Beachey

I have a related question. The accountant who is doing my 2010 taxes has prepared my wife and my tax return where she will be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes. (we were married in 2010). She should have a green card sometime in 2011 so I would think there is no choice but for her to be a resident alien for tax purposes for 2011 and beyond. However, my accountant said we had a choice for 2010. They also said that once we made the choice is was non-reversible. I am here on a company expat assignment. My questions, Is the only way to file Married Filing Jointly is for her to be treated as a Resident Alien? Is there another option we might want to consider? Under what circumstances might I regret having my wife treated as resident alien for 2010? I do not want to get into specific details and I recognize that is what the accountant is for but I am looking for an additional independent opinion.

Having read through the boards here, it appears no one has actually ever gotten the mailed notice from the Beijing Embassy of their I-130 being approved. I had already been in contact by email with the embassy and had been told it was approved but some things I find interesting. It came in a Plain White Envelope with my wife's name and our address in Chinese. No indication that it was from the US gov't or 'important'.We do live in a pretty prominent building in Dalian so that might have helped. (As an aside my wife once told me a famous Chinese actor was in the elevator with us).It lists the date petition filed as 1/13/11 (which is the date the form was originally filled out) even though I did not mail it until 2/7/11 - It took a couple weeks to assemble the package and then the Post Office was closed over Spring Festival.The Approval date is listed as 3/10/11 which is two days after my first email to them on the status. Did it sit there until I asked and then they looked at it? I almost wonder if I should have asked after one-two weeks rather than one month.The Notice is dated 3/14/11 and it says to wait two months before contacting the consulate in Guangzhou. I think I will give it a month and then send a polite inquiry by email, the worst they can do is ignore it.

In the Chinese Culture, the wife typically does not change her name. I think it is easier if you just use her Chinese (Pinyin/Character) name on all documents. I don't think it is any form of red flag if she is not using yours. Once you get to the States, it is relatively simple to add your name or Americanize her first name if she so chooses. I think I was looking at a Green Card application where they specifically ask if you want to change your name for probalby exactly this reason, a desire to 'Americanize' your name. And if you can't do it there, in my home state it is ~$450 to file a name change with the court.

Does he even need to file the I-864 with the I-130? Isn't that part of the P3 package? We just filed the the 2 G-325A with the I-130. Is there an advantage to filing the I-864 now?

Why did you choose to go the CR-1 route rather K-1? I think that may lead you to the evidence that proves the letimacy of your marriage.

Rather than start a seperate topic, I just thought I would let you all know that i got an email confirmation back form Beijing that our I-130 had been approved and forwarded to Guangzhou. I am actually impressed with Beijing's response to emails, in both case I got a response back within 24 hours. If things work out Dante, I will buy you a beer when we are both in GUZ for the interview.

You need the notarized 'birth certificate' for the I-130. I was just noting I don't understand the logic but irregardless you need it.

The Certificate of Marriageability is just a sworn statement that you have never been married or if you have, the marriage was ended by divorce (or death). The US Consulate has no way of knowing whether you are now or ever been married. Since Marriage licenses in the States are issued locally, how would they even check? They are just notarizing your sworn statement (technically, I don't think they are notarizing but it has the same legal weight). I also think you don't have to wait and do it at the Consulate, you can do it in the States. I am not clear on the exact procedure to do it in the States but a State or Local government office should be able to do it for you. The Certificate of Marriageability is the US Consulate solution to the Chinese requirement that you prove you are elgible to be married. It is not the only method accepted.

Just to be clear, I am specifically talking about my experience getting married in China, Dan is talking about what is needed for the I-130 which he is much more knowledgable than I. The Marriage Bureau did an English translation of the marriage certificate for us as part of the "package" And to answer your questions above - Yes it was different than the marriage bureau the normal Chinese go to. I was told it was called the International Marriage Bureau. The only people in there were foreigners with Chinese SO's This was in Liaoning Province but the same held true for my buddy whose wife's Houku is in Jilin Province, they had to go to Changchun. Though this may vary Province to Province.

A friend of mine tried to get a Visa for his girlfriend, she was denied because she did not have a job (she did have the money and property). She then mentioned her American boyfriend and she was 'double denied' - whatever that means. I have been told the 'un'official criteria is you have to have a good job, at least 50000 RMB in a bank account, and own property. It appears the people who have been successful in getting a B1/B2 are those who have had previous Visa's to the US prior to the relationship. It is problaby worth a shot but I would try to downplay the relationship while remaining truthful so that if you decide to go for the K1/CR1 there isn't any inconsistency in the story.

Actually more like the DMV but I digress......... Couple things to Consider and Lessons Learned You are going to need the Certificate of Marriagability translated but the International Marrigae Bureau in Shenyang did not accept the translation I had done in Dalian and insisted on doing it themselves. You might want to check on this.Your fiance will need both pages of her Houku - the first (family) page and the second (individual) page.Depending on where your wife's Houku is, you might need to go to the capital of the Province your wife's Houku is in to get married in. Though someone elso on here said they were able to do it in Shenzhen -which I believe is not a provincial capital nor an Independent city (i.e Shanghai/Beijing) but that might be the exception due to the large foreign presence. You might want to check this also.She does not need a marriagability certificate but makes sure her Houku says single - really divorced if applicable - happened to my buddy, his wife's Houku was never updated after her divorce.Cash - RMB. I have been told that the Chinese can get married for something like 8 RMB. It cost us somewhere around 1500 RMB by the time we paid for the translation of my Marriagability Certificate, my background check (no idea what they checked), an expedite fee (so we could get it done the same day), and an album of pictures taken at the bureau which I am glad we did.If you have any other questions, PM me.

Congratulations, we filed the beginning of February, it looks like typically processing times are 40-50 days. I contacted them last week and am planning to contact them next. I am hopeful that I will be getting similar news. Can anyone give me an estimated time frame from when the file goes to Guangzhou until you have the interview or at least will be contacted for the additional paperwork? Can you do the medical ahead of time or do you need certain paperwork to get it completed?

My preferred method is to fly Asiana Airlines into Seoul, from there it is a short one hour flight into Dalian. I haven't checked but China Southern has a lot of flights out of Seoul so I would think they fly from Seoul to most of the major cities in China direct. I much prefer Asiana over any of the US carriers. I have flown out of LAX and ORD into Seoul. I have also heard good things about Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines. The Seoul Airport is ranked as one of the nicest in the world, it has reasonably Good Western and, of course, Korean food. It has full recliners upstairs near the Frequent Flyer Club if you want to sleep between flights. Plus, in my experience going through customs in Dalian is much easier than going through customs in Beijing. In general, the cost is competitive with the lowest cost you can find on Expedia or Yahoo Travel going through Beijing or Shanghai.

I can't answer all your questions but the reason the Z visa is single entry is you are required within 30 days to get a residence and work permit. My Z visa actually list 0 days as duration of stay. Once I got a residence permit, they stamped the Z visa cancelled. Once you have a residence permit, you can come and go as you want. My residence permits have been good for one year.

Won't the US Authorities cancel the B2 as soon as you start the K1 process? I know of a couple where the Chinese wife had a B2 but was cancelled as soon as they started the CR-1/IR-1 proceedings. Is K1 treated differently from CR-1?

I am guessing you mean for the I-130 and not to get married. 1. For you - a copy of your birth certificate is OK, For her - Chinese people don't really have a birth certificate, you have to go to a Chinese notary and they will create a notary copy listing her birth date, place of birth and parents. I think she will need her houku to do this. (as an aside - I can't figure out why they need a birth certificate if they have your passport, they both establish the same thing with the exception of a naturalized citizen?) 2. I will leave it to others if it is necessary (we didn't include it) but my wife used a letter from work to get her visa when we went to Thailand (different country though same concept). 3. This is China - Cash :-) Consulate will accept USD or RMB. Can you get a certifed check in China? The consulate in Shenyang does not accept credit cards so I am guessing Guangzhou won't either.

They are verifying YOUR SIGNATURE that it is a true COPY of the original. They know what they're doing. I have the certificate at work but I am almost positive I did not sign it, just the consular officer.

I have a notarized copy of her passport, but it's a Notarial Certificate from the Notary Public Office in her city (Yingkou, Liaoning) -- did I read somewhere that the IRS would only accept a passport notarized in the US or at the US consulate? I just got off the phone with my wife. those bastards in Guangzhou Consulate told her they will not Notarize her passport. She'll have to take it elsewhere, get a notarized copy, then they'll certify the notarized copy of her passport. WTF??? I just took my wife's passport to Shenyang. They would not notarize since she was not there. They did issue me the certificate that says I swear this is a copy of my wife's passport. Consular Officer made me raise my right hand and everything. I told them I needed it for the TIN for my wife for my (err...our) US taxes, they said it would work. It makes sense the US consulate would not want to validate a Chinese passport as valid but how do they know the notarized copy is valid?

To be clear for others in the future, I didn't even ask if the consulate would do that. My lawyer is in the States. She gave me a checklist of what she wanted, I sent it to her, she prepared the I-130 and the supporting documentation in a packet. She told me to go get the receipt in Shenyang. She sent me the packet back with an envelope for the receipt. I sent the packet on to Beijing. Admittedly, sending paperwork back and forth by express mail to the States is not the low cost method (though a lot of what I sent her was by email) but it would have taken me longer to figure out how to do this. Now If I had found this website earlier I might have taken a crack at doing it on my own. Still I think I found this website based upon things she told me so it is somewhat of a vicious cycle. CFL is where I figured out what we were applying for is a CR-1 visa.

I think the confusion is the USCIS office is technically not part of the embassy/consulate. They are field offices reporting into Bangkok. USCIS is Dept. Of Homeland Security; Embassy/Consulate is Dept. Of State. Http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/embassy/usgmain/uscis.html http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=863f3367f4548210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=1ac900c262197210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

Mailed? I thought DCF involved a visit to the DHS office in the Embassy or Consulate and filing the petition in person. http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/homeland_security.html#a5 Well, I just do what my US-based Chinese lawyer tells me :-) She was recommended by a colleague at work who used her to get his wife's CR-1 Since I live in Dalian, I am in the Shenyang Consular District. I had to go to the Consulate up there (4 hour drive) to get the receipt for the I-130. I then mailed the I-130 with the receipt to Beijing. I think I also read somewhere on the Shenyang Consulate Web Site that this was permissable. They don't accept I-130 in Shenyang. Though it sounds like if you present in person in Beijing, it is approved immediately but maybe not. Heck the flight to BJ is not that expensive, it might have been worth it.

I sent the I-130 to Beijing on Feb.7. EMS confirmed delivery on Feb. 9. I emailed them this week (couldn't get through on the phone) and got a reply within a day that my case was still under review. My lawyer suggessted I contact monthly but I am going to contact them the week after next for a further update. Based upon the timelines above, I should then be in the 40-50 day window.

I would use English where possible and pinyin rather than characters for things like her name. Just copy what is on her passport. Can you write the address in pinyin? You might even want to check with Chinese Post for the exact English translation. I receive mail here in China addressed in English and the envelope has the Chinese Characters written on it by hand.

The consulate will notarize the English version of the certificate of marriageability. I am not sure if the consulate will translate and notarize it into Chinese. I had it done elsewhere here in Dalian. When we went to Shenyang to get married, they would not accept the translation but did it there at the international marriage bureau for something like 200-300 RMB.