natrigon

Ya... but be happy you are not using the TSC ! Hang in there for a great journey. Louis

Well our interview is right around the corner, April 15th. The only source of stress is that we have absolutley no control. Everything has been checked and double checked and our pics/documents/receipts are in order. I hope like the last dozen of CFL'ers we have no problem. I did have a question regarding the K-1 visa: I will be moving to the Los Angeles area before Mei and her 17 year old daughters arrival for a new job and a city with some Chinese. After she arrives we plan on getting married on about June 19th. Thinking of getting married in Las Vegas and having the party in LA. Just wondering about the timing, filing and name change. Does it matter where we get married? Should we file anything before marriage? Etc. Louis

Best of luck!! We are right behind you, our interview is the 15th.

Dean, Does ESL = English Second Language? Assuming it does any contact info at hand? By the way how are you guys doing? Hope all is well !! Louis P.S. Ahh just found it but seems a little expensive, is this what you were talking about? >> Link' target='_blank'>http://www.unex.uci.edu/esl/stu_serv.asp[u...u_serv.asp]Link to ESL

Mari, Ahhh one of the questions of the decade. Why are some people processed quickly and others take longer or forever. I am afraid through the years I have never found any answer but..... ... your file is being processed, the petitioner or petitioners agent will be notified when a decision is made... or some other elusive statement. Seems like with the delivery of the packet to GZ it has something to do with the pickup cycle of the US consulate and then how many are waiting to be officially entered into the computer. Then they are technically received. Good luck and hang tough. Keep doing just what your doing, ask questions, send polite faxes and emails when it is appropriate and scour this site. There are numerous little clues all through out this site as well as a host of great people. Louis

Trigg, Thanks for the heads up but are you saying that for her ID you used her visa and passport? Louis

Moon, As for me I just keep telling my fiance that I feel good because the people here have given us so much info... confident that our relationship is true... a denial is unheard of in our position, and will not happen. Then I talk about what we should do when we are together. Then I log back on to CFL and scan for another hour hehehe Louis

you may want to consider just taking the plunge and learning the language. If I can get by you can to. Pimsleur makes a decent course.

FANTASTIC!!!

Welcome and good luck to you both!!!

Hello all, Wow!! our K-1 visa interview is rapidly approaching (April 15th). Thanks to CFL I think we are completely and properly prepared. Mei and her daughter have already taken the medical and received their paperwork etc. Now for me I just have to wait for the April 15th call.... "we are approved" Combine that with the fact that I am moving to California 12 days before their arrival and starting a new job 3 days after their arrival. Mei has a 17 year old daughter. When they arrive I would like to arrange for Mei's daughter to begin summer school for English. I have selected a great area to live. The high school is ranked 10 out of 10 and has a 40% Chinese student enrollment. I am hoping her transition will be smooth. My question is: Considering the K-1 visa what needs to be done in order for the daughter to qualify for school enrollment? Must we marry? Adopt? Put Mei's name on the lease? etc.? Any ideas?

Moon, Regarding the transaltion here is an exact quote from the official usa immlagashion defartment: " Official Translation Requirements: Effective Jan. 1, 2004 No documents need translation with the following exceptions. A) Any document that are requested by the BCIS, INS, Dos, NVC, GZ or any offcial or unofficial agency directly or undirectly connected to any and all visa either requested or desired by an citizen or a person wanting citizenship of this or any other country with the exception of region 1, 3 and 8 of the united states of America. To view what area's are included in what region you must gain access to the website that is currently not available. The website will operate every 17th monday, during odd leap years from the hours of 10:15am - 10:16am. All I.P. address will be recorded and negatively impact your request for a visa. If you do not agree to this it, sorry, it is to late your I.P. address has been reported. Documents that have an actual physical size of 8.490875" x 11.000025" or larger. Each document will vary with local codes and measurement devices. Measurements must be made in a city not convienent to you or anybody you know, or ever heard of. The documents must be measured on a Panteen Model JHG0876 (currently discontinued) , operated by a Middle Eastern immigrant or a 32 year old Mexican immigrant, in either case the immigrant must be in the USA illegally but posses a drivers ID card and be a recipient of aid in excess of $25,000USD. The documents must be measured in the USA, no more than 1 hour prior to the beneficiary's interview if in China or Russia, all other countries are exempt including hostile countries in the middle east and those labeled terrorist. Translation Requirements: A) Documents originally created in the country whose host language differs from that of the USA must have the above required documents officially translated into the native language even if they are originally drafted in the same language. You must aquire the from DS-23487 translating home language to the same language from. It must be notorized by a competent "repetative translator notary". Such official person must act without repute and emboss said documents with a seal currently not available which measures 2 34/56 and leaves no hanging chads when viewed by the official embossed seal investigator at your host embassy. The seal must be viewed at 80X dark field, cross polorized magnification corrected for both spherrical and chromatic abberration. No documents will be accepted if legible without aid. C) No documents will be accepted if the are completed in full. Any errors or ommissions will indicate lack of care, inability to understand simple direction and suggest your lack of desire to legally enter the USA. For a simple explanation you must visit the following site >> http://www.

Just my 2 cents: I understand a little about the Chinese culture and think it is very important to meet her family. I would not expect my wife (in America, China or anywhere) to marry me, never meet her family and then leave her country. Like others I would suggest going to China and spending some time with whole family. You might be suprised (like I was) and find whole new meaningful relationships with them. Even though you are suprised that she did not anticipate her families strong reaction I am suprised that you did not either. Try and put yourself in the mothers shoes. He daughter is married to an older man, from another country who has no desire to even meet the family and then will take the daughter far away never to be seen again. The mother is most likely afraid! I am not trying to be a jerk, just trying to share some of my experience, hope it helps and hope you at least get to China and meet them once. Louis

Trigg, My stomach just boils every time I see a child hit, threatened with violence or completely humiliated in public by their short sighted, unimaginatve and selfish parents. I know, becasue I have seen... Many parents over-stimulate the little kids, then they drag them all over the place (not in a car seat) with no nap and then feed them mass quantities of sugar. So when they can't sit still and concentrate in a store what is the great suprise? What is the answer, beat them silly? threaten them with constant beatings? tell them later they are going to get their ass beat raw? No the answer is that the selfish parent(s) should have: used a condom -or- made sacrifices -or- let the child have some quiet time -or- planned their day with the child in mind -or- ...... I don't know why this topic get's me so hot but it does. I was only spanked once as a kid. It was not effective, as it happened I was innocent and nobody believed me, nobody even bothered to listen to the evidence. After that I figured what the heck and caused a lot of trouble (just never got caught). To bad the hospitals don;t give out a nice little book on a few key subjects after child birth. How to put your child on a sleep and stimulation schedule (informal not strict). How to feed them, change their diapers and to let them cry 5-15 minutes before sleeping is ok. Also how to wake a sleeping baby during the day so your shedules mesh. How parents can survive without saying "NO" and "NEVER" in almost every situation. How parents can speak to a child like a human, with respect and not a dumb animal that needs a whooping or it will kill something. and finally... how to show them unconditional love!!

Frank, baddaboom!!! Way to go~ smooth sailing. Louis

A gambling friend of mine always says... "Food always tastes better when it's free". Good luck with your offer!

I hear you and agree. My point being get a place that I can afford a 15 year mortgage, or get a 30 year and pay extra. So by "fast track" I meant focusing on reducing the mortgage as fast as possible intead of using it as a never ending crutch. Besides I am depending on becoming a famous movies star in a very short time. I am skinny, bald, 43 years old and have no acting abilities or experience. Think about it... not many actors fit my mold so I CAN ASK FOR THE BIG BUCKS. HOLLYWOOD HERE I COME>>>> Louis or should I just say "L"

Dean, Way to go and welcome to your wife! I am sure you guys will have many more great eye-opening experiences. Congrats!! Louis

That's were the old Chinese system is still better than the "new" US system. For years I had money in the bak and owed credit cards. Sure they offered more credit because I was a chump. I busted my but and paid off years ago and use them damn cards only when needed then pay off in full. If I can't pay off then don't buy. Now after my divorce years ago I am in an apt. and moving to LA. Eventually I will buy a house and fast track the payments as much as possible. Cheap debt is still debt. I want non of it.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. One thing that rings a belll with your unfortunate circumstance is $$$$$. You mentioned you did not have a planned celebration dinner but you did give her family money for the wedding? I don't know the details but it seems like a scam for $$$. But if you don't think so get on a plane and find your wife.

How true!! But it all starts out early in life. When my kids acted out at an early age I would tell them... "later do you want to bla bla bla... Then you need to bla bla bla" They learned a cause and effect. Now I leave the chocolate out on the counter. My 6 year old son will ask me... "Dad can I have some chocolate" Instead of saying "no" I say something like "Sure after you bla bla bla you can have 3 pieces" etc. In my world I try and never say "no" to reasonable requests. The answer might be "yes, tomorrow after school" or "sounds like a great idea, after dinner we can both video games for 45 minutes" etc. If that is not good enough then he gets a choice. "you can have it tomorrow after school or next week... you decide". Occaisonaly I have said "or do you want to get in trouble?" But trouble has never neede to be explained or administered, luckily, because I do not know what it would be. It even starts earlier than that. But that is a whole 2 hour story. Certainly the 15 year old that demands this or that from the parents has been let loose at a very early age. I know no remedies for these situations because I have no experience. But for me, hitting, or worse, the consistent threat of harm is completely wrong.

I see your point but still don't agree with you. Children should be not allowed near hot stoves until they fully understand what hot burners can do. Same with crossing the street. But I do understand you concept for it would be impossible, say in China, to casually impress the notion of traffic and that cars kill... etc. I am glad that we agree on the main concept. Don't beat the S*** out of cute, curious and wonderful people just because they are kids. I find that kids just want to explore and expirement and that's great. I also don't threaten to spank, turn your ass red or break their damn necks (as I have heard in grocery stores around the globe). Never had to, never will. But some may still say... "your just lucky you got good kids".

Dean, BEST WISHES TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!!! Cangrats to all. Louis

Hmmm, I never hit a kid, don't think I could muster the anger needed to actualy strike a kid. My two sons are great people. There are better ways of correction than violence and force. I am amazed at parents that would strike a child. Let's say a child gets into a fight at school and gets suspended. So would you correct the situation by beating him? What kind of message does that send? Use violence to correct a violent action? When my son was about 10 he got into trouble at school. He threw rocks at some other kids and then mouthed off to the teacher. Later we talked. He told me 4-5 kids kept bullying him at school break. He told the monitoring teacher that he was being bothered and bullied and the school did not protect him. Then after the kids found out he told on them the pack was going to beat him. So he grabbed a handful of rocks and drove them off. After hearing the story I commended him. No reason for him to be beat. I also threatned to sue the school if they could not adequately protect my son, after being warned of problems be specific kids. Some of you may say that beating a kid does this or that. Well I never have and never will beat my kids and we have good kids. Some of you will say that I am just lucky. To those of you who may say that I have one response. My kids slept throught the night at any early age too. I know other parents that would drive their kids arounf in the car EVERY night until they fell asleep. THey thought I was lucky to have good kids too. Kids will respond and adapt to thier enviornment. Good and postive is better than fearful and resenting anyday!

Wishing you both a happy healthy and properous future. Louis