MarineClimateLover

Congratulations, Helen. I'm sure you're greatly relieved to have it all behind you. I know that my wife and I certainly were!

A lot of the cleanliness issues makes sense considering how filthy most of China is. It's hard to go anywhere without having to dodge piles of spit, kids crapping on the sidewalk, horrific air, piles of puke, thick grime and garbage on just about every surface outside...the list goes on and on. That's not even to mention the chemical, industrial toxins, that are everywhere. Take a whiff the next time you open your window. Mmm. Coal smoke and car exhaust. Where I'm from in the U.S. the dirt might make stains but it's not toxic.

We're also in the neighborhood - Andingmen wai actually. It's a small world! I love hanging out in GuLou and eating and drinking with friends, and the WuDaoYing hutong right between AndingMen Wai and the Lama Temple. I love this area of the city~ It's great, I agree. All of the historical areas within the 2nd ring road are nearby.

We're also in the neighborhood - Andingmen wai actually.

I'll add my own 2 maos here because my wife was approved for a visitor visa to the USA back in 2011 after being denied twice. The first denial was because we didn't bring photos of our relationship. My wife, for some reason, felt that bring them on a USB stick would be OK - like they'd allow her to plug a USB device into their computer... Of course - since she was confident about it I didn't press it and the expected result came back - denied. The second interview was ridiculous - the visa officer didn't look at anything my wife brought and insisted that she needed to apply for a K-1 fiancee visa - this was after we'd already been married for over a year...and my wife had brought our marriage booklets. She tried to show them to the visa officer. My best guess is that he had either A) been having a bad morning or B) saw that my wife had been previously denied and didn't want to put his neck on the line. The third time was the charm though. She went into her interview armed with bank statements showing 100k RMB deposits in a joint Chinese bank account (if you research joint accounts in China between a foreigner and Chinese national and find that they are impossible to get don't believe it. Go to an Industrial Credit Union or Bank of China and ask there. They both offer the service). She also brought English and Chinese copies of a name chopped letter from her employer stating that she was employed and had promised to return at such and such a date to resume her job duties. I also wrote a letter explaining the purpose of our visit to the USA and that I was employed and would be returning to work on such and such a date as well and that our purpose of visiting was not to immigrate. Overall I think it's reasonable to expect a denial. That can be discouraging but if you continue to try and modify what you show the visa officer each time I think it's also reasonable to expect that you'll eventually get the visa. One irritating thing is that for each person it's a couple thousand kuai to apply that is non-refundable including the time off from work, etc., if you go with your wife and her mother. I would be sure to include in your letter to the visa officer that your mother is sick and that's why you're going. For some reason they seem to sympathize with this. My friend applied for a visitor visa and was also denied twice - the third time he applied he included in his letter photos of his sister who had cancer, and who was the reason his wife and him wanted to travel to the US - and his wife was approved for a year long multiple entry visa. Good luck

Actually it's usually twice as expensive to fly. That's true. But even at 400 kuai for the hard sleeper train ticket and all the supra-inconvenience that taking the train long distance in China brings with it - I can stomach 800 kuai to be at my destination in a couple hours.

The easiest way to take the train in China is to fly. (And really, within China, it's not much more expensive.)

My wife took the gao tie high speed train from Wuhan, where she's from, to Guangzhou for her interview. It was just about 4 hours. The fastest we hit, according to the digital display on the wall in the front of the carriage, was 309kmh. Pretty decent.

Congratulations. One year seems a bit inordinate. Hopefully move along a bit quicker from here on out

Read this: http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/homeland_security.html - in particular the Immediate Relative Immigrant Petitions (I-130) You'll make your own appointment via options on the American Embassy in Beijing website. To make the appointment go to the navigation bar at the top of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing website and hover your mouse over the U.S. Citizen Services section. The first option in the drop down menu will be Appointment System for American Citizen - click on that. Scroll down a bit on the next site until you get to - ***To make or cancel an appointment, please click here.***. Once you click on that you'll be asked whether you wish to make or cancel an appointment. Click "Make Appointment!" That will bring you to a screen that asks what it is you'd like to make your appointment about. Choose Request notarial and other services not listed above. Which finally brings you to the calendar. Here just choose the day you want to make your appointment for. Once you've done that you'll be taken to another screen where you choose the time slot you wish to go and other personal details such as your passport number and name etc.. Then watch your email and go to the embassy on the date you've made your appointment for. A quick note - I just did this a few months ago for my wife and I seem to remember that the Dept. of Homeland Security, which handles the petitions, was only open on certain days and/or certain hours (I believe petitions were accepted in the mornings). I'd recommend calling this number 8531 3000 (I've never been redirected to a voice mail box even once during the dozens of times I've called over the past few months dealing with my wife's green card and our son's transfer of citizenship when he was born), during normal business hours, and ask to be transferred to the American Citizen Services. Once you're speaking to someone there ask what days one can turn in an immigrant visa petition. I'm also in Beijing and if you'd like specific help feel free to send me a message or just ask here. rw - corrected link (removed trailing goobers)

The conclusion of the entire process was reached today with the arrival of the immigration packet from the consulate with her passport which has a nice shiny immigrant visa in it.

We took it as well and my wife wasn't asked to show it. My wife's thinking was better safe then sorry and I tend to agree with her.

I'm glad to report that she's still among the living! Thanks.

I just completed a DCF I-130 petition in Beijing so this information is pretty recent. 1. Dan has good advice here (as usual). If you can show you have a job offer then it won't really matter if you put in unemployed. I had a job in China when I filed but would be quitting as soon as my wife got her visa so we could go back to the U.S. For all intents and purposes I'd be unemployed as well. It never even came up when I filed at the Beijing Embassy. 2. No need to switch your visa. Just having a valid residence permit for at least six months will suffice. One of the gentleman at the Embassy when I was filing had an F (business class visa) and they told him his visa disqualified him from filing directly at the consulate. He had to go back to the U.S. and get a new "spousal" residence permit (which is what I had as well) although a working residence permit would be fine. The six month rule is a little less clear - I'm not sure if it's enforced or not. 3. Dan is right about this again. When you petition you'll be showing proof of your relationship bona fides. My wife and I have a kid so that took care of a lot of it for us but we also submitted photos of our relationship, an evolution of relationship document, and an affidavit from several family members detailing what they knew of my wife and I's relationship and discussing the time we spent back in the U.S. when she went to visit with me etc.. 4. Proving the ongoing marital union, for my wife and I, consisted of the above photos (we had a lot), the affidavits, and our child's birth certificate. I would posit that photos of your relationship along with affidavits would suffice. The I-130 directions are pretty clear you only need one of the things they list although adding more, of course, doesn't hurt. Joint bank accounts can be opened. My wife and I have one at ICBC. 5. Can't help with your wife's visa question - my wife's was well expired when we applied although even if it wasn't there'd be no way of considering going to the States on it and then commencing with the immigration process. 6. I submitted the I-130 in Beijing in the middle of September and three weeks later got the notice of approval. We then sent in the DS-230 within a week or so and a couple more weeks after that we were emailed about her interview date in the middle of January. Almost exactly four months for the entire process from submission of petition to approval of visa. As Dan says above - take things step by step starting with your petition for your wife. After that things fall into place pretty quickly.

My wife had a very simple interview where most of the things that she brought were not even looked at. Questions were: 1. How is your English? 2. Would you rather we use Mandarin? 3. How long have you and your husband been together? 4. Where did you and him meet? And then a "congrats you're visa is approved". My wife and I split to Hong Kong for a few days to celebrate and yesterday on the train back to Beijing her mother called her and said the envelope with her passport and stuff had arrived and that they'd be shipping it up to us to Beijing today. All in all a very anti-climatic ending to a process that was very nerve-wracking. Like someone here says, "everyone gets the visa. It's just a matter of how long it takes." I'd say that's about right. Follow the directions on the forms and you'll be just great. All told, from the day I petitioned via DCF in Beijing last September 15th, or so until the visa was approved in Guangzhou on January 18 was just about 4 months to the day. Much faster than I had anticipated. So that wraps up the immigration journey for my wife and I. This has been and continues to be a great forum for people like me who just a few months ago were pretty clueless about how to go about getting my wife a green card. Thanks everyone who helped out along the way!