OT - sort of

[chinadave2001]

This a bit premature but I was just curious: Let's suppose that a year from now Sarah and I would like to invite her parents or sister over for a visit. How do we do that? Will we have to repeat this entire process, inluding name clearances? Or will it be simpler as it's a non-immigrant visa? How soon after Sarah arrives can we do it? Do we have to wait for a green card first? If anyone knows, that would be great. I trust your info more than the official government web sites.....

Thanks,

Dave

[skibum]

Try http://www.chat001.com/forum/jessi99/9387.html

 

It gives the list of things you need to send the in-laws .......

 

1. Cover (Doucments list)

2. Letter to the VO

3. Their application forms

4. your I-134 forms

5. your bank statement (letter from bank)

6. your paystub (original)

7. your present tax return form(copy)

8. Copy of your passport (with visa stamp)

9. I94 and I797

10.your birth certificate

 

 

We are hoping that my wife's parents will be able to come this summer and have sent this to them. We will see.

[Kaige]

Do they need #6 - #7 - #8 ? there only visiting not moveing in

[tonado]

From reading posts from AAC and CCU, parents have more chance to get the tourist visas. Siblings and others are almost impossible to get the visas. The BCIS wants personal info about the parents on why it is more important for them to come back to China and not why they want to go to America. The BCIS doesn't want parents to come USA and decide to stay here. If the parents have money/business or other children in China, then they would be more likely to come back home after the trip to America. If they have no money/business or other children, then they have no chance to get the visas.

[manhattanmoon]

Yeah agree with ttlee. Torurist visa is a non-immigrant visa, the process is much simpler but maybe harder to get, depend on whether he/she has a tendency to immigrate. If yes, then there is no change to get. Since now Sarah is immigrated to US, her parents should prove they still have strong ties in China and will come back after the short visit before the VO. If they are still working not retired, then that's a good evident.

[ChinaRose]

I am very interested in this, too. I want my Mama and Papa to come see me often. I have two brothers here. So maybe that will be enough of a reason for them to return to China. Plus, they have a home here, too.

 

I just didn't think it would be so difficult for my family to visit me in America. I wonder why, when it's only just a visit?

 

Rose

[owenkrout]

This might be throwing cold water on the subject, but just to relate our actual experience.

 

My wife's daughter (21 years old) applied at the Shenyang Consulate this week for a tourist visa so she could visit my family and her uncle in the US when her mother goes next month. I included all the requested info and I used the fillable web forms so that it would look nice and neat and be easy to read. (First mistake). The daughter understood that she could not stay in the US this trip and willingly agreed to that.

 

There is one officer at the Shenyang Consulate who has a reputation with the Chinese community for being bad natured and rarely granting tourist visas. Their only black fellow, so easy to identify. I have overheard him before and he has a real attitude problem. Guess who she got for an interviewing officer?

 

She says he yelled at her for using the fillable web forms and called her and me stupid for doing so. (I suspicion that he thought that she couldn't understand what he was saying as she actually understands more than she lets on) He then told her that I should have filed an immigrant application for her through GZ. Now it is the Shenyang Consulate visa unit head himself who told me that I could not file for her because by immigration law, she is not my daughter. My wife can't file yet until she actually enters the US and gets her green card. He finally told her he was denying it because of her age. He stated that she would never return to China.

 

My brother in law (Chinese national) tried for four years to have his wife and daughter join him while he completed his doctorate. Visas where finally granted after he obtained a teaching position in the US, but they were only six month visas. Hopefully, the process of extending them in the US will work much smoother.

[Mick]

Sorry to hear your daughter had such a difficult time Owen. Hope you guys find a way to get her a visa.

[chinadave2001]

Wow. It never occurrred to me that it wouldn't be possible. Why am I so naive? Both her parents are retired - sort of - but they do have property and additional family still in China. The government website directly says that because so many relatives overstay, they need to prove that they will return.

dave

[skibum]

I think that the purpose of 6,7 and 8 is to show that you will be able to take care of them while they are here.

It will be much easier for them to get a visa if they can show that they own their home, have a good size bank account and income in China. In other words, they need to show that they have a good reason to return to China and not stay in the USofA.

[keelec]

Visas for siblings who are still minors?

 

This looks like an older chain.

 

What is the policy for issuing visas to siblings who are still minors?

 

My Fiancee has a younger sister who is about 9 which she is very close to. I believe that it would be important for both of them if the sister could visit us in the USA sometime.

 

Also, as I understand it, once an initial visa is issued, it becomes much easier to get the visa re-issued a second or third time, thus there may be benefits of getting the process started early.

 

Thanks for any advice or suggestions.

 

----- Clifford ------

[Guest Long_strider]

A friend who is here on a green card has been trying to arrange for her parents to visit. They have requested a visa to visit 8 times and been denied. She and her brother live in the US. The U.S Government is concerned that the parents will arrive in the US and not leave because both of their children reside in the US. However, after continuing attempts and documentation on the 9th try they have been granted a visa to visit.... Both parents are retired professors and have property in Shanghai with no intent to remain in the USA. China is their home.

 

 

Yuqing and I hope to arrange for a visa for her parents to visit next year. They have their own home in GZ, three other children and grandchildren. They have no intent on moving to the USA. I understand than in many circumstances it is the whim of the US consulatate officer rather than some hard and fast rule or process. I hope that our request is not met with a great deal of resistance or catagorical denial.

 

Mi and Yuqing

[Bob & Minglian]

Somewhat off topic, perhaps, but I still want to add the experience of my wife's friend who was seeking to travel to the U.S. on business for 3 weeks last November. She was also required to submit any and all documentation that could prove her intent to return to China. She is happily employed as a General Manager for a large company in Shenzhen. She had recently purchased a home in Shenzhen. Her entire family is in China. She had letters of invitation from those U.S. firms who she was planning to visit. She went to the interview in GZ well-documented, well-prepared. The line of questioning during the interview had absolutely nothing to do with the nature of the trip itself but instead focused on her marriage that ended in divorce some 17 years ago. "When was the last time you were in contact with your ex-husband? Where is he living now? Do you wish to contact him? Why have you not made contact?" They had no children, it was a two or three year marriage, she hadn't even heard his name for over 15 years, let alone see him. She was granted the visa but walked out of the interview quite emotionally shaken. I was in Shenzhen last December when she and my wife and I had dinner together. It was then she shared her story with me.