GDBILL

I was able to get health insurance through my school, but it didn't amount to much. Anyone would be foolish not to consider traveler's insurance in their budget. We used liaison international http://www.sevencorners.com/insuranceplans/travelmedical/ I was able to get a credit card from Citic bank. I do generally agree though with your point 9. Foreigners are generally not accepted as equals within Chinese society, at least not where we lived. Thankfully though, my wife's family did accept me as an equal part of their family - which to me was the most important status to achieve. Travel insurance is good, but it is of limited use when your residence is in China. Using US as my country of residence would only allow the travel insurance to cover brief stays of limited periods in China. Local medical insurance is pretty much useless -- even for locals and I have good coverage through my stateside insurer & company insurance. It's just the principal of the thing. I'm sure you didn't just waltz into CITIC and say, "Gee, can I have a credit card?" and they said yes. There has to be more behind it. The only way they'd approve is if you had property, your employer went to bat for you, you applied jointly with your spouse or you had significant assets as security in CITIC Bank.

A couple of issues with that: 1. Minimum capital requirements. 2. Taxation exposure. All in all not a bad idea if the business is legit. If set up just to allow visa facilities, not an overall economical or risk-free plan.

1. You're military pension and SS cannot be mailed to a Chinese Bank or address - so you need to have it deposited in a US bank with access from China or anywhere else in the world. 2. You've stated that "Nanning" is a good locality (not sure what this means -- as it is basically a humid "shit hole", similar to Hanoi). That aside you also state that you have plenty of money to live in China. If you have significant amounts of savings and investment - in addition to your military pension and social security, both indexed for inflation, you might have enough money to live in China - with a modicum of Western Style comforts. (AC, Hot water, Soft Bed, Clean building, No bugs, no shit or garbarge at your doorway). When I lived in China it cost me between $3K-$4K USD a month to live - and my house was FREE - owned by my wife. Albeit, we lived like westerners and not like I did when I was young and naieve and dug into Khe Sanh red dirt....trying to not step on or dig up the land mines the less than bright Marines had left "Unmarked, Unmapped, and Unreported". 3. What you were told - is that somthing AKIN to a US Green Card to live in CHina is "next to impossible" to get. Most of us here, know of one or two people who have obtained them - but they are special cases. If you would like to read about Prof Bill Brown - who was one of the first to receive one - check out the website amoymagic. So yes, getting a China Green Card is probably not going to happen. 4. However, I lived in China several years, others are living there now, and would be more than happy to share information with anyone that asks and interacts with people in a civil and mature manner. I can tell you two ways to keep a Resident Visa in China. Student and/or Husband. Both ways can keep you with a renewable 1 yr Resident Visa - at low cost, low risk etc. Even if you had to someday revert to a Multiple entry tourist visa - you are so close to Viet Nam and or Macau - you could easily cross the border and reenter every 90 days. So you can live in China indefinitely - many are and have done it for years. 1. It is possible to have your check (after fighting them on the direct deposit requirement) mailed to the US Embassy's street address in Virginia and forwarded to you here. You'd need to develop a contact to assist you, but it is done. That said, DD into USAA or NFCU is the better option. Cashing your check here in China will put an up to 6 week hold while it clears. 2. There is no place in southern China that is not humid. Other than that, Nanjing isn't bad. 3. For at least 5 years. 4. The visa available to spouses of Chinese nationals is not and never has been a resident permit. It is an "L" visa (L = Tourist) which gives you a longer period of stay than your typical tourist visa. You cannot work. A resident permit is available only on an "X" (student) or "Z" (employment) visa and a couple of other types not available to mere mortals.

By resident visa I assume you mean for yourself. They have a relatively new concept here called permanent residency, but don't count on it for at least 5 years. The requirements are tough and not very transparent. What you can get is a special kind of tourist visa which allows you to stay for one year with multiple entries. It is renewable for equal one year (or sometimes longer) periods. It'd be more than enough to let you remain and with a degree of certainty not have to worry about immigration issues. Thailand is a nice place (but just not right now) and based on retirement income you can get a type of residency, but they are really a pain in the neck to deal with and even with residency I hear you have to leave the country every 90 days or so. Also, non-Thai citizens are not allowed to own property. Your wife having a Chinese passport may be a problem, but I'm not sure. On a temporary basis your wife would have no problems in Malaysia, but not sure about long term. China is an ok place to be. Don't let others try to b.s. you into thinking otherwise.

Earning money may be an issue. Although one is not supposed to work without a proper work visa, many do. Although the chances of getting caught are slim, if you are unlucky enough to get nailed expect to get FITA. As James stated, any work other than teaching English is extremely hard to come by. I have friends who teach English and 100% of them say that after a while it gets old dealing with employers and constant search for new jobs. They also say the pay is ok, but nothing great and they can almost never fit in with other expats here who are not teachers. #9. Excellent analysis. I might add a word or two about racism. Although people will be nice to you, there are certain things that they just don't let you do because you are not Chinese. Try obtaining life or health insurance or obtaining credit from a bank.

If you had to go back that far and do that much research to learn about one possible case of it happening (and in this alleged case it was even a Chinese born foreigner), I'd guess it's pretty darn rare! Even without knowing anything else about the issue, I assume that since China does not recognize dual citizenship, you would first of all need to renounce your US citizenship. As for the requirements, given how hard it is to get a Chinese "green card," I assume you would need to make some serious investments or do something very special related to China. (again, since this is an inference, I could be wrong. for example, maybe you can get citizenship easily based on need -- e.g., if you are a refugee.) I don't even think Dashan is a Chinese citizen... You do need to renounce your current citizenship so that would pretty much be a deal-breaker for US citizens. Other than that, the immigration law states you have to have something like "strong ties" to China. Like most everything else here, they can probably define it to suit themselves and their preconceived racist ideas.

Pretty accurate. The spousal "L" visa is pretty much stable -- at least for Americans -- but there can be times when they restrict it for such moronic events like the Olympics or the Expo 2010. Ordinarily it is renewable every year, but it's not exactly etched in stone -- this is China! Social welfare programs only apply to those with a green card and are of little to no value anyhow.

Some of us can handle it.

A Jarhead with a chip on his shoulder ... now that's a novel concept. The process is rather simply: 1. Get a passport; 2. Get a visa; 3. Buy a plane ticket; 4. Have cash enough to find a place to live when you arrive; 5. Maintain a positive cash flow. The visa is easy enough to get. Once you arrive in China and shortly before your visa is getting ready to expire, you head down to the Public Security Bureau's Entry & Exit Administration (i.e. immigration) and ask them for a new visa based on your marriage to a Chinese citizen. If, by chance, your wife has lost her Chinese citizenship by naturalization in another country, you are SOL. At the immigration office where your wife has her official residence (called "hukou in Chinese), you can get a one-year multiple-entry "L" tourist visa which can be renewed continually year-by-year. The cost is minimal. It does not, however, allow you to work so be careful about that. Also, when you first arrive and establish residence, make sure you register your presence and residence with the local police station. You are supposed to do that within 24 hours of arrival. You might want to make sure your retirement goes into a decent bank that does not charge you an arm and a leg if you want to have money sent to you in China or withdraw cash from a local ATM. NFCU or USAA work good for me. PenFed pretty much sucks. Another small detail you might want to consider involves just where you and your wife were married. Since for spousal visa purposes you will be required to show your marriage certificate, there are a few additional considerations should you not have been married in China. If you were married in the US make sure you get a number of certified copies of the marriage certificate and have them all authenticated by Chinese consulate nearest your state of marriage. Check with the Chinese consulate beforehand because sometimes that marriage certificate must be authenticated by your state's Secretary of State or Lt. Governor.

Very interesting!

I am with you on this one Robert. Good luck Cuzzin Ord.

It is sad that people target of all places schools. I'm not sure what the solution is. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't just a copycat syndrome. Heck, we have that in the US, too.

The "gloom & doom" was directly related to the fact that the Chinese government went to great lengths to try and hide the extent of contagious diseases in general. Remember the Bird Flu Chinese Keystone Cops?

I ain't sure about the snuff and I don't really like Pabst, but nuttin wrong with buying a little shine from Cuzin' Chawles and playin some checkers. I think I'll stick with GDBill. At one point GD was for Guang Dong, but more and more folks be tellin me it means Gawd Damned Bill. There is a good redneck name if I ever saw one... Yeah, buy a lil' shine from cuzin' Chawls and get a jug of his wife's dandelion shine...I hear it'll make ya run, walk, and fall down. tsap seui Yep, Jane has a shine for whatever ails ya I hopes ya is tawking bout American checkers and not them Chinese kind. On second thought, Chinese checkers might be a big hit to them mountain folk. B) Cuzin Tsap, I'll betcha that Bill ain't had a REAL PBR in a loooong time. Hey...........whatever happened to GZBILL? I hear GZBill got nuked for gettin' in a big fight with one of our favorite ex-moderators. GawdZillaBill nuked!!!! I would have loved to seen that battle....didn't the Japanese try and nuke GawdZilla when he started eatin' Tokyo? tsap seui What a funny life Yeah, it was a very funny fight. Even funnier when the ex-moderator's Knight in Shining Leisure Suit got involved.

One major difference -- though not sure if it is important or not -- is that property owners in China generally have more equity in their property than the average overleveraged moron in the States.

And after The Needle, comes HELL!! Cuz, sometimes China is hell before The Needle.

I ain't sure about the snuff and I don't really like Pabst, but nuttin wrong with buying a little shine from Cuzin' Chawles and playin some checkers. I think I'll stick with GDBill. At one point GD was for Guang Dong, but more and more folks be tellin me it means Gawd Damned Bill. There is a good redneck name if I ever saw one... Yeah, buy a lil' shine from cuzin' Chawls and get a jug of his wife's dandelion shine...I hear it'll make ya run, walk, and fall down. tsap seui Yep, Jane has a shine for whatever ails ya I hopes ya is tawking bout American checkers and not them Chinese kind. On second thought, Chinese checkers might be a big hit to them mountain folk. B) Cuzin Tsap, I'll betcha that Bill ain't had a REAL PBR in a loooong time. Hey...........whatever happened to GZBILL? I hear GZBill got nuked for gettin' in a big fight with one of our favorite ex-moderators.

Well the first thing of interest in how this plays out is that some people decided they can divorce and get around the law ... http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-04...ent_9798238.htm I'm sure the government will find a way to FITA those people.

Yes, the Chinese have learned only too well from America. Copying from American serial killers and copycat killers, it seems like it is now de rigueur in China. I think the count now is something like five incidents at 5 primary schools / kindergartens. Terrible. The good news is that from arrest to The Needle is something like 3 months in China compared to 30 years in the US. At least they haven't learned that from us. At the primary school and kindergarten next to my house I've noticed that they have a real policeman at the door now during the arrival and departure times. Not sure what good this does considering anybody weighing less than 300 pounds could effortlessly scale the fence.

I ain't sure about the snuff and I don't really like Pabst, but nuttin wrong with buying a little shine from Cuzin' Chawles and playin some checkers. I think I'll stick with GDBill. At one point GD was for Guang Dong, but more and more folks be tellin me it means Gawd Damned Bill.

Yea the progressive US govt. beat them to it by a few months...LOL.. http://immigration.about.com/b/2010/01/05/...ban-is-over.htm Copy cats!

The glorious leaders of the people's revolution have decided that there is no reason to allow the decadent capitalistic dogs of the West to learn from the truth and wisdom published in our party hack-drivel media ... er, we mean ... the glorious revolutionary media that guides us on the path of glory and victory to build the perfect Utopia of equality and prosperity for the Chinese people.

Pretty accurate! Housing prices around the 4th Ring Road are at least 20k RMB per m2 -- and in the area around Beijing Normal University and Wu Dao Kou prices can easily reach 30k because of the good primary and high schools in the area. Clothing, food, transportation and even medical expenses can be relatively cheap as long as you stick to a predominantly Chinese routine, but as soon as you start to deviate you'll find that things can get pretty expensive. It is extremely difficult for older females to enter the labor force and without Beijing hukou it is virtually impossible. Some notable exceptions to that may be for those working in KTV bars and as an "aiyi" (maid). You show me an older female who has no Beijing hukou and has recently entered the Beijing labor market landing a job that pays 8k RMB per month and I'll show you an exceptionally "skilled" and industrious KTV girl. What is considered older? The 30 to 35 (and up) range previously mentioned? Also, I thought the girls in KTV tend to be young? I don't think anybody can state what the magic age is that makes one cross the border into "older." 30ish seems about right. There are tons of girls working in bars, KTV and barber shops that are 30ish. To survive in an environment flooded with young, poor girls from other provinces those that are older have to be "good."

Tell your wife she can also find some more details on www.chinadaily.com.cn in the "Banking" section. Hope it works out and she can get a good buyer.