lostinchina

My girlfriend has previously traveled to Hong Kong twice and Jeju, Korea once. She is from Anhui province. We are planning on going from China to Vietnam stopping over in Hong Kong for 7 days in each direction. On the way back from Vietnam, I would like her to try and get a visa at a consulate in Hong Kong to either Schengen region, Australia, US, or New Zealand. Which of these would she be more likely to get. Also, is it a smart idea to be applying for these in Hong Kong instead of Mainland China?

Update: We both visited Jeju successfully in August. No problems getting past customs. GF was allowed to stay for 30 days (we stayed 10). I think the only requirement was that the flight had to be direct from China (no stopover in Seoul, Busan, etc.). I remember reading in the news a few months ago that this was supposed to change in the fall but cannot find that article anymore... [Edit: found the article here http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/06/117_113875.html] We flew Korean Air and they printed out an "official" copy of her flight itinerary which they said she needed to show to the customs official. However, he didn't ask to see it. Total round-trip flight was ~US$500 from Beijing. Decent hotel + car rental was $90/night. This was a great experience for us to both take a break from China. Please post if there are any other countries you can recommend visiting with easy-to-get visas or no visas required. We really want to visit HK again but gf no longer has a HK visa so we want to fly to another country and transit in HK for 6 or 7 days visa free. Maybe it will be easier to successfully get visas now that gf has been to HK and Korea. Some countries we're considering visiting are Singapore, Taiwan, & Indonesia. We also want to visit Australia and New Zealand but it is probably difficult to get these visas.

I just booked my tickets. I'm pretty sure I wont need it. http://www.ias-12.org/sub/local_04.asp

Has anyone gone to Jeju Island with someone who holds a PRC Chinese passport? Before I book round trip tickets from Beijing to Jeju, I just wanted to make sure that my girlfriend needs only her passport and no visa.

I've been dating my girlfriend since September 2010 and met her while studying abroad in China for a year. She's traveled twice to Hong Kong visiting me and I've spent about 7 months in mainland China with her. I will be graduating college this December and want her to apply now for a B2 visa so she can meet my family and visit the US for about 2 weeks. She will submit the application this month and hope to have an interview in March when I fly out to Shanghai during spring break to see her. Her income is low (~3000 RMB/month) and she doesn't really have any major assets or savings. Therefore, I'm telling her to not even bring bank statements, etc. to the interview. I may have her bring my parents tax return to show that we can pay for her travel expenses. Besides that, I want her to walk into the interview saying (in English): I started dating my boyfriend while he was studying in Nanjing during the fall of 2010 and then visited him twice in Hong Kong during the Spring of 2011 while he attended school there. During the summer, we spent 3 months together back in Nanjing and Shanghai. Here are pictures of us: [shows pictures...] I want to visit the United States for two weeks in December so I can see him graduate college, meet his family, and celebrate Christmas with them. Here is his school transcript and my invitation for his graduation: [shows documents....] After two weeks, I will fly back to China and visit my parents and brother to tell them about the United States and my boyfriends family. [shows pictures of her parents and brother + my family...] If everything goes to plan and we're still happy together, we will then begin the K1 visa process so I can travel back to the United States hopefully in the summer/fall of 2013 and then marry him. Visa interviewer (hopefully says): Awesome, here's your visa! We've got nothing to lose but the visa fee. How's my plan sound? Please offer any comments/suggestions for improvement. BTW, I also have a thread from a year ago posted here: http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?/topic/43026-tough-situation-please-give-me-advice/

I booked a round trip flight to Shanghai for 8 days in March. We plan on taking the train to Xiamen to visit Gulangyu Island. While in Shanghai, I think my girlfriend should try to get a tourist visa for next December to attend my college graduation. Hopefully if she can visit for a few weeks, then we can apply for a K-1 visa in January or February once I find a job. BTW, I was able to get a round trip flight for under $800 out of LAX using http://www.vayama.com/travel-deals/ and searching for "Shanghai".

For 2012, I don't have a whole lot of free time to see her. I can see her for either one week in March or two weeks in May. This is because I'll be busy the entire year with school plus a summer internship. The nice thing is that I'll be making over $6k over the summer. These are the options I've been considering: See her for one week in Hong Kong next March. See her for two weeks in mainland China next May. Send her money to apply for a US tourist visa with her coming to the US for two weeks in May. I can only do one of the above. Obviously the first two options are the most realistic. However, I am tempted to at least try getting the US tourist visa. Worst case scenario is that we're out ~$200. As for the marriage or K-1 visa, I think I'll wait until next fall to figure that out. I'll be graduating college next Dec. and it will be much easier once I have a full-time job offer.

Is there anything I should be doing over the next year or so to prepare for a potential K1? I guess I'll start taking more pictures of us together!

Yes, airline tickets can be a wallet bitch... but check out: www.yiqifei.com I assume you know chinese culture that in general (please folks... general), that a girl does not bring a boy to the parents unless they plan (or intend) to marry. Your not seeing them is an indication to me that she is not moving so fast in the relationship (or the relationship is not defined that way; but in either case, she is not pushing it). In a way, I am saying this is good. She left her parents from Rural China to a city close to Shanghai... Is this a 'country mouse seeking a city life' ? Is she the only child? We have discussed this issue before here, and I know others disagree with me; but I'll say it again. The most obvious question to ask your gf at an interview is : "why did you not marry him?". And what will she say after such a long time together? To me (god forbid a VO too), it will not make any sense. Your age means you are *possibly* taking a chance on the relationship with a K1. There is really no long-term sign of commitment; if there was, you would marry. If there was no question, you would marry, etc. So I will ask you, but I am not suggesting you should do it: Why not marry her? If there is the slightest doubt/hesitation as to why... then don't file a K1 since they can smell it out. She has a brother and I did date her for a while before I met him. The reason I dont get married now is because I'm still in school and am dependent on my parents for money. I have an internship next summer where I'll be making pretty good money and then should have a decent job lined up after graduation (Dec '12 or May '13).

Thanks for your helpful comments everyone. After looking at other countries for some time now, my gf and I have decided its best/safest to go to Hong Kong again. We may also spend a few days in Macau. Hong Kong is always a lot of fun and staying at Lama Island would be reasonably priced. The airline ticket is the worst part, $1200, to see her for ~8 days. As for her family, I have met her brother a couple of times and we get along very well. He doesn't speak English but I speak a little Mandarin. She's talked with my parents over Skype but I've never actually met hers. Her parents live in rural China and dont even speak Mandarin. My gf sees then maybe once a year. David_dawei, why do you think my chances at a K-1 are so low? I don't plan on applying for one until the end of 2012 with hopes of her coming to the US in mid 2013.

Update: So we're still together. Everything is good except now I've been back at school in the US for 3 months. I'm trying to figure out a way to see her again. I was considering having her apply for a US tourist visa but the chances of denial are so high. She's already been to Hong Kong twice which is the only factor that might help getting a visa approved. I'm trying to think of a different way to meet up. Are there any interesting countries to visit where she would have an easier time getting a tourist visa? We were thinking about New Zealand for a week which would be fun (but expensive). What about Mexico? Does anyone have any insight on this?

Update: We lived in mainland China together for 30 days on my tourist visa last month. I've been back in Hong Kong for 2 weeks and will return to mainland China soon to start a 2 month internship before heading back to the states. I'll be interning in Shanghai which is a few hours by train to where she currently lives/works. Everything's still going well--but reality is starting to set in... Once I'm back in the US, I wont be able to see her for at least 4 months . I'm still trying to figure out what to do for my final two months in China. Should I start working on a K-1 or tourist visa for her? Its a pretty serious relationship right now. Last time I talked with her about this, we decided the worst case scenario would be not seeing each other until next summer. If you have any, please offer opinions or advice regarding how I should handle this.

After thinking about this for a while, I've decided I'm just going to wait it out. I'll be in China until August and will probably live with her for 30 days while I'm on break from school. If everything goes well during the summer, I'll try and see her in December or next summer in China I guess... Long-distance relationships are frustrating. Sorry for taking so long to respond back to this thread and thanks for all of the help.

Yeah, I've thought it all out especially since I've seen this scenario before. I consider myself to be the one in control of everything and she does respect me. She hasn't been demanding at all and hasn't once talked about marriage before. I'm the one who originally asked her out when we met. I also left mainland China last December with her understanding that we would probably never see each other again. She's never mentioned anything about marriage. She understands that I'm a student and all of our dates the first three months were extremely cheap (never over 100 RMB) with her paying for almost half of them. This year, I've visited her once in mainland China and she's visited me once in Hong Kong. After dating for 6 months, she's only now mentioned that she would like to visit the US. All things considered, she is a very reasonable person. She's met many of my close American friends (over 20) and everyone loves her. But yes, it is still pretty crazy to be thinking about my future in this relationship. She does have a job that pays decent considering all the benefits it includes (near free rent and free food) and extremely low cost of living. However, she has pretty low savings and her salary would be considered low by anyone in the US (although it is at least 4x higher than most people in her city). Here is what I've planned so far: She will be visiting her boyfriend for 10 days She will include in her interview package: Picture of her with her family (from her hometown) Picture of her and her brother (the city she lives in now) Picture of her and me in Hong Kong Invitation letter and itenerary of family reunion Employment verification or schedule I'm not sure if she should include a bank statement. Also, I plan on her visiting in December so she'll probably have to save a few months salary for the round-trip plane ticket.

Here's my plan: I'm going to have her say that she's visiting her boyfriend and her boyfriend's family is having a family reunion that she'd like to attend. I'll have my dad send an invitation letter with a list of planned activities for her to do in the US. See any flaws in the plan or changes I should implement?