rgranlund

7 Days Inn or Jinjiang Inn (e.g., Liwan Road) are fairly close to US Embassy and cost about same as Motel 6 ($34-35/night).

I received a reply from my inquiry to GUZ last week saying that our administrative processing is now completed for K-1 visa, and they will soon be sending letter of notification to fiancee to inform her how to proceed to obtain her visa stamp. I believe that they will be asking for her to mail her passport back. AP lasted 99 days (from interview approval on March 19 and subsequent change to AP status to end of AP on July 27). Medical exam was completed immediately prior to March 19 interview, so I believe the medical exam is still valid for another 2 months. From what I gather by reading, this part is relatively quick compared to the long wait in AP limbo. We still don't know why our case was changed from white slip to blue slip after interview approval, and we will probably never will. I do think that the Embassy staff are hard-working individuals; they just have many hundreds of thousands of cases to adjudicate. But I also think that our policy-makers should amend regulations to require that petitioners and beneficiaries be given a general idea why they are waiting and an expected time frame for resolution. Even though our case is drawing to an end, I feel bad for the many people who are painfully waiting in the dark, not knowing when or why or what next.

Link to Guangzhou IV Unit Website, Packet 3 (P3) & Packet 4 (P4), below: http://guangzhou.usembassy-china.org.cn/forms_and_packets.htm Interview will be scheduled about 3 or 4 weeks after Guangzhou receives completed Packet 3 back: Medical Exam/Vaccines may be done at: Shanghai International Travel Healthcare Center 2F. Bld 3,No. 15 Jin Bang Road, Shanghai Tel: (021)62699006/62697117 Price: RMB1100 for adult, RMB640 for child Interview is in Guangzhou only. Best wishes, Rod & Li

What does the average American citizen think of Chinese nationals? Personally, I think the myth of the "average" citizen is as mystifying as the myth of "national interests." Everybody is different. My hypothesis is that there would be a wide attitudinal differences among Chinese nationals along age, urban/rural, and educational variables. Of course, interviewing technique would be important. If you interviewed people individually, they would likely respond differently than if asked publicly. Also, it would depend on who was doing the asking and how the questions were presented. If Americans were polled on Fox TV about their opinion of President Obama, for example, their responses would merely reflect the bias of their conservative constituents. Similarly, the responses of Chinese nationals to American tourists would be biased by the "reporting" of media personality, Yang Rui, who recently fanned xenophobic sentiment on CCTV by bashing all foreigners in the aftermath of two isolated incidents.

You can stay at a 7 Days in for about $34/night. Book one within walking distance to Embassy & save on taxi fare. Taxi fare varies by 100% (rush hour is much more expensive). If you eat side street local cooking, you can get by rather inexpensively. I'm assuming you've paid for medical exam & vaccinations already. You will also have a small fee for the EMS Waybill.

Still waiting.... "Passed" interview March 19/20.

My fiancee said this is not a QQ site. It is a micro-blog. QQ user name and password do not activate it. I have not tried it yet. I recently read about how the Chinese government just imposed new security measures on micro-blog sites such as Weibo. They give members 100 points. Each key word that is used like BXL for Bo Xilai gets points subtracted. The government's reasoning is that citizens would only use these keywords if they were "spreading rumors." When their account is down to zero points, they lose their privileges and are suspended from using the application.

8 minute walk to Embassy from nearest 7 Days Inn for $34/night if you're on a budget--free internet & good value for the money. Taxis charge much higher rates during rush hour. Nice high speed train to Shenzhen if you're up for a diversion while you're waiting for your visa stamp.

China is very complex and constantly changing. Many young people idolize the West: just look at all the billboards advertising western name brand perfumes and T-shirts with anything written in English. However, many older hard-line Communist Party members, some of who may still remember fighting us in the Korean War, are very anti-American. My personal experiences are varied. My fiancee's son encouraged her to seek a mate via the computer. We were both wary, but we were both willing to overcome our skepticism and get to know each other deeper. I have found my fiancee to be very open-minded and brave. I view her as I would a pioneer who first came West in a covered wagon. Imagine how scary yet exciting it must be. It really irks me when closed-minded Americans make inconsiderate comments like: They just want to use you to become a US citizen; or, How old is she (assuming that I am a "cradle robber" which I am not). Firstly, China's economy is stronger than the U.S.'s economy. Secondly, my fiancee has no intention of becoming a U.S. citizen. Thirdly, we were both looking for loving companionship for lifetime with someone similarly minded and of about the same age and educational level. This being said, not all of my experiences in China were rosy. My fiancee would drop my hand and look away from me when we pulled up with one square block of her apartment complex (where we did not stay more than a few hours). She explained to me that "many eyes are watching." Even though she does not wish to hurt my feelings, she has her family to consider. How will her family be treated after she is gone? On the way back from my first trip to China, a Chinese tour group bound for NYC and Las Vegas, engaged me in lengthy conversation. My friend wanted me to know the meaning of meiguo, meaning beautiful land, and hence meiguoren meaning people of the beautiful land. I heard the "oohs" and "ahhs" as we approached JFK from above on a cloudless day with no smog to be seen. They were fascinated by the fact that we can own guns. My friend said that he wished he could shoot a gun. I seemed as if he viewed my like John Wayne. I applaud the efforts of President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to expand private support for more college students studying Mandarin. If we are to dispel stereotypes on both sides of the water, and we are to resolve world problems, we need understand one another better. My niece, Yuhe, studies English in primary school. English, German, and Japanese are the three most popular secondary languages. The same does not hold true of U.S. college students; very few study Mandarin as a second language.

I am truly sorry for what you are going through. We receeved the "blue slip" in the mail from Guangzhou 2 weeks after we were told we were approved and bought plane ticktes. At least the "administrative processing" is better than the "white slip" but it still very frustrating. My back-up plan is to move to China.

You really can't guess why Guangzhou Consulate placed you on administrative processing. They did the same thing to my fiancee. They asked for the same information as was provided on the biographical info & application forms: travel out of country, jobs held. My fiancee knew ahead of time that they wanted job/educational history back 10 years, so she submitted a formal resume with this information translated by a certified translater. Did not matter one bit. The "blue letter" that came in the mail (after she was told at the interview she was approved and had been hanging out in Guangzhou for 2 weeks expecting the visa stamp) asked for....(da-DA): a detailed job resume with work and educational history going back 10 years. Interview was 3/20/12. Blue letter received 4/4/12. Fiancee provided info rqstd by e-mail 4/10/12 (no repeat interview rqd). I traveled to China 4/10/12. Embassy told me that hadn't received it 4/15/12. So I sent them the time/date stamped file that my fiancee e-mailed to them. Then they told me (in so many words): oh, yes, you're right; we have it; it is under "administrative processing" with "no estimated waiting time." Fiancee had worked as an accountant for past 5 years with same company. Is the FBI now afraid of cost accountants!? You can guess all day long, but the bottom line is: 1) you don't know, 2) they won't tell you, 3) your Senator cannot help you. You just have to wait. We've waited for 2 months now going on 3 since the initial interview "approval letter." I asked the Customer Service Rep at DoS hotline how long I should wait. She replied, "until the review is complete and you get an answer." To which I replied, "What if it takes 4 years." She replied, "Then you have to wait 4 years." To which I replied, "what if it takes 7 years." To which she replied, "Then you have to wait 7 years." To which I replied, "what if it takes 11 years." To which she replied, "Why do you think it is going to take 11 years?" To which I replied, "If you don't tell me how long it will take, then how should I know?" Forgot to add: 1) I'd tell the truth (I suspect: the more the info, the longer it will take for background checks) , 2) Like somebody else said, keep it short and sweet, 3) Sound like you have a plan, even if you don't