xiaohou

Thanks Randy W. I think the IRS has an office in the same building as the embassy where I need to get my affidavit of eligibility to marry.

I was born in another country but both parents were american citz so I'm including the FS-240. All the forms I'm doing are fillable PDFs so I'll just end up using lowercase, it looks like the whole form is screaming if in all caps. Has anyone else done a W-7?

Greetings all, I'm going to China again on Sept 11th (3rd time now) but this time we will get married and spend our honeymoon in the Maldives for a week. I want to prepare all the paperwork ahead of time, plus the W-7 form. I've looked at a few examples online for the I-130 and the G-325A forms but some are in all caps, some are just normal (first letter cap, rest lower case). What's better? My kitchen sink so far: Cover letter G-1145 the check I-130 G-325A both her and myself passport pictures copies of our birth certificates (with translation in white book form) copies of our divorce decrees (once again, hers in white book form) copies of our passports copy of our Chinese marriage certificate (with white book) evolution of relationship letter (I'll be adding more when I get back) 3 pictures from each of the first 2 trips there (I'll be adding 3 more when I get back) copies of my airline tickets and receipts of places we went to while I was there a few emails from day one, and phone records and a good friend of hers will write an affidavit to affirm having personal knowledge of our relationship and marriage. Shwweee that's a lot of paperwork . . . . . Thanks

After reading all the other postings from the links you provided to me. I will have to be honest and say that I am surprised that they even gave my ex the pink back in 2009. She's 12 years younger then I am, the education wasn't even close. She had even dropped out of high school and her english was very broken. Guess it's just a hit and miss for both sides of it.

Thank you very much. There is a lot of reading I will need to do over the weekend but what I have skimmed over so far, I think I will rewrite my "Evolution of Relationship" letter to indicate such facts. After all, my ex was 12 years younger then I am and she hails form Shenzhen. Sorry, don't mean to offend anyone but I just heard a lot of things about why young women moving there for certain reasons. My love is from Beijing, great job and her house is already paid off. She has no gain or real reason for coming to the US. Every day we always joke about Plan A or Plan B. Plan A is that I move there and Plan B is that she comes here. Both have good points and bad points, as with anything in life.

I was married to a chinese woman but after she recieved the green card everything thing change and we went our seperate ways. That was about a year and a half ago. In the mean time, I had a language exchange pen pal that I made friends with back in 2008. Only chatted a few times a month, nothing major. But now we became more then just friends. The relationship has grown stronger for about a year now and she was a lot of support after my divorce. I've been to China twice (Sept, 2013 for 3 weeks and Feb, 2014 for 2 weeks) to see her and even though she really would like if I moved there, I told her with my investment properties it won't be that easy so I said she could come here on the K-1 Visa. She worries about a couple of things. One being that we were friends when I was still married so she thinks the VO will think she was the cause of the divorce. The other is that since the marriage was so short (ending right after my ex received the 10 GC) she will worry the VO will think I'm marrying a 2nd chinese woman to do the same thing. I told her enough time had passed. All my papers are almost ready to be sent but she just wants to make sure we are not going to waste or time and money waiting to find out that she will just get the blue slip when that time comes. Has any other member here been married to a chinese woman only to divorce and then want to petition another woman from china or any other country about a year and a half later? Thanks

I met my special lady about a year ago, have already spent 3 weeks with her back in Spet in Beijing. I will spend Chinese New year with her again and will return again in May of 2014 so we can get married and spend our honeymoon in Thailand. When I return back to the USA in May, I will file the VISA, but I don't understand from all the outdated website that I've been reading where to start. Do I file the K3, CR or I-130? If I am reading it correctly, I can start the paperwork and when it gets approved, she can come to the states while she waits for some other paperwork to have an interview or does she need to wait that 6 to 9 months to have the interview in GZ? Is there a current layout of steps and procedures that I can follow, step by step. I'm hoping I can start to fill out all the papers before I head off to China again in May so if there are any papers she needs to sign or blanks to fill in while I am there she can help. Then when I am back in the USA I can send them in without delay. Thanks.

I live in a very nice quiet neighborhood with newer single family ranch style homes. Quite the mix with 2 different Vietnamese families at a stone throw, Middle Eastern family next door and an American married to a Korean lady across the street. Even have a huge Asian market just up the street. I bought the house as a foreclosure at the bottom of the market so if I rented it out, it would more then cover the cost of the mortgage. It’s almost paid off and I have thought about buying a 2nd smaller home for an investment. So if I’m abroad and didn’t work for a while I’d still have some money coming in. My job isn’t transferable. Even though I work in the architectural field and China seems to be in a building boom, I’m just a trained mouse jockey that punches out construction documents all day long. Any trained monkey ‘prolly could do just as well. Plus everything is in metric (shouldn’t be hard to learn) and the building codes are a lot different (might not be much). I’ve been to China enough times to see the glitz and glamour and the down and dirty. High rise apartments to die for and stayed at places that didn’t even have running water or electric and I shutter . . . no internet or phone signal. Basically, by my moving there, it’s not going to make or break me. She would have a harder time to adjust so I’m thinking of her best interest but then again, she really doesn’t have any desire to move to the US. She was born and raised in Beijing and that’s all the world she knows. She wants me to really move there so much that she has told me that I wouldn’t even need to work for the 1st year. Just take the time to learn more about China and attend a local college to study more written and spoken Chinese to become more proficient. A note for Dennis. I have worked with the Chinese organization here in my town for a couple of years. We have a very large Chinese community but 90% are of the upper crust and snub others that don’t have a house more then 3,000 sq ft or drive a Beamer or Benz. Needless to say, I don’t want my better half to get tangled in that mess of the “one uppers”. I know some men think about that trophy wife or “arm candy” here in the states but can the opposite be said for a Chinese woman to have a western husband there?

I have returned with a fist full of pictures and receipts. But the funny thing is that she really doesn't have much intrest in moving to USA. She keeps talking about and wanting me to move there. I had a friend once tell me "why would a chinese or any other asian woman want to marry a westerner and NOT move to the US?" It does help a lot that I have been there many times for business already and can speak some chinese so the thought of just moving there is picking at my mind day and night. Anythoughts, ideas, input? Thanks

Just wanted to give everyone an update. My plane leave tomorrow. Wish me luck. Thanks for all the feed back.

No rush at all. I plan to go there and have some fun and learn something new. She promised that she will show me the true nuture of Beijing. How to take the bus, subway, go shopping and the general area around where she lives. We keep flipping back and forth on the idea if I live there or she comes to the USA but we both are leaning to my relocation. That's why my postings keep jumping from one question to the other. I want to cover all bases for what ever plan works out. Plus I love doing a lot of research and reading.

Wow, awsome, thanks. And that's even cheaper then the one I found a few years ago.

A few years ago I found a website that had a Michigan "Go Blue" in chinese characters. I can't find it now. Anyone know where I would be able to find one? Or maybe someone here might know the correct way how to say that slogan in chinese and I can have a company just print me out one in the Maize and Blue Thanks

You proposed to her? No, technically I have not yet. I am waiting to ask her when I am there and we spend a lot of time together. I have even learned how to say it in Chinese for when the right time comes. We have talked about it but I have not come right out and said “will you marry me”. I think we will both know after a couple of weeks from my arrival. She has sent me some pictures of some wedding rings. Very basic bands with a little tiny stone in the middle. Said she rather spend the money on the honeymoon rather than a ring.

Thanks for the heads up on the correct paperwork. We talked a little more this morning about it and she doesn't want to marry till next year. Wants a spring wedding next year. So guess I'll be heading back again. In my opinion, smart gal, that way we are not rushing into anything or making a rash decision. But she did say she wanted to go shopping for rings. :-) Anybody ever ship a guzheng before?

Some people in this topic were talking about taking bets if I was to get married on my fist trip. Lets say if it did happen, when I'm back in the states and file for the K3 visa, would I be able to add her to my tax at the end of the year 2013? She has mentioned that she wants to change her name. I thought if she still lived in China, that she could change her passport and ID card before I file the K3 so everything matches. Just a thought, not a plan. Thanks

As tempting and as exciting it may be, I really want to keep my hormones at bay. Let my mind, feelings and heart really know what is going on around me. It’ll be bad enough that I will have jet lag and feel half-drunk for the first couple of days. Throw “love making” into the mix and that will really cloud my judgment.

I'll reply to a couple of postings in one reply. Why do you say "don't turn out the lights"? Oh, poor Fido. The only strange thing I was offered was stir fried rice with bee Larvae. I did how ever went to a market on my first trip to China and they had several dogs for sale (as pets). I took a few pictures because I knew people back in the US would ask that question so I would show them the pics and tell them it was next to the meat and fish market. I'll take the bet about coming back unmarried. As nice as it sounds, as hard as she might sweep me off my feet I still have to think responsibly. A little more info thou; she married very young, is 41 now, no children. Her husband had spent a lot of time in another city for work and picked himself up a younger woman on the side (sounds like it's very common there). She tried very hard to work it out but just didn't happen. She tends to keep quiet and a little shy. Said most of her co-workers don't even know if she is single or married. Her father knows a lot about us and has asked a lot of questions. I have a feeling that I would be welcomed into the family with open arms.

Being American, my views on the sex part is just a bonus, not a requirement. I'm very old fashion albeit they are even more old fashion. Heck I’m almost half a century old and can still count the number of partners I’ve had on 1 hand. I do see some postings here that stereotype a little bit. I have several American friends that are married to Chinese women and each one is very different and have different views. Most of them met while in college but a couple of them have even lived in China for a few years and that’s where they met their wife but once in the US, it’s a different story and they change. Then again, I’m sure my views will change if I lived in China or any other country for a few years. What I found most interesting is how close minded most American’s are. Like the first time I went to China everyone back here kept asking me if I ate dog or that marriages are still prearranged and even (gasp) still bind their feet.

Thank you all greatly for the advice. I will not mention the "M" word, let her lead the way and see what happens, but then again I also know that some women don't like a man that doesn't lead the way. Arrrgh women are so confusing much less a chinese woman. The reason she hasn't dated in such a long time was she concentrated on her job. So far, I haven't noticed anything that wouldn't make her unattritive to other people or other chinese men even thou she's told me that her friends tried to set her up on a date but she refused. Think I'll go with a couple of tooth picks to keep my eyes wide open, q-tips to keep my ears clean, some tape to keep from saying what I shouldn't say and bundling board. Think I'm getting off topic from my original post. From what I understand, if I have an L-VISA which is good for 90 days and if we did get married on the 2nd trip. I'd be able to apply for an extention? Unlike America where a person coming from another country on a Tourist Visa can not just marry and then stay. Thanks again

I've been to China a couple of times already for business and sightseeing, touristy stuff, so the landscape isn't new to me. I try to keep my head out of the clouds and think things through. I think she's smitten. When I'm at work, she'll want to have the webcam on just to watch me. She'll lay her head on the desk and watch me for a couple of hours before going to sleep. Very cute. She hasn't dated for 14 years so must be something about me that pulls at her heart. I've decided that it's not a good idea to marry on the first trip. Like you said, I don't want to rush into it. But if we do decide that it is what we want, I'll return to the US and finish up somethings around here, packing, storing items and such and get my house rented out through a property manager.

I'm sure I'm on the mark with her intentions. She has been sending me links to local schools that specialize in teaching chinese to foreigners. Said she'll let me study for 1 year and she would even pay the tuition fee. Wants me to be able to communicate with her family. I'll be going for 3 weeks, should be long enough to get a good feel for things if I really want to live there. The real question that I have thou is if everything is "made in heaven and meant to be" Should we marry on my first trip so it'll be easier to get the 2nd visa for a longer stay or wait till I return near the end of the year then marry and then worry about filing different paperwork to be able to stay. That's why I posted in the expats. They should have a pretty good idea on all the different paperwork that's involved in staying for a period of a few years.

Greetings all. Long story but I’ll make it short and right to the point. I’ve been on a language exchange website for a few years because I’ve always wanted to learn Chinese. I made many new friends all over China and we teach other about language, culture and traditions. About a year ago I met a woman that wanted to learn more English. We chatted on QQ on and off a few times about once a week. Then after the storm Sandy struck she started asking me if I’m okay so I felt she had some feelings for me. So it blossomed into more then just being friends. A few months go by and then she asked “do you love me”. Shocked I asked why she would ask but she said I never say it to her. I did and do. We’ve been texting, chatting online webcam and phone calls every day. I started to send her cards and even flowers. She started to send me small gifts in the mail but my birthday was just a few weeks ago and what she sent to me was a shock. She sent me a key to her house with the magnetic key fob for the front gate with a card that read "my house, your house, one heart" She wants me to move to China! She hasn’t dated in 14 years since her divorce. I think she’s very serious about me. I have a lot of questions for some expats if they PM, please. Thanks