Kyle

We used my wife's pinyin name on her petition, however, you can put your married name on your petition, and under other names used, add her full name in Chinese. If you do it this way, her green card will reflect her married name. What are the positives of this? Well, if it's that important to her to have your name she can have it put on her green card without the additional cost of changing her name. This is useful if she will want her married name on a US drivers licence, or other form of ID in the States. If you do not do this, and she decides later to take your last name legally, she'll have to pay a new biometric fee and all of that jazz (and no, it's not cheap) or, I believe she'll have an opportunity to change her name during the citizenship process if she so chooses. I think Dan's wife is going through that in the near future (although she might not be changing her name). I suspect he'd know about that one. I alot of people, I think add the married name and move the Chinese surname as her middle name. We didn't. We just left everything as is. After reading all of this, I'm hopeful that I am recalling information correctly that I've read on CFL.

You do not need four copies of g325a. Only one is needed for the new version of the form. Make sure to take the originals as well (marriage certs-red books, passports, etc). They will want to see them before taking the copies. I'd go ahead and include some pictures if you have them. My folks/family/friends had letters notarized in the states and sent them over to China. The consulate accepted the US notary stamps (like what you'd find at a stateside bank). Again, they first wanted to see the originals before accepting any copies. The EOR letter is a lot more important if you/her have been previously married before. You can do a CFL/Google search for "EOR Letter" http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fcandleforlove.com+EOR+Letter Here's the deal. The more information you include when turning in the I-130, the more eyes are going to have a chance to see it by the time you get to your interview. Jingjing and I provided a lot of information that wasn't really required in the front end but it made the interview itself a cakewalk. Pictures, financial documents - such as joint assets, bank accounts, retirement accounts, etc, letters of you looking for work in the States, or if you have a job already lined up, information about that, you get the picture . . .

A three year old weighs 132 lbs?!?! (Seth Meyers) Really?! Really? This kid's folks need to set some limits and ween him off of the super sized rice bowl. Of course, how many American parents could use the same advice concerning their kids and McD's? http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/22/article-1368772-0B480E2700000578-918_634x422.jpg http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/03/23/chinese-boy-3-weighs-whopping-132-pounds/?test=latestnews

If he's going the DCF route, he'll submit his I864 when he goes to Guangzhou

"White book" is the notarization of her birth certificate and your marriage certificate. In other words, her birth certificate and your marriage certificate need to be notarized. Just go to any notary office in Beijing. The office will do translation and notarization. Affidavits from your/her family might help, but not necessary. We do not have any statement from our family, only marriage certificate. Your birth certificate and notarized marriage certificate are required for I-130 petition. Hers (notarized birth certificate, notarized marriage certificate, notarized police certificate) will be required later. I sort of disagree with the word any There are plenty of translation/notary services available that won't cut mustard. I'd made sure that they can provide the standard

Why would you list your US address as your residence if you're filing in China? I'm not sure I understand. . . Currently, you are a resident of China. Your mailing address and resident address will be your address in China. That's what we did.

Actually iodized salt WOULD help to avoid the absorption of radioactive iodine into the pituitary gland. Perhaps that is just my own gullibility, but I believe it ! I question whether the amount of iodine in iodized salt would make enough difference in radiation absorption to be measurable. And if possible, how much salt over what period of time would it take to provide a measurable difference? For example, would it take a pound of salt per day to reduce radiation absorption by the amount of one dental xray? I'd be willing to bet that one's health would be impaired more by consuming the extra salt than by the increase in radiation absorption in the thyroid if one passed on it. And remember, iodine only protects one of many different radioactive isotopes. My wife and I spoke with her parents a few nights ago. They said that the price of salt has skyrocketed, and because of demand, the shelves are empty. Jingjing hung up the phone in disbelief that there was such pandemonium.

For DCF - Her police cert, birth cert, and marriage cert will all be in a white book. You can do a CFL search for "white book"

Congratulations to you both. It's a nice feeling to have it behind you. Enjoy the rest of your time in Guangzhou

You can get it done stateside (I did). Here's how: write your statement that states how you are currently eligible to marry and have it notarized. Send the notarized statement to the Secretary of State's office. Your Secretary of State's office should have a section on their website that explains what to do, where to send, etc. Once you receive the statement and accompanying document back, send it to the Chinese Consulate that has jurisdiction for your state (in some cases, this is the Embassy in DC). The Consulate (or Embassy) will have instructions on their respective websites on what to do. Aside from skipping the visit to GUZ, is there any advantage to doing it this way? Also, how long would it likely take at the Embassy? I had read that some people were having problems with people in China rejecting certs issued here in the states and that is why I was thinking of getting it at GUZ. My flight leaves for over there the middle of next month. For us, it was considerably cheaper to do it in the States. That's why we did it that way. Once we reached the Sec of State building, it took 15 minutes. Also there was no appointment needed - you simply walked in your request. If you go to Guangzhou or another consulate, you have to first make an appointment - see link below. As far as the effectiveness - there is no difference. If you have an appointment, the actual process of getting a marriage cert will be fairly fast. I can't see it taking longer than 1 hour. If you do get it in the States, you'll need to have it translated in China before you take it to the marriage bureau (If you don't do this, it will get refused). That wasn't an issue for us, and was done relatively cheaply. If you life close to a consulate and are already in China, I'd just get one over there. For us, we wanted to do it the cheapest route possible b/c Jingjing was busy spending all of my money on our wedding/honeymoon. http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/service.html

We got ours in Little Rock, AR Sec of State office - we had it translated in China

I doubt this will do much but go for it! This topic has potential to go south quickly. . . No bashing political officials please

Citic bank does this and I'm sure other banks within China provides the same service. I'm not sure that getting a loan would help all that much. The letter that we received showed my wife's deposits over a period of time. It might be obvious if a 10,000 RMB deposit was made a month prior to interview - but, to be honest, I'm only speculating and I have nothing concrete to back that up.

Fine - but the OP should at least be aware that applications such as his are ROUTINELY DENIED in most cases. exactly! To the OP - if you can prove she's going to return to China, the US isn't going to care if she visits, meets your family, or if you call each other boyfriend, girlfriend, cupcake or whatever. It's all in the preparation. Good luck!

Randy, I had family reunions when I came back for a visit from China (with Jingjing and w/o Jingjing). Doesn't seem too strange to me. The issue isn't the terminology, it is if she's going to return to China or not. During our first B-2, my wife never had any previous experience leaving the country. We referred to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend to the VO. I had a signed contract/plane ticket proving I was coming back to China, (not to mention my wife had frozen assets, etc). People meet, and people fall in love. The US embassy and consulates abroad realize this. The OP's situation doesn't seem overly different than mine. Focus on proving she'll return to China - that's where most people fail.

We were issued our marriage certs in Wuhan - 8 RMB. Each providence is different (cost and procedures)- I'd check with your local marriage bureau and see what they will require

Are you planning on going back to China with her? If you are, this shouldn't be a overly difficult task

Sounds fine to me

Boyfriend isn't a tourist visa killer, at least I don't think it is. My wife then fiancee referred to me as her boyfriend. The first visa's the hardest. Following B-2's are a cakewalk

Congrats. That first letter never makes it to the USC in China. We resorted to emailing Beijing as well. Chinese snail mail is largely unreliable. Just to test the system, my wife and I sent post cards to her parent's home (unregistered) which is in a nearby suburb. They never showed up. From here on out Guangzhou/you will use EMS which is traceable.

You still have paperwork to do if you/her move, but yes, I get what you're saying. It is a nice feeling.

You've been married for three years and you guys have a child? Yeah, I'm w/ the sliding pandas on this one - this should be pretty easy

Yes that's correct as long as she doesn't take another trip longer than 6 mo out of the US during that time http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=399faf4c0adb4210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=399faf4c0adb4210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

normal. we had the same thing happen to us

A year for DCF? I highly doubt it. Our process took less than 3 months from I130 - Interview. What's going to get lost? If you're filing in China, you don't have the issue to customs of deal with. I think you'd just be wasting your money. Not to mention that one is for intent to immigrant and the other isn't. I fail to see what the positives are for fling for both - especially if you're already able to file directly to the consulate within China. Plus filing within China is cheaper!