frank1538

I agree with Ty. It's not a big deal to report the money. No real downside, and Uncle Sam will probably thank you for repatriating the greenbacks. The major obstacle may be on the Chinese side. As much as Uncle Sam likes dollars coming back in, China hates to part with the currency, so there may be some Chinese restrictions on the amounts. Most people will explore a wire transfer as an alternative when dealing with large sums of money.

Passports? check Visas? check That's about all you really need. One last thing. Before you leave, you might turn toward the consulate and give them the one finger salute.

Sorry to hear things may be moving Southward. I'd probably drop her an e-mail with that good old American saying: "You pays your money, you takes your chances."

Glad to hear that the arrival went smoothly and welcome to America. Let's see how long it takes before you start posting in the AOS and Immigration Challenges section. B)

Hank, USCONGUZ reads posts from all over the board. Let's see what kind of responses, if any, we get on the DHL question. But let me say this. If we get a post, I might hope but would not expect it to address your specific shipment question. It will more likely be consistent with other posts, that is, general in nature.

Thanks for the link, but what's the physical presence and residence requirements for the spouse? Does he have to live in the US for at least 1095 days (3 years)? Thanks. 171048[/snapback] Take a look at http://uscis.gov/graphics/citizenship/becoming.htm 1. Continuous Residence ¡°Continuous residence¡± means that you must live in the U.S. as a permanent resident for a certain period of time. Most people must be permanent residents in continuous residence for 5 years (or 3 years if married to a U.S. citizen) before they can begin the naturalization process. For refugees, this means 5 years from the date you arrived in the U.S., which is usually the date you obtained permanent resident status. For those granted asylum status in the U.S., this period begins one year before you got permanent resident status. The date on your Permanent Resident Card is the date your 5 years begins. If you leave the United States for a long period of time, usually 6 months or more, you may ¡°break¡± your continuous residence. If you leave the United States for 1 year or longer, you may be able to return if you have a re-entry permit. You should apply for this re-entry permit before you depart the United States. See Maintaining Your Permanent Resident Status for information on how to apply for a re-entry permit. In most cases, none of the time you were in the United States before you left the country will count toward your time in continuous residence. This means that you will need to begin your continuous residence again after you return to the United States, and you may have to wait up to 4 years and 1 day before you can apply for naturalization. Be aware that absences from the United States while your naturalization application is pending could cause problems with your eligibility, especially if you accept employment abroad. 2. Physical Presence in the United States ¡°Physical presence¡± means that you actually have been present in the United States. If you are a permanent resident at least 18 years old, you must be physically present in the United States for at least 30 months during the last 5 years (or 18 months during the last 3 years, if married to a U.S. citizen) before you apply for naturalization. The general rule on continuous presence has a few presumptions that go something like: If you left the country for less than six months, usually no problem. If you left the country for 6-12 months, you may have to prove that you continued to treat yourself as a resident, for example, by paying taxes. If you left the county for more than a year, you usually have to start over.

Unless you are using someone like king ( http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9030 ), I'd take Carl's (warpedbored) advice very seriously.

Okay, whose palms are you greasing? You ARE moving at warp speed, but don't worry. DHL still uses that "slow boat to China." Speaking of DHL, did you know that it is owned by the German postal service, Deutsche Post?

Love it. How many times have we heard "The computer says such and such, so it must be right." Turnaround is fair play.

True for the spouse but not for his/her children.

Congratulations and sincerest best wishes.

Two down, three (P3, P4, interview) to go. 49 days is pretty fast. VSC?

I checked them against my PDF copy of the codes, and they seem to match.

Congratulations!!

Also, take a look at http://home.comcast.net/~donahso/P4index.htm

This may be splitting hairs, but USCONGUZ only said that consular officers generally don't review the files. Others, like document checkers or other personnel, might actually be checking out the files and possibly flagging something for the consular officer.

I recall a couple of posts (I think Vincent214 had one of them) dealing with the paperwork all in one envelope. You might try a search, but I seem to recall that someone got confirmation that the K-2 child could travel and enter the US without the files.

Congratulations and best wishes.

To me the short answer is no, but that won't stop me from continuing to learn and to better understand.

Welcome aboard Scott. I'm with the majority here. I'd probably file the I-130 for both, assuming the step daughter is under 18 when you get married, then file the I-129F for the K-3 and K-4. I always wondered what would happen if someone only filed one I-130 for the spouse and not the child but filed for the K-3/K-4 for both. The worst case scenario might be having the CR-1 move faster and get to the consulate before the K-3/K-4 gets there. Would you then have to drop the CR-1 for the spouse? If the spouse went CR-1, there might be not derivative K-4 for the child, so I'm guessing you might have to cancel the CR-1 and continue waiting for the K-3/K-4 or file a fresh I-130 for the child and start the wait all over again. Incidentally, my wife is from Zhanjiang and keeps in touch with many of her friends there. Who knows, it might be a small world.

Congratulations. I'm glad everything worked out.

Done.

A number of CFL members have asked whether current or prior membership in the Chinese Communist Party is an impediment to the granting of a K-1, K-3, CR-1, or IR-1 visa. The most common instance seems to be a situation where CCP membership is required or "strongly suggested" in order to hold a particular job. How does the consulate deal with this and other similar situations where membership is in name only and not active? Does resignation from the CCP have any impact on the granting of a visa? Are there instances where CCP membership is grounds for an outright denial of a visa?

My step son had to get biometrics twice. The first time, we were instructed to make the appointmnet with the Application Support Center. The second time, USCIS sent us a notice that it had scheduled the appointment. I'd be inclined to call the APC as ty suggests to see if you can control when the appointment will be. I suspect that timing of when the appointment will be depends on the workload of the APC. In Atlanta, we were able to schedule the biometrics within a month of filing the I-485. As far as where your application is now, I'm not familiar with the process post Chicago lockbox. Pre lockbox, the applications were to have gove to the local office for eventual interview, but Jingwen and her daughter did not have to go for interviews and their "Welcome to America" came from the NBC with a Chicago PO box address. My step son's application is still pending and is now at the California Service Center.

Since when are most signatures legible? I dare say that "X" is probably the only signature I've seen that I can actually read.