TLB

Hi folks, My wife is having a hell of a time finding facial creams in the States that don't make her face breakout and itch. We've tried pretty much everything and every brand, including those that claim they've "never" had anyone have trouble with their products. I'm starting to believe this is a problem with her skin, or adapting to changing climate (she's been here 8 months). But it's only on her face, not neck, arm, etc. Has anyone else had this experience? Is there a brand you've used that works? And failing all that, is there somewhere you go to buy Chinese facial creams in the US? Online, maybe? The one she uses is branded "Isabel" -- she doesn't like it so much, but it doesn't make her break out. The online Chinese sites claim it's French, but I can't verify that (sometimes these companies are not really foreign, and sometimes they are, but they've targeted the Chinese market and use a name just for China). thanks for your suggestions and experiences. Tim in Austin

Good riddance; discussions of what "ought" to offend people aside, this was just plain stupid.

I can only speak from my own experience: the day my wife had her interview (last September), I watched almost everyone come out (I was there early and my wife was one of the last to come out). I'd say 40-50% of the folks did not pass the interview (it's pretty easy to tell as you watch them emerge from the interview area). People find this place and ask questions hoping to help their case (or at least get as much right in the process as is possible). It's probably true that those who have trouble come back to ask more questions, so there is naturally more discussion about the cases with problems than the ones that sail through. It's probably also true that those who have had problems come here to vent as they feel that CFL members will be sympathetic (not sure if that might be some of the 'noise' you mention). I'll bet though that at least some of the long-time members are here just because they like to help other people and they like to be part of this community, whether they did or did not have a lot of problems with the interview process themselves. Oh, and not everybody does have a happy ending, no more than in anything else in life but we're trying!

They've evidently been at this awhile, but haven't gotten much traction yet... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/17/cbsnews_investigates/main4267154.shtml I wonder if the international legal situation for this is complicated by the fact that the government that issued the bonds still exists... on Taiwan.

Hi Lane and welcome! This is one of those bureaucratic boondoggles we Americans so love to hate. You have a lot of questions in your post, and those with more experience and wisdom than I will soon begin giving you very valuable information I'm sure. What we need is some sort of new visa that's neither "temporary visitor" nor "permanent resident", or else the "perm resident" rerequirements need to relax. As I understand it, your wife would need to spend roughly half her time in the US to stay away from the possibility of having her immigrant visa rescinded. This is not exact (as in 6 months out of every year) and you could probably swing being away entirely for a year or two with good reason, but at some point the gov't is going to ask whether she's really a "permanent resident" of the US (and that's the only visa she can probably get). My wife and I are in a similar situation; she joined me here in October; I probably will retire next year and we haven't decided what we want to do or where we want to live. The original plan was for us to spend half a year in the US and half in China for as long as we could stand the travel back and forth. I don't know that I've shed any light, but welcome anyway, and there'll be others with more specific ideas and suggestions coming soon! Tim

Looks like you've been over twice; for how long and how much time between trips? And how much age difference is there? (if you don't mind the question)

Just my opinion here, but I think fewer photos of the kind that will help show bonafide relationship is better than inundating them with hundreds. You don't need to show that the marriage is real -- you have proof of that already, so I wouldn't give them lots of photos from the wedding. What they want to know is that the relationship is real, so photos of you two together, and you with your spouse's family. They will want to know that you know your spouse's family and your spouse knows yours. If you have time and can do so, open a joint account somewhere; put your spouse on your insurance as a beneficiary, etc. etc.. Oh, and include, for yourself and your spouse, patience... Good luck; this community is here for you.

I don't think it's at all clear that they're more responsible -- have you seen all the apartment buildings with no one in them? I guess we'll see in the next few years. Inflation, greater prices for their goods going out, demonstrations for more worker £ð£á£ù¡¡£­£­¡¡£é£æ¡¡£ô£è£å£ù¡¡£í£á£î£á£ç£å¡¡£ô£è£é£ó,¡¡£ô£è£å£ù¡¡£÷£é£ì£ì¡¡£ã£å£ò£ô£á£é£î£ì£ù¡¡£ç£á£é£î¡¡£á¡¡£ì£ï£ô¡¡£ï£æ¡¡£ò£å£ó£ð£å£ã£ô.

Dan is spot on, as usual. You and your wife's situation is similar to mine in the sense that we don't really know where we'll end up living either. We went the immigration route for her so she could come here for a while until I retire (maybe a year from now). I told her during not to tell the interviewing officer, if he asked why she wanted to immigrate to the US, "but I don't really want to; I'm just going there for a while and then we don't know." There really needs to be another category of visa besides "short time visitor" and "immigrant" for people who can't use the student or business visas. My wife and I just want to go back and forth as we please, with me remaining an American citizen and she retaining her Chinese citizenship; it seems that's too difficult a concept for the respective governments... If you can get a short-time visa using existing categories, that will be great; otherwise, as you know, the visas discussed here (and that you're contemplating) assume immigration and perm resident plans in the US (though you really don't have to spend the whole time in the US to satisfy the criteria). So, the process takes 8-12 months, costs some $, and if you succeed the first time, I think you have to go to the US within 6 months. That gives you almost a year and a half from now before you'd have to make that decision. If you went that route and then lost the visa due to not going to the US (or being declared a non-resident after that), I don't know if that would influence any future visitor visas. So in the end, I don't think your plan of "let's get the visa now so we'll have it if we decide later to go to the US" might not be the best approach, unless you're pretty sure spending at least half a year there on average for the foreseeable future is a good possibility.

I took a Pepto Bismol pill once a day and that helped a lot; as has been said, you can only be so careful yourself, you don't know how the food you're eating was handled. Stay away from street food, even though it can be very tempting. Western restaurants and higher-end places that cater to foreigners probably have better food-handling practices, but then eating where the locals eat is a great experience. I second the Melatonin idea, too; helps get your body straight on when to eat. Other than that, just spend lots of time in bed

Yeah, like how many Supreme Court justices there are? Thanks Gov Perry

haven't you noticed all the public sector layoffs? You're lucky there's anyone there! B)

Don't assume that her Chinese drivers license won't qualify her to drive in the U.S. -- each state has its own rules. You might want to check, and then not tell her if she is allowed to drive here...

Look at chinesepod.com -- you can do this pretty cheaply (a few bucks a month) if you're disciplined enough to really work at it every day. You can also pay more and have a phone call lesson if you want. I've done both and they were worth it. I second the idea of a structured class in person if you can find it, or a personal tutor, but the latter would probably be pricey. If you live anywhere near Chinese students, maybe offer to barter English lessons for Chinese.

Fort Worth has great museums if that's of interest to you: Amon Carter for American art (especially Wild West art), and the Kimbell is one of the fine art gems of the country, IMO. Also, if you want her to experience a C&W club (large honky-tonk style) go to Billy Bob's. https://www.kimbellart.org/index.aspx http://www.cartermuseum.org/ http://www.billybobsdfw.com/lp/billy_bobs_texas

come on guys, you should be able to have this discussion without the pissing contest. You do an injustice to this site when you can't disagree without being disagreeable. Many of us like to read your thoughts, but we could do without the personal jabs. thanks Tim

Congratulations! Let the best part begin!

Congratulations David! You have a brave woman there! Congratulations on both! And yes, I think confidence and humor helped my lady a lot.

Whatever the outcome, you won't regret being there with her. Good luck to all!

Welcome to CFL Peterh, and good luck. Too bad you didn't find us earlier, we'd have burst your 2-3 month invite letter to interview timeframe really quickly. Yes, get the EOR notarized in the US. Maybe they'd accept a scanned copy with the notarization on it and she can turn in one without the notary (?). BTW, if you do decide to delay, I did that and it was not a problem (meaning it didn't mean I had to wait months to get another interview -- as soon as I told them she was free to come, we got the interview letter within a few days for an interview two weeks later). Having said all that (hoping GUZ is lurking), it would be nice to have a month lead time before the interview instead of a couple of weeks.

I had a similar problem trying to figure out limits for my wife flying here from China. Air China then American; their policies are almost exact opposites of each other. I finally got the American folks on the phone; they said on international flights they (American) go by whatever the international carrier's policies are. I don't know if all US airlines follow this, and I don't know if they follow it for flights originating in the US.

My wife lives in Yingkou, Liaoning Province, so fairly far northeast (think Houston to some city in Massachusetts not Boston) -- took a week give or take a day. (forgot exactly but it wasn't later than we figured it would be)

Good luck Ryan, I think maybe they just wanted to get you off their backs!

I think the importance of being in Guangzhou with your mate for her interview is more of a support to your wife or girlfriend than any bearing it would have on her interview. Beachey covered it pretty well about if you had enough evidence up front.....I too fell that the decision is already made before they step up to the window. I went to both of my wife's interviews. The first one was a K-1 interview....the VO would not even take my passport....literally threw it back through the window. On the IR-1 interview the VO took my passport but just quickly browsed it as my wife was telling her of my many trips to China. They had already decided to give my wife the visa before she ever walked into the building. With that said, to me, I wanted to support my wife to the full extent for her interviews. Rather she got the visa or not I wanted to be there with her...yes, it was horribly expensive for 3 of us to fly in and out of Guangzhou and stay in that hot hellhole for a week but I was beside her every step of the way up to our parting at the base of the 5th floor. I was with her to hold her when the State Department treated her and our son like shit at the first interview, and I was there four years later to hold her once again when justice was done and the State Department did the right thing. That stuff is once in a lifetime type experiences. No way I was going to sit at home and let her go through it by herself. I wanted to see her look when she got the visa, and I wanted the experience of being with her when she crossed into American airspace, and walked into the POE airport....on out into the FREEDOM from government agencys. You can never re-create those moments...they only happen once....and ....they are PRICELESS. And quite honestly, my wife has thanked me over and over for being there with her through her ordeal. No, I don't think it helps much to be at the interview, as far as the State Department is concerned. But I wouldn't have missed the interview for anything, as far as my wife and son were concerned. Heck, I even was there on the 5th floor with them just minutes after they got their pink slips and stood in line with them to process their China Postal main-in papers. That's just me....I want to catch everyone of those "once in a lifetime moments" with my girl that I can. The flight home with them and going through immigration and customs with them was nothing short of incredible. As was walking out into the public area of Dulles Airport and tasting the sweet air of FREEDOM from the US State Department. Good luck to all of you in the November que for the interview. tsap seui I'm with tsap on this one: my memory of my wife's coming out with that smile on her face after passing her interview is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. Also, if she does not pass, would you want your fiancee to be alone right then? If you can go, go. Not for the consulate, but for her, and for you.

Also, I guess she needs to bring those x-rays from the medical exam? Kind of a hassle if not needed (they're big). I scanned several sites on the web before finding one that said to bring it (immihelp.com) -- none of the others mentioned it. Anything else needed at POE? 1. passport with visa 2. mysterious envelope, unopened 3. medical x-rays (is that the x-rays really or just a report that's a separate document?) I saw one online forum where someone was asked if they had extra photographs (the POE officer didn't see them in the enveloper). I guess it's not a bad idea... Anything else? She'll be coming in LAX and I won't be with her (I'll meet her at LAX).