KevinNelson

How long after the I-130 is filed are most interviews at this point? My wife is a CPC member, though rank and file, no other. Her heart left the group long ago. However, she is an elementary school teacher. To change her membership by any means other than immigration would cause huge problems for both of us. Would that affect the timing of things?

Along those same lines, I spent the past four years as a student, with almost no income. I am now a teacher in China. I will soon be starting an accredited MA in Education - TESOL, so I should be able to later get a good job back in the States. I am getting my father as a co-sponsor in the I-864. Will my lack of jobs in the past create a horrible problem for my application to get a green card for my wife? (I hope to file the I-130 in January. I hope we will have the green card by June.)

I'm in China. All my W-2s and 1099s are in a filing cabinet in the States. I do have PDFs of my tax information on my computer that I can print out. Do I really need those W-2s and 1099s? Can IRS transcripts be used instead of copies of tax returns?

I'd like to go to the interview with my wife. However, I want to know some practical information. We live in Xi'an. To go to GuangZhou is not a small endeavor, so I want to make the most of each trip as possible. Is it easy to arrange for everything, including the physical, to be done the same week? What kinds of costs would be involved for the trip (aside from transportation)? We do not earn much, so we would like to keep the cost to a minimum. But we are both over 45, so we do want some comfort (a Chinese hard bed is actually preferable for both of us). Any realities we need to be aware of before going? (References within other discussions here would also be great.)

I'm planning on filing the I-130 about the middle of January. I need my father to fill out the I-864 as well as me. Part 7 requires the adjusted gross income from the most recent 3 years. Problem is this: Taxes for 2014 aren't due until April 15, 2015. W-2's for 2014 aren't even required to be mailed before January 31, 2015. Will I need to worry about the 2014 tax year? For my father, there will be no significant difference. The 2014 tax year for me would look better, but not nearly good enough to file without a co-sponsor.

Rawknee, what do you mean that 99% of the cases are decided before the interview?

Ah, somewhat along these lines... I hope to file the I-130 no later than the end of January, 2015. My wife is a CPC member. We have been married for four months now. My son is getting married in the last week of June, 2015. Is it resonable to believe that my wife will have her green card by the time we need to travel to my son's wedding?

I found myself very frustrated. The I-864 part II requires an address, presumably to be complete enough for me to recieve documents mailed to me while my wife and I are in China. The problem is, the street address simply will not fit. If I can use a P.O. Box, my address looks like this: P.O.Box 603, Chang'an South Road ... well, that could fit. But isn't the requirement for a living address? But my real address is like this: Room 17, No. 1, Foreign Teacher's Apartment Building, 637 Chang'an South Road I seem to be limited to 30 alpha-numeric characters. I cannot write Chinese there. If documents are to be sent to the address, I want to receive them. This is the first United States Federal form I have seen that was so foolishly designed. All others have two lines for street addresses, usually with the ability to put more information in each line. There are common abbreviations I can use, but those still would have me go over the limits of the form. So, what am I to do?

Ah, thank you. That is the information I needed.

I have a related question: I was told that the marriage documents had to be noterized, which I understand how to do. However, all translations have to be "certified." The Guangzhou office has been most unhelpful in helping me to understand what on earth constitutes certification and what precise legal language needs to be included in that certification. The last think I want to do is file my I-130 and I-864 and find out that the "certification" was unacceptable: The expenses of a failed application and two round-trips to Guangzhou would eat up two-months salary here in China for me, not counting the stress on my marriage. (I was burned in the States by the Chinese consolate in San Francisco wanting noterization... but the only form of noterization they would accept was illegal to produce in the State of California. In other words, they didn't tell me to go to the noterary public office in San Jose that was on the dole, but willing to break California laws to meet their standards. I ended up on Beijing to get my singles certificate, at a much greater expense in the long run.)

RW: This and another repeat of your earlier post were deleted. Seems like our board software is causing some confusion today for some reason (probably not your fault).

I have a related question: I was told that the marriage documents had to be noterized, which I understand how to do. However, all translations have to be "certified." The Guangzhou office has been most unhelpful in helping me to understand what on earth constitutes certification and what precise legal language needs to be included in that certification. The last think I want to do is file my I-130 and I-864 and find out that the "certification" was unacceptable. (I was burned in the States by the Chinese consolate in San Francisco wanting noterization... but the only form of noterization they would accept was illegal to produce in the State of California. In other words, they didn't tell me to go to the noterary public office in San Jose that was on the dole, but willing to break California laws to meet their standards. I ended up on Beijing to get my singles certificate, at a much greater expense in the long run.)

Okay... I am somewhat in a similar situation. I'm applying for a green card for my wife. I'm currently working at the poorest-paying university in China, getting only 3,700 yuan per month. So I need a "sponsor" or whatever the term is. Therein lies the rub. I know I need my father's help for the application process. Does he file an I-864 or I-864a? We plan on using as the established domicile as his home address, since that is where I lived before I came to China, and all my financial and legal documents are tied up to his address. I know I am a "sponsor." I am also a "petitiioner." But what is a "joint sponsor?" Also, on part two of the I-864, is that the mailing address of the person being sponsored (my wife)? Or is that our current address? Or my domicile address in the States? We live in Xi'an. In part four, it asks for our mailing address. Do we use our current address in China? If they try to mail things to the States, it could really delay things a lot. Also part four asks for my phone number. Do I use my phone number in China, which doesn't fit the form? Then comes the problem of finding out how my dad is supposed to fill out his part of the form. What information on both of our forms is identical? Is it only part 2? We will need to file ASAP, but from what I understand, I best have the I-864 from my father completed before we file the I-130 for my wife. We hope to get to the States by the fourth week of June, 2015.

Oh, another question. My primary language with my wife is Mandarin. We speak on Skype for hours each day in that language. She does have a receptive level of English reading roughly that of an American high-school freshman, but has little confidence in her English (at least she has a lot less confidence in her English than I have in my Mandarin. Would that pose to be a problem for the interview? (Once we are permanently together in about two week's time, that confidence level of her's will probably change, but how fast and how much is hard to say.)

Okay, based on a few of the comments above, I have another detail to add, as well as a few questions. Yes, she is a member of the communist party, but just rank-n-file, no leadership position ever. Question: Once she gets the visitor's visa, how long is it good for? Second, once the application is put in, how long does it usually take to get an answer? Another thing: She would be going there with me, not with a tour group. That may make getting a visitor's visa more difficult to get if she tried to pose as merely my boyfriend.

Here is the situation: I'm getting married to a fantastic woman at the end of this month, in ChinaI will be teaching in a university in China associated with a university in California.My wife has had her job for 15 years with the same work unit. After marriage, she will continue to work with that unit. She is an elementary school teacherI will most likely continue working at the same university for at least two additional years, maybe much longerWhile we eventually want to come to the States for her to get her green card and probably also citizenship, that is a plan for no sooner than three years in the futureShe owns a houseShe has a son who has just finished his second year in a university. He is dependent up her/our income for continuing his studiesShe has parents that are in their late 70s, early 80s.My father is 87She has never been outside of China, though she has had a passport for about 8 yearsOkay, that said, my son is getting married at the end of June, 2015. I would like for my wife to attend the wedding with me. Then, spend maybe a week or two touring the local area of northern California before going back to China, to sizzle in Xi'an. So, I know it is not impossible to get a visitor's visa, but not easy. Any suggestions as to how to approach things so as to make it more possible?

I have pretty much decided to go ahead and get this done in Beijing. I'll have to do a separate trip to do that, but oh well. But I do have the following questions: Is Beijing the closest embassy in China able to give that certificate? Does the certificate need to be translationed into Chinese, or does it already have the appropriate Chinese language within it? How easy is it to get from the train station to the U.S. Embassy? Will the embassy require any documents from me other than the appointment letter and my passport? Thank you

The same letter also stated that the $25 cashiers check was not enough. The amount they said I needed was $30, which is the amount required if expediting the process. Assuming the web pages are up-to-date, the person there at the embassy in San Francisco doesn't know what he/she is doing. Does anybody have phone numbers outside of the two provided on the SF website? (415-852-5900 or 415-852-5941) Those phone numbers are worthless circles of options that do not get me in contact with anybody.

I followed everything they said I had to do. I was told explicitly by the notary public that what the check form they sent back wanted done was illegal. The notary public called the State of California Secretary of State's noterization office. They confirmed what the notary public stated. The Affidavit As Of A Single Person, as designed by the PRC, does not allow for notary stamps to be legally affixed up it. It lacks the language required by California law for the stamp. Thus, the notary public attached an appropriate second page, noted the name and information of the relevant affidavit, witnessed my signing the affidavit, had me swear as to the athentication of the information therein, then sealed the appropriate second page and attached it. I then sent the documents to the Secretary of State of California for apostille/certification of the notary public. The resulting three pages of documents would be acceptable in most courts throughout the world, and most definitely within California and the United States. I am trying to contact the Chinese embassy in San Francisco directly. But all I get is phone menus. I can speak somewhat fluent Mandarin, but that doesn't help the matter one bit.

If I have to get it done at the U.S. Consolate in Beijing, then what things will I need to consider? I have already spent over $50 here in the State of California for documents... I'll be in Xi'an. Then I'll have to travel to Beijing for this... I'll be getting married to a lady in Xi'an, where I will then be teaching. I'll need to do a special trip to Beijing to take care of this issue. Is there same-day service? Can it all be done with a one-night stay?

I just got I just got back a note from the San Francisco consolate office, about the notarized documents. They rejected the documents and check on a list "There is neither a notary seal on the junction of the notary page and the original document(s) nor an embossing notary seal stamped through all the pages." I went back to the notary public to discuss the problem. Basically, since their document "Affidavit Of As A Single Person" contains neither United States nor State of California notary verbiage, it is illegal for the notary public to put a notary seal on that document. That notary public has been doing that work within a bank for over 20 years. Furthermore, she directly called the State of California office of the Secretary of State, in my presence, to verify that fact. (I had the documents already approved from the Cailfornia Secretary of State's office.) Essentially, for the notary public to do what is asked in Chinese consolate's "Mail Application Documents Return Note" would violate American law. I must have this settled as soon as possible. What should I do?