Visa Issued - Long'ish

[SirLancelot]

Jim, I'm sorry to be the pisser at your Congrats party but what you've written below can't stand up to logical scrutiny.

 

Either you're lying, your wife lied to you, or the VO catagorically surpassed his or her discretionary powers and broke the law in issuing a visa to your wife.

 

Frankly, I'm not certain which actually happened.

 

If you declared ZERO assets and you declared ZERO or negative income, then you clearly do not meet the financial requirements of the I-864. In not meeting that criteria, your wife should not be granted a visa and on this the VO has no discretionary powers to waive this requirement. This is statutory law.

 

So either the truth is not coming out or if things happened exactly as you've detailed, then the VO clearly broke the law.

 

The I-864 is not the same as the I-134. It is binding and your submission of the I-864 is not at the discretion of the VO.

 

In not believing this particular story of yours, I'm not saying I catagorically disbelieve that your wife couldn't obtain a visa if all the proper criteria were met. In fact, I fully believe that your case would indeed flow by pretty easily if you declared your income or assets as required by the I-864. Having married your wife already and having lived in China with your wife, generally GUZ issues a free pass to all the couples so long as the USC can prove financial support when in the USA. I believe you're capable of providing the financial support and offering evidence to substantiate your ability. So your wife should pass pretty easily. But your story as written by you in its current form simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. It can only stand if one accepts the fact that the VO broke federal law.

 

(I want to make a side comment because I know SLW268 will interject and loudly declare that his wife did not receive a "free pass" and he lives in China and married his wife in China. Unfortunately for him, I do believe his wife's illness (or past illness) has a lot to do with GUZ giving them a very hard time. I sympathize with his current plight but I truly believe that had his wife not had cancer, then she would already be in the US by now. Good luck SLW268!)

 

I don't really believe you'll be returning to the States anytime soon, so whether your wife obtained a visa or not probably is a moot point.

 

Hmmmm. Now what to do....

 

We are in Guangdong doing business. We've been here about 3 weeks now. I thought I would update everyone since our interview date (CR-1) was scheduled for August 27th.

 

On the 20th I went in to the offices on Shamian to get some b'ness stuff taken care of and to get my passport cover glued back on for the umpteenth time.

 

While there, I mentioned that my wife had a interview scheduled but we had planned on just ignoring the whole thing. The consulate guys said that might be a bad idea in case we ever changed our minds. They suggested I stop in at the consulate downtown and tell them we were not going to go forward at this time. It seemed like wise advice. So off to the consulate I go.

 

It turns out that the 20th was ACH time too. I arrived too late for that but they let me in about 3:30 anyway. I trundled up to the window to tell them to cancel the whole thing for the time being and see if there was a way to put the process in storage or if it would start over again from scratch if I decided to move back to the USA one of these days.

 

The guy at the window and I talked for about 5 minutes. After shooting the breeze about business, sports and life in general he asked me if I still had all the paperwork. I said I did, my briefcase might as well be a 3 drawer lateral filing cabinet

 

The VO says, why don't you go ahead and do the medical if you have time and send your wife in for her interview anyway, it would look better on the paperwork (why this would be, I can not even imagine) in the future.

 

Well, if you are going to pay for advice (taxes, visa app fee, etc) you might as well take it. I asked my wife to go in for the medical. After recovering from that fight and buynig her a new Montblanc watch, she agreed. So off we go to Shamian Island again the next day to the clinic thing located next to the Victory Hotel. That took about an hour. Taking the former Miss Nokia, 2004 in there was an experience. The doctor who does the immunizations off to the left of the sign-in counter filled in all her paperwork for her and gave her candy out of his pocket (right in front of me!) on 3 separate occasions. LOL! I decided she was in good hands (maybe too good) and wandered off to the Victory Hotel to get a good western breakfast. With a last word to enjoy the breast exam with her new buddy, I hit the street. Remind your SO not to pee before the exam, they need a cup. Before I finished breakfast, Sarha was at the hotel to eat too. We did some shopping and came back to pick up the results at 4pm. Doctor Hot2Trot was not in sight this time so we had to wait 45 minutes this time

 

After that, dinner at Lucy's and back to the hotel.

 

 

On the day of the interview we went over to the consulate to queue up. For those on a medium budget, the Zhongyi Hotel around the corner from the Westin is a good deal. Its a little pocket hotel and has 28 rooms and suites. The suites can be negotiated down to 350 RMB easily and I've had it down to 250 when I stayed there for about 10 days from time to time. Laundry service is slow but everything else is top notch for the price. You can use the Westin Pool and facilities for 20RMB per day, internet is free, Yada^3.

 

Back to the interview. We were inside pretty quick and went up to the fourth floor. Very few women appeared to have "the kitchen sink". Most seemed to have about a 3 inch stack of whatever it is they were carrying. Sarha had nothing but the medicall packet and a three page tax transcript for FY2006. She didn't even bring a purse and as usual handed me her umbrella to hold as soon as we were in out of the sun.

 

So, with her passport, a 3 page transcript for 2006 taxes (Hah!) and her medical packet, off she goes up the escalator. At least my 'briefcase' lost a couple of kilos of crap I drag around because my wife can't file her own nails, much less important papers

 

She stayed up there forever. She went up about 7:45 or 8:00. Tic toc, tic toc. By 12:45, I started thinking I'd missed her and she was back at the hotel. But a K1 girl that my wife had been talking too outside came down with her pink slip and said Sarha was still waiting.

 

About 1pm Sarha came down with her pink slip. The really odd thing was that the VO asked her no questions at all. She sat down and said good morning. The VO looked in the computer and without turning to look at her asked "How's business?" She said it was doing fine. With that, he gives her the pink slip.

 

That was it. If it got any easier, they would have just mailed it to her.

 

Bizarre. And after 2 years, anti-climatic.

 

Now, for those of you sweating bullets over your packages, here's some observations:

 

We filed for CR-1 almost two years ago. This coming Thursday is our second wedding anniversary.

 

I have not paid any income taxes to state or fed for 2 years. On paper, I have negative earnings.

 

For other reasons I won't go into, I showed no assets on the I-864. My gross income is in the millions, but taxable income is less than zero and all the transcripts I submitted state this clearly. The I-864 seems to be a non-issue. I filled it out with ZERO for my income.

 

I've filed my income taxes from China with a Chinese residential address for the FY2005 and 2006. For all intents and purposes, I'm not even a resident in the USA.

 

We never submitted ANY supporting documentation with any of our applications. Not a shred of relationship or financial 'evidence'. I never submitted a pen stroke that wasn't the bare minimum of information they requested on the forms. My wife of two years does not appear on my taxes. I file single. This is mostly because I do my own taxes (I paid for a nice college education, I might as well use it) and (at least with TurboTax) you cannot file (electronically) with your spousal unit without the requisite SSN, which I promise you, she will never get.

 

After handing in her materials in the initial interaction in the consulate, my wife was completely empty handed. She couldn't have even showed the VO my picture in her wallet.

 

I have no explanation for the ease of the process from beginning to end or for all the hoops others have had to jump through. Except for the completely unacceptable length of time the process took, it pretty much went exactly as I expect it ought too. I'm an American citizen, I got married to a foreigner and according to the law, without a good reason not too, the government is obliged to hand her a immigration visa on demand. The process worked.

 

Why so many people have problems, I can't say. And I won't speculate.

 

Some possible things:

 

I go to the consulates in lots of countries a LOT. By the nature of my business, I'm in consulates more often than I'm in grocery stores.

 

I am honest, brutally so, as some of you know and do not appreciate. When something comes out of my mouth, its exactly what I'm thinking. I think that the consulates know that and my file with the government is probably running into the thousands of printed pages. From the "How's business?" comment from the VO, my suspicion is that there was little doubt at the consulates about the validity of my marriage and my ability to pay my own way. At one point in Shanghai I told a Chinese national guard outside the consulate to take his hands off my wife or call an ambulance because one of us was going to need it. He had grabbed her roughly in line and pulled her backwards out of line when we were waiting in the security queue to go talk business. I complained very calmly about that one inside and made it clear that no one deserved to be grabbed like that, much less the family member of a US Citizen. I know for a fact I got notations on my record about that one...

 

My wife is extremely pretty. She was a model for Nokia in her spare time when I met her back in 2004. She's been on billboards all over China. Maybe the VO just liked her as much as the doctor at the clinic?

 

The VO I talked to originally on the 20th did tell me that obtaining and bringing in airline tickets is a waste of time. They pay no attention to them. Entry stamps on the paspport are all they care about. If you give your SO your passport or copies of all the pages, that's enough. That's all I know about from the VO. I didn't ask any real questions, it just came up in the discussion because I said I'd been over on Shamian to get my passport reglued.

 

Anyway, that's it. Now we have to figure out what to do. We have no plans to go to the USA right away. Maybe we'll head to Florida at Christmas to see my father.

 

Good luck to everyone else, more than ever, I think the process is arbitrary to some extent.

 

Oh, one last thing. This is something I don't remember reading about. Besides the medical exam, your SO will receive some paperwork in Chinese with a half page pink slip stapled to it when they pick up the exam results. This gets taken to anoter clinic in Guangzhou where you pay another 10RMB (I think) to get a required (by who I do not know) health certificate booklet about the size of the yellow immunization booklet. This one has the SO's picture in it too. I have absolutely no idea who gets or needs this as it is not in or part of the sealed packages you pick up with your passport/visa from the post office 2 days after the visa interview. Whatever, we'll see if someone asks for it sometime.

 

Good luck everyone.

 

Jim

[JimandSarha]

Text message me your fax number to +8613645173916. I'll send you the copy of the I-864. I'll copy you the visa too. Ask yourself how I got the NVC to even forward the package since they had the I-864 and 2005 taxes with no income tax paid on them either.

 

I don't buy the medical stuff as being a factor. My wife has a notification line on it that she has to be processed for tuberculosis.

 

The exact wording is:

 

Class A or B(TB) Req. ATTN. of USPHS at POE.

 

 

So what are we going to run into there? Did she test positive on some test but her chest x-ray is clean?

 

I don't give you all details because one, they aren't pertinent or any of your business. I have more thinking to do than you realize. I am troubled because of that line. I'm pretty sure if they thought she was active or contagious, they wouldn't let her on the plane much less into the country. But what does that line mean???

 

Wouldn't you be troubled? I don't want to go to the USA for an extended period at this time, its inconvenient for business. But if she has some medical issue, I'm not staying in THIS country to get it treated, we're off to UCLA or Scripps or UCSD. And I mean this week, not next. I went back to the medical clinic where she had the exam and they wouldn't tell me anything, said that I had to ask the consulate.

 

Now you tell me, if you thjought your wife had a serious issue with medical, would you go back to the consulate to stir up the issue? Not me.

 

Send me your fax number. I'll even send you a few years taxes with my SSN blocked out. Then you can come on here and tell everyone that Good 'ole Jim actually is smarter than the average bear.

 

After I'm proved not to be a liar, then we can go through the VO's possible reasons for risking federal prison for breaking the law. We could ask the NVC the same thing I suppose.

 

After we get done with them, we'll ask the IRS why they let me skate so brazenly. "I've got a million dollars and you can't have any. Neener, neener, neener!"

 

First we'll take care of my rep....

 

Jim

[IllinoisDave]

My story is not meant to be heart warming. It is meant to be entirely and completely annoying.

 

Congratulations on completing your objective, as usual.

[JimandSarha]

You're welcome Dave.

 

I came to this board looking or some information. I found a little. I didn't need much. I got what I needed. In the spirit of the concept, I try to give back what I find out.

 

I'm really sorry I don't mesh with the forum members. It does get in the way of your acceptance of good information. That is a troubling thing in this world.

 

Without revealing my politics one way or another or perhaps a third way, I don't happen to agree with George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Al Sharpton, Al Gore, Newt Gingrich or a score of other people even half the time on most issues. I find them ALL to be just as annoying as you find me. But I listen to them carefully and I consider their words and I weigh them against what I hear from others and observe myself. Because while I generally don't agree with the goals they have, they have truths in what they say, they have more facts at hand on many issues than I have. They may twist those facts or misapply them to situations to further their own agendas which may or may not agree with mine. But I listen because inside of every message, no matter how grating the messenger, there is something there of value. Not listening leaves a person ill informed and ignorant.

 

I do not make you happy. For that, I apologize. But at least you appear to read and think about what I say. That's all anyone can ask for.

 

Others unfortunately either don't listen or worse, attribute some sort of motives or dishonesty to what I say.

 

This leaves them less well informed and hurts me not at all. The good news for the forum is that I will almost certainly enter the US after being married for 2 years. So, if we go on this visa, I won't have any AOS to go through. My infestation of the forum will end soon after I relate my experience at my POE. Staying after that would not add knowledge and I don't need to stay on the boards to have a social life.

 

Everyone wins. I got some info, I'll give some back and then I'll be gone.

 

In the meantime, I'll keep that cell phone nearby so I can send those faxes out. I am absolutely irritating, but I'm also generally correct.

 

Take care, and go to White Fence Farm and have some of those hushpuppies for me

Edited September 2, 2007 by JimandSarha (see edit history)

[siming]

Jim,

I read your most interesting story with a smile on my face and more then a few chuckles. I am a worrier, at least about this process, and I wont stop worrying until my SO shows me the pink,but you did build my confidence ever so slightly. At the very least your story made terrific reading and if my SO was able to read it and understand it I would send it to her.I feel we have a very good case ourselves except for the fact that because of her job she belongs to the CP and she wont quit that till after she receives the pink. One more thing for me to worry about. She will write a letter to the CO indicating her intent to quit after receiving the visa though. Anyway even though you may not care, CONGRATULATIONS!! Your visits to your father and the US will now be easier if you intend to bring your wife with you.

Simon

[JimandSarha]

I'm a worrier too. I think the letter is a good idea. I also believe myself, and have heard from others, that attending the American Citizen's Hour at 2:00PM on Fridays ( I think this date or time recently changed from some other time but that is what it is today ) is almost always helpful. And as far as I can tell, you can go as often as you like. So if you make multiple trips to China, you could go to the consulate multiple times.

 

That might or might not irritate them. But I think you could go at least twice without being as irritating as I seem to be

 

I hope things go well for you. I can't offer you much at all on the CP thing. Hopefully if her job and involvement is trivial, it won't matter. I've seen some other posts on here about this topic though so maybe look at those and PM the people involved if they are still active on the forum.

 

Good luck!

Edited September 2, 2007 by JimandSarha (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

Jim, you've got what I call the spirit of the entrepreneur. Some call it grating, arrogant, or cocky. I personally find it interesting and I thank you for your brief synopsis of your view on business.

 

On an industry specific internet bulletin board I used to frequent when I had a carpet cleaning company I used to try and show by example that you could make tons of money suckin' crud out of people's carpets. I got called arrogant, a liar, a rip-off, and all sorts of derisive names for trying to show those guys that they could make more money than some stained sheet changer at their local "No Tell Motel". Hell, my crew chief's were bringing me wheelbarrow loads of money each week from the gated communities of Georgetown and DC, and I was taking 3 months trips to play in Australia and New Zealand.

 

Being an entrepreneur, I well understand your "confidence" in yourself and that you are successful in your business. My ol' floppy Aussie hat is off to ya, man.

 

With my ironic and off beat sense of humor and view of the world I find your visa experience heart warming and extremely

funny...with no malice or sarcasm intended...I was laughing as I wrote my response. It's a shame were can't see people's faces when they post and it's one of the short coming's of the internet.

 

I'm one of those "internet guys" who talked to a woman for 6 weeks. Knowing full well how much bullshit is on the internet, and having a great sense of adventure, I decided to fly over to China and meet this woman. Yep, she couldn't speak any english, and didn't even understand a word I said when I greeted her in the airport.

 

My girlfriend and I found on that first trip that we both had wacky sense's of humor, that, against all odds, we both had found ourselves in each other, and that fate had put us together and given us a love that overwhelmed us both.

 

Over the next 9 months I made 4 trips to see her and while she studied english with her lil' translator and with me on the phone; I spent many hours studying the forms and preparing the application/petition. I have talked to this woman and understand her more, and better, than I ever talked to or understood any english speaking woman. On the trips after my first trip our entire time was spent studying the application forms and we have spent countless hours intensely talking about our lives and our views of life and love until we were both blue in the face and exhausted.

 

Would we truly have a better relationship and chance for long term success if we had met in a bar or the produce section of the damn Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Uncle Samville, or if I had lived with her in China? I'll leave that for others to decide as I'm too busy getting on with life to waste my time anal retentively agonizing over every little detail of this great adventure called life and love.

 

Besides, take a look at 3 or 4 of the other posters on CFL who lived in China with their women...Hmmmm...looks like some pretty large rocks sprung up in the road in the path of their relationships when the shit hit the ol' fan in Guangzhou. Thankfully most of them have overcome those rocks and stuck it out together...but the rocks did appear. It's just life ain't it? Nowhere...in any business manual, the Bible, or any self help book does it state that "LIFE IS FAIR". In life some are given lemons and despair, but it is all up to the individual to seek the silver lining and make lemonaide when handed a damn lemon. If the individual chooses not to find the silver lining in life they may as well roll over and play dead cause no one else is gonna pick you up and show you the path to success...or you wouldn't see if if they did.

 

It is with great laughter I read of other members girlfriends getting asked 4 or less questions and recieving a pink thong, and Jim's princess's success of going to her interview with not much more than the clothes on her back and Jim's little trinket on her arm, and getting asked "how's business?"

 

After nine months of intense studying and preparation for the interview, my dear little lovely girlfriend, with her double briefcase with the kitchen sink, my four visa stamped passport, and all the possible blueslip evidence (including my ex's drivers license, SS#, proof of her own residence, a one hour DVD of us talking in english, a certified letter of evolution of relationship, her ex's hu kou...you name it, we had it covered) gets 26 questions and handed a blueslip....and so it goes, we'll one day sit back and laugh about our adventure, and how lucky we are.

 

Guys, Guangzhou is arbitrary and so is life....so be it, you must keep your smile and do the best you can with what you've got. There is no time to roll over and play dead in this life. My girlfriend and I have kept our sense of humor and focus as to our goal. Soon she will be by my side (without thousands of Chinese gawkin' at us) and as soon as she gets AP we'll be taking off to fly in a helicopter up to the snow pack on top of Tasman Glacier in the Southern Alps and seeing the incredible scenic wonders in the "land of the long white cloud" called New Zealand, and then off to laugh with the crazy Aussie's and take a walkabout. Guangzhou is less than a mere pebble in the road of happiness.

 

Good on ya Jim, and good luck to everyone else in their quest.

 

tsap seui

 

An itchy footed travelin' blue collar redneck with a love for my Chinese girlfriend, laughter, good music, and to see the beauty of this ol' world...well, of Australasia that is

 

Ah, nothin' like listening to The Alan Parsons Project while typing on a lazy Sunday mornin'

[JimandSarha]

Thank you.

 

I don't see why others take my report as some sort of whining about my good fortune. In actuality, I'm whining because I still see the process as arbitrary and broken.

 

I am not bragging about getting through with paperwork showing I apparently made no money. I'm as puzzled as anyone else would be. I fully expected ROYAL BLUE for my slip. I went in with no evidence because the purpose was to get a blue slip and drag this out to another time.

 

I have boatloads of documentation on relationship and finances on my laptop and backed up on two USB memory sticks. Hell, I've got a backup of most all of this same stuff compressed onto my wife's Video iPod. She could have taken in nearly a kitchen sink. Hundreds of pics, bank statements, business records, Quickbooks weekly backups.

 

The point was not to pass.

 

The lesson is that even with totally inadequate preparation, you CAN pass. This proves its arbitrary. This proves (despite Lance's objections) that there is either A) LOTS of discretion in the sytem OR B) The NVC and Consulate have a lot more info at their disposal than anyone on here has figured out yet.

 

When you get to New Zealand on that delayed honeymoon, take lots of pics and link them from photobucket etc. That is one place I want to see someday. It just always seems to be out of the way or out of time. I've got to make a point of seeing it someday soon.

 

Jim

[Randy W]

Jim, I'm sorry to be the pisser at your Congrats party but what you've written below can't stand up to logical scrutiny.

 

Either you're lying, your wife lied to you, or the VO catagorically surpassed his or her discretionary powers and broke the law in issuing a visa to your wife.

 

Frankly, I'm not certain which actually happened.

 

If you declared ZERO assets and you declared ZERO or negative income, then you clearly do not meet the financial requirements of the I-864. In not meeting that criteria, your wife should not be granted a visa and on this the VO has no discretionary powers to waive this requirement. This is statutory law.

 

So either the truth is not coming out or if things happened exactly as you've detailed, then the VO clearly broke the law.

 

The I-864 is not the same as the I-134. It is binding and your submission of the I-864 is not at the discretion of the VO.

 

In not believing this particular story of yours, I'm not saying I catagorically disbelieve that your wife couldn't obtain a visa if all the proper criteria were met. In fact, I fully believe that your case would indeed flow by pretty easily if you declared your income or assets as required by the I-864. Having married your wife already and having lived in China with your wife, generally GUZ issues a free pass to all the couples so long as the USC can prove financial support when in the USA. I believe you're capable of providing the financial support and offering evidence to substantiate your ability. So your wife should pass pretty easily. But your story as written by you in its current form simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. It can only stand if one accepts the fact that the VO broke federal law.

 

(I want to make a side comment because I know SLW268 will interject and loudly declare that his wife did not receive a "free pass" and he lives in China and married his wife in China. Unfortunately for him, I do believe his wife's illness (or past illness) has a lot to do with GUZ giving them a very hard time. I sympathize with his current plight but I truly believe that had his wife not had cancer, then she would already be in the US by now. Good luck SLW268!)

 

I don't really believe you'll be returning to the States anytime soon, so whether your wife obtained a visa or not probably is a moot point.

 

 

 

 

Lance, you need to realize that what you see as "the law" is not binding on anyone. The VO's often do not look at financial evidence brought to the interview.

 

The VO's can (and arbitrarily do, as Jim demonstrates) singel out any case they wish for additional scrutiny.

[JimandSarha]

Apparently so true.

 

I still am willing to send my info by fax to another party to look at. I've got nothing to hide. I stated zero because its the truth. The tax records back it up. For whatever people might think of my personality (or lack thereof) I can assure you, I'm not insane. And insane is what I would have to be to try to submit the tax forms I do without having the information to back it up. I think I prefer to move to zip code 90210 instead of 66048.

 

I'm giong to bed. Its 1:30am here. Tomorrow is another day and I've got some more thinking to do about this medical thing.

 

Goodnight girls.

 

Jim

[rogerinca]

......My best business advice is don't spend your money on yourself. I drive a car from 2004. I live in a 2200 square foot house that costs less than one month's income.

If you live below your means, you'll generally have trouble figuring out what to do with all the leftover money.......

 

 

And, also don't forget....it was "the former Miss Nokia, 2004," not the more recent model, Miss Nokia 2007 !!!!!

 

This is all too funny !!! I hope our member amigos at GUZ understand all that has been presented herein, and nothing is lost in the significance/translation thererof, when they read it all.

 

All I know is, I work my ass off, I pay my fair share of taxes, I always obey the law and follow the preverbal rules, I don't have friends at Shamian Island; and it will take me at least eight months to get my Lao Po's interview. This is called the 'old-fashioned' way !!

[david_dawei]

I'm not sure why some have a hard time believing this particular case...

 

He doesn't have to meet a financial guideline, just satisfy the VO...

 

Jim said it in one line: The VO saw the relationship as valid and money not an issue.. SO... WHAT'S THE ISSUE??

 

I don't see any problem and nothing surprises me here...

 

Jim, congrats.. would be nice one day to meet you two..

[scooby94]

Thanks Jim....but i do have one more. How can i get started or is there a website that helps or provides information about importer/exporter? I would like to eventually export import out of China as well. Thanks again for your sound advice.

 

Im a recent grad student and majored in Business, so this is why im asking.

thanks again...

Scooby

[SinoTexas]

Congrats... You have Ms Nokia 2004 and I have Ms. SinoTexas 2007!

http://i8.tinypic.com/52f1tzk.jpg

Good luck.

 

As aye,

Jim

Edited September 3, 2007 by SinoTexas (see edit history)

[chilton747]

How could it be fraud if you told them you wanted to abandon the visa process ... therefore, pink slip.

 

Sorry for taking awhile to reply. I had to go back and re-read my first post, I wrote that over 3 sessions and almost a week of time. I wanted to check what I wrote.

 

It certainly could be that. I wouldn't advocate a mass rush of people going in to cancel their interviews and asking to interview anyway. I don't think that would work often.

 

 

We live in a capitalistic society. IMHO this played a big role in the outcome. Congratulations and peace be with you.

 

 

Maybe. I have no idea. On their paperwork, I make no money. I shouldn't be able to feed myself. Obviously, taxable income and real income aren't the same thing all the time. In previous years I've paid some really egregious amount of taxes on less income. And for FY 2007 I don't think I will be able to pull off paying nothing. It will be a fairly low percentage amount, about 7-10% I think. I don't have a good idea yet about 2008 yet.

 

For all the animosity I generate on this board, I'm relatively pleasant in person

 

I certainly get along with the people at the consulate. I understand they have jobs to do and I don't bitch and whine about things I have to do at their windows. They have some discretion and then there are things they cannot change. I go with the flow and understand when to push and when I have to accept the situation I'm in and deal with the hand I'm dealt. So I have no red flags as far as I can tell from consulates in my files. I've had one incident with the Chinese guard and I handled that diplomatically (pun intended). I just said that it gave a negative image of the USA to have guards, even Chinese Nationals, man handle anyone, especially women. I apologized for getting angry but pleaded that I'm sure they would feel the same way if it had been their wives. In fact, I'm sure that same guard would have decked me on the spot if the situation were reversed.

 

I just don't understand the reaoning. No questions at all and a apparent if unreal deviation on paper from the financial rules withoout having to make any explanation at all. Still weird to me after almost a week.

 

Jim

 

Jim I think it is very easy to see the reasoning behind their decision. The people at the Consulate know you, your wife is a celebrity in China, obviously they see you make plenty of money, so what is there not to understand? Obviously the I-864 will never come into play for you. Good luck to you and I hope you get the medical thing with your wife straightened out.