robhon

I'm not sure that's right. Mine says, "I-130 Spousal Visa Petition."

I was also really impressed with the response I received from Chengdu when I called them. They were really nice, and I let know as much! That's great that you got action on your situation, Dave. It's a load of the mind, isn't it.

Ours is good for one year. I guess like everything else, different places do things in different ways. I just had to look up that Emerson quote on the internet.... "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." Not that it helps any of us...

It even says as much in your (or at least my) passport. Page 6, Tips for Travelers, number 9: "Familiarize yourself with the local laws and customs of the countries to which you are traveling. While in a foreign country, you are subject to its laws." And here even we say, "Ignorance of the law is not a defense." -- When buying plane tickets in China here's the shuffle we do... We're having breakfast with the family, people are are talking about tons of stuff at about a millions miles a minute. All in Sichuan dialect, or Chongqing dialect, as they now like to say. Then my wife will say, "Today we must buy your plane ticket." Of course, I've been mentioning this for days. But today is the day. We all go out shopping. This usually includes about 8 or 9 family members. Five in baba's car. The others take a bus across town. We meet at the central area in CQ with the tower, which I still don't know the name of. Then we're all wandering around, looking at VCD's, buying some clothes, maybe we go sit somewhere and talk and snack. Then comes lunchtime. We all find a place to eat and stuff ourselves silly. Then we're wandering in the square again poking into various shops. Maybe buy some tea or dishes. Somewhere in the process we will pass close to an ticket office. There's a huddle. My wife says to give my passport to my aunt. She and mama wander over to the ticket agent and inquire about ticket prices to Shenzhen while we nonchalantly wander more... "Want a yogurt?" (or ice cream or whatever is near.) Every idle moment usually is turned into another eating moment. I'll peer over toward mama and her sister. There's some arm waving and sometimes a raised voice. Then they come back with a ticket. At the ticket agent I know they hide my passport until the very last moment after the price has been agreed upon. It's almost like that card game I see everyone play there. It's where you slap down on the table that last set of cards to go out and win the hand. "And, HA HA!, the ticket is for an American!" I have no idea if they really are getting a better price. But I do know playing the game is more important for them. And I totally love watching it, out of the corner of my eye, while they hide me behind Liu gwu yeah (uncle Liu).

Jeez, I'm missing things left and right here... Now I see the part about May1, 2003.

I'm kind of lucky on this issue. I just go down to the consulate in SF. I was thinking my parents just mailed their's directly to the consulate when they came over for our wedding but they must of used a service as well. (my bad)

Wow! I just looked at the consulate site and saw they've jacked up the cost of Chinese visas for US citizens. A multi-entry visa used to be, I think it was $60, now it's $100. I know in San Francisco you can mail your application directly to the consulate and skip the service altogether. Here's the site. http://sf.chinaconsulatesf.org/visa/eng/vi...isa1tourist.htm

I know my flights between Shenzhen and Chongqing have been about 650 RMB. The flights are about 2 hours.

AND, when the air gets turbulent, you HAVE to back it off to Vno. Right, Don? (Vno is normal operating speed. Turbulent air puts greater stresses on the aircraft at higher speeds. More than one pilot has made the mistake of maintaining a high speed - in the yellow arc - to 'get through' the turbulence and had their wings ripped off as a result.)

Again, please be careful to note who is on the old process and who is on the new process. Your stuff got through NVC in 2 months but you are on the old process. I'm on the new process and have been stuck at NVC ever since, going on six months now. If you came into the system after early March you are on the new system. That "should" mean a longer wait until GZ gets your paperwork but then a shorter time to visa. At least this is my current understanding of the way things work...

And of course, what list of thank yous would be complete without the combination of Cantonese and pig latin: ou-day eih-jay

Ooooh, being a manufacturing guy, that description runs chills up my spine. I think they could use a good process engineer.

A few years ago a friend of mine said something to me that has stuck with me ever since. I was complaining about something someone was doing that was making me feel bad (or angry or frustrated, can't remember). My friend asked me, "And just how did this person 'make' you feel that way?" I was taken back a bit. "Well, he did..." this that and the other. "And what about that forced you to feel this way?" he asked again. I was at a loss for words and asked what he was getting at. My friend went on to suggest to me that I'm not obligated to feel any particular way about anything anyone says. If I feel something as a response to someone's words, that's all about me! And the best part about it is, I actually have control over that! I don't have any control over what someone else says. I do have control over how I feel and respond. jade_yan and I had a little feud going a week or so ago. I think I misconstrued some things she said and she didn't like some things I'd posted. (etc.) The worst part of the whole episode, in my mind, was that the way we were both acting was causing both of us not to be heard. I didn't see jade_yan here for several days and I was genuinely concerned that she'd left the site. I think that would have been a tragedy. (I'm really glad you're back!) If AOF is genuinely in the process of bringing someone over from China then he deserves to be here, regardless of what people think of his viewpoints. The world is full of AOF's. There's no reason we shouldn't have one here too! To add to that, I think AOF's comments spark controversy for a reason. It's because there are many people who have similar opinions when they see Chinese/American couples. If we just automatically turn the topic into a bloody brawl we miss the opportunity to discuss an important issue. One last thing, I'm still waiting to hear what happened with donahso's standing bet about AOF's timeline. Unpopular ideas are one thing. Being a lying bastard is another. I DON'T think the site needs anyone who is contributing false information.

cisco10s, I think your K-1 is righ tin line with our K-3... see below. And I'm supposed to be on the new "faster" system.

My wife and I had this discussion. We decided what we wanted to have was a traditional wedding in China, regardless of the visa processing. And the wedding was absolutely incredible. I think that's the way to make the decision. What's important to the two of you personally? The visa is going to take a while either way. The memory of your wedding will last a lifetime.

Gotta remember, GZ doesn't even know who we are (new system) until the NVC and DOS are finished with us. At that point most of the work is done.

If I could add a little something to those thoughts... Having different opinions is a wonderful thing, even when it sometimes comes across as offensive. If we have a visceral reaction to what someone says, wow!, what a great opportunity to learn something about ourselves!!

I think the repayment comes in form of the banquet for the baby. This comes, I think, 30 or 40 days after the baby is born. It's another huge affair not at all unlike our wedding banquet. I've been to a couple here in SF for my employees. I think it also becomes another opportunity for her father to show his status in the community. My wife's father is really quite a charming and wonderful man. And he's very proud of his daughter marrying this American. I'm quite lucky.

I'd just like to know if the board set PJ up with a golden parachute...

Ooooooh!! I like it!

This kind of reinforces a theory I have. It's one of my "I have no proof at all" theories. I think maybe if your spouse/fiance(e) lives in one of the larger, more modern cities in China the process can go much faster from the standpoint of processing the security checks. I think when requests for information go out to smaller and lesser developed cities it gets bogged down due to the lack of functioning infrastructure. Here's AOF, who filed all his stuff months after me (and obviously on the new system), he's received his P3 in short order, comparatively. My wife is from Hechuan, 45 minutes outside Chongqing, and everytime I go there I think I've returned to the 1940's. I don't know if there's any way to test this and I'm fully ready for someone to shoot the idea down. I'm at the "who knows, could be true" phase in this theory.

I will attest to the fact that restaurant work is very hard. Restaurant work put me through college. It's hot and sweaty and greasy and I had lots of fun! Restaurant people are excellent. When you work in a restaurant you instantly have a large network of friends. Even though I think Sarah's comments are off-the-handle (whew!). I gotta agree with her. While AOF isn't being aggressive in his tone and "just stating an opinion" it's a pretty demeaning opinion. I think he's got some serious women issues. I would say, if this woman likes cooking, she should do that! Encourage her!! Maybe she'll find she actually hates it. But she might also become the next Yan Can Cook. (God knows that guy's made a bucket of money.) The assumption sounds to me like AOF is suggesting that, really, the best thing for a pretty girl to do is find a nice American man to take care of her. And that's just ridiculous. Hey, I hope she comes here and kicks some serious a**. You're only limited by your own desire to achieve, even if you're a pretty 22 year old Chinese woman. Now, once Sarah puts the knife down we'll all feel good again.

Tom, this is spy novel material!! I totally picture you in a tuxedo crashing your way through the consulate. Mr. X has the trigger device for the nuclear visa...I mean weapon... but he can't get away from... tparrent!

Thanks R2... In the past couple of days I've come to appreciate the full value of this site. The support provided here has been amazing. I'm very touched my your interest in creating a group letter/fax campaign. I thought to myself, "Ah, they pinned me!" For now we're resigned to having the baby in CQ. That's okay. Her whole family will be there to see the new baby and help take care of my wife after the birth. I know it's not going to be as easy a birth as if she'd been in the US. I'll help her as much as I can through that. Again, thanks to everyone for your help. I'm headed back to China in a couple of weeks. I'll be posting a big ol' baby announcement here on CFL not too long after that.

I think because there are no other children. She's never had a child nor have I. This just came out of the blue, some nutty guy looking for a document saying I have no other children. ...I mean, how on earth can you prove that something doesn't exist?