Ask Questions, Pay attention

[iyan46]

I am writing this to anyone who is just starting the Visa process or will in the future!

 

I have learned so much in here that i should have come here long before i did. I read everything i could find online before i started the process ... but i learned nothing compared to what i learned in here.

 

Nowhere did i find where it said to keep reciepts, get lots of pictures of both you and your SO AND family together, about hotels, the consulate in Guangzhou, and all of the other things i have learned from the people here.

 

I was (am) one of the lucky ones. We didn't have pictures with the family, i didn't keep most of the reciepts, i didn't save the airline boarding passes or alot of the other things they could ask for. But we got the Visa

 

Like i said .. we were very lucky. there is so many things we didn't do .. things i didn't know about before i come to CFL.

 

So if you are new here ... ASK THE QUESTIONS, EVEN IF THEY SEEM STUPID,

 

 

 

I am very happy i found this website and i have learned so much, Jing and i still have a long way to go. But with the people here i feel i know alot more and will continue to ask, ask, ask and hopefully someday i will have the knowledge that the people of CFL have and i will be able to help someone else.

[IllinoisDave]

I am writing this to anyone who is just starting the Visa process or will in the future!

 

I have learned so much in here that i should have come here long before i did. I read everything i could find online before i started the process ... but i learned nothing compared to what i learned in here.

 

Nowhere did i find where it said to keep reciepts, get lots of pictures of both you and your SO AND family together, about hotels, the consulate in Guangzhou, and all of the other things i have learned from the people here.

 

I was (am) one of the lucky ones. We didn't have pictures with the family, i didn't keep most of the reciepts, i didn't save the airline boarding passes or alot of the other things they could ask for. But we got the Visa

 

Like i said .. we were very lucky. there is so many things we didn't do .. things i didn't know about before i come to CFL.

 

So if you are new here ... ASK THE QUESTIONS, EVEN IF THEY SEEM STUPID,

 

 

 

I am very happy i found this website and i have learned so much, Jing and i still have a long way to go. But with the people here i feel i know alot more and will continue to ask, ask, ask and hopefully someday i will have the knowledge that the people of CFL have and i will be able to help someone else.

 

What he said.

[lostness]

I am writing this to anyone who is just starting the Visa process or will in the future!

 

I have learned so much in here that i should have come here long before i did. I read everything i could find online before i started the process ... but i learned nothing compared to what i learned in here.

 

Nowhere did i find where it said to keep reciepts, get lots of pictures of both you and your SO AND family together, about hotels, the consulate in Guangzhou, and all of the other things i have learned from the people here.

 

I was (am) one of the lucky ones. We didn't have pictures with the family, i didn't keep most of the reciepts, i didn't save the airline boarding passes or alot of the other things they could ask for. But we got the Visa

 

Like i said .. we were very lucky. there is so many things we didn't do .. things i didn't know about before i come to CFL.

 

So if you are new here ... ASK THE QUESTIONS, EVEN IF THEY SEEM STUPID,

 

 

 

I am very happy i found this website and i have learned so much, Jing and i still have a long way to go. But with the people here i feel i know alot more and will continue to ask, ask, ask and hopefully someday i will have the knowledge that the people of CFL have and i will be able to help someone else.

 

What he said.

 

Agreed. I've asked plenty of stupid questions already. But I feel very fortunate to have found CFL so early on in the process. I'm forever grateful to all the helpful and patient members. CFL pretty much rocks my socks off!

[Shenzhen K-1]

I am writing this to anyone who is just starting the Visa process or will in the future!

 

I have learned so much in here that i should have come here long before i did. I read everything i could find online before i started the process ... but i learned nothing compared to what i learned in here.

 

Nowhere did i find where it said to keep reciepts, get lots of pictures of both you and your SO AND family together, about hotels, the consulate in Guangzhou, and all of the other things i have learned from the people here.

 

I was (am) one of the lucky ones. We didn't have pictures with the family, i didn't keep most of the reciepts, i didn't save the airline boarding passes or alot of the other things they could ask for. But we got the Visa

 

Like i said .. we were very lucky. there is so many things we didn't do .. things i didn't know about before i come to CFL.

 

So if you are new here ... ASK THE QUESTIONS, EVEN IF THEY SEEM STUPID,

 

 

 

I am very happy i found this website and i have learned so much, Jing and i still have a long way to go. But with the people here i feel i know alot more and will continue to ask, ask, ask and hopefully someday i will have the knowledge that the people of CFL have and i will be able to help someone else.

 

What he said.

 

DITTO!!

 

I do not even mind the on occasion slam I get here!!

[rogerinca]

Yes, this is so true !!! Good Thread !!

 

I learn something new here most every day.

 

It also pays to use the search mode, to find things that may have been answered in detail many times before.

 

What I really like about CFL, is that you can get an answer to most questions.

 

About two years ago, I logged into another site (similar format) and I was a newbi and I asked a question on the I-130. Before asking the question, I had searched and read the form top to bottom; but still could not understand the process.

 

I posted my first (and last) question on the other site.

 

The response I got from a very senior member, was: "If you don't understand the form, read the instructions" !!! So much for that bed-side manner !!

 

I had read the instructions, but they did not answer my question !!

 

That is when I bailed out and came over here. I think it was DavidZ, who answered my I-130 question within minutes after I posted it !!??

 

I would go nuts getting through this, now very long process, without the fun, humor and support to be found here !!

 

 

B)

[chef4u]

You can breakdown CFL into two phases:

 

Phase 1) Everything you wanted to know about immigration. But were afraid to ask.....

 

Phase 2) Everything you wanted to know about mop slap training after the arrival of your love one. But were afraid to ask.....her B)

Edited December 23, 2007 by chef4u (see edit history)

[griz326]

This site provides information and insights available no where else.

 

If only it could shorten the wait.

[lostinblue]

Read the guides first. Then if you still cannot understand an answer to your question ask. At times the government speak that is used seems daunting but other members have answers into the english interpertation and maybe "chinese" . When you deal with the forms.

It helps if you break this process into chapters. Pre application,application and GUZ.

Case in point. By law you need to register with the local police IF you stay at the home of a chinese. What better way to prove that you met within the 2 years time limit in the application process if you can get this. An official stamped and noterized form from a government agency. It took about 15 minutes at the police station ....no big deal. But a lot of proof.

[Shenzhen K-1]

Read the guides first. Then if you still cannot understand an answer to your question ask. At times the government speak that is used seems daunting but other members have answers into the english interpertation and maybe "chinese" . When you deal with the forms.

It helps if you break this process into chapters. Pre application,application and GUZ.

Case in point. By law you need to register with the local police IF you stay at the home of a chinese. What better way to prove that you met within the 2 years time limit in the application process if you can get this. An official stamped and noterized form from a government agency. It took about 15 minutes at the police station ....no big deal. But a lot of proof.

 

Great tip to someone starting out!!

 

Merry

[jim404sea]

... By law you need to register with the local police IF you stay at the home of a chinese...

 

this is a new one on me - would that be the case even if you didnt start staying in a chinese citizen's home until after you married them ?

 

presumably the marriage cert carries as much weight as the police registration, so I'm just asking because it makes me wonder if I was breaking a law and didnt know it... and it raises the question of whether I need to do that registration the next time I'm back there

[MikeandRong]

... By law you need to register with the local police IF you stay at the home of a chinese...

 

this is a new one on me - would that be the case even if you didnt start staying in a chinese citizen's home until after you married them ?

 

presumably the marriage cert carries as much weight as the police registration, so I'm just asking because it makes me wonder if I was breaking a law and didnt know it... and it raises the question of whether I need to do that registration the next time I'm back there

 

Has nothing to do with marriage, has everything to do with being a non-citizen of China.

[jim404sea]

... By law you need to register with the local police IF you stay at the home of a chinese...

 

this is a new one on me - would that be the case even if you didnt start staying in a chinese citizen's home until after you married them ?

 

presumably the marriage cert carries as much weight as the police registration, so I'm just asking because it makes me wonder if I was breaking a law and didnt know it... and it raises the question of whether I need to do that registration the next time I'm back there

 

Has nothing to do with marriage, has everything to do with being a non-citizen of China.

great... maybe I'll get to be the 1st guy who goes to be with his wife at interview time and ends up in jail

[LeeFisher3]

This site provides information and insights available no where else.

 

If only it could shorten the wait.

The only thing CFL has to offer in place of shortening the wait is Cheeto's, can't find the link but use your imagination.

[tsap seui]

We are very lucky that David Z and others set up CFL with all the info it has to offer.

 

I came onto CFL just after sending in my I-129 and a couple of weeks shy of heading off for my second trip to China. What a relief it was to find CFL. I had used VJ, the government sights, and another very helpful site...which is now forgotten to me, anyhow, I found CFL and immediately spent hundreds of hours in the FAQ's studying!! Other than the FAQ's and P-3, P-4, interview areas of the CFL site, I wasn't even aware of much of the rest of the site...nor cared at that point!!

 

My best advice to anyone new to the visa process or awaiting the P-3 stage is to INGRAIN THE FAQ'S INTO YOUR BRAIN. Be able to quote them in your sleep, and forwards and backwards when you're awake.

 

Study every aspect of the "kitchen sink" AND study the hell out of, and prepare, EVERY BOX AND ARTICLE asked for on the blue slip in the FAQ's.

 

Yes, I said STUDY that F'in blue slip EVERYBIT as hard as you study the "kitchen sink!!!!!! Get that ex's SS# and proof of her address (I even had a color copy of her drivers license), take your flight receits and boarding passes, and add in your methods of payment for each and every flight...HAVE your PROOF of who, and how each flight was paid for. Handwrite a new letter of intent to marry and evolution of relationship and get them notorized.

 

Maybe I am overkill but my girlfriend was prepared with and she understood exactly what to quickly ask if she saw a blue slip pulled out...she knew she had every single scrap of overcome evidence with her AT THE INTERVIEW WINDOW. Well, except the direct letter from the IRS to GUZ, and the DNA test for her son.

 

Ultimately we got sucker punched from the rear with a "no questions asked for type blue slip"....but we were prepared to overcome a regular blue slip RIGHT THERE ON THE SPOT!!!!

 

STUDY, READ THE PRE-INTERVIEW and INTERVIEW sections of this forum. Ask questions...make yourself and your woman very confident with every aspect of her interview, and teach her how to show confidence when she is at that interview window. At this point why the hell should you care what other CFL members think of cars, music, whatever? You have a job man, you have a goal....PREPARE your ass, and your loved one's too, to get them together with you in your country of choice.

 

Don't find yourself sitting in the coffee shop on the forth floor, or in your home, as you await the results of her interview....thinking, "damn, I wish I had taken the trouble to give her..."

 

But....you better understand....ANYONE ahead of you that has gotten a pink slip, now matter how prepared...could have JUST AS EASILY been given a no questions asked for blue slip instead of that pink slip. There is no rhyme or reason.

 

The "other side" of this great site, is the support you will get on-site should you find yourself in GUZ's prison from hell. Most of that support will be off-site, and you will meet some very good people.

 

Good luck to everyone, my best wishes are for your success.

 

Fairdinkum...I am

 

tsap seui

Edited December 23, 2007 by tsap seui (see edit history)

[lostinblue]

... By law you need to register with the local police IF you stay at the home of a chinese...

 

this is a new one on me - would that be the case even if you didnt start staying in a chinese citizen's home until after you married them ?

 

presumably the marriage cert carries as much weight as the police registration, so I'm just asking because it makes me wonder if I was breaking a law and didnt know it... and it raises the question of whether I need to do that registration the next time I'm back there

 

Has nothing to do with marriage, has everything to do with being a non-citizen of China.

This is posted on the door of yans parents apartment. If you are a chinese citizen staying at a home that is not your own for over 30 days you need to register. If a laowie within 24 hours. (You get a fine) if caught. Maybe a neighbor would turn you in. This has nothing to do with the interview in GUZ. They could care less

 

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1089.html

 

CRIMINAL PENALTIES

 

Americans in China, who are not staying at hotels, including Americans who are staying with friends or relatives, must register with local police as soon as they arrive. Otherwise, they may be fined up to 500 RMB per day.

Edited December 23, 2007 by lostinblue (see edit history)