Beachey

Hopefully this question won't matter but from what date does the extension letter extend the green card one year? NOA1 date? Green Card expiration date?

When my wife was flying back home last night, the TSA officer told her she should renew her driver's license as it was about to expire. She told him, yes she knows :-) Good thing license renewals are about $6.

I just sent in the I-751 for my wife. The big difference between the I-751 and the I-130 is typically with the I-751 you need to show co-mingling of finances and they want to see documentation representing the entirety of the last two years. This is from http://www.visajourney.com/content/751guide A deed, showing co-ownership of your property or a lease agreement with both of your names on the lease. Utility bills, credit card bills, and other types of bills which have both of your names on them. Since many utilities will only put a bill in one person's name, some bills in one name and other bills at the same address but in the other spouse's name serve the same purpose: showing your financial & social lives intermingled. Copies of actual credit cards, health insurance cards, or other "joint" cards that you have together, showing same account number. Car, health, or life insurance that has both of your names on the policy or the other spouse listed as the beneficiary. 401K or other retirement plan with spouse listed as beneficiary (right to survivorship is the technical term) Bank or stock accounts with both of your names on them. A copy of your joint tax returns. Tax transcripts from the IRS are still the preferred method. A car title or other titles to property showing joint ownership with your spouse. Birth certificate of any children that have been born to your marriage. Documentation of any vacations that you have taken, including flight itineraries, hotel bills, pictures of you together on vacation. Other family pictures of you together. Documentary proof showing evidence of your children together (Copy of Birth Certificate, photos, etc) Copies of Christmas cards and other holiday cards addressed to you both My wife is in the same situation concerning her driver's license. The letter they send will extend her green card one year and my wife will use it to extend her driver's license plus she will need to give a copy to her school to show she remains eligible to attend school in the US. Right now it looks like I-751's are being approved in about 5-6 months. My wife will then have to go back to the MVD to extend her driver's license for the full 10 years. (As a US citizen, my Arizona driver's license expires when I am 65). Your wife is eligible for citizenship three years from the date of her original green card. Like the I-751, the window opens 90 days before then

The same thing occurred to me, where this can be an issue is where she has family or friends in the US, often with a pre-existing business, where there may be the appearance that she wants a green card so she can come over and work. Thinking like an Immigration Officer, there are cases where there are arrangements where people are paid to get married to secure a green card. They perceive this as more likely if both sides are Chinese, fair or unfair.

When I was in China on an expat assignment, I paid for a personal VPN that worked OK. I ended up using my company's VPN most of the time because it worked much better. Now this is a very large technology company where we are required to log into a VPN whenever we access the company network. My strategy was to log into whatever worldwide geographical node was sleeping which did help. I also experienced the 8 AM to 1 PM slowness. As an example, a rather large group of us watched the Super Bowl ( which started Monday morning at 6 AM) over an internet connection. We had no issues the first half but the second half (or starting about 8 AM) the signal kept cutting out. If you were to work from China, you will find about Midnight to 8 AM is US business hours so you may find yourself working some of those hour any way.

How old is she? The legal age of marriage for females in China is 20. That wouldn't happen to be her birthday? Though I agree with Randy, it likely won't be an issue.

One other advantage is Green Card holders are elgible for federal financial aid the same as a US citizen.

What time does it say to report on 4/30? The old two-day system, the first day the appointment was for 12:30 followed by 7:30 the next day. I have seen some indication the new system is a single day.

Yes but there is a few year wait (Category F2A). If possible, the USC should apply even if the relationship is only as a step-child without a legal adoption. Family-Sponsored All Charge-ability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA- mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES F2A 15DEC10 15DEC10 15DEC10 01DEC10 15DEC10

You got the police certificate pretty early and you will likely need a new one before they issue the visa. I wouldn't necessarily delay sending in the other requested docs but would definitely plan on getting a new one while you wait to send in with the passport. Keep in mind the visa expiration date will be determined by the expiration of the medical or police certificate.

I am sure interviewing a man from Nigeria was a nice change of pace for the VO. Interesting that she still asked if he was CCP, definitely falls under the boss says we have to ask everyone. Congratulations!

The other thing to check is it is rated for 50(China) or 60(US) Hz. Most are but once in a while you see one that is not. I haven't found anything where that makes a difference. Of course, for a clock running off of the frequency, rather than an oscillator, it would make a big difference. The inductance impedance of an electrical circuit changes with the frequency, but I haven't seen any effects from that. I use 110-volt, 60 hz. chargers, a DVD player, VCR, scanner and other computer equipment, espresso machine and grinder without any noticeable effects from the 50 hz current. The 110 volt power comes from a 1000 watt transformer. I looked for a frequency converter when I first got here, but didn't find one and now wouldn't need it. Seems like it would be easy enough to design a simple circuit that would do the conversion, but the ones I found were all designed for industrial usage. When I was over there on my expat assignment, we brought a lot of equipment from the US to install. I installed a transformer that was designed to take 240 to 24 V but designed for 60 Hz only. I did not realize the 60 Hz only part. Shortly after installation, it started smoking at night enough that it caused an emergency call-out and one of my local engineers had to come in at night. The electrician told me some transformers are frequency specific. This was an industrial application and I agree most housewares don't seem to be affected (or are designed with the dual frequency in mind) though in some cases you may be shortening their life. It was a good lesson for me.

The other thing to check is it is rated for 50(China) or 60(US) Hz. Most are but once in a while you see one that is not.

This is what my wife uses on her iPhone, she is in grad school working on her MBA.

This is the Garmin I bought for my wife: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0057OCDQS/ref=oh_details_o05_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I bought it with the "sand-bag" mount: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OL2MU4/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 As others have said, you can set it to Chinese both verbal and on-screen though my wife uses it in English. I don't think the lack of street pronunciation is that big of a deal, "turn left in 100 yards is fine." The English pronunciations drive me crazy as the algorithm automatically takes the first consonant and vowel and makes it the first syllable. Friends of ours live right off of La-ke-Shore Drive. :-) A friend of my wife is the the chaperon for a group of Chinese acrobats who are touring the Western US going to elementary schools. She uses a Garmin (in Mandarin) and her English is pretty limited. It does have features that will give audible alarms when you go over the speed limit and if you are approaching a red-light camera but we turned it off because it becomes annoying. One thing that is slightly annoying is I would like to be able to set the distances in km while keeping the speed in MPH. It only lets you change both to either Metric or Imperial.

Actually there is a bug in those timelines. When you fill it out it out for DCF it defaults to the Texas Service Center even though you don't use a service center for DCF. (Actually not sure what Texas does as 99+% of the I-130 petitions filed in the States go through Vermont or California). So if you filter to Texas most if not all are DCF.

In the P4 packet, the number of the medical center is included for both Guanzhou and Beijing. I would have a Chinese friend call and ask if there will be an issue with a non-Chinese speaker going for the medical alone or if you will need a friend to come along to translate. Here is the list of approved medical centers http://photos.state.gov/libraries/guangzhou/47024/IV/Medical%20instruction%20_GIV-8_%20-%20Dec_%2011.pdf

You can send originals and they will be returned to you along with your passport+visa They want notarized copies as a way to verify that the original document has not been altered. I would prefer not to send the originals, any experience as to how to get this notarized? Is it as simple as a notary putting a stamp on the copy? Does my wife have to be present?

I just inquired with Oasis China Visa on this, they said they need: 1-Original Marriage certificate or a notarized copy. 2-Your wife's original Chinese passport or a notarized copy. 3-Your wife's original green card or a notarized copy. My Questions: 1. Do they really need Notarized copies? 2. I assume a copy of the White Book of our marriage certificate is OK? I am not sure if we still have an original (I have a soft copy).

If your wife became a citizen, the Affadavit of Support you signed is no longer in effect.

When we got back from China I got ITALKBB, it is our home phone and allows my wife to call her friends and family in China They also give you a Chinese number that can be called from a mainland cell phone and rings in our house. It is about $25 a month for unlimited calls. You can get a list of calls online. While Skype is a great solution, her father does not have a computer so the fact my wife can talk to her father anytime either wants is worth the $25 to me.

I would be careful about the B-1 visa if your wife really does need to go to the States wen your application is pending. The one guy I knew whose wife had a B-2 visa (visitor) had it revoked when he submitted the I-130. SInce your wife has a B-1 (business) visa, I would at least ask USCIS ahead of time if she can keep it before you apply. They are extremely responsive to email(DHSBeijing-CIS@dhs.gov )You may need documentation on the trip and possibly a letter of invitation from the business she is visiting to prove she needs it and she will be returning to China to finish the Immigration visa process. Other good evidence is if you can document any trips you have taken together, airline tickets or a copy of your itinerary, visa stamps with the same date, together with photos. here were about 5 of us who DCF'd when we were in China and you generally can get an appointment to submit the I-130 and supporting documentation in about a week or less. You will want to plan on having as much of the documentation proving your relationship to submit when you file the I-130. This is typically referred to as frontloading since Guangzhou doesn't always accept additional evidence. Good Luck.

No it has to be sent to the Chicago Lockbox. http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c67c7f9ded54d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD

My wife's interview was June of 2011. You should hear something soon.

Xian was my favorite place I visited in China. In addition to Bin Ma Yong I would recommend theTomb of Emporer Jingdi(we stopped from the airport going into the city), the city wall and Muslm Street which might be BeiYuanmein Street. Though nothing beats the Terracotta warriors.