keelec

Missed that one.... Work is a good bet for the insurance. Pehaps Gwang will have to do some of the prenatal visits out of pocket. I assume there are some low-cost alternatives too. * If the ultrasound looks good * And the baby is coming out head first * And the baby isn't too big. * And the baby isn't too small * And the wife/fiancee isn't too small * Best if it is the second child * And if it is a second child, there aren't Rh Incompatability issues. * Having grandparents around too might not hurt. Then one might consider a mid-wife and home-birth. A good Midwife will only take the low risk cases and will refer the rest to the hospital. Good prenatal care should be able to help a lot with risk assessment. ----- Clifford ------

How many of the Chinese Drivers are Blonds?????? :o

What would happen if the USA opened our Southern Boarder for anybody to come an go as job markets dictate? Initially there might be a great migration rivaling the one when India and Pakistan closed their boarders (of course, that was a 2-way migration), but I would imagine that within a few years things would settle down. Would Mexico and other "Southern Nations" drag us down, or would we bring their status up, perhaps benefiting us all? There is the concern about them "taking our jobs".... Hmmm, we don't want them to come here and take our jobs in the USA, but we are perfectly fine with sending away all of our industry to their country????? Does that make any sense? Go into the biggest retail chain in the world (Walmart), and how long will it take to find something (except perhaps medications) that was actually produced in the USA....... Hmmm, maybe it would cause the entire world economy to crash.... What would happen if we changed the exchange rate so that 1 hr of US Labor would buy 1 hr of Chinese Labor..... It would have far reaching ramifications. ------ Clifford -----

Welcom Gwang, If you get married shortly after your fiancee arrives in the USA, most employer based health insurance policies will pick up the insurance (without pre-existing conditions). You will have to look at the policy. Does it require a 30 day wait? My employer also has something for long term commitments for unmarried couples. I considered doing it during the open enrollment period for my fiancee. They required a 1+ year committment which I have had and could likely argue..... But, unfortunately we haven't been "TOGETHER" for the last year (a second requirement). And, of course, there no sense paying lots of money for health insurance until Irina actually arives in the USA. How far are you along in the visa application process? For many people it takes about a year so this may all be a mute point. ----- CK -----

I wonder how big of an issue it really is. How many people actually go the the government to register that they are breaking the law by being in the USA???? Drive with the headlights on to show support...... What about the people who don't support the issue and have on all the time lights????

Carl, Where are you in Portland? Your congressman will only work with you if you find the one in the right district. Since I still have my house in Portland, I have written to David Wu, and gotten a response from Holly Null who is his Immigration Liaison. She seemed to be very nice. Most congressional offices have special forms for immigration issues, and staff members who are dedicated to dealing with the problems. It seems that at some level, the congressmen know of the issue, but are just unwilling (or unable) to fix the problem. The congressmen may be in a tight spot. Immigration is a tough issue. To many people it is a bad thing. Thus, the congressmen are reluctant to "fix" the problem at risk of pissing off the isolationists in America..... At the same time, they try to work with us to look like they care. One thing you should do is actually go to your congressman's office. You might not meet him, but you will be able to interact with his staff. ------------- However, Carl, I was looking at your timeline..... While it is progressing excruciatingly slowly, it is not too far from the "norm" for NSC & NVC. At this stage, contacting your congressman may not help. Natrigon's case had gotten stuck at NVC so it was appropriate for him to contact the congressman in an attempt to get it moving again. Mine.... at least it seems to be stuck too.

Richard, Check in the top, right-hand corner of the document and see if it has an Expiration Date. All of the copies that I have seen on the internet has a date in January, 2004. Perhaps they have revised the form to eliminate the revision date. ---- Clifford -----

There is probably an element in the USA that everyone "expects" the others to follow the rules. When a person runs a red light.... WELL, IT ISN'T EXPECTED.... And, thus, a major fender bender..... Well, even if it is a minor scratch in the paint, it will take the people an hour to figure out who is at fault, and how to fix it. In China, or Egypt, and many other countries, bizzarre behavior behind the wheel is just expected. I wonder if speed is also an issue. I am sure that many people speed in China & Egypt, but in the places where the heaviest traffic is, they just can't get up enough speed to do any real damage. Of course, I haven't made it to China yet.... Something to do sometime as I meet new friends from that country. However, I was in Egypt, one of the countries with the WORST driving..... There, I noticed that almost every car that was more than 6 months old had MULTIPLE DENTS (mostly minor). Many cars had ornate taillight lense protectors. I don't really remember seeing any major accidents, but I would imagine that bumping and pushing is just a common part of driving. ---- CK ----

Wonderful story. Yeah, I expected that we would get a visa within a few months too..... Well, that was 11+ months ago when I was much more naive. Fortunately my fiancee has been very patient with this whole process.

Damn, Clifford. How do you notice these things? I can barely make out the number of eyes on each face in all of these tiny pictures. Jerry Jerry, Let's see, Your beautiful Fiancee has 2 eyes.... Plus your 1 eye (cyclops).... That makes 3, right? Mark's Cut and paste job is very convincing. I think we will have to post a poll, which one is "real", and which one is "fake", or were both people pasted into a new image. Mark, Are you sure you don't have a basement passport printing operation.... Just print out a blue one for ShuPing.... And you are all done!!!!!!! (oh, don't answer that one ) ----- CK -------

Hmmm, Maybe the Chinese do it a bit different than the Italians..... In Italy, if one goes into a "Market"..... One gets in the back of the crowd and tries to decide what to purchase...... Bunches of short Italians crowd infront...... Then, after the appropriate amount of time, the shop keeper will point to the tall American waiting in the back and ask what one wants ----- CK ------

I would have now problem if the INS made a comittment to process all visas in a set amount of time, perhaps 6 months, AND STICK TO IT in all except the most extreme exceptional cases. There should not be any "oops, we misplaced your file".... too common of a story.... Even when one calls every week or two and they assure one that they have it and are working on it. Generally I have no problem waiting in line. If there are 100 people waiting in line at Walmart, I will either put my item back on the shelf and leave, or I will patiently wait till I get to the front. However, I certainly start steaming as people squeeze in front of me as it makes the wait at the back of the line a lot longer. Maybe I am loosing coherence now.... I will stop for now. ------ CK -----

Can somebody that has recently received a K3 - P3 or a K1 - P4 please verify the expiration dates on the forms. Especially the hard-to-find medical forms: DS-2053 DS-3024 DS-3025 DS-3026 Also, please verify that these forms are distributed to the petitioners and not something that is picked up at the doctor's office. Are the forms in English, Chinese, or both? Does the language matter? Thanks, Clifford Keele

that was only one of many like that, it does not make sense I am talking hundreds from TSC check out this site http://macallan.homeunix.org/bcis/ Thanks SeLang for the link..... One must sit and shake one's head when one sees a range of processing delays ranging from 13 days to 205 days!!!!!!!!! And, some as late as 235 days and still pending!!!!!!!! I will look at the numbers a little closer soon. What would be very intereresting is whether the several that had under 50 day processing times were processed by the same individual????? 1 at 13 days 1 at 15 days 4 at 18 days 1 at 27 days 3 at 29 days 1 at 36 days ------ CK -------

Natrigon, Congratulations..... ...... So you won the race..... Got your NVC approval before my P3/P4 from Moscow........ Now at 104 days waiting on the P3/P4 from Moscow. Getting engaged to a young farmer's daughter is so complicated that it takes endless months of "Additional Administrative Processing" (or, was that the Additional Administrative Procrastinating)!!!!!!! :P ----- Clifford ------

Has anybody been getting dates in the format: XXX-04-nnn-nnnnn (2004 dates)? ----- CK -----

Mark, Just curious, Your Photo, appears to be a Mark & ShuPing photo.... But, you often act like the two of you haven't met yet..... Is it just a Mark & Old Girlfriend Photo? Cut & Paste? Anyway, best wishes for your trip........ Hmmmm, some people have suggested packing TP on a few trips..... .... Perhaps a couple of rolls.... ----- Clifford -----

Oh, Here is the link for Acrobat, Chinese Simplified too. http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/read...n=full&x=57&y=3 I have never tried them.... I can just assume that they work. ----- Clifford -----

Carl & Bing, You have to be more SPECIFIC!!!!!!!! Which OS (Windows XP?) Chinese Traditional or Chinese Simplified? Try this link: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/read...n=full&x=33&y=6 It should download a Chinese Traditional Version of Acrobat Reader. AdbeRdr60_DLM_cht_full.exe Is that what you needed? This is a pretty big file (20 MB), so it is best to find a high speed network connection to download it. ----- CK -----

One of the biggest differences is which service center the application is sent to. Texas and Nebraska are the worst. Vermont is the best California is somewhere in between.... May not be any better than Texas/Nebraska. I have also seen a number of people listing MSC. (Missouri???) Often their timelines are shorter than average. I am not quite sure why some applications are sent to MSC. This may be one difference between K1 / K3 in some cases. As far as I can tell, there is no other difference between the waits for K1/K3. ------ Clifford -----

This is the same I've been told. It seems the non diplomatic packages are screened for security reasons. Kinda makes sense, I guess. Yes, it makes sense to screen certain packages more than others...... Except that they all were originated in a US Government Office.... Of course, that they have been outside of US Control for a month. I think part of the problem would be the actual delivery truck. One might not want a loaded UPS (or DHL) truck to just be able to drive right up to the service dock of the consulate.... too big of a security risk as nobody knows what is inside until they unload it.

Interesting description of the path from NVC to GZ. I am a bit surprised that DHL isn't paid to deliver the applications all the way to the consulate, but perhaps for security reasons they want to use a US owned truck. So, if GZ is concerned with too many applications arriving at a time, shouldn't they pick up the applications more regularly, perhaps weekly? And, if the truck is full.... perhaps 2 trips? It is like going to the store and buying a cup of coffee with a $100..... Then, only picking up half the change because the wallet was too full ---- CK -----

AW, Dang, You mean that I have to change my Julian Date Formula to add 3 more days to February (except for leap years) which I would only add 2 days, except for centuries which I add 3 days, except for centuries divisible by 4 which I add 2 days????? I would like a simpler formula. But, if I am a "75" which was mailed in January, with the receipt back a week later. A quarter would be 92 or 93 days which would put my date in December which is unlikely. Accounting for the weekends seems to work well, except for the MSC numbers which are off by at least 1 day a week. Yes, many things are simplified with the government.... But, somethings AREN'T!!!!

Wow, 2 1/2 years wait..... That has to take a lot out of a person. Best Wishes, Clifford

I hope you mean visit your lady in China. Mick..... I don't think he was meaning China..... I think he was meaning your house.... I would watch out for Se Lang if I was you. Sometimes you guys crack me up!!!!!! ----- Clifford -----