Martin B
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Everything posted by Martin B
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I would definitely check his place out if it actually becomes a real thing. Though I'm not sure nowadays there are enough foreigners there to sustain a place like that...
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Always good to see you back in action Randy, hope all is good
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Complaining about the US potentially banning TikTok... How many foreign websites and apps are blocked in China? Hint: a lot, including (drumroll)... TikTok!
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We looked into this years ago. In short, it's very difficult, expensive, and time-consuming, and theoretically not even possible. Your best bet would be speaking to an attorney that specializes in international adoption.
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Probably for the best tbh. I don't blame him for the "short grieving period" people are hammering him about. We lost my uncle to cancer some years ago, he died two years after being diagnosed. My aunt said that with his cancer, the grieving started the day he was diagnosed, not the day he passed away. Though publicly advertising yourself as "fairly well off" is probably not the best idea... 😬 Really hope things go well from him though I do think it'll be pretty slim pickings in Nanning with his zero Chinese ability.
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Good idea Randy - wonder where they are coming from and why CFL of all sites...
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Happy Chinese New Year Randy! How are things over in Yulin? Are you guys doing anything crazy, or just sitting back and sipping some beers at home 😆
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I think technically it's against YouTube's terms of service to discuss ad earnings. A few YouTubers I follow have done so regardless, and Gweilo's earnings seem in line with other figures I've seen. However, YouTube ad revenue isn't what it used to be -- nowadays sponsorships, paid promotions, etc. are where the real money is.
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Haven't seen this here, but this story blew up in the past day or so: https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1858438/fury-china-tourists-pianist-filming-row The video is here: What an embarrassment.
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Good video. $500-2500/month in YouTube ad revenue. Another $500ish/month from Patreon. Plus some product promotions/tourism videos/junkets at $1-3k/each, and some other odds and ends like Buy Gweilo a Beer, direct donations via YouTube, and some small amounts of ad revenue from Chinese social media. Wouldn't put him the top 1% in the US, but definitely makes for a very nice living in Nanning, especially since he owns a home and doesn't have to worry much about healthcare, rai$ing kids in China, etc.
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Awesome to hear Randy - there's no better feeling than getting back home after a hospital stay. Take care of yourself
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Sad to see - didn't take long for him to go back to his old ways. Disappointing as I thought his channel might take on a new more positive direction. Don't see how anything happening in Taiwan affects him in any way whatsoever, and how he's even remotely qualified to do anything other than parrot surface-level talking points. Perhaps this is just a way for him to vent with everything that's happened?
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Good video - love to see this type of stuff from him. But even he admits how difficult it is to handle "real life" stuff in a place like Nanning, relying on someone to (honestly) translate for him.
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Here's an update: Looks like the family is already trying to squeeze him for money. He describes the "feeding frenzy" when family members "smell money" and talks about family coming out of the woodwork looking to shake him down. One cousin suggested he "donate" 100k RMB to a "family fund" (LOL), while in a previous video another family member suggested the house be titled in his brother-in-laws name which was a "point of contention" - YIKES. Gweilo is at a major disadvantage being a grieving foreigner who speaks no Chinese, isn't familiar with the legal system, has no guangxi, and is vastly outnumbered by money-hungry family. I think is just the beginning of his troubles and will be a first-hand crash course in the "fairness" of the Chinese legal system.
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Gweilo60 back on the streets in China: Couple of thoughts that came to mind: Hope he expedites his Mandarin learning, because getting stuff done on a daily basis is incredibly difficult in a city like Nanning without a Chinese spouse. I'm getting interesting vibes about the house situation. Seems like his the family is already trying to drive the situation (e.g. what to do with her remains, suggesting the house be turned over to his brother in law, etc.) The last thing I'd ever want to deal with is an inheritance in China. I've seen sibling relationships torn apart over 20k RMB as part of an inheritance. I've heard of judges being paid off. Foreigners getting screwed in favor of a Chinese national is also not uncommon. My wife specifically told her parents that she doesn't want anything and that her sister can take it all. Gweilo should be prepared to get screwed over and ready to find a rental, despite being totally in the clear. Hopefully it doesn't happen, but the chance ain't 0%. Wonder if Gweilo ends up moving to a different city. My wife is from a city similar to Nanning and while it's fun to be there with her for a couple weeks, there's just not that much to do as a single foreigner. Especially since Gweilo is functionally a tourist in Nanning and not working or going to school. I would much rather live in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Shanghai or even other smaller cities like Chengdu, Suzhou, etc. Maybe even branch out to Hong Kong or Bangkok. Once he has time to heal, it'll be interesting to see where he goes.
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You should be 100% fine. In fact, you should have been fine during your first interview since her case clearly meets one of the exemptions. This is the big reason why we always took an attorney with us to any USCIS interview - not because we weren't sure, but to make sure the USCIS interviewer was fully aware. Wasn't an issue at all in either her I485 or N400 interview.
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She wrote a letter with her original I-485 application that explained the situation (she only joined for work, never actually used any of the benefits, stopped paying dues in 2014, formally quit in 2017). She re-submitted the same exact letter with her N400 application. So basically they took her word for it.
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A major step in the right direction: https://www.reuters.com/world/china-eases-visa-application-us-tourists-2023-12-30/ In particular: Tourist visa applicants in the U.S. will no longer need to submit air ticket bookings, hotel reservations or an invitation letter, the embassy's notice said. There was also a lot of gamesmanship around this requirement (e.g. booking refundable tickets and cancelling hotel reservations) anyways. Hopefully the US gets added to the visa-free list down the road (VERY useful now that my wife naturalized) but I wouldn't count on it.
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Thanks Dan, Happy New Year to everyone!!
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Having Trouble with Some of CFL's Features/Buttons?
Martin B replied to Randy W's topic in Site Issues & Announcements
Been having issues with paging through threads as well, on both Chrome and Edge for desktop. -
Didn't watch the video yet but my wife is from a similar tier city as Nanning and the though of staying there alone without her to help is nightmare-inducing... even staying there as a foreigner with her was challenging LOL
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Wonder if this could be part of the "immunity debt" - China was on lockdown, hyper-sterilized, super-masked for years, and normal illnesses are now re-appearing and running their course. The US had massive issue with RSV fall/winter 2022 after everything opened up, and smaller kids were hit the hardest.
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It's generally a pretty complicated topic. Even inheritances among US citizens can be tricky - adding another of layer of non-residents/non-GC holders/non-citizens further muddies things up. Estate attorneys make their big bucks on these types of cases, not straightforward wills. There are several posts on other groups and forums (like VisaJourney) about this. I remember seeing a post where someone got a massive tax bill from the IRS for adding his wife to the deed of a house he had already paid off pre-marriage. I don't think she was even a green card holder and they blew way past the gift exemption for non-citizens. Not sure what actually ended up happening, whether they fought it, or ended up paying it. One reason why my wife naturalized was so we can avoid all of these issues.
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You'll have to do some research on this but it's not quite that simple from my understanding and people have spent lots of money on estate planning attorneys creating trusts, wills, other arrangements in these situations. A 401k or IRA is not co-owned. There is an owner (you) and a beneficiary (your spouse). If something happens to you, your wife would "inherit" the account and become the owner. In your situation, if there were no tax for your wife inheriting the 401k or IRA, she in theory wouldn't even have to pay any US taxes on the withdrawals as a non-citizen/non-resident (she wouldn't be subject to the worldwide income rule). That's a big no-no from the federal government. There's a chance that Roth accounts might be exempt from this as taxes were already paid when the money was put in, but you'd have to double check. In your sister's case there was no federal tax because you are a US citizen my guess is the inheritance was below the exemption limit ($10-15million-ish). And my additional 5 minutes of research shows that a green card holder might be treated as a citizen for inheritance purposes, as they are subject to the same taxes as US citizens, specifically on worldwide income. Good luck.
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Hi Roger, not really super related to the visa/permit issue, but if your wife is looking to naturalize, USCIS is now processing N400s lightning fast. Things can change in an instant, however. My wife's case from submission to oath was about 8-9 weeks. There is a well-known China vlogger (Gweilo60) who was in a similar position as you - him and his Chinese wife bought a house in China before his wife naturalized, then would split there time between Canada and China using the Q visa + resident permit combo. Keeping the Chinese citizenship would make dealing with the China part of the equation easier, but there is always a small chance she'll run into issues re-entering on the US side depending on how long she is out, and if she decides to naturalize down the road, she may run into issues with the continuous residence requirement. Naturalizing now avoids that. There are some other benefits as well (e.g. taxes when leaving estate to a non-citizen spouse).
