yemmie

Hey Guys, I have been missing in action for long time. I am resurfacing now to ask a question. My stepson is currently living and working in China for a business private equity firm. It performs mergers and acquisitions. He is always on the look-out for good investment opportunities. Lately, he has come to believe that now is a really good time to invest in residential rental property in Wuhan, China. The idea is to put down a reasonable down payment for the home, and then rent it out for a while to pay down the mortgage. I am on the fence about this for a few reasons: 1. I want to feel reasonable confidence that I will make on the investment. 2. I want to be sure of the ownership. I have heard and read that getting clear title on property can be a really tricky business, especially for a westerner. I have not actually looked at any properties. This idea is truly in its infancy. I know that some of you have invested in Chinese properties in the past, so I am interested in benefitting from your experience. Thanks, Yemmie

Thank you. I am sorry I am right, but I am glad that I still am able to read and understand what I have read correctly.

Hi all, I have a couple of tricky questions. First a little background. Wife and her son came to US in 2008. He just barely made it, got permanent residence with condition in May 20009 just before he turned 21 in September. Then, they both removed conditions on schedule, no problems. He enrolled in College here, graduated in May 2014. Problems: Each year, he went back to China for about one month during Christmas break. He also went back during Summer at least one of those years. We did some calculating, and he still did seem to qualify for continuous permanent resident and continuous physical presence at the time of his graduation, but he went back to China for an internship around July 31, 2014. The internship led to a permanent full time job for a Chinese Investment Bank. We did have the foresight to apply for a 2 year re-entry permit on his green card and it was approved. Now, however, he and his mother are talking about him applying for naturalization. And, they even want him to do it in Hong Kong. As I read the guidelines, he does not qualify for citizenship now because he broke the continuous physical presence rule (30 months immediately preceding application) so he will have to start over when he returns and stay here continuously (more or less) for another 5 years. Finally, even if he did qualify, I have not found anything about applying for naturalization in Hong Kong. My wife is not a citizen either. Am I understanding all of this correctly?

Hi Everyone, I know this may be a bit far afield, but I have a question that I have been unable to find an answer to. Has anyone here had any experience with GI2C (Get Into China) recruitment company. My Stepson just graduated from UVA McIntire School of Commerce. He studied Finance and Information Technology. He is very interested in investment banking, private equity, and corporate finance. Since he is now fluent in Mandarin and facile in English, we determined that he should capitalize on these strengths by seeking a job with a multinational company. During out searches we discovered GI2C, contacted them, and they say they have found him an unpaid internship with China Bridge Capital. I have done some research to see if these two companies are legit (am still checking them out), but I wondered if anyone here has had any dealings with either of them. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. We are a little worried that one or both of them may be fraudulent.

Hi, Still working on getting a visitor visa for my wife's parents.I have read everything here and it has been extremely helpful, but I still do not quite understand one thing. On the first post, under supporting documents, under inviters: What is the notarial certificate of relationship? I have a copy (not the original) of a notarized translated birth certificate of my wife which, of course, states her parents' names. Would this be sufficient to fulfill this requirement?

Hi everyone. I know this topic has probably been done to death, but I am having a little trouble understanding a couple of things about getting a vistor's visa for my wife's parents. I tried to get my wife and son involved to help me communicate with her parents. He says it is her job. She leaves it all up to me. So, my question is, how much of this can I do myself? I know they will have to go pay the application fees for themselves at the CITIC Bank. Do they need two applications or can it be done jointly? Can I visit the Visa Information Call Center Website and purchase the PIN for them? Can I then call the Visa Call Center and schedule the appointment for them or do they have to make the call? Can the appointment be for a joint interview or do they have to be separate? I will work with my wife and son on gathering the necessary documents. Thanks as always to all the good folks here.

Well, this does sound very serious. Does anyone here have any ideas on how this woman can fix the situation and avoid getting into trouble? I mean, if it is an honest mistake, it seems to me there should be some way to rectify it without getting into trouble. I was very glad that I was there when my wife and son got their licenses. They did not completely understand the forms, but I was able to make sure they did NOT try to register to vote by accident. I explained/reminded them that only citizens could do that.

I will play Devil's advocate on this one. I taught both my wife and her son how to drive. He was a little easier than she was. I wanted to do it because. 1. I feel they needed to be taught in English so they would think more in English and could read signs in English better when they were driving. 2. I taught them a lot of their English so I knew their vocabulary limitations and could tailor my lessons to them. 3. They need to be able to communicate effectively in English for virtually everything in America so why not re-enforce their English while they were learning to drive. Did we argue? Oh yeah, but in the end, both of them admitted I was right and both got their licenses and have become pretty good drivers.

Interesting. It costs more to make than they are worth, but what will happen if we do away with them? Right now, if a business wants, it can raise or lower prices by a penny. If you do away with it, every price increase will be at least 5 cents.

Are you kidding? I do not think it would take much to kill someone that way, just judging by how much it can hurt if another person is even a little rough. OK, no further explanation shall be offered here and I do not imagine anyone wants to know more anyway.

My wife has asked me to write and ask if anyone here has any suggestions for advertising that maybe we have not thought of for her new business. She has recently opened a massage spa and has advertised on craigslist and back page as well as in our Neighborhood Association Newsletter. Thanks.

Wow, I got 32/33 or 96.97%. Of course, I was a High School History teacher once upon a time - an underemployed one (substitute teacher) - because I was too hard on the kids. You know, we cannot hurt anyone's feelings, competition is bad, and everyone should be a winner. Eventually, I gave up and moved on to other things.

"Yes Virginia, there really is a Santa...."

Here in Virginia, they did not consider my step son a resident of Virginia until he got his two year conditional resident card. The five months thaty he was here before that did not count. Therefore, he attended school here, taking ESL classes for one year at out of state tuition rates and inelligible for any financial aid.

I have another idea that I am thinking of trying on my wife but I have not done it yet. Years ago, when I used to work at a local book store, many women liked to read the skinny romance novels. I know they have very little value as literature and the vocabulary is also pretty low level, but my wife's vocabulary is very limited and American women seem to like them very much. We used to sell used ones for 5/$1.00. I have thumbed through them. Some of them are a bit racy which might not be a bad thing if it helps hold their interest. The grammar is usually ok, and of course the subject appeals to American women, catching "Mr. Right" and living happily ever after. Of course, if YOU are not Mr. Right maybe that would not be a good thing. But seriously, reading anything is better than nothing and will improve grammar and vocabulary to some extent, preparing them for better more challenging literature in the future.

Congrats. We too are celebrating. My wife and son got their 10 year green cards yesterday after about 7.5 months. No interview. Now we can relax for a while.

Well, in our case, when we first filed for K-1, we each wrote a one page letter. Then, when I wrote the evolution letter for the interview, it was a lot longer (4 pages, notarized)because we had first met in 2005 and were finally preparing for the interview in 2008. We used those four pages to document the progression of our relationship from first interest to "let's spend the rest of our life together'" to what we had been doing while we were waiting for the visa. Was that the right way to do it? I'll never know because no one looked at it at the interview.

This is so cool. I am so in awe of people who can do such things. I love guitar (and other instruments), play some myself, but have no clue how anyone can actually learn how to do this. Keep us posted on your progress. From what I have seen so far, along with your description of what your finished product will look like, it seems that you are building a beautiful instrument.

Thank you thank you thank you!!! I guess I got so freaked that I could not read the instructions. I worked on the papers for Removal of Conditions for over a year, really almost 2 years. I read extensively at the beginning, less so later on, very little toward the end, though I would skim material again from time to time. Anyway, if I read that in the instructions before, my feeble old brain forgot it. I did try to make the package as near perfect as possible, reading it again and again, adding new pieces of evidence whenever I thought of something that might help. You have reassured me that I did not ruin the whole thing by doing something stupid. Again, thank you.

Help!!! I just sent in our joint petition for removal of conditions (we werre originally a K1/K2, got Conditional residence in April 2009) last week-end. I had been checking the USCIS site periodically to make sure none of the fees had gone up again.I paid $505 I751 fee + $85 for wife and son biometrics for a total of $675.00. I thought all was well, but then decided to go to the USCIS site again this morning just to make doubly sure. When I got there, I saw this: Who May File Form I751 If you are still married, file Form I751 jointly with your U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse through whom you obtained your conditional permanent status. If you have dependent children on a K-2 visa who obtained their conditional permanent status when you did and they entered the United States within 90-days of your arrival, then you can include their names and A-numbers in Part 5 of your petition form. If the children obtained their conditional status 90 days after you obtained or adjusted your status or if the conditional permanent parent dies, they have to file Form I751 separately in order to remove their conditional status. In case you, the conditional permanent resident, do not file jointly, you may apply for a waiver if: You can show that you entered the marriage with honesty and good intentions, but your spouse subsequently died; You can show that you entered the marriage in good faith, but the marriage ended because of divorce or annulment; You can show that you entered the marriage in good faith and have remained married, but have been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by your U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse; or The termination of your status and removal would result in extreme hardship. In cases when you are asking for a waiver, proof to support your request will be very important. For example, a copy of you divorce decree or police, court or medical proof that you were abused or a death certificate showing that you spouse died. What Should You Include in Your Application to Remove the Conditions of Residence? A complete application package is important to ensure approval of your petition form I751 by the USCIS. The following should be included in your package: A completed and signed Form I751 A copy, front and back, of your Conditional Green Card Two passport-style photos for you and any children applying with you. Two completed fingerprint cards (Form FD-258) for you and any children applying with you. Evidence showing that the marriage is a bonafide one and that it was entered in honesty and in ¡°good faith¡±. This can include but is not limited to the following: birth certificates of children born to the marriage, lease or mortgage contracts showing joint occupancy, financial records showing joint ownership of assets, sworn statements from at least two people who have known both of you since your conditional residence was granted and have personal knowledge of your marriage and relationship. Include the Filing Fee. Once the application is received by the USCIS, permanent residence is extended for 1-year intervals until the request to remove conditions is approved or denied. This is a new procedure for filing on line. Now, I am worried because 1. we did not file on line and 2. we did not include any passport photos because none were mentioned in the instructions on the I-751 form, as well as all the other information that I gleened from this site and elsewhere. 3. I did not include fingerprint cards because, under the old system, they were supposed to tell us when to go get the biometrics done. But, as I said before, I did pay the biometric fees. Have I screwed up, or am I not understanding theis correctly?

You are correct, only if got green-cards more than 90 days apart would Two I-751 be filed. In your case I believe all that is needed is an extra Biographic fee. Thanks, I feel much better now. My wife will not need to mop slap me - at least - not for this.

I guess I am a senior member having a senior moment. Now, I am a litle confused. I am ready to file to remove conditions (i.e. get 10 year green card for my wife and her/our 22 year old son.) Can we include his name and information in section five on our joint petition? This is what I wouold prefer to do and until now, I had assumed that it is OK even though he is already 22. They got their 2 year cards about 30 days apart, so I should be able to file within a ninety day window that works for both.

It may be a good idea to go see one or two more doctors about this. You will find that doctors differ quite a lot in what they say can and cannot be done to solve such problems. A second and third opinion seem in order. I wish you the very best

Thanks guys.

Hi All, It is almost time for us to apply for my wife and son's ten year green cards. I am in the process of preparing our joint petition with all of the supporting documents. Question: Can we submit an affidavit from a married couple and let them both sign it since they both know us? Thanks as always.