frank1538

Congratulations. Now get on with enjoying your lives together.

You're making progress. Good to hear.

That's certainly a pleasant surprise. Good luck at the interview.

I moved this thread from the general visa section to the AOS and immigration section.

I've heard of a variety of ways. One guy made it his mission to acquire dollars to RMB receipts. Many came from previous trips. Some came from unsuspecting souls at the airport who were headed out of China and didn't need their receipts any more. With these "proof of conversion" receipts in hand, he went to several banks and converted RMB to dollars. Another guy exchanged his RMB to dollars on the street. His fiancee helped him locate the money exchanger and negotiated the exchange rate. A third guy used his "banking connections" to find a friendly official who would exchange RMB to dollars without proof of a prior exchange. A fourth took the RMB out of China, made connections with the Chinese community in his home town to identify people who might want to change their dollars to RMB for gifts or travel to China. A fifth set up a business account and was able to do a wire transfer between the Chinese and American banks.

Welcome to CFL. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason to the NVC portion of the process. Some slide through in 30 days; for others it takes months. As far as getting through to DOS (Department of State), I never had any real problems getting through, although sometimes the waits were long, and a few times, I got disconnected with a statement to call back later. Are you sure you're calling the right number? - 202.663.1225. If not give it a try. Press 1 then press 0 to be connected to an operator. You will need at least your SO's name and date of birth when you finally talk to a live person. Good luck.

It's nice to know that the system works in other parts of the world. Congratulations and good luck.

I'm sure you were beginning to wonder if your files were being used for kitty litter. Glad this phase is over. Hopefully things will more faster now. Good luck.

Frank, she sent me a document that appears to me to be what I think of as a notarial affidavit of single status... basically it is a notarized statement that she was married to her ex on 10/19/90, they divorced on 6/1/94 and that she never remarried since then and that she assumes legal responsibility for the statement. The notary basically added a page certifying that she came to his office, made this statement and signed it in his presence. Nothing about the child mentioned. Is this similar in form to the notarial divorce certificate that you are referring to? This is a separate document from the actual divorce decree, which basically just says they were officially divorced on 6/1/94. If so, it seems it would be worth redoing the form and adding some words about "fostering" in it as you suggest. I assume there was no issue about your wife having full custody with just that statement in there. If so, that sounds very reasonable and a simple approach. Since her daughter now has her family name, if her ex was still involved in the child's life, he would have had a problem with the official name change, so the new name and a fostering statement in the notarial divorce certificate might work well together. Let me know if what I described is not the document you are referring to . Thanks much! 146999[/snapback] I think we're dealing with two notarial documents. The one you describe is almost identical to Jingwen's notarial single status certificate. Essentially, hers identifies her, states that she registered a marriage, was mediated a divorce and has not registered a marriage since. Like yours, her single status certificate makes no reference to the children. In addition, Jingwen had a second notarial divorce certificate, stating essentially the same thing about the marriage and subsequent divorce, but instead of stating that she had not registered another marriage, it stated that her children were fostered by her.

Jingwen's notarial divorce certificate did not have a specific reference to custody. It simply said that her son and daughter were fostered by her. This apparently was enough for GZ, although both kids were over 18 by the time of the interview so I don't know if their age made a difference. Maybe others with more specific information can shed more light on this. One thing you might consider is that the required document that will eventually be given to GZ is a notarial divorce certificate, not the actual divorce decree itself. Maybe it would be possible to "persuade" the notary to include the custody language.

I stand corrected. Thanks for catching my mistake.

There is an emerging international service often referred to as "callback". I don't know the details or the technology, but it's supposed to work something like this. When overseas, you dial an access number. You then hang up and wait for the phone to ring. You then enter the number you want to call. Through the mystery of technology, your overseas call becomes a domestic US call and is billed accordingly plus whatever charges for using the "callback" service. Maybe someone in the industry can shed more light on this.

Okay, take a deep breath. First, unless things have changed, you will not receive the P4 or even a copy of the P4. She will, so check that off your "things to worry about" list. Your timeline says the P4 was received on August 1st. Did you mean to say that GZ said they mailed it on August 1st, but she hasn't received it? Here I'm a little confused, but I'm going to assume that the P4 was never received. Second, if you remember that GZ never makes a mistake, then dealing with them becomes easier. They may have sent the original P4 to the wrong address or they may have neglected to send one. In either case, it really doesn't matter. Just make sure they know where to "re-send" the P4. I had the same problem with Jingwen's P3 and ended up providing them with Jingwen's address in Chinese hanzi characaters again (actually several times) before they said they would "re-send" the package. Yeah, ok, re-send it but get on the stick. For Jingwen, the re-sent packet arrived after a few days. Do I think they sent the packet the first time? - no sense is trying to solve this little mystery. It was more important just to get the P3 is her hands. The same for you. Just get the P4 is her hands. I would recommend one last e-mail to GZ requesting that they confirm that they, in fact, sent the P4 to your fiancee.

I wouldn't think so. The authorization is usually given to a third party so they can access your tax return information directly from the IRS. I am not aware of GZ wanting to access the info directly. Rather, they are relying on the copies that you provide. Jingwen was K-1, but we did not provide this form with the I-864 that was filed for her AOS.

Oh Gene, you devil. Just wait until Brent tries to explain that it'll take a minimum of another 5 months or so for the interview. I can see it now: "But Gene said you'd be gentle, docile, forgiving, and understanding." Then he'll have to explain that he just can't make a phone call, pay some guy a few extra bucks and get the visa.

Travel from the US to any country other than China will require compliance with that country's visa requirements for a Chinese citizen traveling on a Chinese passport. As others have said, travel back into the US will require advance parole until she becomes a legal permenant resident. She can travel to China on her Chinese passport without the need for a visa.

Hi Frank, Two questions: 1) Wasn't most of the paperwork already sealed inside of the medical envelope? 2) How long after she had the exam did you pick up the results? Thanks! 146891[/snapback] The paperwork was not assembled when the exam was conducted. Rather, it was done when we went to get the results. If memory serves, there was about a 7-10 lag between the time the medical was conducted and when we went to get the results and have the paperwork assembled into the sealed envelope.

Jingwen has and I can tell you they aren't flattering at all - even about his sexual habits and abilities. Don't ask me how she knows this - maybe urban legend.

Hot damn. A man who knows his beverages. Welcome. As a starter, take a look at peoples' timelines. Here's a good link: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12003 Times ebb and flow, but most of us have waited a year on average from first filing to visa in hand. I know this is probably not what you wanted to hear, but with a name like yours, I can think of several ways to pass the time.

Welcome aboard the crazy roller coaster we call the visa process. There are several members here who are retired or are on fixed pension/disability income, and it seems that as long as you can meet the income and/or asset tests, you should be okay. Also remember that under current GZ (Guangzhou) policies, only the I-134 is needed to get the K-1 visa. A more formal affidavit of support will eventually be needed when your SO (significant other) adjusts her status to legal permanent resident. Pull up a chair, prop up you feet, grab a bag of Cheetos, and join us for a year or so. You're among friends who are for the most part sane enough to provide good information.

I have the *.pdf version of the codes. If someone wants it, send me an email or, better still, if someone would tell me how to upload it to CFL from my computer, then everybody will have access to it.

I suspect that private agencies can still obtain police records. Just ask Humphrey Bogart.

I was viewing Tywy's picures in the Gallery, and it reminded me of some of his posts where he talked about his wife's early years growing up in China. I thought it might be interesting to get others' posts about our SO's family history. Jingwen is older than many of the SO's, but for her recent family history, her dad was a journalist for the Communist paper and a war correspondent during the Viet Nam war. He met his wife in a part of Viet Nam that is now part of China. Jingwen tells a story about how her dad helped to get his own father out of China, saying that he ended up in Panama of all places. One of Jingwen's older sisters was allowed to study one and only one foreign language - Russian. She actually studied in Russia and ended up as a teacher in China.

I agree with Hank, except to say that you probably won't need any Cheetos. One thing we did, however, was to assemble a folder of every "official filing and correspondence" that preceded the interview. This included copies of the I-129, NOA'a, e-mails to/from the consulate, etc. None of this was needed, but, hey, what's an extral pound of stuff when you've already got 5 founds of documents to take inside the consulate.

Jingwen and the kids made a separate trip to Guangzhou for the medical exams, but they stayed with Jingwen's niece, so they did not incur hotel costs - just the cost of bus fare. We wanted to make sure that we had enough time to correct any medical problems before the interview had they arisen. But, she did not go back to the hospital for the results during that first trip. Later, after I arrived in China, we then all headed to Guangzhou, settled in to organize all the paperwork, and got the results (a few vaccinations) and the sealed medical envelope.