JerryL

Good luck Rob! Got my fingers crossed for ya! Jerry

Do you need to make appointments for these medical exams? Or is it a walk-up service? Jerry

After seeing Francine's P4 post on 001, I sent a query to GZ. Imagine my surprise when I get a reply back in less than half an hour... Good news! We got an interview date on February 3! That's less than a month away! All of the sudden it feels like not enough time to do all that needs to be done, especially with a week of Spring Holiday in between. Those of you waiting for interview dates may want to ping GZ. Looks like they've made the assignments for February! Jerry

Congrats, Francine, on your P4! I just sent mail to GZ to ask about our case. Hopefully the February P4's are finally coming out! Jerry

Rob, Have you checked with the DoS to see what your interview eligibility status is in their computer? I was told that ours is eligible, and what that meant, according to the operator, is that no more name checks need to be done. Maybe you can check with them and get a 'sort-of' definitive answer on whether or not your case needs more checks... Still sitting here keeping my fingers crossed... Jerry

Hang in there, folks. Last month the flood of P4's didn't hit the peak until a week or so after the start of the month. I've gotten those they-mailed-you-so-why-are-you-calling responses as well. I wonder if it's all one person generating them. Anyway, I just tell them that the GZ e-mail is vague and unclear, which is almost always the case. Of course, sometimes the DoS answer is vague as well, but almost always still better than the form response from GZ... Jerry

My fiancee's English is limited as well. We communicate mostly in Chinese except for a few English words like 'Clinique' or 'Shiseido' (and 'I love you!'). I had counted on the VO should be able to figure that since I'm Chinese-American, I can speak Chinese, but now I don't think I'll risk it. A high school friend has videotaped our engagement banquet where I can be seen speaking Chinese between gan-bei's, so I'll probably end up making a short five minute video for the VO's entertainment if he/she so chooses. My buddy is an amateur filmmaker so this should be cool... So coming back to the video format issue that I started a thread on a few days ago... Has anyone actually done this and know what video format they can accept, or is this Chinese Video thing like the Loch Ness Monster... Everyone has heard of it, but no one has actually seen one... Jerry

Not to mentioned that with the falling dollar, and the pressure on the Chinese government to value the yuan higher (not just political but just simple economics), the money may be worth more next year if left in yuan. I know quite a few people who are converting holdings FROM dollars to yuan... Jerry

I had modified the I-129F PDF form to accept Chinese characters on line 17 where it asks you for the fiancee name and street address in native alphabet. I didn't think that the consulate staff would be able to read my awful Chinese handwriting. I've gotten a few requests for it so I ended up posting it in the Resources section on the K1K3 site. Just a heads-up for folks. Jerry

The observation was made on 001 that the P4s seem to be mailed out mostly in the beginning of the month. If you look on 001, you'll see that over two dozen P4s have been received this month, mostly from the people who received and turned in their P3 in early November. So it doesn't surprise me there has been no news the rest of the month. I would expect that all the January slots are taken since January is short one week anyway. Personally, I'm expecting (well, hoping; one can't expect anything from GZ) to see a P4 the first ten days or so in January. DoS tells us there is no paperwork left to do, and we're in the computer, so... keeping fingers crossed! I've also noticed that my fiancee has been in a much better mood ever since the P3 showed up. I don't know if there is a correlation between improved mood and P3. Has anyone else noticed this with their fiancee? Jerry

I am sure glad that we have some government officials that are in touch with reality!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, no kidding. They make it such a pain to go through the immigration process legally and then ignore the illegal immigration problem. The motto should be "Open borders, secure doors." Jerry

Congratulations, Mick! You gonna be handing out cigars? Jerry

Or any of the Home Depot parking lots around here... Jerry

Just curious... Would you consider guest workers as an underclass? I'm thinking something like the H1-B program for high tech workers. Actually, the H1-B's have it much better than us in some regards. Only takes them a month for the paperwork to bring a spouse over... Jerry

The fact that CSC has been stuck for a week can be attributed to either: 1. This is how they normally do things. Their 'normal' process is busted and needs to be fixed. or 2. This is NOT how they normally do things. They are deviating from their usual process. My experience is that congressman's aides can't do much with #1 (i..e fix the system) but can help with #2 (get process back on track). Having in the process during which CSC has been stuck for over a month and a half with no progress (kind of reminds me of the GZ consulate now that I think about it), and having seen CSC actually go backwards a few weeks ago, I suspect #1 is the more likely explanation. Unlikely one congressman can, or would even bother, fixing the system... Jerry

This is certainly a complex issue with many different sides. After all, it is certainly very possible for an illegal immigrant to be hard working AND a drain on the social service infrastructure. I've no doubt many immigrants, both legal and illegal, are hard working, most likely more so than many of the 'citizens'. It takes a certain amount of will power and desire to better your lot in life to move yourself to another country to start a new life. At the same time, poor people use more services than they pay in taxes, and I would assert that most illegal immigrants fall in that category. I saw Lou Dobbs on CNN Moneyline a few days calling for a national debate on immigration policy, as we do on many other issues like Medicare. I tend to agree with him. As a country, we need to figure out what we want, pass the laws, and enforce them. If we need agricultural laborers and no Americans want to do the job, then set up some kind of guest worker program to bring in folks who want to work, and pay them enough so they don't end up relying on social services. But just closing one eye to people sneaking over to take on jobs for artificially low wages is bad for everyone, be it citizens, legal immigrants, or illegal immigrants. As it is now, the economics of the system is distorted. Take agriculture as an example. You have the food growers taking advantage of the status of the workers to pay them artificially low wages. But then people need to consume a minimum amount of resources to live. They have families, kids get sick, etc. So they end up relying on the social service service safety net, which all taxpapers pay for. So in essence, what you have going on is that all taxpayers end up subsidizing the payroll of people who employ illegal immigrants. This happens in all sorts of industries here such as restaurants or landscaping. I believe the government does not crack down on illegal immigration simply because these companies don't want to give up this hidden payroll subsidy. If the subsidies go away, the demand for illegal workers would fall off. Just my two cents... Jerry

Hey, this is great! You should send it to a newspaper to highlight our plight! Jerry

I think you just explained why there are some many illegals in this country... Jerry

We're in the same boat, eligible for interview and waiting for P4. Hope to get it before the end of the year too, though some folks on 001 noticed that the P4's seem to only come out in the beginning of the month. So it may be January before we see them. Keeping my fingers crossed... Jerry

Totally agree. I think that's the biggest differentiating factor. All the drivers I saw in China were experts, while here I swear there are people driving would have trouble with tricycles. I just can't figure out how drivers in China got to be that good. It's like they're missing this population of "beginning drivers". I'm ashamed to say that I actually became accustomed to elbowing people behind me with a quick hard jab just to keep them from gluing themselves to my back in huge crowds. It wouldn't be so bad if it was cute girls doing this, but invariably it's just another impatient guy wanting to get a little too close for my comfort. Surprisingly, this always got them to back off. I was half expecting a fight to break out, but never did... Jerry

You'd be surprised. On my last trip back, I was a at a popular department store frequented by young people, and I noticed that I was one of the very few people with black hair. I guess black hair is not the "in" thing with the young crowd nowadays... Jerry

I would have thought since the car came with a driver, the driver would be responsible in making sure the car got returned... Maybe they don't want you to take off with the driver? Jerry

I guess it's about the same number who are willing to hold up signs and chant protest slogans in front of TV cameras and reporters. All I can say is that these guys are gutsier than I am. If I was living in a country illegally, the last thing I would be doing would be protesting in the streets about not getting driver's licenses... Lucky for them they're not from that special part of the world that the CIA and FBI are watching very carefully right now... But hey, they're definitely learning the American way of doing things. Whine! Soon they'll be sending contributions to the politicians to get the laws changed... Jerry

I don't know about Southern California, but up here in the north, it's been a fairly cloudy day. Lots of people are driving with headlights on... Jerry

Those of you who aren't Californians probably have not kept up with this saga about a state law to issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. Anyway Schwarzenegger got the law repealed as he said he would, and now the illegal immigrant community is upset. I ran across this article in the San Francisco Chronicle today and thought this was kind of funny... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...1448EST7555.DTL It looks like the illegals have organized protests to demand that they be issued driver's licenses. I remember the days when people used to make jokes about illegal aliens *hiding* from the government. Now they are having street protests and boycotts... Makes me feel a little silly going through the system and filling out form after form to get my fiancee here. Should have had her take swimming lessons instead... Jerry