natrigon

Good questions! I would like to know the answers as well.

Yah, the brown recluse is a very nasty critter. Funny Mei is scared of snakes and lizzards, very much so. But while in Sichuan, Dazhou I was having a shower at our parents house. Well I happen to look over and see a huge nasty looking spider on the wall about 3" from my shoulder. I slowly backed out, dried off and get Mei. I asked her about the critter and she waved me off. "Spiders can not hurt you" she answered. So I began calling the critter "Wifes bathroom at mamas house good friend". Now I am not a timid man but later when I had to cop a squat I was "very" nervous about "Wifes bathroom at mamas house good friend".

I've been real happy with Mei but it's time to embark on this next step. I have looked at the mess they want us to do several times and it seems real redundant. This weekend I have two missions: 1) Play some golf 2) Complete the damn paperwork. So hell or high water the pen is going to be scribbling away on all the forms >> 485-864-2001-2002-2003tax-029-325-94-797-693-765-k1-131-pics and whatever else. OK maybe I should reverse the order, paperwork then golf.

I think the fiance visa does only take 6 months. But what they don;t tell us is that they need to factor in 10 months of incompetance... so that's 16 months or more. AARRGHH Hang in there, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Louis

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It should also be on the I-94 stapled in her passport. The I-94 has one number printed on the front called a "departure number" But your right on the back there is a handwritten A# (wish I could read it).

Ahh, got it, never noticed that new number. Thanks :-)

THanks for the quick responses. I think we have copies of everything. I need to start digging through the boxes and re-sort the whole damn mess. Moving did not help my organization. Frank, What is the A# ? I looked on her passport and attached visa and did not notice anything. Is it a seperate form or card or? Other than we already recieved her SS# and have ordered the 'certified' copies of the marriage papers. As you all probably know they would not issue our 17 year old daughter a SS#. Hope you guys are well. I need to make time and get back into the chat rooms and see whats going on.

Hey, I am back form the dead... or should I say back to the living with my (now) wife at home IN THE USA. So she is here, we got married, I moved to CA. Upon arrival at LAX the immigration guy took ALL of our paperwork. My questions are? Who do I inform of the address change? The BCIS and DoS no longer have any record of our case or file numbers. So I can't get by the prompts and through to a human. Is it right that they kept all of the paperwork except for the chest x-Ray? How am I suppose to fill out the 485 and the 7?? without my paperwork? OK, any help is appreciated. Louis

Are you sure she is not saying "mobile phone" overseas they do not say "Cell phone"?

Hey there, I have not posted for some time now because my fiancee finally arrived in the USA and we were finally married!! What a long time but it was worth it. So on to your question. I think you do have time to begin to learn Mandarin and I would suggest the Pimsleur course. I bought the CD's and played them in the car to and from work. THen again at bed time. THe basics are easy. ANd she can help you learn as you help her. I think it is a great experience. Translators are ok. Like he said have her buy one in China and show you how to use it. One more suggestions regarding babelfish. Use very short sentences with no commas or punctuation. Translate into simplified than back into english...can you still read it? If not change the words until you can go from english to simplified chinese back to english. THis will help alot but still you may want to say... " You fill my heart with joy " and the translation may say... " Chicken heart happiness at you you resteraunt " Hahaha... Make sure she understands that the computer translation is at fault. Louis

Ya, I agree with Pimsleur. There are 3 volumes, you can buy them on cd or cassette. 30 half hour lessons per volume. Some I listened to 20 times. But I can now speak for over an hour and say about anything I want and my fiance can understand me (but not many others can). They are also sold discounted and used off the internet. Good luck, Louis

If you are going from HKG to LAX or SFO the absolute best service and most comfortable flights I have found are on Cathay Pacafic (www.cathaypacific.com). Then since LA is a major hub from LAX to whereever should be a decent price. The one way originating from HKG was a fortune but I kept checking and one day the price dropped to $700. Funny because they have a standing roundtrip special LAX or SFO nonstop (and round trip) for $599, but for one way they wanted over $1000. The main problem is to get the special deal originating from HKG I had to physically show them my credit card. Since I moved to LA no prob. Not to beat their drum but the nice seats, each with their own TV show many movies in both English and/or Chinese. The staff speak both languages and are actualy helpful. The one time I flew United it was like an act of Congress to get some service and then it felt like they hated me for asking for a snack. What a difference, I will never fly United again.

donahso, THANKS. That's exactly the suggestion I was looking for. Much appreciated. Louis

Unbelievable but true. I moved cities and began my new job today. Mei and PeiPei are here!! We are living in our new apartment in sunny (real sunny, around 100deg) South Pasadena, CA. So I tried searching for information. I came up with a lot of good ideas and specific parts of the next step. But I was wondering if there is a preffered method for the whole next phase of the K-1 process for California residents. California DMV turned us down for a state ID. They said must have a SSN if eligible. SSN before marriage or after? Marraige in California or Las Vegas? Change name at Marraige or ? Apply for AOS, EAD, etc before or after marraige and SSN? Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks, Louis and Mei.

babelfish works pretty good but I think the sentence structure also has something to do with the transalation. I tend to start with english then translate to simplified chinese and finally back to english again. If it still makes some sense I then use the chinese part for my email. Sonetimes it still makes little or no sense. But by now she can get the drift. Luckily I am just learning to speak Chinese. Later I may study reading and writing. Louis

Agreed. I bought the one way tickets here. Starting in HKG non-stop to LAX. No walking for her, lol. P.S. SFO is a little cheaper.

Yes Clifford, the sister was sent away by her work (probably to keep her from meeting an american who would take her away) Mike... Mei and PeiPei will land in LAX on April 30th!! Trigg.... I must admit that I had already bought the plane tickets. I know, I know not suppose to. But I had been searching for many weeks for tickets. The bad airlines (China Air I think) was at $600usd one way. The good one (Cathay Pacific) was $1,048usd non-stop one way. Then one day I looked and Cathay Pacific was only $610 and the seats were almost gone. So I bought them in advance. Still amazes me how the round trip originating in LAX is so much cheaper. Bottom line I don't need to put the beer down. Frank.... Ya, I thought she might have gotten the cranky windowlady as well. Maybe our files are pre-decided? Not sure, but sure am happy.

Hey all, Well my MM got to GZ and thanks to you all we were very prepared. Still and obviously she was nervous. Because there is some kind of business or trade fair in GZ the hotel are booked or charging a fortune. So Mei and her daughter had to stay in some flea bag (so they did not waste our money) for almost 400RMB !!! The room was very, very small. Neither of them could sleep because of the poor conditions and they were nervous about the interview. At about 5 am Mei asked her daughter "are you awake"? The daughter (Pei) said "yes mama" So they decided to get up and go to the consulate with no breakfast because they were to nervous. They got there around 6 am. THere were already 3 people in line. Shortly after a few people got in line. Then before 7 am they were shown in. Somehow Mei and Pei got number 1. They waited some time and eventually were shown to a window. Mei was nervous and did not notice the window number. She was greeted by a nondescript woman with brown hair. The VO examined some papers and asked only several questions: How did you meet? .... My sister introduced us. Why did your sister introduce you? .... Because she thought we would be good together. Has your fiance been to China? .... Yes, 4 times. Can I see his finacial information? .... Yes, here it is (showed 2003 W-2's, 2002 and 2001 and 2000 complete. Vo glanced at them for 10 seconds)). I see that your daughter custody changed in Feb 2003, why? (Mei had difficulty explaining in English. A chinese woman was brought in to ask and listen to the answer) .... My daughter has always lived with me. Only when GZ asked for the custody papers did I understand the ex-husband technically had custody. So we then prepared the proper papers. VO asks daughter (Pei)>>> Have you lived with your father recently. .... No, not for a very long time. VO SAYS>>> OK, YOU CAN PICK UP YOUR VISA TOMMOROW AT 4PM. The whole thing lasted about 4 minutes. She was out of there at 10am. Thanks for all the help and support and I hope my experience can help someone else. Lastly best wishes to Carl and his sweety for a speedy reslolution. Louis

Patrick, Ya I had two jobs offers, one in LA and one in a midwest town. Mei is also bringing her 17 year old daughter (my new step-daughter) so I opted for the job in LA were there is a good sized Chinese population. Real happy that you and Chang are doing fantastic. Congratulations on your May 1st wedding date. Hope all goes smooth.

Thanks to all !! I am sitting here at work standing beside myself !! It's 3am in China otherwise I would call Mei and tell her not to worry (haha). Well tonight sometime I will get the telephone call from GZ and let you all know more. AARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Hey way to go!!! Best of luck to you both.

Only one word comes to mind........ inconcievable!! My heart goes out to you. You are getting a lot of good suggestions. Stay strong and you guys will succeed. I also hope we don't get window 11, our interview is the 15th. Louis

Brutal situation! I know a chinese american lawyer in Chicago, if you want his name PM me.

Ya, good advice. I am feeling wierd because there is nothing left for me to do at this time. I really hate to be in limbo but only a few more days.... aarrrgggh. Clifford, Man I really think it sux that your file is still in Moscow with no additional info. I wish there was something I could help you with, this is one proposed bet I am sorry to win. I was really hoping for a tie. Best wishes for some progress soon. Louis