heyjimi

Yeah i showed them the white booklet where the translation,offical stamps etc,he called in a woman to look at it,she said it was not recognized by Greece ,she said has to be an American marriage certificate....where i told her i do not have an American marriage certificate as I was married in China. She asked me have i registered my marriage in the USA...married 11 years first i heard of such a thing.Have you heard of registering a foreign marriage in USA? The officer was truly lazy,he even said i needed W2 forms for the past two years which i clearly had,when i showed him ,he then went "oh...ok,these official IRS W2?."...i was like where else would i get W2's i mean my employer handed them to me but yes official W2's. I wonder if they have a way of knowing that my wife was once denied to come to USA 10 years ago when i was applying for her to come to USA,thus really giving us a hard time ? but to be honest,i think this guy was incompetent and didn't care to look over our documents thoroughly. I was allowed to be with my wife for the interview,so i seen with my own eyes,this guy was just lazy....but as i said,My wife is really serious now becoming a US citizen,she has been putting it off for a long time,and saying she wants to do it,but never put her heart into studying for the test....i have to say,she is serious now and so some good has come out of this.

My wife finally had her interview in Tampa Florida for a greece visa ( schengen visa)just to visit Greece spend some money,boost their sagging economy a little...but ouch !!!! they denied her recieving one.....the whole event was an interrogation,had my wife and I looking at each other...questioning....did this really happen?they questioned the authenticity of her IDS,green card etc,they actually asked me " how do we know she is who she says she is"I'm like thats a government issued green card...have you ever seen one before..i'm thinking these clowns have a computer look the damn number up......questioning if we were still married( married going on 11 years),.....they told me because we were married in China,the marriage certificate(the red book) was not recognized in America,WHAT !!! what are these people smokin', what kind of organization they got running here,my wife works part time ,they say she has to work full time,questioned the authenticity of our W2 forms .....i was blown away.... The only good thing out of this ,my wife is seriously talking about becoming a US citizen,taking it seriously now.....yeah lets get this done,i am sick of this immigration crap.

yeah i learned the Schengen medical insurance is very important to get,so i been pricing this,actually not that expensive,and i learned there is a few travel agency companies that give "dummy "or "temporary"flight and hotel reservations for a small fee,not too expensive,all legit....they are real verifiable flights made just for applying for a schengen visa .We have an appointment in June,and the consulate is not far,so we lucked out there.....thanks for all your help

Yeah my Wife and I did plenty of cruises over the years never needed a visa.We thought of doing something different and going to Greece,but i never thought it would be complicated getting a visa.Now we also plan on going to Istanbul Turkey,getting a visa for Turkey is very simple,done online.......and of course it would be so much easier if my wife would take the plunge and become a US citizen.Well my Wife has an interview at the Greece Embassy in June,we will see how it goes.

Hello everyone ,Has anyone taken their Chinese wife with green card on vacation to Greece( or anywhere in Europe)?....Wow,seems to be pretty complicated applying for the Schengen Visa..many documents....whats the chance of getting denied? Man this is bringing back the nightmares when i was trying to get my wife here to America 10 years ago now, the hassles i had with immigrations and eventual denial.Do you have to actually purchase flight tickets and hotels? seems risky to spend money on tickets that you might not be able to use.

yeah it's been a while since i been on here,every once in awhile i will lurk on here and read some posts,but yeah the storm didn't do us bad at all,some down trees,the electric remained on for the whole event....was telling the wife seemed our luck had changed,as some folks in our neighbor have been without power,we were lucky we have power.

ok cool...thank you

Ok my wife has to renew her chinese passport,we live in Florida so we have to make a trip to Houston,the consulate website very lacking in the info department at least in the english version....so we get to Houston submit old passport,photos etc,how do we get her new passport back? we can't stay in Houston for a long period of time,we both work,for what i understand they do not mail them back to you...has anyone renewed there wife passport at Houston recently?....second question, my wife is telling me consulate officers will be in Florida in November for passport renewal, she has no idea what date and the consulate website makes no mention of this,has anyone heard about this,or where to find this information?,perhaps this is just some hearsay my wife picked up among friends. Thanks for any insight someone can give me

Ok thanks....I understand what my wife is trying to say now,yes she plans on becoming a citizen, thus not staying longer than 6 months that she was telling me,I was a bit confused because i am thinking,shes a Chinese citizen,why would there be a limitation on how long one stays in there homeland....but yeah she does want to become a US citizen. Well great hearing from you guys......yeah i will have to come on here more often, you know i get so busy,the wife and I bought a house a few years ago and i always have a " things to do list ....honey do list" but all is good !!!! talk to you all later Jimi

It's been a while since I been on here,...man I use to live on this board when I was trying to get my wife over here,and with all the problems we gone thru anyway I'm not sure if I posted this in the right place,but my wife planing her 2nd trip back to China,and she asked me a question,which I really didn't understand...she has her 10 year green card,chinese passport,and she said to me that she can only stay for 3 months new regulations or something where as in the past you could stay for up to 6 months.....is this true?....does she need a visa to go to China,I can't recall if she got one last time she went back a few years ago....she has a chinese passport....well if anyone knows...appreciate it thanks Jimi

Yeah thats what i thought..a long way to go !!!.thanks

Today my wife received I-797 approval notice for daughter( I-130 petition ).which we sent in almost 2 years ago.The notice says it will now go to NVC(national visa center ).......which means what ? it will sit there now for another 2 years ? or does this mean the gods have looked apon us with favor,and is pushing our petition along? I am told this process takes forever,just wondering what this form really means in terms of a timeline ? is there a timeline ? Jimi

Yeah makes sense,thanks for the info........second option is Disney World...Pirates of the Carribean !! JImi

Shes already got her visa to come visit USA,......so she will need a visa to cruise mexico,how about Bahamas? thanks for the help jim

Hey everyone, been awhile since i been on here,anyway My wife's daughter is coming here to visit us for 4 months in October.She wants to take a cruise vacation while she is here.My wife's daughter is from China,but is currently in Australia going to school,so she will be coming here to USA from Australia,and has Chinese passpost.my question.....will she be able to take a cruise while here on visit in USA,{thinking maybe doing the mexico-cozumel cruise ).will this be possible,? thanks for any help....hope all is well with you all. JImi

Thanks for the info !! Jim

Hi, we filed i 130 to get my step daughter to USA in march 2012.My wife is permanent resident,and her daughter is unmarried over 21.(she is 25) i recently went online to see the status,typed in receipt number,it is in the review stage, and below this statement it has a little box,where you enter in the petition you filed,the applicants status,citizen or permanent resident,who you are filing for,and then what service center your file is at. I entered the information,then it gives you an estimated time. I get 17.2 months.,.....is this 17.2 months they get to keep it in some box on a shelf,before they will look at it? I am guessing that is what it has to be....generally,how long does it take to get ones loved ones to USA from China ? thanks. JIM

My wife and I stayed i believe it was Yangs "TianYu Garden". We stayed there about 3 years ago,....apartments were next to the consulate .The people were very nice,the rooms were good(they have different types of rooms ) we rented a 2 bedroom,because our daughter came with us,but i did see they had rooms the size of a closet,i guess if you're really on a budget...LOL....but yeah it is a good place to stay.....they do change the sheets LOL.....someone made a comment about...."imagine all the couples that slept in those beds after months of seperation"....if thats your concern,bring your own bed LOL,....people do have fun in hotel beds no matter what hotel you go to......anyway,it was 3 years ago,but i would recommend Yangs place.

My Wife did the english school,she learned a little,but once my wife went to work and had to speak english to communicate with boss and co workers,i think she learned a lot quicker that way,of course she still has a way to go,as far as speaking and understanding good english,but she's getting there. As far as the Chinese Bed,a sheet of plywood ....a lot cheaper than a mattress.Who can sleep on them Chinese beds? My wife got use to the American bed.

Great !!!! thanks

Hi, My wife plans to go back to China this march for a month.I am looking at ticket prices now,and what worries me is this...her passport has her Chinese name ( maiden name ) and her green card has her married name ( my last name ).i believe the thinking is,i would book her tickets in her passport name.which would be fine getting to China.It's the return to America that concerns me.Her passport and green card,while have her picture....but have different names.She is going back to Chongqing,can she get her passport ammended with married name in China? what if she can not do this,what problem will she have getting into USA with passport(chinese) and green card,having different names? Jim

yeah,but my wifes green card is in my last name(married name ) ,her passport is in her maiden name Same here, it has never been a problem not having these things match, passport is for international travel, we book international tickets in passport name. Green-card is for re-entry to the USA after trips abroad, POE has never questioned the name difference. Hmmm !!! good to know.....it makes sense thanks

My wife renewed her passport last summer back in China, still has maiden name, for this we have not bothered. yeah,but my wifes green card is in my last name(married name ) ,her passport is in her maiden name

Hey Tsap seui, I confess I did piss on it.....and you know what? it felt good too...there i said it. Jimi

My wife still has to have her name changed in her passport,we keep procrastinating,it has to be done but its a real pain.We live in florida,and the chinese consulate is in texas.Heres a dumb question,can anyone other than my wife bring it to the consulate,say a friend who lives in Texas?