JerryL

My mother-in-law, a US citizen, is currently living in China. She recently married a Chinese national. My wife is expecting and my mother-in-law would like to come to the US for a short period together with her husband to visit with her future grandchild. They are not expecting to live here - just visit for a few months. My question is... is it going to be difficult to get a visitor visa for her husband? We've heard in cases like this, the consulate doesn't tend to grant visitor visas because they think the visitor will actually want to live in the US. So should she go ahead to apply for a K3 for her husband, or try to get a regular visitor visa? Thanks, Jerry

Yeah, this brings back memories. We didn't get our P4 until about 2 weeks before the interview date, and one of those weeks was the Spring Holiday when everything was closed... It was pretty nerve-whacking for a while there...

Uh, I don't. Can someone enlighten me? Nowadays it takes more time than that just to get out of CSC...

A big congrats, Clifford! Gosh, I've watched your patient waiting for so long that I am incredibly thrilled to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel... I'm very happy for ya, man! Jerry

I wondered about the same thing with Penny's case. Like you we too had a long paper trail with the consulate from that three month wait for a P3. At her interview she was basically asked two or three questions and that was it. You remember how fast she came out, Frank. (She's finally here by the way. Yea!) They didn't even look at any of the docs I made her drag in there.

Congrats, Clifford! This shows that the case is not 'lost' and definitely makes a big difference. It would be interesting to wait a few days, to let the case work its way over to DoS, and ping the DoS folks to see what the new status is. Hopefully it wouldn't still be stuck on FBI processing!

Has anyone had problems with OneSuite and getting consistent busy numbers? I don't know if it's my bad luck or the area I'm trying to call, but lately I've been getting busy numbers when I want to get through, but then when I use another calling card it goes through right away. So now when I get a busy number with OneSuite I don't know if it's because the callee is really using the phone or if their lines are all tied up...

Wow, a month to get a NOA1? W year ago it was like two weeks and I thought it was too long then as all the things I read said it should only take a week... I guess without a NOA1 there is no way to find out the case number is to check online? I don't even know where our original NOA1 went. It's really only useful for the case number...

Somebody was *really* interested in the video. It was downloaded almost 180 times just today!

Don't panic yet. GZ has been sending out P4's during the first week of the month. If your P3 made it back on 3/15, you wouldn't have made the April mailing window. The next mailing window should be in a week or two. If you've cleared name check, you should be getting your P4 then. If you want to know the status of your petition, you can call the DOS visa office. You can find out if you're cleared for interview from them.

Sure, no problem. I figure the spike in bandwidth will be just for a limited time, unless people start making derivations of the original video like they did with the Star Wars Kid...

The video is now mirrored on K1K3. It can be found on the resources page at: http://www.k1k3.com/resources.php The cheetos bit at the end makes the video look like it was taped over some kind of cheetos commercial. Nice touch... Jerry

From the sound of the message, it doesn't sound like the US side knows why they were shut down. I wonder if it's related to the recent SARS news... This is like guessing the origin of UFOs... Lots of theories and likely none of them are right.

You don't need a visa for the unborn child, right? Jerry

A big congratulations to the happy couple! Keep us updated on your AOS journey! Jerry

On a slightly different tangent, will a non-English speaker have problems getting through customs or luggage inspections? Does anyone have stories they can share? Jerry

Also no Peking Ducks, even ones that are vacuum sealed... Jerry

The power brick on my Inspiron takes 220. You may want to check the label on your brick. You just need to get the plug adapter. I bought a set from Target for about 10 bucks... Jerry

Carl, Logged in expecting to see good news and instead ran into this thread. I just waded through four screenful of messages and I think your plan is a good one. If you don't think you get the hang of the four tones in Chinese, any Chinese that you read from the pinyin will sound really bizarre and would make it clear that you two do not really communicate in Chinese. The advice from the letter you posted seems like excellent advice. The legal requirements are for you two to communicate, not for you to speak Chinese. Just telling things the way it is, I find, often the best policy. I think the consulate in San Francisco does one day visa turn-arounds for an extra $30 if you hand it in personally. That would mean a trip down here, I know. :-( Perhaps others know of agencies that will do this for ya. http://houston.china-consulate.org/eng/vp/...zgqz/t53304.htm I can imagine you being very ticked off at these folks now, but hold it in until Bing is on American soil... Hang in there! Jerry

It's natural to be nervous , though I'm sure everything will be fine. Hang in there! Jerry

SFO has a dedicated international terminal, so finding the right terminal is easy. There's a parking structure next to the terminal so that's not a problem too. I remember in Shanghai, the waiting area was separated from the customs inspection area by a tall glass window so you can see the people in the customs area. I liked that design because as a visitor, you could look for the people picking you up while going through inspections, and vice versa. SFO, unless they've changed it recently, separates the waiting area from the customs inspection area with a wall (and a door), so you can't look in. And of course you can't go in. I have this vision of waiting outside for hours and hours wondering why she isn't coming out... Here is the SFO web site: http://www.flysfo.com/ Jerry

A big congrats Frank and Gail! Got any pictures to share with us? Jerry

Hi Frank, Do you think it'll be a problem if the said fiancee is travelling alone and doesn't speak English? Said fiancee wants to ride the big plane by herself and doesn't want me to tag along... Jerry

It's nice to have a different reason for going crazy, huh? Congratulations! Jerry

Congrats Stats! I'm very happy for ya! Jerry