Beachey

It appears you would qualify for the Special Enrollment Period https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage-outside-open-enrollment/special-enrollment-period/

All indications are kids that age are not really interviewed. The appointment is more about proving the child-adult parental relationship and proper permission has been granted by the other parent who is remaining in China. At most, they will ask if they want to go to America, no idea what would happen if the kid said No.

I know a lot of Chinese watch "Forest Gump" to learn English because Tom Hanks character (Forest) speaks so slowly with an exaggerated pronunciation.

Just one and for the filing of the I-130 just a photocopy will do. Any idea which one? Anecdotes suggest that it's probably the beneficiary's, correct? Petitioner's, When filing the I-130 it's the petitioner who is doing the filing, typically in the states, and that would be the cert the petition would have on hand when filing.I am positive we got my wife's (beneficiary) translated. The only difference between the two is whose name comes first so I can't imagine it matters.

This is all I provided when I DCF'd. The consulate is fully aware that is is difficult to impossible to co-mingle assets as a married couple while living in China when one is a foreigner. Just my opinion, but the USCIS/Conuslate has two agendas here. One is to make sure there is a bondafide marriage. The other is to try and make sure the American is not getting scammed by a Chinese spouse looking for a Green card. The second agenda is a source of frustration for many on this board. This is why people who DCF tend to have a much easier time. LIving together over months or years there is more of an assumption of bonafide marriage than others whose relationship is mostly over Skype or email with limited time in each other's physical presence. Additionally, having lived in China, there is an assumption you are more China savvy and would be able to recognize whether the Chinese spouse's intentions are genuine again versus someone who has only visited China for short periods of time, much more than they can ever do in a 10 minute interview.

I bought a TVpad when we got back. I am pretty sure on eBay, I am thnking I paid less than the $200 they want here. http://www.ebay.com/itm/TVPAD-3-M358-Latest-Model-Free-Fast-Priority-shipping-US-/221582949424?pt=US_Internet_Media_Streamers&hash=item33975f7c30 It is essentially a Roku preprogrammed for Chinese channels. Once you buy it the programming is free so the break even with the channel Dan mentions above is about 16 months or so. We hardly used it in the last year as my wife mostly used her Ipad or computer to watch the Chinese programs she wanted. My father-in-law is here and he has been using it a lot, mostly to watch NBA games on CCTV broadcast in Chinese which I find humorous. I also have two Roku for the family room and bedroom. I subscribe to Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hulu Plus but no cable at all.. The Netflix/Hulu Plus is less than $20 a month. Amazon Prime is I think $99 a year but I use it as much for the free two day shipping (the ability to order something I need at 11 PM at night without having to run around the next day to find it saves a lot of time), the online content is a bonus in my mind. I can pick up a lot over the air with an antenna so I see no need to add cable and pay $100 a month.

My wife's was approved in under 3 months which was awesome that we got the 10 year green card before the 2 year expired. Since my wife's driver's license expiration is the same as her green card, she only had to get it renewed once. However I would agree with above that 4-6 months is closer to typical.

My father-in-law will be arriving next Saturday for a 5 and a half month visit. All along I have planned on buying him visitor's medical insurance. He is 64 years old, I am trying to decide between two policies 1. For ~$1000 I can but a policy with an intiial $1000 deductible, a 10% co-pay up to $5000 and then 100% up to a max benefit to $500,000 2 For ~$700, I can buy a policy with an initial $5000 deductible, then 100% to $500,000 Here is my question, has anyone ever bought one of these policies and tried to use them. They both have a pre-existing condition exclusion and I suspect for any type of routine care they would argue it was pre-existing. Just writing out the cost, the first policy seems to make more sense if you can actually use it for routine care So ultimately, this would be only for an accident or something like a heart attack. Looking if anyone has had experience with buying this type of medical insurance and whether it is good for anything but true catastrophic care. A Chinese friend actually told me he does not buy anything because if needed, you go to the emergency room and ultimately my wife and I would not be responsible for my father-in-law's medical bills. However, if the need arises I believe my father-in-law would get better care if he had some form of insurance. Thoughts?

I would go ahead and book a cancelleable hotel reservation for your intended dates. I understand your frustration with the inconsistency but it shouldn't cost you any money.

My wife is an excellent cook: 1. Coke Chicken Wings (though she uses Pepsi) 2. Not sure what it is called but Pork breaded in potato flour. 3. Shrimp in Green Tea 4. She also makes a mean bibimbap which is actually Korean

If you are feeling adventurous and do not have too much luggage, you can take the subway all the way from Hongqiao to Pudong, it takes about an hour and a half. It will set you back 8 RMB. The subway is cosigned in English and it is Line 2 the entire way. http://www.shmetro.com/node155/node158/201004/con103685.htm ETA: looking at the link for your hotel, it right on the Maglev line, if you get off at the Longyang station on Line 2, you can then take the Maglev, the Maglev is pricey but pretty cool and worth it in my opinion, they would cut down your travel time by a lot.

This is what my wife supplied. It makes no mention of the hospital. As a matter of fact, I am not sure my wife was even born in a hospital.

It is funny how things can change in China depending on the day of the week. We got married in the same marriage bureau in Shenyang though by late 2010 the office had moved. As my buddy described, it was getting married in the DMV. When we showed up I had the Affidavit of Marriageability both the original and a translation. They would not accept the translation and insisted on doing their own. The translation consisted of them stamping my translation. (in other words, they wanted to charge me for it - likely ending up in the clerk's pocket) Overall including the translation and an expedite fee, getting married ended up costing me something like 1800 RMB. Another friend of mine managed to do it for 6 RMB though I did get a a picture album :-)

This is not a definite site but this lawyer seems to indicate absences between 6 months and 1 year can be waived. http://immigrationworkvisa.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/u-s-citizenship-residence-presence-requirements/ It appears you might have a decent argument especially since it was just over six months. As he says, really all you have to lose is the application fee. It does not appear to bring about any type of ban.

I have only made appointments for a visitor's visa but when you make that appointment, there is a question about other family members who need to interview. I would think the immigration appointments would be the same.

Based upon other recent threads, I would seriously consider getting married when you are over there and file a I-130 instead of fiance visa assuming her divorce is already final Also, I believe both parties need to be free to marry at the time you file the I-129F which means her divorce needs to be final before you can file.

Nah...The Monsoons have started so now it is hot and humid :-(

Another one is Thermos, the generic name is vacuum flask. That is interesting about the Coke versus Pepsi, didn't know it was due to Coke protecting their trademark.

A little surprised she was turned down for the student visa in Canada, the other criteria for a US Student visa besides being accepted is showing financial resources to pay for it. Canada appears to have a tougher standard.

This is not necessarily true, my wife took IELTS not TOEFL and got into a US Grad school(MBA). TOEFL is American English, IELTS is British English, most schools accept both. Various opinions on which one is easier. Earlier, he mentioned she got a 6.5. That is what my wife scored though most people would consider her fluent in English (her weakness especially prior to grad school was written English). My wife did have to take an English preparatory class at her grad school but I think it helped her to understand what her grad school classes would be like.

I was thinking the same thing, You don't want to deny the relationship but I might have her refer to you as her boyfriend not fiance. Once they know you are intending to marry they might look at this as a shortcut in the immigration process even in DCF is typically pretty quick. Once you show the pattern of entering and leaving as per the visitor's visa, subsequent visas tend to be straightforward. Is your fiance a member of the Communist Party? The problem there is at adds significant time to the visa approval process and might flag her as higher risk.

So as I mentioned, my father-in-law successfully was granted a visa. My wife's cousin who we were going to have travel with him was not (Late 30's, divorced, no kids=denial). Couple questions about arranging Baba's travel. Our intention is to buy him a round trip airline ticket for a five month stay. I recognize that the Officer at the border has the final stay but if he can show the 5 month itinerary, is it reasonable to expect he will get a 5-6 month stay? He speaks no English, we will have to drive to LAX to pick him up. My intent would be to have a instruction letter in English/Chinese with our address/phone numbers. I may even try to fill out an example customs form for him. My understanding is the I-94 is now electronic and automatically generated. He will be on a Chinese airline direct from Beijing so he should be able to get help from the crew/fellow passengers. Do you think there will be any issues getting through immigration/customs? I will also be buying a 5 month medical policy for him. Any other advice/lessons learned?

When I just had this done in Arizona, they affixed a separate apostile page to my notarized document. The stamp I got from the LA Consulate was then affixed to the apostile page. My understanding is the apostile certifies that the notary is authorized by the state and the consulate certifies the apostile establishing a chain of legitimacy. The Chinese consulate to the best of my knowledge does not establish the legality of the document or suitability for any purpose but just that it was properly notarized. My wife ended up getting the documents then translated in China. This was for an apartment however, not a certificate of singleness.

My wife's cousin was denied in Shenyang, my father-in-law was approved rather easily in Beijing. Since you can pick whatever consulate you want to apply at, you might think about applying at Beijing next time. While one would assume that is shouldn't matter, Shenyang has a reputation for being harder than some of the other consulates.

Did the Immigration Officer ask to look at any of these? All my father-in-law was asked for was a copy of my wife's green card and a copy of her student ID (she is graduating) before he was approved. It appears it is getting much easier for older Chinese to get visa's to visit their LPR children in the US.