turtle

SS offices seem to be very different everywhere. If there's another office in town, try it. My wife didn't take my name and we had no problems.

It all depends on the location. Check the BCIS website for a list of processing times in your area for Advance Parole.

Well, it seems like that last bump in the road is pretty much over, at least for the next 2 years... AOS interview this morning. We brought along everything, and I do mean everything. Unfortunately I must admit to not being the most organized person throughout this process. I didn't make copies of anything along the way, always seemed to be shuffling papers right up until the last minute. I-129f, p3, AOS, etc-- each time trying to remember what came before. By now I've run out of a couple W-2 forms, can't remember how many times I've had to ask my boss for the employment letter thingie... Anyway, I packed away everything I could find. Tons of pictures, my complete I-129f packet that was handed back to us in GZ, whatever W-2 forms I had left from the past 3 years, whatever tax return and tax return transcipts I could dig out, my last 2 bank statements, my last 4 paychecks, letter from my boss, sheesh what else? We didn't bother doing a lot of the recommended things-- haven't put her name on the mortgage yet, haven't put her on the utility bills yet, just went in last week to get her on the bank account. So I brought in a bunch of mail that was sent to her at our address, and hoped that and pictures would be enough. At least I had her health insurance card, plus a driving instruction permit with our address on it. As required, we got all the vaccinations, and saw the civil surgeon to get the I-693 supplement done. Carried that in a sealed envelope. Plus the brown sealed envelope given to us in GZ. Interview was scheduled for 11:00, we arrived around 9:45. The waiting room was huge and full of people. No one really knew what to do. We'd checked in downstairs, and the man said to go to the 2nd floor waiting room and wait for our name to get called. So there's the big room with around 100 people, all waiting. An old chinese woman was there with her daughter, she asked one of the officials how long the wait would be (her interview was scheduled for 10:00) and the guy told her not to be surprised if she had to wait all day. Great, so we're just settling in when the door opens and a woman comes out. It took a few tries before we realized she was calling my wife's name. She said we were early (it was still just around 10:00) but why not get it over with quickly? No complaints from me! Not sure why we got in early with a room full of people waiting. The woman was very nice, but still a bit serious. First we had to raise our right hands and swear to tell the truth. A portrait of our official standing with Jimmy Carter was hanging on the wall. She asked for our ID-- passports and drivers license. While looking over them and filling out some forms, she asked how we met. Standard answers. She asked about our wedding, I told her it was a small thing, only 7 people. Then she started going through our photo albums (we brought all of them-- 5 years worth). She was very interested in the professional wedding photos we had taken in hong kong. Even asked how much we paid for them (she seemed to like them very much). Then she asked if we combined the bank account. Thankfully I pulled out the sheet we had printed showing her name on the account. She asked what else we had, and I started handing over all the mail and stuff in my wife's name. We gave her the insurance card, and that seemed to be enough. Finally she started asking the standard questionairre: have you ever committed a crime, do you intend to overthrow the government, do you intend to steal technology, have you ever been in the communist party.... While asking, she was already taking fingerprints from my wife, and having her sign some forms. And that was it. She stamped my wife's passport, telling us the stamp is just as good as a green card. She can get a job, leave the country, etc. The stamp is good for one year. She said the real green card should arrive between 2 months to 1 year. We'll have to apply for the permanent (10 year) green card in 2 years, and she warned us we'd receive no reminders about doing that application. That was it. She didn't need any of the tax forms (I had of course sent everything in with the AOS packet), she didn't need the letter from my boss, she didn't need any photos of us together, she didn't need any of the forms I had spent last night redoing just in case (I-485, I-864, G-325a). In fact, she never even asked for the immunization form! So did we get that I-693 from the civil surgeon for nothing??? She took nothing from us at all (except the fingerprints and having my wife sign some forms). We got out of there around 10:45. Same room full of people still waiting. That's it. 2 years with nothing more to do? Who knows, maybe they'll come up with something else...

I've heard of people getting stopped, and I was a bit worried when we went for the interview. But we had regular old non-transparent folders and got in no problem. I also saw many other people with a variety of bags, briefcases, etc going in freely. It seems to vary day to day.

This is true, but beware. Chinese eye doctors (even the good ones) have a slightly different philosophy than western ones. For example, chinese will almost never fill a prescription for astigmatism. Not sure if this is worth it if you've got good insurance.

I've seen a bunch of people's luggage getting opened and searced for DVDs and CDs at the Beijing airport on their way out of China. This is checked luggage, BTW. The best way to handle these is to have someone mail them to you.

Sichuan hua jiao

Tips at restaurants are one thing, but this whole idea of the "tip jug" drives me crazy. I see them at drug stores, sub shops, now I've even seen them in McDonald's. What-- I'm supposed to tip for fast food now??? Never saw those until I moved to the west coast, but here they're everywhere. I'll tip at restaurants 15-20%, I'll tip my barber, taxi driver, and that's it. Oh yeah-- pizza delivery? $1 standard tip. In China I've reluctantly handed over 10-20 rmb at some of the nicer hotels I've stayed in to the bellboy. Never tipped at a restaurant or any other place there. But I do think tips are coming to China, and in a few years everyone there will be expecting it.

I called them and they confirmed-- walk in and pay $5. I even told the last doc I called in Seattle about this and he was shocked -- "what, they charge $5!" There's your golden goose.

This is unbelievable, folks. I've never seen such a scam. I've now called about a dozen of these docs-- most of them won't sign anything without conducting a complete physical ($200-400) and even the ones that will agree to just sign the vaccination supplement want $60-100. Rip us any way they can, I guess. Now I think I'm just going to drive down to Portland and go to the doc that Jim recommended who does it for $5. Worth the trip.

Hi Gene, I was hoping my Family Doc would be one, or at least have one in the clinic, but they were all pretty baffled when I brought in the forms. I'll keep going down the list and see if any of these are reasonable. I do notice that the official list has recently expanded considerably. We sent in AOS around the middle of Feb, our action date was Feb 28.

Yeah, I'm going down the list. So far they all want her to come in for a complete physical, which is pretty expensive. I know there must be some that will just let her come in and sign the form...

Hi everyone. I was shocked to open the mail last week and find our AOS interview scheduled for the 2nd week in May. Now we're scrambling to get things together. We already got all the shots, but I'm shopping for a civil surgeon to sign off on the thing. So far all the docs I've called require her to come in for a complete exam (seems like a scam if ever there were one). Did anyone in WA state (western half of the state) have a good experience with one of these people that they can pass along???

Hmm, let me think... My passport (I was waiting outside)... Our photo album... I think my wife also passed her my diploma from a Chinese University I studied at when we first met. To be honest, I don't think the vo asked for any of these docs, my wife just sort of offered them up as they were talking. That's it. I still have our I-134 which has never been glanced at by anyone.

We just hooked up the satellite last week and sure enough there's da shan in his dorky red suit.

I asked the same question a while back and the consensus was not to risk it.

Wow, that is a sweet letter. Very nice!

Our interview was during the fall Canton Fair. All of our hotel reservations were cancelled when we arrived, so be careful. We ended up getting a room on the other end of town from one of those people who hang around the bus station. We moved to Victory the night of the interview and had to pay something like 400 rmb for a room.

Good luck, and try the kiwi smoothie thingy-- it's not bad!

Moon Carol Cafe posted pictures of the actual files arriving at the consulate in the gallery section. They were in big boxes, not individual files.

I believe they deliver it to the White Swan Hotel, which is located right next to the Consulate. There the packages sit until someone from the Consulate goes to pick them up. This process seems to take a few weeks.

The packages will now sit in storage for several weeks before the consulate picks them up...

The numbers are per year. I'd guess there are more k1 and k3 now. The "Spouse" category I'm guessing is family visa type, whatever letter that is...

I found this info a while back. The BCIS page has all the stats if you search for it... This was in 2003 K1.........K3.........Spouse (immigrant visa) All countries..........28,295..........15,734..........184,741 Philippines..............3,311............1,744..........10,424 Vietnam..................3,819...............607............6,245 China......................2,198............1,030............6,922 Mexico ...................1,128............2,013..........42,990

I think the money must have went to the toast and jelly