Nathan&Min

Hello, I'm not new to this site, and I just can't seem to find information about this: My wife is J-1 Visa 2 year rule bound, and so she can't get her green card until living here in China for 2 years (we arrived July 8th, 2015) When should I start filing at GZ? We would like to get to the states without delay, and since she is a CCP member (rank and file) she will need the extra bit of time to do a background check or whatever the USCIS does with that time. Could I potentially just apply right now and then have the interview next year, and then get the visa whenever the 2 years are up? Thanks Nathan

http://www.hooyou.com/j-1/j1_exceptional.html Please see above link. A few months ago back in January, my wife and I were ready to DCF in Guangzhou, and it was an exciting time. We then found out the hard way that she was under the J-1 visa (when she visited as a volunteer from 2014-2015) and we gave up on filing at that point in time and decided to find work here in China while we wait until July 2017. Fast forward till now, I am a recent graduate from a University in the US (Idaho) with a degree in Business Management and I applied for tons of jobs here in Shenzhen and got several offers. I accepted one and started on the process to getting a Z Visa (work visa) to work legally. The company is a mid-size company and the salary was enough for both of us to live comfortably here in China. My company wants to apply for the visa, and let me know that the chances of it getting denied (at their and my own dismay) is very high due to their being a requirement for POST graduation work experience in a related field of between 1-2 years (it depends on which city that you will be working in) My wife and I are getting low on money, and her profession pays little especially for recent grads like herself. This is not sufficient for us to earn a living, and we estimate that we will be broke by year-end. On a related side-note... we also cannot practice our religion freely in China due to government restrictions on our church. Would it be advisable to apply for the Exceptional Hardship Waiver? It costs 600 dollars (4000 rmb!!! enough to pay the rent for 3 months!) to give us a chance to leave China earlier and get back to the States in where we can both work, (and practice our religion freely) Please advise as soon as possible Thanks so much, Nathan&Min

Unfortunately, it looks like it is next to impossible to receive a waiver for this condition once you have left the USA. My wife searched about half the internet on the Chinese forums similar to this site, and everyone said that the Chinese Government will not issue a waiver once you have come back to China. I guess this immigration process has turned into a 2 year process now. Supposedly I can still go petition for her and just have schedule her interview around a year from now, and they can issue the visa for AFTER the the condition is removed? Any advice? Is there any expiration on the petition or should I just wait to petition at a later time?

A little background: We met in 2014 when she was teaching Chinese at a local high school (sponsored through the Confucius Institute/Hanban), and so she was on a J-1 Visa. We got married as soon as we got to China, and we are just living here and working. We were planning on doing a DCF in Guangzhou on Jan 5, but come to find out that she has 202e condition on her J-1 visa which says that you have to stay in China for two years before immigration to the USA. (This is at least what her previous US visa says, but her DS 2012 form does not mark or apply that she is under this condition of having to stay in China for at least 2 years before reapplying to go to the US). We could possibly get a waiver from the Chinese government, then apply for the waiver from the US Government, or we can wait out the 2 years, which is all the way until July of 2017. What advice would you give us at this point?

I think this will probably be my last question for now, as I am winding down on all of the paperwork, and just having everything ready well before the time of petitioning for my wife even starts. Notarization/translation of beneficiary’s birth certificate Notarization/translation of beneficiary’s hukou Notarization/translation of beneficiary’s criminal background check Notarization/translation of beneficiary’s marriage certificate Notarization/translation of petitioner’s marriage certificate Notarization/translation of child(ren)’s birth certificateI know I am supposed to go to the GongZhengChu with my wife to get these documents (besides the police docs which can be picked up from any big gonganju, and the marriage certificates which we already have since we got married in China) So my questions: 1. Do we go to any old Gongzhengchu in the province (we live in the same province that she is from, just a different city about an hour north) to get these aforementioned documents, or do we have to go back to her hometown? 2. When we get these documents, do they come "pre-translated" or do we have to take it to get translated? If so, where? I think this is the last piece of the puzzle documents wise that we need to get down, then I think our "documents packets" for both the petitioning and the intake day/interview will be good to go. Thanks all.

I have looked it up and most people have said that you explain why you didn't file. In my case I was being supported by my Church for those two years, and had zero personal income. Is this fine?

Sorry to double post. Had the toughest time getting my password reset. I just ended up making a new account. :shrug: