wawster

Ok...thanks Randy. That's really good information! We'll talk to the notarial office in Changsha - that is where we were married. It is right next to the Marriage registry - just down the hall, and it's where we had all of our documents translated and notarized. Being a bigger town, they'll probably know what is needed. but when we got married, they recognized the civil mediation agreement as the divorce decree..the USCIS does not, evidently. I went to the link you provided...it says a certificate is available, but is there something I can look at to see if the document is the "correct" one? In other words, the one that the Department of State says is the correct one? If I can see a sample, I can send it to Yifang, and she can show it to the folks at the Notarial office so they will know what is desired. In any case, we will document the attempts and the responses...and see where it leads...keeping my fingers crossed.

and tsap...you always make me grin, man! I appreciate the smiles. I looked at just how many pages the chat transcripts would be...went to print them out. err...maybe not...they were not 500 pages....they were 2700 pages... LOL! and the free money...way cool! I'll take it! I have a WalMart near by...LOL! I'll send you the number there so that the Indian guy from our government can transfer it over! woo hoo! gotta love the government!

Well...a wrinkle.... The RFE was due to the USCIS not liking the civil mediation agreement for Yifang's divorce that was issued by the court. They want a different certificate, although they don't say what that certificate is. I can only assume it is a divorce certificate issued by the Marriage Registry.The problem here is that this type of certificate is only issued when there is a clean, tidy divorce, where the two people walk into the marriage registry and tell them that they want a divorce. If there is any protestation, then it goes to the court, and they hammer out a civil mediation agreement. So, Yifang does not have the type of certificate that the USCIS is asking for. She has the civil mediation agreement. She went to the courts today, and the marriage registry. The court in Lanshan told her that what she has is the legal declaration of divorce. It has the same effect legally in china as the tidy divorce certificate. The Marriage Registry in Lanshan told her that what she has is proof of divorce, and they do not issue the other document in the case of a court-contested divorce. So now, how do we proceed? What she has is proof in China of a divorce, and she's not getting something different (they say, at least, in the small town where she lives). The USCIS says it wants something else, and for me not to re-send them the civil mediation agreement. We're kinda stuck. We will continue to try and persuade the marriage registry that we need an updated divorce certificate. if they give one to us, it will be dated today, but should show that the divorce took place in 1997. We'll talk to the marriage registry in Changsha - I get the feeling that a lot of this trouble is due to dealing with the marriage registry and courts of a small, isolated town. But what if they say that what we have is the legal document, and no other is needed or will be issued? Any ideas of how we proceed from here? This has to be a fairly common issue, i would think.

Ok...got the RFE.in the mail, and it's not too bad. The USCIS is asking for a formal divorce certificate from the marriage registry. When Yifang got divorced 17 years ago, it went to the courts, and she got a civil mediation agreement. She says they only give you a divorce certificate from the marriage registry if the divorce was uncontested....clean and easy. If it went to court, like hers did, there's a civil mediation agreement that is hashed out and signed off by the court. That is what she has. But, I figure it's not a big deal. We'll go to the court and/or the marriage registry and have them make up a certificate like the USCIS wants. But this gives me a huge opportunity to give them all my relationship evidence now. My stack is about 3 inches thick at the moment. I have: -EOR Letter - a 100 page doc detailing my trips there, with tons of pics of us with the family and her friends, hotel receipts, plane tickets, train tickets, boarding passes, etc. - A listing of emails we've sent back and forth...several hundred -Support docs showing my money transfers to Yifang, and her pickups. -receipts for engagement ring, wedding ring, etc. -receipts for my Mandarin lessons, and her English lessons -Docs showing Yifang as the beneficiary of my retirement plan But here's the big question. Should I include all of our chat transcripts or just the listings of the chat entries for each of us with date and time? The latter is about 120 pages, triple columns. I imported the chat transcripts into excel, and extracted the date and time of each chat entry with the associated name of me or Yifang. This would give the chat logs without giving them all of our private conversations. If I use the full chat message logs, it's easily 500 or more pages....but the logs themselves are only 120. Thoughts?

LOL...Tsap...you continually give me a grin, buddy. Thanks for the advice. And yeah, I have a ton of photos with the family. Not sent in on the first go-round, but I have them now. I had either not understood, or misinterpreted what was to be sent in on the I-130 the first time, so the relationship evidence was pretty sparse. That's why I kinda expected the RFE. I'm including a lot of those in the doc I made, but maybe I should just flood the USCIS with pics...I have several hundred of us with the family. Also, I'm thinking to send the entire chat records instead of just the logged times and dates of chat entries....that in itself is about 500 pages or so.....

Well, I got the RFE that I was half expecting, instead of a NOA2. I'm trying to see this as a blessing in disguise... The problem is, the USCIS won't tell you online what the RFE is for - you have to wait for the letter to show up in your mailbox. With that being the case, it spawns a few questions. I expect that they're easy to answer. I have prepared a goodly amount of relationship evidence with my wife. 2 trips there so far, with all the associate plane tickets, boarding passes, hotel receipts, and a lot of pictures. I've put those all in a lengthy doc that tells the story of the visits and time with the family. I've written a EOR letter, and have a year's worth of chat records, email records, money transfer records, etc. I'm hoping that I can send these in with the response for the RFE. But what if the RFE is for something completely unrelated to relationship evidence? Let's say, for sake of argument, that the RFE is due to a hiccup on Yifang's passport photos or some-such. Would I still be able to send in all the additional relationship evidence along with the requested item and have it be accepted? Secondly, once this evidence and/or requested info is sent, does anyone know if they look at it right away, or if we sit for another 5-6 months in the queue? My cheetohs are running low...might have to switch to shots of bourbon...LOL Thanks folks!

Congrats Mike! One more speedbump overcome! Best of luck on the interview! Warren

Congrats buddy! Thanks for the write-up. It'll definitely help guys like me who aren't quite at that stage yet. I've got this bookmarked underf "Need to know info"!

Congratulations, Doug! Such a great peice of news! Feels good to finally take a breath, eh? Warren

Hang tough buddy! Lot's of us here supressing the groans of frustration at the wait times and the slowly turning wheels Even us noobs. (tossing ya the bag of Cheetos) Have faiith.

Just had to add a bit.... I've learned a lot so far here. I've gone from believing the "5 to 7 months" story first given to me, to being somewhat educated in the process now. I know it's likely to take a year or so, and if I'm really lucky, Yifang will be here before the end of this year. I've made a lot of initial mistakes that I can't fix now, such as not including all my pics, emails, tickets, and other bona fiide info in the initial packet....but at least I know what they are, and I can get all of that info together when and if it's asked for. I know that the process is a slow crawl across the finish line, and anyone that goes through it has to be absolutely crazy for their spouse.....or they wouldn't do it.I know some of the pitfalls to look out for, and some of the things to make sure to do. And I know that without a place like this, learning all this stuff would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.So a big thank you to the folks that created this refuge for the patience-challenged, information-starved guys like me who had the incredible fortune to fall in love with a Chinese woman, and the who are adamant to endure the subsequent journey through Uncle-Sam beaurocracy land to get her here. Good things are being done here. Thank you!Warren

Put in my dime. Proud to be associated with folks here! And thankful that such a place exists for guys like me!

Hi There, I hope this will help. I married my wife last november. My wife is from a very small yown in the mountains of Hunan. So we had to go to the province capital - Changsha - to get married. the marriage registration office also had a notarial and translation office there - I assume it will be the same for you. We had to have: My passport My single certificate. For me, living in Kansas, I had to send to you my Secretary of State to have it authorized, and then had to send to to the Chinese Consulate in chicago to have it authorised by them. Then I could use it in china. I am sure your procedure will be different as you're living in China. Yifang's divorce papers. Her hukou. We had to fill out the forms in the registration office...they took some pictures of us, and then it was done - they handed us the two red books.It all took less than an hour for us to be registered as married. We went in the next room to the notarization office and handed them the red books, Yifangs divorce papers, and a few other things for her son. They copied them all and then the next day we got the translated and notarized copies in the "White book" format. That is just the booklet with a white cover that has the copy, the translation of the copy, a doc that says the copy is the same as the original doc, and a translation of that doc, etc...it adds up to 6 or 7 pages in the white booklet. I had them do 2 of everything because I was heading back to the US, and would have to do the I-130 stuff from here. The marriage registration is not too hard to do, buddy, and the folks at the registration office are kinda used to walking us poor americans through the process. They even had a chart for ne to fll out the forms that had English tips to tell me what to write and where, as my Mandarin is at a pretty low level. I was also pretty stressed about making sure I had everything in order. Listen to the veterans here, and they'll do ya right! as for the DCF....can't help ya there man....But these other folks sure can! Warren

Got my fingers corssed for you guys!

Hey Doug, Thanks for the heads up! We have my wife's birth certificate white book also, but she's 42, so I'm thinking that her birth certificate isn't of the new style, whatever that may be. BUT...she just got the white book, so maybe it's ok. When you find out what has to be in there, please pass it on, ok? I appreciate the FYI, man!

Thanks Mike, Ronnie and all! I've never been a "give up" kinda guy...just sits wrong with me somehow. So any curves thrown along the way will most likely bounce off my pointed noggin, (I'm not the best at dodging either!) but then I'll pick em up and use 'em for batting practice.... I hear ya about the GZ god, Mike, It's the part that makes me lose the most sleep. But I'm tailoring my thought process to see it as an iterative step...if the first pass fails, go to the next round.I'm hoping to be at that first pass mark by the end of the year. And holy mother of pearl, Ronnie! I can learn a good lesson of patience from you, dude! I bow to your fortitude! I can see this process is like most things in life...it's all about the attitude, stick-to-it-tive-ness, and making sure that you're as prepared as possible. And this place is loaded with the people, experience and information needed to be prepared. I have a plethora of questions...but I won't dilute this thread any further. I'll start new ones for the questions along the way, It's been really cool to start getting to know you all! Warren

Sounds like a plan! Got the chair, Got the Cheetos. And thanks for the ear! It's good to know we're not alone in this!

Well, this thread has taken a number of turns! From wondering about alternative immigration to who to pay! Lively interaction, and all good stuff. I must say I appreciate the participation and the viewpoints of all. And I must apologize if I touched a nerve or two in the process. That wasn't my intent, but it seems that there's a lot of folks here that share my frustrations, and a lot of folks that have put some good thought into possible solutions. I like the level of thought that I've seen here. But please don't let this noob inadvertently spin folks up, ok? As it stands, I'm (im)patiently waiting for my turn in line at the USCIS...to get in the line at the NVC...to get in line at the Consulate. I know it's the best route, and the one fraught with the least amount of risk and possible angst later on down the road. And I know that a lot of you have gone this route as well. Some were able to do a DCF due to living in China, but others are/were like me, and had to take the longer road. Hopefully that road won't be too long after all. But either way, the benefits of being with my honey are there, and will be within reach at some point. I just gotta maintain a level of patience along the path. Thanks for all the viewpoints, guys! Warren

Beachey, Very good point! it probably would take longer just to get the tourist visa! Carl, Also agreed. It's not worth the risk to me. I've learned a little since my original post. One of the Chinese ladies I know is not able to go home, and her 2 daughters are with grandma and grandpa in Beijing. She's been here about 3 years now after claiming asylum. She came here for the possibility for a better job and a better life for her kids (eventually). She has a good job and her court date is just about here. She's engaged to a nice fella, and they'll be married soon, (probably before the court date, and thus an AOS will be filed, I expect.) so it's kinda worked out for her...mostly. She cries a lot from missing her kids. But the fact is, if the possibility of the job wasn't there, she wouldn't have come. I don't begrudge her a better life, but it is maddening to have to wait so long for my sweetie, when you see others living here already, who didn't go through the process. And one of the worst parts is my friends asking (over and over it seems) "Why is it taking so long? Why doesn't she just come over here and stay, like all the rest?" *Sigh* Well, time is best spent now planning my next trip to Yifang, and trying not to look on the USCIS website every day.....I reckon I'll get the NOA2 in snail mail before I ever see anything on there.... Warren

Didn't mean to touch a nerve.....but it's good to see that I'm not seeing things, or that the behavior isn't just localized. I truly appreciate the honesty shown here. And I applaud the pragmatism and philosphical outlook. Yifang and I maintain it as best we can. When one of us has the screamin' mimis from missing the other, the other one talks em down.I had to grin at the "invisible mind reader" part....there does indeed seem to be a lot of that going around....but I must say - this forum helps to uncover a lot of it from the experiences of folks, and for that, I'm thankful. I'm in the process for the long haul. It may be fairly quick, or we may see roadbumps along the way, but I have faith that in the end, love conquers all. Sounds trite, I know, but it's an anchor to hang on to. We're trying real hard to just see it as an iterative process....if things don't go right the first time, we go to round 2...then round 3. Hopefully it'll never go that far. I also see the mix of cultures as an exciting thing, as does Yifang. We have so much to learn from each other, in so many ways. We approach it with tolerance, humor (a LOT of humor!) and as much patience as we can muster. If one of us reacts in a way that is not understood by the other, we've learned to recognize it....and we stop, and talk it over until we both understand. One of those discussions was about some folks coming to the US quickly, when we seem to be crawling. We both have agreed that we want to do this the "right way". But it's nice to know what the repercussions are if you approach it from another angle. I think we'll try ro avoid the chalk lines! Hey! I have an idea! maybe we can claim asylum from the US government! Would we then get free health care too? And I'm always up for a parade! By the way Tsap...ya gotta feel just a little bad for the goofball who's heading for a bad wake-up call.... Warren

Hi folks, I don't mean this post to be political in any way whatsoever. Part of it is venting, and part of it is wondering.... There's a lot of frustration with the process, as you know. There's the time factor, and the beaurocracy factor. But let me tell you what I'm seeing in my neighborhood. I see a good number of Chinese women coming here in my town, and they all come here the same way...they manage a tourist visa, and then claim asylum. Bingo...they're here to stay. I personally know a few of these ladies, and know OF about a dozen more. And here we are...going through the official process...and it takes up to a year to get our honey here. Kinda makes you grind your teeth a little. I don't begrudge these ladies anything, I just wish the official process for getting your wife here was a little more streamlined, ya know? *sigh*....ok....*Stepping down off of the soapbox*.... I know we're doing the right thing, and going the safest way. I just miss my honey s' all.... Can anyone tell me what the ups and downs of doing things an alternative way is? I don't plan on it, of course - I'm embroiled int he process already, but I'm truly curious... Warren

Thanks Dan! I think it's a case of information overload! There is truly a LOT of information here. I salute the poor buggers (ahem...you guys, I assume!) who try and organize it! It took me over a week of perusing the site every night to find my way here. As I've gotten more accustomed to the site, it's getting easier to find things, but at first...... Oh Momma! But at least some of the P1=NOA1 stuff is starting to sink in now. And I know where to go when i run across more of the acronyms! To Tsap seui - I don't know if the web page has changed, but there's no FAQ button in the center of the main page that I go to. I kinda had to go through the general discussion forum and then to the newbie links (thank GOD for the newbie links! LOL). It could be that I end up at a different place than y'all where I saved the page to get in, or it could be that I'm just a bit more challenged than the normal joe. Probably the latter. In any case - thanks for the help in understanding the plethora of acronyms!

Thanks for the clarification, Dan! Well, it looks as if I may be in for a long battle...but we knew this when we all went in, right? Maybe I'll get an RFE.....and can pre-load the stuff in up front! Gonna be interesting to tell my beloved that her husband screwed up! heheh...gotta take the lumps when they're deserved....

Hi folks, First post. (I hear the groans already!) I'm in need of a reality check. I did what I thought was a lot of digging before submitting my I-130 for my lovely Yifang and her son. (kinda) Short version.... I live in the US, she lives in Hunan. We met through a mutual friend online in May of 2014 I flew to China and we married on November 27, 2014 While I was there, we gathered a lot of white books, copies for both of us. Working through RapidVisa, I got 4 affadavits for the bona fides for the package. They reviewed and passed on the package. I submitted the I-130s in January of 2015 Received the NOA1 January 26, 2015 from the NSC. Found you guys on February 1st. I was under the impression that the other items I'm arranging for the bona fides were to be added into the package when the NVC gets it. I have a lot....Pictures with her and her family, emails, chat transcripts, plane tickets, hotel receipts, etc. that add up to a few pounds of paper. I'm also planning my second trip there in april or so, and plan to be there during the interview. In the process of writing a letter to show our timeline of romance! The worry I have is that it seems as though the one chance I had to put in evidence of a relationship was in the original submission of the I-130. This is the impression I get from reading a lot of posts here. Did I pull a bonehead move, or do I have the opportunity to add in this evidence later at the NVC stage? I'm starting to sweat now after reading a lot of horror stories! Any advice? (besides don't be a bonehead?). Experiences and direction gratefully accepted.