one ever said this way going to be easy right? :-)

GREAT NEWS!!! Thanks to all who took the time to reply! I checked my NOA1, it's got California written all over it.. :-) OK, I will just sit tight and wait for the NOA2. Ever since I heard about the electronic processing, I have planned on doing it. In the meantime however, I have book another 3 weeks to be with my wife in October/November, so every day, the subject of our letters to each other are reflective of our new countdown... We always do this before we see each other! 60 MORE DAYS, 59 MORE DAYS, 58 MORE DAYS etc... Thanks again everyone, you folks here on CFL are always so great and helpful! Mark

I just received my I-797C, Notice of Action for all the proof I sent to the USCIS for my I-130 Petetition to bring my Chinese wife here to the US. I'm just curious from some of you folks who really seem to fully understand the process... what's next? Am I now simply waiting for a NOA2 stating that the USCIS either accepts all I have sent to them or needs more information? I received my I-797C on July 22, 2009. If my next step in this process is the NOA2, anyone have an idea how long that might take? Thanks everyone!