AZwolfman

Update! I received the NOA 2, notice of approval, in my mailbox yesterday August 22. The notice says the petition is approved but will now be sent to the NH NVC for further processing. General vague timelines were given in the notice. So we have hurdled step 2 and wait for the NVC to get our petition and do their thing and send it to step 3. Thanks everybody for the assistance. I found the timeline charts on Visa Journey. Thank you Mick and TsapSeui; it's good to hear from you. I feel like a battle-worn warrior who has returned for one last mission with the immigration system. It just has to be easier this time around! Doesn't it?

Can anyone point me to some recent time line information? The CFL search engine only points me to time line information that is several years old. I am interested in time lines that are recent, like couples who have received K-1 visas in 2011 and 2012. It has been 2 months since I received the first NOA. I read on the USCIS website that the CSC is taking 5 months to render a decision before sending out NOA 2. Are there any recent applicants here who can verify this? How long did it take from receiving NOA 2 until your fiancee received P3? At one time I knew where every Candle post was, along with the author, content, and his or her personal story and timeline. But my, how CFL has grown over the years! It is now a really difficult and time-intensive task to find information via the CFL search engine. My 12-hour work days do not make it any easier for me to find the information I seek.

Does the alien fiancee address and her employer addresses have to be typed in English on the I-129f, or can it be typed with Chinese characters?

Thanks dnoblett. For some reason it does not work with Bigguy_33 I wonder why?

I am going to China in less than 2 weeks, and I have not bought my RMB yet. Do you still have it? What ever happened to the PM option on this board? Has it disappeared?

I have a multiple entry visa which allows stays of 30 days each. Does China have a requirement for a minimum number of days between visits?

Firefox is great! It even lets me tune in to the browser windows I left open on my home computer. No bugs.

OMG, you're scaring me now Scott! I met my ex-wife online 9/2001 and we received K-1 visa in 3/2003. We were married until 5/2011; so it was an 8-year marriage and a 10-year relationship. I met my current fiancee online in October 2011 and will be making my 2nd visit to China a few weeks from now the end of April. Here I go again! I will be filing the I-129f in May. Although I had to wade through the infamous Black Hole of 2002, I see now that I was lucky then that my fiancee spoke perfect English. This will actually be my 3rd marriage, because I also had an 8-year marriage (to a U.S. girl) when I was a teenager. That one ended in 1977. My fiancee spoke only a little English when I visited her in February of this year, but she is taking classes. I am concerned about how well she can converse in English by the time the visa interview occurs.

Does she really have to travel back to her hometown in person to get her documents, such as Birth Certificate, Divorce Certificate, and Police Record? This would be very expensive not only for the airfare, but it would also require several days off work to make the 1200-mile trip from Guangdong to Sichuan Province and return. Is China not modern enough to make these documents available without such hardship? Isn't there a way to acquire these documents via mail, fax, internet, or from a nearby branch government office?

One of the forum posts implied that credit might be an issue in the determination of whether or not to issue a visa. Is this true? I had no indication that credit was scrutinized when I petitioned for my ex-wife in 2001. 10 years and one divorce later...my income is above the 125% poverty guidelines for 2011, but I had a recent bankruptcy discharge in early May of this year. Has anyone had any experience with a past bankruptcy being an issue to receiving a visa? I don't intend to file a k-1 petition until at least after my second trip to visit my girlfriend in China in January 2012. I am just trying to get my ducks lined up now.

OMG! I'm having a Deja Vu experience. Someone please wake me from this dream and tell me there is not another BH lurking. .

It's good to hear from you Mick. I think you were one of the few whose visa came after ours. I think I am now about the same age that you were when you started your petition back in '02. That in itself gives me courage. I'm trying hard not to make my new lady pay for the shortcomings of the first. I guess in the end, I just have to trust my instincts. Surely they can't always be wrong. I probably will not file any paperwork until after my trip to China the end of this month. My plan is to visit again in December, by which time we may decide to start the paper process. I will never forget how hard all of us early CFLers fought the government to bring our sweethearts home. I guess it turned out that we helped pave the way for future petitioners to have an easier road; I just didn't think that I would ever be one of them and have to travel the road again. What a government we have. I should be able to bring whoever I want into this country to marry. I should not have to put up with the government deciding whether or not my fiancee is right for me.

My relationship with my Chinese wife lasted only 10 years before we parted ways, but now I am involved with another lady who lives in China. After being stung once, I am a bit more cautious now. Our relationship has not yet progressed to the point that I have petitioned for a fiancee visa. I will visit her in China in a few weeks, which could deepen our relationship. I would also like to see how well our relationship works out if she visits me and stays in my country for a few weeks. Had I done this with my ex-wife before I became so involved with her, I probably would have sent her back to China and never married her. Have any of you had experience with your fiancee visiting you in the U S on a visitor visa before you married? How difficult would it be for her to get a visitor visa to the US? How long would it take for the U S to approve such a visa?

I must have lived, Mick, for I remember all those things. How about going next door to borrow a cup of sugar - and actually paying it back later? Do they really pass kids on the next grade now, even if they don't deserve to advance? If true, that explains a lot about why the world is as it is today. It reminds me of the movie, "Idiocracy."

You made no money; you owe no taxes. But since you are filing jointly, your name will be on the return with your husband's. Where it says to enter income, you will enter his income only. Where it says enter interest income, you will enter the interest earned from your joint account. The only form you need is the 1040, which is a fairly simple one. You will attach a copy of your husbands W-2 (which his employer should have already sent to him), and a copy of your interest income. That's it! From 1966-2005 I always did my own income taxes. For the last 3 years I have paid a tax service to do them, since with my business they are much more complicated and time consuming now. If you have an income next year (2009) and still wish to file jointly, then you will add both of your income amounts together and enter on the form.

I have always used the USPS Global Priority flat envelopes. Time to receive in Beijing has always been 5-7 days. The price recently increased, but I think it is still under $15.

It was a piece of cake for us. It took her only about 30 minutes from the time the plane landed until she walked into my waiting arms.

verbatim from the N-659 Naturalization Interview Document Check List, item 3: ......An original IRS Form I722 listing tax information for the past three years.....or copies of the income tax forms you filed for the past three years. and the "or" was in bold on the N-659. But knowing how our gov't likes to make things difficult for us law abiding citizens, I'll probably do both and then just hope that in the next general election that we will actually have a choice. - But I better not get started on politics

Thanks Randy. That link answered my questions. It looks like the easiest thing for me (since I already have copies of my tax returns) is to just show them my tax returns. The wolfman shall go back into lurk mode now. Take care.

Old wolfman never die; they just keep on howlin' I've been busy working toward being self-employed. (Real estate investing) Looks like I'll finally be able to quit working for "the man" in about 6 more weeks. Also now that she is here, wife likes me to spend more time with her than on the candle. Occaisionally I do look at some of the posts, but it seems that I am mostly out of date with the current immigration issues and can offer no assistance that cannot be already found on the forum. You all have done a great job of making it organized, informative, and helpful. I wish CFL had been this evolved back in the days of '02 when we were going through the process. On the N-659 Naturalization Interview Document Check List, item 3 reads: If you are applying for naturalization on the basis of marriage to a U.S. citizen, bring: ......An original IRS Form I722 listing tax information for the past three years.....or copies of the income tax forms you filed for the past three years. If I can't find this I722, I will just bring copies of the tax forms.

IRS Form I722 is needed for citizenship. There must be someplace from where I can download this form. Does somebody know from where? I have searched for this form on the IRS.gov website and in Google. I have found mention of it on some message board but no mention of where to download it.

Still here, but instead of being on CFL 10 hours every day it is now about once a week - more reading than posting. More time spent with her means less time haggling with our INS (whatever they are now calling themselves this week[uSCIS I think]). You can see what we went through in our timeline below, but she has been here over 2 years and we still feel newlywed. She loves the U.S. and has adapted to it well. It has probably helped that she has always spoken good English. You said you had 117 degrees. You must be in LV; we set a new 117 degree record here this summer. But it was at that time, a DRY HEAT

We used her family name as her new middle name since she had none. Then we put her new name on all subsequent docs, starting from marriage license, SSN, Green Card, and so forth. To date there have been no problems. We have 2 certified copies of our marriage license just in case there is ever a question - such as re-entering the U.S. with her Chinese passport. As much of a hassle as the old "Black Hole" days were, it has been smooth-sailing ever since she arrived on U.S. soil.

I don't post so often nowadays. I notice that the "blue thingie" system has changed. I am now, "Out of Control." I love it.

The fee is $200. Include all the supporting evidence that you have (that you are indeed living together as husband and wife), such as bank statements showing common account, mortgage, automobile titles, utility bills addressed to both, pictures.....whatever you have, the more the better. It only took about 3 weeks to get NOA after sending in our I-751. Even if you are denied, you will just go to a hearing together and show more evidence and convince them. The burden is upon them to prove that you are NOT living together as husband and wife (not the other way around). More info here