celiothrkn

My wife (currently PRC citizen) and I (American) had our eldest child born in northern China. Immediately after birth, we rushed our son to the US Embassy in Beijing to obtain a birth certificate and US Passport. Since then, we have moved to the US, and my wife has obtained a Green Card. Today our son is 4-and-a-half years old, and we are planning his first visit China. When we went to the Chinese Consulate to apply for a tourist L Visa, the Consulate declined our visa application and asked us to apply for a Chinese Travel Document (旅行证) on the basis that my wife obtained her Green Card AFTER he was born in China. Despite being cheaper ($25 versus $140), I am reluctant to apply for a Chinese Travel Document. Instead of a visa that gets glued into a page of your US Passport, the Travel Document actually resembles a passport book. I have heard that, upon entering with a Travel Document, Chinese immigration does not stamp your US Passport showing the date of entry. I imagine this presents questions with US immigration when returning home. Most importantly I believe it's a matter of principle: If my son is American, why should he be carrying around anything issued by a foreign government during his travels? It doesn't feel right. Does anyone have experience with Chinese Travel Documents? Or with experience in applying for L Visas after September 1, 2013 for an American born in China?

China recently overhauled its immigration law, which was put into practice commencing September 1, 2013. Examples include the introduction of a new visa classification called Q2, which is issued to foreigners being invited by Chinese citizens residing in China for a duration of no more than 180 days. The Q2 is valid for 24 months. Visas are also waived now for foreigners in transit to another destination through Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, or Chengdu; such persons are allowed to stay in China for up to 72 hours. In light of the recent changes, this pinned topic, having been started in Aug 2010, may gradually become obsolete. There are various websites explaining the changes, although the best one is probably: http://lawandborder.com/faq-new-china-visa-law/

I would advise they go to Hong Kong to get married. That's what we did. At the least the marriage certificate will be in both English / Chinese. BTW the US recognizes HK marriage certificates. Besides, flying to Hong Kong is cheaper than to the US. His fiance/soon-to-be-wife would also have a very easy time getting a tourist visa to Hong Kong. He would have absolutely no problem going to Hong Kong because he would be granted a tourist visa upon arrival. Getting a visa to come to the US is much harder, as mentioned by others.

Before we were married, my wife was going to college in Japan. It would be possible if she applies at the US Embassy/Consulate in England. An unexpired UK permanent residence card would demonstrate she has "strong ties" to return to ENGLAND (not China) to finish her studies, etc.

We used United Family Hospital while we were in Guangzhou. My wife arrived in the US yesterday and had no problems at the airport. However she carried a large white envelope (bigger than 8.5 x 11") from United Family Hospital. It also sealed and says DO NOT OPEN on it. What is this? She tells me she's not sure. Is it just an extra copy of her health checkup at United?

I spoke with a travel agent recently. Normally summer prices would not be this high. But this year, we suspect it's really high because of 3 reasons: A) airlines lost big money with the volcanic eruption in Europe when they were grounded for days so now they need to charge more to "recoup“ those losses; B ) high demand for tickets to anywhere in China due to Shanghai Expo; C) price of oil has been going up steadily. As for buying tickets from China, it IS cheaper. However you can only buy tickets from elong.com or qunar.com for flights departing from China. If you're leaving from the US, you have to use travelocity or orbitz or kayak.com. P.S. I'm leaving end of May (one round-trip Economy ticket) to pick-up my spouse (a one-way Economy ticket). We're dropping a total of $3K when under ”normal“ circumstances it would be maybe $2K.

We sent in paperwork for blue slip as well. Fedex said our package was received early on a Monday morning (beginning of the week). The Consulate officers approved our paperwork that Friday (same week). However, they did not mail the call-in letter until the following Friday (next week). In other words, that puts Consulate processing time around 2 weeks. It's probably because the Consulate has a staffing shortage of locally-employed staff (LES) who normally do mailings. It takes the Consulate something like 5 business days to reply to email.

How soon can a CR1 applicant leave the US after getting to the US / getting the green card? We're thinking about a 5 day cruise into the Caribbean, which would technically mean we're leaving the US. Will there be any difficulty when we try to "re-enter?"

I believe the Yang's will do the physical drop-off for a fee, but you should call & double-check.

See if they can get a simple IRS transcript, they are free. IRS will mail them, takes up to 10 days, or can FAX them within an hour of request. http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc156.html?portlet=1 Dan, I have already contacted the IRS. They were very nice to fax it to us - immediately. The transcripts took 10 calendar days to receive in the mail. I'm already over this stage. Could you take a look at my most recent post (above yours)? Any advice?

I mailed in paperwork for overcoming the blue slip (needed a joint sponsor) last week. I believe FedEx should take 4 days. What happens now? It will take approximately 2 weeks (supposedly) for the Consulate in Guangzhou to review our file. When they are done, the Consulate will mail a letter to my wife. What will the letter say? Will it be an appointment letter like the one we had for the interview? (We were told that we ¡°passed¡± the interview and only needed a joint sponsor so there is no need for a re-interview.) My primary question is: will my wife be able to fly to Guangzhou at any time she chooses? Or do we have to go at a time designated by the Consulate? When she arrives at the Consulate, it should be quick and painless since she only needs to drop off a passport, right? Of course, there will be a long wait for the security check at the front door. Thanks.

Yes, the good news is we've found a joint sponsor. The blue slip requested for 2006-2008 tax returns/transcripts so we will have the IRS fax those ASAP. We are also going to include the 2009 tax return (we might as well since it's so close to April 15) so we're waiting on that from the accountant. Plus another 2-3 weeks of processing time in Guangzhou. So at least the wheels are turning on this one.

We found a joint sponsor. Our joint sponsor says her latest tax returns were 40-50 pages. Would it be OK if we only sent the Form 1040 (2 pages) and W-2? I believe it's basically all the schedules that are creating weight. Also, the blue slip asked for 2006-2008 tax returns. In theory we can get away with only the latest tax return, right? If we follow their directions word-for-word, the joint sponsor will be mailing roughly 150 pages to China (3 years x 50 pages per tax return = 150 pages). If we request a tax transcript from IRS, would it be a lot of pages too? I would prefer not going this route because tax transcripts take up to 2 weeks, especially now (end of March) that the IRS is in busy-mode. So I am looking for legitimate ways to get our package to Guangzhou as fast and as conveniently as possible.

It's really simple. Embassy in Beijing will mail you baby's passport and SSN after the consular officers see you in-person. Passport comes quick. SSN takes a while.

Robert: I was furious and would have stormed over to ACH. But unfortunately I am not in China so I cannot go to GUZ to speak with the authorities. I make 2X the amount required. I am an employee, not self-employed. Nothing odd about my job, except that I only started in January 2010. Was unemployed from June to Dec 2009. My wife went in with my pay stub, 2008 tax return, and IRS tax transcripts 2006-2008. Randy: I think you're right. The poverty guidelines established by State are way lower than the "bottom line" that the VOs have in mind. Going forward, I recommend everyone to get a co-sponsor. My wife was told that our co-sponsor will have to MAIL via postal service his/her original, signed I-864 (or I-864a), 3 years of tax returns, and proof of citizenship to GUZ along with the blue & green slips of paper the VO gave my wife. So I'm just waiting my wife's FedEx with the blue & green slips. When I get it, I will send it off with the co-sponsor information to GUZ. How long does it usually take GUZ to process? Anyone shorter than Robert's 14 days? From what I understand, the joint sponsor is 2nd in line to pay for immigrant's public benefits, after primary sponsor (petitioner). So a joint sponsor (regardless of whether he/she is a member of household or outsider) still holds an obligation to the immigrant, right?