Advice needed from old-timers please

[Randy W]

I guess a question that should be asked is this - If they decide to get married in a Chinese Embassy/consulate in Canada, they would get married under Chinese law. Would the K-3 still be forwarded to Canada?

[I was Xiaoli's Stephen]

OK all, thanks for the great input/advice/comments!!! With your help I have made her see that having Chinese citizenship, with Canadian residency status, will make it very very difficult to get US residency status and her K1 visa.

 

Also, I think she is finally starting to believe me about our universities being equal to (or possibly better than) their Canadian counterparts. To any Canadian reading this, PLEASE don't take that as a slight against Canada. I personally think Canada is fantastic!

 

Just this week the service she works for has changed her employer (she is employed as a live-in nanny for Chinese babies/children) so we need to wait again to file the I-129F package as we don't have the new address information yet.

 

Oh, just to clarify a point, she was talking about getting married at the Chinese Consulate in Toronto, in basically a civil service, much like being married before a judge in the US. Now we are going to wait to have a proper wedding when she comes to the states.

 

Thanks again to all who have given me benefit of their wisdom on this very complex process!

[warpedbored]

If you file K-1 she will have to return to China for the interveiw. If you marry in Canada the interview will be there. It will also likely be faster.

[I was Xiaoli's Stephen]

If you file K-1 she will have to return to China for the interveiw. If you marry in Canada the interview will be there. It will also likely be faster.

 

warpedbored, thanks. We have thought about this. Her 16 year old son is still in China, living with family. She cannot bring him into Canada on her work visa, and she is completely determined that she will have him with her for the interview. Someone in Canada has spooked her about having her interview apart from him. She thinks he will not get his K2 unless they are together.

 

She already knows she will need to return to China and has been planning to do this next year anyway, to visit family. So she will simply plan the visit when she gets her notification from GUZ.

[pkfops]

Have you thought about moving to Canada?

 

It's a nice place you know.

[LeeFisher3]

As she is in Canada on a work visa the interview might be in Canada as that is her current residence. If she was on a tourist visa it would be different.

 

The K-1 visa doesn't require someone to return to their home country for the interview. A Chinese friend of ours was working in England and had her K-1 interview there. She then filed a K-2 follow to join for her daughter who was living in China and the daughter's interview was in GZ.

 

You should be able to do the same thing for your fianc¨¦e since she has a work visa in Canada.

 

 

On the I-129F See the Note below Question 20:

 

NOTE: (Designation of a U.S. embassy or consulate outside the country of your fianc¨¦(e)'s last residence does not guarantee

acceptance for processing by that foreign post. Acceptance is at the discretion of the designated embassy or consulate.)

 

To me this says she can interview in the Country of Her current residence.

Edited November 4, 2008 by LeeFisher3 (see edit history)

[Randy W]

If you file K-1 she will have to return to China for the interveiw. If you marry in Canada the interview will be there. It will also likely be faster.

 

warpedbored, thanks. We have thought about this. Her 16 year old son is still in China, living with family. She cannot bring him into Canada on her work visa, and she is completely determined that she will have him with her for the interview. Someone in Canada has spooked her about having her interview apart from him. She thinks he will not get his K2 unless they are together.

 

She already knows she will need to return to China and has been planning to do this next year anyway, to visit family. So she will simply plan the visit when she gets her notification from GUZ.

 

 

Seems like the issue is settled, but that choice (apparently) has to be made at the time of filing the I-129F.

[LeeFisher3]

If you file K-1 she will have to return to China for the interveiw. If you marry in Canada the interview will be there. It will also likely be faster.

 

warpedbored, thanks. We have thought about this. Her 16 year old son is still in China, living with family. She cannot bring him into Canada on her work visa, and she is completely determined that she will have him with her for the interview. Someone in Canada has spooked her about having her interview apart from him. She thinks he will not get his K2 unless they are together.

 

She already knows she will need to return to China and has been planning to do this next year anyway, to visit family. So she will simply plan the visit when she gets her notification from GUZ.

If you are set on interviewing in China you will need to be sure the I-129F is clear in Question 20 that you want Guangzhou, but her address in Canada may cause it to be assigned there anyway.

 

To avoid that I would suggest that you attach a page to the I-129F specifying that the beneficiary desires to return to Guangzhou for her visa interview.

[I was Xiaoli's Stephen]

As she is in Canada on a work visa the interview might be in Canada as that is her current residence. If she was on a tourist visa it would be different.

 

The K-1 visa doesn't require someone to return to their home country for the interview. A Chinese friend of ours was working in England and had her K-1 interview there. She then filed a K-2 follow to join for her daughter who was living in China and the daughter's interview was in GZ.

 

You should be able to do the same thing for your fianc¨¦e since she has a work visa in Canada.

 

 

On the I-129F See the Note below Question 20:

 

NOTE: (Designation of a U.S. embassy or consulate outside the country of your fianc¨¦(e)'s last residence does not guarantee

acceptance for processing by that foreign post. Acceptance is at the discretion of the designated embassy or consulate.)

 

To me this says she can interview in the Country of Her current residence.

 

Yes, you are right. We have already discussed this very point. But she is aware of the potential for her son to "time out" of eligibility for his K2, that is why she wants to do them together. She knows that going to China for her interview will allow the visas to process concurrently, rather than filing for a K2 follow to join. If she gets both visas in hand, she doesn't have to worry about the time lag of Montreal to Guangzhou to her son.

 

We will request Guangzhou on the I-129F, but we are discussing the possibility of needing to go to Montreal anyway. Personally, I would prefer Montreal as I can drive to Toronto and take her to Montreal myself.

[I was Xiaoli's Stephen]

To pkfops - Yes, Canada is great. I've been to Toronto three times now to visit my sweety and love the area. But I am 52 years old, stuck with a house in "smalltown" Illinois that carries two mortgages, and frankly is of more value if I burn it down and plant the lot with corn. Also, I would be hard-pressed to find a position that pays what I now make working for Caterpillar.

 

To Randy W & LeeFisher3 - We are going to list Guangzhou on the I-129F but we are making a back-up plan for Montreal, just in case.

[I was Xiaoli's Stephen]

You asked for old...here it is.

 

I'm real dubious about getting married in the Chinese consulate. You'd need to know - for damn sure - where the marriage will be recorded. If in the consulate, my guess would be in China. That being the case the interview would be in GUZ unless an exception was requested and granted. Rule of thumb is the K-3 interview is where the marriage took place (recorded). The consulate is a 'piece of 'China'; not Canada. Hence you would need to request that the interview be where she is currently residing.

 

Now if you got married in Canada, under Canadian laws, that's a different issue. The marriage would be registered in Canada and the interview done there.

 

Don't forget - no matter what you end up doing - your lady is still a Chinese citizen and must still go through all the extra crap in the US that all Chinese petitions go through. That won't save you ten minutes. The only way she will be in the US by the end of this year is to jump the border. Me thinks she is being fed a line for a fee.

 

If you plan on bringing over her 16 year old son, you need to get a move on. Randy is pretty sharp on the age-out issue and may add a few comments on that.

 

Personally, I'd go for K-1/K-2 and get filed ASAP. She would likely need to return to GUZ for the interview; not sure if it could be done where she is a resident or not. But getting married without knowing exactly what the ramifications are for her and her son will bite you in the butt.

 

Thanks donahso. We have talked this out, and she has agreed that the advice she got on getting married in the Chinese Consulate was probably not the best idea. The time-lines posted earlier in this thread help with that decision. We are going to wait to get married here in the states. Also, I believe you are right on with the fee comment.

 

As for moving quickly, believe me, that is exactly what I keep saying to her. Thankfully the buddy of mine at work that introduced us is in the final stages of getting his fiancee from Xi'an to the states. He is helping to make her understand that, if she wants this to happen, it needs to move a lot more quickly now.

 

I have wanted to file the I-129F for two weeks now, but dont have her G-325A, her letter of intent to marry, or her passport photo. I'll keep trying to make her understand the need for speed. Her son is a great kid and I would really like to have a "whole happy family together" (her words)!

 

BTW - can anyone tell me the actual age at which her son will not get a K2? I have seen 18 mentioned elsewhere and have also seen 21 mentioned, but really don't know the facts.

[LeeFisher3]

As she is in Canada on a work visa the interview might be in Canada as that is her current residence. If she was on a tourist visa it would be different.

 

The K-1 visa doesn't require someone to return to their home country for the interview. A Chinese friend of ours was working in England and had her K-1 interview there. She then filed a K-2 follow to join for her daughter who was living in China and the daughter's interview was in GZ.

 

You should be able to do the same thing for your fianc¨¦e since she has a work visa in Canada.

 

 

On the I-129F See the Note below Question 20:

 

NOTE: (Designation of a U.S. embassy or consulate outside the country of your fianc¨¦(e)'s last residence does not guarantee

acceptance for processing by that foreign post. Acceptance is at the discretion of the designated embassy or consulate.)

 

To me this says she can interview in the Country of Her current residence.

 

Yes, you are right. We have already discussed this very point. But she is aware of the potential for her son to "time out" of eligibility for his K2, that is why she wants to do them together. She knows that going to China for her interview will allow the visas to process concurrently, rather than filing for a K2 follow to join. If she gets both visas in hand, she doesn't have to worry about the time lag of Montreal to Guangzhou to her son.

 

We will request Guangzhou on the I-129F, but we are discussing the possibility of needing to go to Montreal anyway. Personally, I would prefer Montreal as I can drive to Toronto and take her to Montreal myself.

The K-2 follow to join is a simple process and this could be initiated at an interview in Canada. It only takes a request that the K-2 visa be activated and the file could be transfered to Guangzhou from Montreal for processing. You could even front load his case with the P-3 packet

information to help move things along.

 

Concerning age out, 21 is the magic number for a K-2 visa.

 

After receiving the visa you would want to get married quickly and file for AOS, including AP. It should take 2-3 months for her to get AP and she would be able to return to China for her son's interview and help him navigate the process as well as visit family.

[Randy W]

It's also best to file for AOS as early as possible before the 21st birthday. Some USCIS offices will deny the application if he becomes 21 before the interview. The INS only says that AOS must be applied for by the 21st birthday, but the USCIS is twisting and turning some fine points to justify their position. They even appealed their own decision in one case to reaffirm their position.