mmpv

Now I can stop the mop-slaps! Wife was like "Is it done yet?... Is it done yet...????" for the past few weeks, especially after she talks with Yan (LostInBlue) or Lilly (Hankster), hangs up the phone and badgers me with "Well they got their 10-Year card already, where is mine??!!" Well I have to break it to her gently!. Anyway, NO AOS interview, and NO removal of conditions interview! Works for me! Congrats Dan. Any tips on how you avoided the "interviews"? I've seen and heard of people avoiding either, but not both. Don't tell me it's luck. ;-)

I currently have domestic voip service and rely on calling cards for international long distance calling into China. Call quality wise, this setup is fine. We don't make too many calls yet, so cost wise, it's not a motivating factor for us to make a switch. But calling cards are a pain, they expire if you don't use them quickly enough and we have to keep buying new ones. I know there are services that you can refill and even do the refilling for you, but if I were going to go that far, I might as well sign up for an all inclusive service for more convenience. That said, I am thinking about joining either vonage or italkbb. Both have unlimited plans for calling into China. Doing a bit of comparison, italkbb seems to be cheaper. Moving to italkbb would actually be a NIL cost difference switch for me. Plus they also offer a local China number that can dialback to my number for free, which is a plus for our friend and family to call us. (Though I am hesitant making it too easy for them since I don't want to get calls in the middle of the night or have the gabbing hogging the line for hours) Anyone currently use these services from italkbb? If so, any comments? I am interested in service quality (clarity, ease of connections, etc.). Are there any hidden or extra costs? Is this service really all you can eat or do they put a cap on it? Their web page seems to indicate that it's up to their discretion to judge if you are using the service for "business" services. So it would seem they are building in a back door easily to cap you. What about the China callback number, is it really free? For the technically inclined on this forum, any idea how much bandwidth does the service consumes? Do they give you knobs, either on your account page, or via the little voip modem to tune call quality and bandwidth? Anyone using vonage international plan? Similarly, any comments? If you have other recommendations, those are welcome too. It doesn't have to be all you can eat, but it does have to beat what I am paying now, which is about 1.3 cents per minute into China using a moderately honest (in their accounting of your usage) calling card good for 90 days from purchase.

So it probably would be a good idea to have it, just in case. But Not Necessary. I think my wife will need a two wheel cart by the time i get done with gather documents.. Just for grins I added up the phone calls for the last 4 months.. totals 600+ calls.. about 6 a day, and i have all phone bills.... So, I will write up a nice very short statement about ex-wife.. just in case they ask. Thanks Dan I would advocate bring lots of supporting evidence, but not go crazy with any one type. We tried to balance quantity with quality and breadth. You also don't want to carry so much that you have to fumble around the mound of docs to look for stuff either, because that can really tick off the VOs and give you a blue slip. BTW, let me explain the meaning of "lots", I don't actually mean a wheel barrow full. Think about how much your SO can safely/comfortably carry without breaking the old back. Actually, I remembered reading in the instructions about the restrictions on the type of luggage you can't bring into the Consulate. Like anything resembling roller type suit cases, etc. You can't even bring in a business style briefcase. We ended up using a backpack, a rather large one, think professional back packer type. And we had a filing system for locating stuff within it. ;-) EDIT: Also I agree with others' comments. I wouldn't volunteer stuff during the interview unless you really think it would do you a lot of good. After all, why open yourself up for more questioning.

An alternate way to establish your presence is by giving your passport to your SO and have them give it to the VO during the interview. I didn't go to either ACS or ACH but did the passport trick.

Yes we checked the box asking them to issue her an SSN, I got a form letter from them that states she will receive one within 3 weeks of her arrival in the US, however others on CFL said it never works, guess we will see if we get an SS card in the mail or not. It took her a few days to adjust to the jet lag also. But seems to have overcome that now. Only had one small problem after we returned home from two days of staying in a hotel in NYC. She wanted to take a shower, so I showed her how the shower operated, showed her where the shampoo was and the soap. She didn't like the smell of the bar soap (Coast) so she grabbed what she thought was liquid soap and used that with out telling me until later when she complained about being itchy. What she thought was liquid soap Unfortunately was an oranged scented counter cleaner because she said it had a very good smell . Though I was very concerned about it causing a rash or something, I could not help but laugh. Luckly I made her go take another shower with the Coast even though she did not like the scent, to remove the counter cleaner and the itch has stopped. LMAO........ Fen did not like the soap I had, so when I took her shopping she opened and smelled every single bottle of liquid soap they had. Guess which one she chose? The one that smelled like orange. Well she did not like that one either Yesterday we made our first run to a Chinese supermarket in Flushing, NY and she found a soap that she likes and has used in China. :-) very funny. My SO had a bit of a problem operating a USPS dropbox yesterday. Let's just say it took a while... I wasn't there, but heard about it afterward from the offender. When my SO initially got here, we did a walk through of the house, and explained how things worked, what is used for what, where everything is, dangerous chemicals, tools, don't mix bleach with ammonia, etc... We still have funny and light moments all the time, like when I had to explain what fruit on the bottom means after being told that the cup of yogurt tastes a "bit odd" and "different than in China". But nothing life threatening yet thank goodness. Congrats on your Wife's arrival btw.

Hey Robert. Just got a glimpse of some of your previous posts. Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Glad to hear that everything is fixed and you guys are on your way. Congrats. Bring her here soon and I'll race you to the AOS finish line. ;-)

That is good news Robert. Enjoy this time with her. Cant wait to hear your screw ups. Misery loves company. Maybe he won't realize how miserable he is. ;-) Congrats on the good news by the way Robert. Your wife is very capable and brave. You guys will do great together.

Good luck Michael. I am sure you'll do fine.

Hey everyone. It's been a while since my last post. Been busy. Just want to fill you in on our experience with GUZ. First the foreplay... I got there a week early, then spent most of the time preparing for the big day with my SO. Printing out docs and info, sorting, cataloging, doing last minute docs, translations and making sure things flow smoothly with what we know about how the interview process goes. Chat logs? Check. Phone logs? Check. Photos? Check. Does the photo book fit under that slot in the interview window. URG! Remount everything into a new loose leaf type photobook. Etc. Etc. Let's just say it wasn't the most exciting time of my life. ;-) But none the less it's was a very important part. If there's any time to be anal in your life, this is it. Went to Guangzhou 2 days early. Did the medical exam on Day 1. Got to the clinic at around 10, didn't leave until 1PM. They had what looked like a guided "medical exam" tour group of people there that day. Remember to bring $ and a good book or 2. Had to go back to clinic in late afternoon to pick up the xray film and results. Paid the visa fees at the Citic Bank about a block away from the consulate, took about 10 minutes. We stayed at the 7 days inn, a couple of mins. cab ride away from the embassy. Cheap, utilitarian rooms, free internet, lots of hot water and good water pressure in the bathroom. ;-) I didn't go to ACH as I really didn't have any questions I wanted answered. But mostly, I looked at the recent history of others before me, some of who's American halves even stayed in the US and got their visas. So I came to the conclusion that I shouldn't rock the boat or leave a bad impression if I just went there and wasted their time. We didn't spend much time preparing for the interview until late in the second day. I can't speak for everyone, but for us, it was for the best as we were already nervous enough and we were approaching the point of diminishing return. To be honest, we were already very well prepared before we went to Guangzhou. We only needed a last minute refresher. Now don't laugh, we dragged our HP Printer to Guangzhou. It was only about 4-5 lbs and I can only tell you it came in very useful for us in the last minute. In the evening of the 2nd day, after dinner, we organized the paperwork one last time according to the order the embassy listed them in the Instruction sheet on the last packet, and then packed up and went to bed. Next to the action.. Got to the consulate at crack of dawn, 6-ish I'd say. There was already a small contingent of people already standing in line. The lines grew steadily longer and more disorderly as daylight arrived. Some did the famous, walk up, start chatting with people then try to sneak in line. It became quite annoying when the person in front of you cut in line, then became brazen enough to wave a group of others over. I was going to say something when one of the guards came over and "told" these people where the end of the line was. +1 for the guards. As it approached 6:45AM, it started to drizzle. The guards saw this and then attempted to move most of the line onto the front covered steps. +2 for the guards. (They were Chinese guards and they actually do care about the masses.) :-) When the drizzle stopped, the guards moved the lines back down onto the front of the building. Again, opportunists got their chance to cut in line. At around 7-7:30, the guards starting organizing the lines by appointment time. This was the time to be alert and get into the right lines. I got out of the line at this point and went inside the building to wait for my SO to enter. The lobby of the building is a public area, but full of vultures. Speaking of which, these vultures came out and handed out fliers right when they turned the lights on in their ground floor offices. People in line thought they were being handed info by Consulate employees. I told these people I didn't want their fliers or services and they seemed to take the hint. After waiting for a while for the lines to settle down, the guards started checking credentials and letting people into the lobby upstairs. I walked my SO up to the embassy entrance, next to the coffee shop, where we parted again. I didn't stay there too long as I didn't want to sit in the coffee shop. However, I did notice a group of Chinese ladies sitting in there, or squatting there I should say, as the waiter tried to show them a menu which they apparently had no intentions of ordering from. The waiter then got the manager who tried to show them the door, and there was a big commotion. I was there long enough to hear the screaming from the ladies who were being evicted. ;-) And now to the Climax! I went to the Starbucks across the road from the IKEA. Good tip Kyle. Free Wi-Fi and better bang for your buck. If you dislike Starbucks, there is a KFC with plenty of seating further down that mall building. I ordered a breakfast and started to check my emails and such. I only sat there for about an hour and half or so before my phone rang. I looked at my watch, Oh CRAP I thought. This can't be good. I answered the phone, and my SO was on the other line. I asked, "and?" My SO replied, "of course I passed". I almost squirted out my coffee. "What?" I asked. That was it. We did it. Needless to say, the interview was very anti-climactic. My SO was asked many questions, most of them softball types, but the VO did a very thorough job in the questioning process. But the whole interview was quick. We credit our success on a couple of thing. (1). We front loaded the heck out of it right from the beginning. Anything that we had on hand which might be helpful in proving a real relationship, we put it in. Plenty of photos, extensive photocopies of receipts, boarding passes, phone records, postal correspondences, etc. The packet I mailed to USCIS almost weighed 5 lbs. Also, this would be a time that you can cherry pick the goods you want to present, as opposed to doing it in the interview time, when the ball is in the other court. Still don't believe in front loading? Well, I didn't front load our initial app with our chat records, and according to my SO, that was the only thing that the VO asked to look at during the interview. All the other gunk we brought didn't matter and weren't looked at. My SO told me that the VO had that deer in the headlights look when my SO walked up to the interviewing window and hoisted a mountaineering sized backpack full of gunk up to the window ledge. I guess showing that you are well prepared doesn't hurt. ;-) Incidentally, we had notarized letters of references/support from friends and family, however, these were not of interest to the consulate even when offered. I wrote a simple introduction letter in place of the EOR, and it was ignored as well. When my passport was offered, it was looked at, but to be honest, I think this case was decided long before the passport was flashed. Bottom line, I think smart (i.e., knowing/expecting what they want) front loading saved us a lot of grief come interviewing time. (2). Preparation. Pay now or pay later. Need I say more? (3). Getting there early. Now there are many recommendations both on this and other forums on how early to get there, this is our take on the matter. We believe that getting there as early as possible then be nimble enough to follow the guards' re-ordering(s) of the lines helped us quite a bit. My SO was near the beginning of the lines even after they were reshuffled. Because my SO got inside the consulate early, the forms were accepted early, the fingerprinting was done early, and as a result my SO was also one of the first ones called up for the interviews. I was told that by the time my SO came was hi-tailing it out of there after the pink was in hand, the interviewing room had filled up with people waiting to get called. I would take my chances with a VO bright and early over one that may get crankier by the hour any day. Some gotchas. This was many weeks ago, but the consulate apparently mailed the wrong/outdated forms in the last packet to us. If memory serves, they consolidated the English and Chinese versions of a DS form into one or something like that. My SO had to function as a photocopier and quickly transcribe the contents of those 2 forms into one, all the while trying to field questions from other confused people in the room and having consulate workers keep telling the people to be "quick, quick, do it quickly". ;-) Moral of the story is to be prepared for anything to happen and bring an extra pen or two. One other note, my SO kept telling me that the other interviewees at the other windows were being constantly yelled at for either being too slow in producing requested docs or not listening to what the interviewer wanted. Since we front loaded most of the stuff, we weren't subjected to this abuse (or at least that's what we are crediting it to.) But also do think about how you organize your stuff as you are preparing for the interview. And remember the interviewing window environment. The little slot you are shoving stuff into isn't very big. My SO tells me it's no different than the ones in any bank branch in China. So think about how you would get big items, like big photo albums that don't fit in that form factor, efficiently into the hands of the VO and not get yelled at or loose brownie points. Overall, I think that GUZ has been good to us. We weren't subjected to some of the horror stories we've heard luckily. To finish off the story. We've went back to the floor of the Consulate entrance that afternoon. There are a bunch of travel agencies there and we asked about plane tickets. Shop around. I've found one that had the cheapest one way ticket I could find anywhere. I've also found a couple that had the most expensive ones I've found anywhere. The visa arrived in about 4 business days. We brought a plane ticket soon after, entered the US, no problems at the POE, by the way. We got married shortly after we got back. I am signed, sealed and delivered! Now the fun begins with AOS. I can't wait... I'll update this thread if I find something I forgot. This forum helped me out a lot and I had to return the favor, even though technically, I am still sleep deprived. ;-) Hope this helps someone. NOTE: As much as I dislike helping big conglomerates advertise, I don't mind doing so when it benefits the little guy. People with BOA accounts, I noticed a CCB ATM across the street from the embassy, corner of the block where IKEA is. ATM transactions are fee free using your BOA ATM card. And they give the most favorable (to you, not them) exchange rates too that I can find, I am not sure how they can make money doing this, hence the plug. BTW, I've seen CCB ATMs everywhere in China since I started to take notice. Another I like to plug is Cathay Pacific Airways. I think they are the only ones that still allow 2 pieces of checked luggage free. Also, if you book a 2 way ticket with them, you can change the return leg for any reason, no fees charged. This is helpful if you like to match a one way you are about to purchase for your SO after you get the visa. I did find that the one ways from Asia to the US on Cathay is expensive.

I imagine that he wants to retain the format that his IM program generates. You loose all of that just dumping the text.

If your chat program doesn't support selective printing, you can install a pdf print driver, and print the whole enchilada to a pdf file. Then you can use your pdf viewer and selectively print what you want. Personally, I wouldn't bring all that to the interview, just a selectively representation. Imagine if your 500 page stack can't be shoved into the little hole in the window easily, or your SO fumbles with all the paperwork you are making her bring. They can blue her for taking too long. There is a point of diminishing returns here.

These chemicals are easily obtained because they have lots of industrial/commercial applications, and lots of supply houses and hardware stalls in HK sell them. While these incidents look intentional, some are not. There are lots of high rises in HK, and people accidentally "throw" things out the window from time to time.

I was going to buy a set of kitchen knives in one of those blocky style holders to set on the counter today . . . oooh boy. Knives go in the drawer! It's unlucky to have them out on the counter apparently. Fen is comming on Feb 3 rd...Its a lucky day as told by the fortune teller. We were thinking of her comming earlier and she said her mother will call the fortune teller to find out a lucky day. Tounge in Cheek I asked her why she got divorced, did they forget to find a lucky day? She did not find it amusing I believe the correct term is "auspicious" and luckily it works in her favor because we are 24 hrs. behind. She will be leaving and arriving the same day. Imagine what happens if it's the other way around. If you are going to be snide with her, you have a couple of days starting on Valentines this year. It's not "auspicious" to handle brooms, mops, or cutlery in a violent manner on those days. YMMV.

My wife at first glance said it meant heaven and hell and then that the chinese was yin and yang .... see said it really meant nothing but it was unlucky to talk about .... of course anything about death is unlucky to talk about to most chinese That may be it - one of our neighbors in Houston owned a hearse - I called it a "death car" once - she was PISSED. I'm surprised, though, that the "death" image would dominate in her view. She mentioned her mother's will recently - we're cut out in favor of her two brothers, since we're the rich Americans - without even obliquely mentioning death - her mother "would give" her apartment building to her two brothers. Yup, superstition. There was probably some bad connotation associated with those characters in your wife's past. Regarding superstition, no problem if you are a believer, but if not then, ekk... If your wife or in-laws are of that extreme persuasion, don't be surprised to be inconvenienced with rituals and placement of stuff before you move into your new house or car or job or... Sometimes it works out, or sometimes (like in my case)... nevermind, just give in, you'll live longer and happier. They are just doing it for your well being! ;-) To all gringos and yanks on CFL, we should watch our lips at around CNY time. Of course, most of you already know that right?

BTW, congrats on your success.

The attorney's helper told us that there is a good chance they will interview both of us and he also told us of a case where the husband said last night at her mother place and the wife awnsered 2 days ago at the hotel. The visa was returned. The day before the interview Tuesday we practiced some of the questions and we made love Monday night so that was the awnser she had memorized. But that Tuesday night before the interview we also made love in the morning. I waited at the counsulate from 7AM she comes out at 1130AM I thought she was done but she told me they were on a lunch break. When we were returning to the consulate after the lunch break she asked me do I still say Monday night was the last time we made love. I told her no forget what you memorized we made love last night you tell the trueth. A couple hours later when she came out to get me they asked me that question and they asked her that question it was shortly after that we got the visa. So knowing that played a big part in us getting the visa. *****Congrats******......What is the Visa Process coming too, seems very personal the questions they ask you. What is in the future for interviews, them wanting to see X rated photos of 2 people together? Best of Luck...................Bob................... Good grief, I felt the same way. Maybe that's just a Vietnam consulate thing? Wonder if GUZ does that? I don't remember reading about it. Perhaps it's too personal/embarrassing. Now I am curious. Anyone experienced this type of questioning at GUZ?

I hear HK is a lot nicer to deal with. Good Luck.

This is just my opinion, but I think that you are over preparing / over reacting to this. I think you should do what you feel would put your heart at ease and help you sleep at night. But, judging from your posts, I also think that whatever you do between now and the end of the month won't have those effects. If I were looking for ways to blow away my money, I would at least take a look at the outrageous prices for 1 way tickets from there to the US first.

:-) This should fit nicely on a yellow sticky slapped on top of your I-134. BTW, the last crossed out sentence sounded like you were a stalker.

congrats and thanks for the nice writeup.

I am just curious. Will letters from parents from either or both parties help provide substantial proof of anything? After all, they are your parents and there may be some conflict of interests involved. So I do wonder how much credence the VO will weigh these letters with. Any comments from people who've done this in the past? Did the VO look at these letters? By the way, this shouldn't just be a K1 thing. Anyone who've done this can opine.

http://locators.bankofamerica.com/locator/...ocatorPage.jsp# Traveling Internationally? Use your ATM card or check card within our Global ATM Alliance in the countries shown with no fees. * Barclays (United Kingdom) * BNP Paribas (France) * China Construction Bank (China) * Deutsche Bank (Germany) * Santander Serfin (Mexico) * Scotiabank (Canada) * Westpac (Australia and New Zealand)

There is usually a direct dialed number on the back of your ATM card that avoids the maze. If not, then on most AVR systems, they still support rotary phones, so just be patient and don't touch anything and eventually an operator from your bank will pick up and redirect you. You can sign up for an unlimited domestic US outdial plan on skype for only a couple of bucks per month if you need touch tone service.

That's one of the few good things I have to say about Bank of America. Although, I did see varying daily limits early this year. Limit was about $3K/day in late March, then dropped mysteriously to about $2K/day in late April. All this was from the same branch. CCB in HK allowed as much as I needed no problem. I wonder how much longer this free service will last for BOA since they sold a bunch of their stake in CCB to repay the feds.

You raised a good point here. Is is a good idea to volunteer the EOR in the off chance that they find something in it that could put another hurdle in your success? I don't question the wisdom of preparing one and having it ready to present if asked for. Just whether it should be volunteered.