mai ke shu shu

My wife's visa was "denied" and she got one of those little blue sheets that tells you what you have to do next. The word "domicile" was checked with no other explanation. does anybody know how one can prove "domicile"? Is a rental agreement okay?

My wife's interview is 9/22. Faxed copy okay? Or should I have dear ol' dad DHL the original to Guangzhou?

They aren't reading this. They don't know how to read, nor do they care. You can add my name to the P4 wait tho it hasn't been as long as some of yours. Only 3 weeks or so. But we originally filed Feb 2003.

In fact, we just did this business, rmb to $$ just the other day at the Bank of China here in Luoyang, not the most progressive city in the world, and it was rather easy - once you know the routine. May I ask what kind of visa you have? If you have a Z visa, a little green book and a little red book (foreign Expert's cert and Foreign Residence cert) , you're as good as gold. Just take all of those items along with your passport and the Chinese version of your contract to the bank, and really, that's that. However, make sure it states in the contract that you are not liable to pay chinese taxes and that you can freely change 70% of your salary. Best of all, you get a damn fine rate to boot. If your contract does not state these items, just have someone type it out in Chinese and cut and paste into your contract, photocopy and viola!! it looks real enough for B of Ch. That's exactly what we did. Of course, if you're not fluent in putonghua, bring someone who speaks good chinese with you to the bank because the nice people at the B of Ch. didn't have a clue how to handle the transaction. Apparently, they don't see much foreign currency here. We had to tell them how to do their job. But really, they were nice about it, so it wasn't a big deal. You get the picture, 5 guys standing around scratching and fingering.... Once we told them what do to, we were off to Western Union with our new $$. If you don't have a Z, and I was on an F for two years, you can not legally change money, unless the rules have changed recently. B of Ch. didn't want to know me when i had an F. The "men in black", personally, I would never use them. Just too risky. I've heard of too many horror stories of people getting ripped off with phony, funny $$. Luckily I have a friend you used to get paid in US$ and if i ever need some, I'd traded rmb for it. Now he gets paid in euros, but I don't need him anyway. I just use B of Ch. HOpe this helps someone. I really like the idea of a mini bank!! Congrads on that creative idea. "Candle of Love Savings, Loan and Money Transfer, Ltd."

oh the notice of action reciept. got those. thanx. I knew I had heard of it before.

my gut feeling is that she needs to go by herself but then everybody is different.

Cool!! We'll have to get together when we come to visit dear old dad. He lives in the Rio Pinar section

Yes, I've heard a lot of this kind of depression and I think it's a little beyond "homesickness". It's more like really bad culture shock mixed with percieved abandonment. I stress the word "percieved". My mother has been warning me that my wife "Elaine" will suffer from this too. The way I'm going to handle it is to buy her a plane ticket to china so she can visit her family, friends, eat an oil stick, and a 1.50rmb bowl of noodles, ride in really cheap red taxis, ect. She will have had enough of that after two weeks and can't wait to come back to the states. Believe me, she won't be "homesick" anymore after that. It's like the pygmailion thing, you can't take 'em out of the ghetto only to throw them back, so they will return to you happy. So I concur with my mom. Most girls need that extra trip back home after about 4-6 months in the states and judging from the commentaries on 001.com it sounds like that's a good plan which, if needed, I've already budgeted. Most of those girls on 001 have little preparation for life in the USA, or more appropriate, outside Red China. I'm horrified that most of their husbands are not supportive, at least according to the wives. Or I should say, maybe they DON'T KNOW HOW to be supportive in this situation. Of course we are only hearing one side of the story on 001. But a lot of those women are miserable, that part is undeniable. Some say they hate the USA and want so much to go back to Shanghai or whereever. Some are put off by the cost of living, among other things. Everytime my wife reads this, and we are still in Luoyang, this scares the crap out of her. Some of these girls don't even know basic English. I'm shocked to hear this. They feel a prisoner in the house. They can't communicate, they can't take a bus or drive a car, or take a class, they can't do much of anything. I fault the husbands here, in a big huge way. Where the hell are they!! To busy with their careers I suppose. Is it no wonder that 70% of these marriages fail? My wife has great english, she's worked in international companies in Beijing and Tianjin. So she's in great shape and I have to keep reminding her of that. When we arrive in florida, I have made sure that she has a built in support system already. My mom, grandmother, my sisters and sisters in law, plus we are bringing her dog. They will keep her very busy. We will probably all travel around the USA with her for a couple of months or so. I'm sure there's some husbands thinking "how can I take time off of my job?" My answer to that is "How can you not." that is, if you want your marriage to work. Everybody is different of course, but I think you have to have some kind of plan, not just drop her off at the place of residence and that's that. Our first stop will be Disney world since my dad lives right down the street from there. If she's clinically depressed, that's a different story. I'm not being critical or a whistle blower, but if someone is feeling depressed, it's time to take actions. I am trying to give people food for thought about how to handle things a little differently and creatively. Personally, my goal is NOT to be a statistic and some of these marriages are already doomed because clearly the women are feeling resentful.

Oooooh right. Thanx for the heads up on that. I need to send either orignal or certified copies of documents. Since I'm in the middle of China with no consulate around me, I think sending originals to PA is rather risky. If her passport gets lost, well, Henan province does not like to give out passports. Between repeated phone calls from my employers as well as my father in law and myself greasing a lot of PSB palms we finally got it and I'm not letting the damn passport out of my sight. So sending the passport is out of the question. When they say "certified", is this something the local PSB can do, or do I have to make a special trip to The US Embassy in Beijing just to get them "certified"? Will a good old fashion Chinese red stamp on the copy with "This is a true, certified copy of the original" do the trick? now for a really dumb question, what's NOA 797?

Thank you Jim. It sounds almost too easy. We are leaving and coming back to China. Thailand is a really good choice. I even have a friend down there. From what I hear it's rather easy on the pocket book too. Maybe we will do that. Burma/Myanmar or what ever it's called this week. i didn't know they didn't want us there. I'm so upset. If the video from BBC is anything like the truth, then "el paso" on that one. I thought not wanting Americans was a DPRK thing. I bet my wife could go to the DPRK. I don't think that's at the top of her list tho.

I really appreciate all the comments and advice. Than you all. I didn't bother filing by 4/15 because, well, I don't owe anything and I ain't gonna get a refund either. I'm just a state owned university China hack for the time being, well below the $80G for the US and tax exempt in china. I"ve filed late in previous years (not habitually) and it was never a problem. It seems like it's only a problem if you owe $$, which I'm glad to say I never have. So I'll just fill out the w7 (thanx for the link) and send a copy to philly and one with my tax forms to my usual filing place of Atlanta. It's all starting to make sense now. It sounds like in order not to confuse IRS dweebs anymore than they already are and the w7 doesn't end up in KC, maybe I should attach a cover letter stating what's in it. (?) Oh, one more question for the tax professionals. I don't have copies of previous years 1040 forms here in china. They are probably in storage in florida. Does my wife need them for her interview? If so, can the IRS provide me with copies?

My mom will be happy to hear that she could sponsor a few more wives. I'll just stay here and start collecting. But don't tell my "da fu ren". Oh well, that's was the way of the Chinese world PCR (pre-commie revolution) The Good old days....

Oh, i didn't clarify a lot of things. Sorry. We are in China. She has a Chinese passport and has never been outside of China. We are waiting for a K3 visa. I'd like to take her somewhere before that. But on the subject you (MIchael) raised, would she be allowed to travel like a US passport holder once she has her K3? ie: Can she go to the UK or most European nations like we can without a visa? thanx a lot

I want to take my wife on vacation, a surprise spur of the moment thing. Does anyone know if there is such a country that will take chinese passport holders without going thru the garbage of visas and cr**? Or where I could get that information?

oh. okay. thanx Clifford for your eye opening help on that. So I guess Mom will be my cosigner. she has a $200,000 house as well as a $100,000 house, a volvo station wagon, some stocks worth about i think about $150,000. That's $90,000 a year? Did i do that right?