Beachey

Dan, in retrospect I was thinking about that but I have never seen a fully refundable fare and even the fares that are changeable are really expensive. How did you get a refundable fare?

I posted this on Visa Journey and most said we were lucky. I guess I was blind to how this would look especially since this was his second trip. Roundtrip tickets from now on.

Here was my father-in-law's experience yesterday, maybe a few lessons learned and one question. We flew my father-in-law from Guangzhou into LAX on China Southern's A380. Due to a bunch of stuff going on with us we only bought a one-way ticket (less than half what a round trip normally costs) with the full intention that he will stay six months and go back, exactly how to be determined. This is his second visit here and so I honestly was not very worried as he got though customs last year relatively easily. He said last year that the immigration officer just grabbed another passenger to translate as my father-in-law speaks no English. My wife and I drove to LA from Phoenix and arrived before the plane was scheduled to land but the flight was a little early so we got there about 15 minutes after he landed. I told my wife given the size of the A380 and based upon last year I figured it would take a good hour for him to clear customs. Well after no Baba after an hour and a half , my wife finally got a phone call from immigration (he had her number on him) inquiring asking her a bunch of questions including what was his name, who she was and how long we have lived in LA (we don't, we live in Phoenix) and why he was flying to only LA when we lived in Phoenix. The last question being I can't imagine my father-in-law successfully transferring planes in almost any US airport let alone LAX which for those unfamiliar is 8 separate terminals so the only option is for us to do the six hour drive there and back. Finally they said he would be out in 20 minutes and after two plus hours he comes out. He had been taken to secondary inspection and been there for over an hour. He said the original line he got in had had a Mandarin speaker who seems to have been pretty harsh. It appears the issue was not having a return ticket. My father-in-law also have a a couple thousand dollars in his wallet (much less than $10K) that is my wife's money that he had converted in US dollars in China. During the conversation, he brought out his wallet to show the officer my daughter's picture but I am sure the officer saw the money. In retrospect, I am sure the office is thinking my father-in-law could plan on disappearing into LA never to heard from again. He told my father-in-law that he would give him two months or he could get back on the plane back to China. My father-in-law said he needed longer which got him to secondary inspection. Given this was his second trip, I expected no issues but never again will he come without a return ticket booked. On top of that, they opened each of his bags and confiscated about 300 RMB of Harbin Sausage that he had brought for my wife and I don't think he declared it. Are you really not supposed to bring in meat into the US? I have never been stopped at all but I am a US citizen. So I think my father-in-law was pretty shaken by the experience but he was focusing on the sausage. I told my wife to tell him I really don't care about the sausage but he did a good job as a two month stay would have have been an issue. Made a long day even longer but we got home safely at 4:30 this morning and he is here, gets to see his granddaughter and I guess we will have to wait until we go back to China for Harbin Sausage.

Unfortunately, you will not find a specific rule on how long one has to return home before coming back for another visit. Arguably, a visitor's visa is not supposed to be a replacement for a green card so some will tell you that if you stay six months in the USA, you have to return to your home country for at least six months. In other words, you need to spend more time in your home country than in the US. Though this is not an official rule but a conservative interpretation of the law. It is a little bit unusual even with relaxed visa requirements for a young Chinese female to actually get a visitor's visa when she has a known relationship with a US citizen so it is somewhat unknown territory. My wife and I are facing this as we are questioning when to bring her father back over to help with child care. He was here for six months late last year and early this year and we are trying to delay him coming back as close to six months as possible to ensure another six month stay. Another Chinese couple of our acquaintance had her father here for six months, was gone only I believe about two months and was granted another six months stay. Again the main driver was child care. These are older Chinese which is the demographic that the eased Visa requirements have helped the most. My guess is if she is here for six months, she likely would have a reasonable expectation of another six month stay if she went home 2-3 months. However, I wouldn't count on repeating that pattern. At that point, you would have dated for about 15-18 months and would need to make a decision on commitment. My guess is she will pressure you for a commitment before 18 months anyway.

This was an accepted fact the two years I lived in China. As they explain, the economic incentive is there to kill rather than maim. Also, I think one of the many reasons why expats like me are given a car and driver. No foreign company wants to accept the liability of having one of their employees injure someone and be responsible for the next 40-50 years.

Long but a good analysis. http://www.scottimmigration.net/content/what-law-following-kerry-v-din

Wow, I feel for you. I really do't expect you to answer here but is your fiance or maybe someone in her family a senior party official? 20 months is the longest I have ever heard. I think Dan's advice to withdraw and then get married might be advisable but I might try and talk with a lawyer like Mark Ellis to get his take before I actually withdraw the petition.

The plaintiff lost 5-4. The attached article discusses the decision more in the context of the larger issue of same-sex marriage but the short answer is the plaintiff did receive due process even if not a full answer. Sucks. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/antonin-scalia-and-the-limits-of-marriage/396137/

We just submitted my Father-in-law's passport for a second visa through CITIC dropbox service. I believe it is headed down to Guangzhou. Tentative plan is for him to come in November. I wonder how long it will take?

Looks like Skype might work if a Hong Kong number will work?

Back in 2011 when we went through it, you had to show up at 12:30 PM to turn in your documents and show up the next morning for the actual interview. This is before CGI and CITIC and before the process went largely online. At some point,it switched back to a one day process even I believe for DCF. I would follow the instructions given and show up when they tell you to.

We just went through this. We live in Phoenix and drove to Los Angeles to pick him up so he wouldn't have to change planes. I also intentionally booked him on a Chinese Carrier (Air China) so there would be Chinese speakers. We did give him a letter in English that had our address and other information including my wife's cell number if she needed to translate. He did not use it, the Immigration Officer just asked another passenger in line to translate. I was a little surprised but he got through no issues. Leaving he just hooked up with another Chinese couple and got on the plane no issues. They even gave him six months on his visa, he did have a copy of his itinerary which showed a stay of 5 1/2 months. You no longer need a paper copy of the I-95 but we did fill out a customs form that we sent to him. All of this was sent to my wife's cousin who printed it out for Baba.

Correction. The online DS-260 now asks this question. http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/DS-260%20Exemplar.pdf

My wife asked me to look into this, I found you can actually do this through PayPal (with a 3.9% fee) and BitCoin if you are in a speculative mood. http://tutorialgeek.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-easiest-way-to-transfer-money-from.html But my question is has anyone ever tried to take money out of Bank of America ATM using a China Construction Bank Card in the US. Are there any fees involved?

Oregon Wins. Oregon: Most craft breweries per capita

Agree, but it doesn't take 13 million of them. I know you know. Young people used to have to go do all kinds of unpleasant jobs. I did. But it goes beyond paying more in the grocery store. Around here, it is next to impossible to find a non-Mexican gardener. And granted you can do your own gardening but when you are working 50 to 60 hours a week, it is nice to not have to do it in your limited spare time. And if a legal immigrant is trying to run his own business why shouldn't I be able to support that? Generally, you just don't ask. And generally you deal with one guy who has a couple guys helping him. Is it enough to ask the lead guy if he is legal? What is my obligation to ask his helpers? And they may end up doing the work when I am at work. How far do I need to check before I let someone on my property? Like I said it is not that simple.

Heard this on NPR driving home from work. Sounds like there may be 5 votes for more transparency. http://www.npr.org/2015/02/23/388520550/supreme-court-considers-visa-case-for-foreign-spouses?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=us The governments argument largely tries to place the blame on the Department of Homeland Security.

What Carl said. Such a simple and easy solution yet Congress cannot get their shit together. While I agree that the solution to problems of these type is to focus on the demand, like many things in this debate. I am not so sure it is that simple. The truth is corporations and businesses already use an electronic system to identify if someone is legally eligible for employment - E-Verify. A system you describe would likely end up hurting small businesses and individuals who lack the knowledge and resources to do thorough checks

When I was looking at visa options for my wife, someone who had knowledge of the many who come from Mexico told me that all I had to do was get her (my now wife) in the country and I would be able to get her a green card. Besides having a much better option (DCF) as I looked in to it the one negative to adjusting status from a Visitor's visa is it does tend to take even longer than applying through UCSIS and waiting outside the country. For some, the extra wait does not matter, but in most cases you can not leave the US. Denying my wife the ability to see her father and family for what I was told would be 3+ years was not an acceptable option.

I will have to look at his visa again but I am almost sure it was single entry. This is his first visit. Really reapplying for the visa doesn't concern me, looking online the less than six months in a 365 day period seems like an unofficial rule. I guess I will tell my wife that. My guess is you would have to show a compelling reason why he has to be here more.

My father-in-law has another six weeks before he goes back home. He will have been here just short of six months. He was issued a single entry visa so we will have to reapply and most likely he will then be issued a 10 year visa. I am clear then any individual stay needs to be less than six months. My question is there a maximum number of days he can be here any given year (either calendar or 365 day period). How long does he have to be back in China before he can come again (if his previous visit was close to six months)? Does anyone have actual experience?

Haven't done it but this is from Visa Journey I am a U.S. Citizen and Petitioning for: My mother: http://www.visajourney.com/images/ball.gif If you are applying to bring your mother to live in the United States, you must file the following with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (please note: if you have been legally adopted, you may not petition for your birth parent): http://www.visajourney.com/images/ball.gif Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative (if you are filing for both parents, you must file a separate petition for each parent) http://www.visajourney.com/images/ball.gif A copy of your birth certificate showing your name and your mother’s name http://www.visajourney.com/images/ball.gif If your name or your mother’s name is different now than at the time of your birth, you must provide evidence of the legal name change. http://www.visajourney.com/images/ball.gif If you were not born in the United States, a copy of either http://www.visajourney.com/images/ball.gif your Certificate of Naturalization or Citizenship or http://www.visajourney.com/images/ball.gif your U.S. passport http://www.visajourney.com/content/immigration-parents

I paid my I-130 fee in Shenyang and then mailed the I-130 application to USCIS Beijing with the receipt but that was in 2011 so YMMV..................

If I remember right, you should get an I-797(Notice of Action) a week or two after arriving. That is the number that works on the USCIS page, it is different than the number you get from GUZ. Though this process changes so frequently my information could be out of date.

Awesome Congratulations! And some RMB