She is finally here!

[Spekkio99]

I went to China to spend Chinese New Years with my fiancee and her family and bring her back to New York with me. We just flew into JFK last night, went thru POE together no problems on K1 Visa. Planning to goto City Hall to get married later this week.

 

Couple of questions:

 

Do you go back to work immediately after your fiancee arrives in the US? If not, how long after she gets here do you go back to work? (I've already taken 2 weeks off work to goto China so I'd be hard pressed to take anymore time off, will take at least another day to goto City Hall to get married tho)

Wedding bands? When do I need to get this?

AOS paperwork, when do I need to start filling these out?

Form I-864 Affidavit of Support, how is this different than the I-134 Affidavit of Support that I filled out for the K1 Visa?

We are planning to go to China for a traditional chinese wedding in October, is this enough time to go thru the AOS process to get her 2 year Greencard? or is there a travel document that I should apply for to make sure that she can go to China in October?

 

 

Thanks!

 

Dennis

[dnoblett]

Been there done that! Congrats!

 

As for time off, I believe I took the day after getting back to deal with the normal jet-lag.

 

Wedding rings are a formality not a requirement to get hitched, take a nice weekend day and visit a store with your fiancee or wife and pick something nice.

 

As for AOS paperwork, you do this after you have a marriage cert in hand. Per K-1 you need to marry within 90 days after entry to the USA, you can file the I-485 outside the 90 days, just don't take too long after the 90 days.

 

I-134 is for supporting a NON-Immigrant, just shows that a NON-Immigrant will be supported while visiting the USA.

 

I-864 is for supporting an IMMIGRANT, a K-1 is NOT and Immigrant until they file an I-485 and adjust status only when they are approved for a green-card will they be considered an immigrant. US Citizen spouse MUST provide and I-864 to sponsor.

 

Should be enough time to get green-card, however when you do file the I-485, include an I-131 for a travel doc just in case, there is no additional cost for this, and the doc is valid for 1 year. Also file an I-765 for an EAD card, this too is no additional cost when filed for with the I-485.

Edited February 22, 2010 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[Sam and Fen]

congrats! let the games begin.

[HongKong2LA]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

[tkgert]

Congrats, To the both of you!!!!

[Michael]

Congratulations!!!! This will start a new chapter in your life. This is wonderful.

 

Michael

[Spekkio99]

Thanks Dan for the quick and informative response as usual and thanks guys for the congrats.

 

Couple more questions that I just thought of:

 

When we go apply for the Marriage license, I assume she will have to sign some papers. She has previously only ever signed things in Chinese with her chinese name. Should she design a new english signature to sign the marriage license and everything else going forward?

 

Name change? I'm talking about first name change, not last name. Has anyone done this before? We want to officially change her first name from chinese name to her english name, but keep her last name. How should this be handled? Will it cause any conflicts in various documents going forward?

 

 

Thanks!

 

Dennis

[Sam and Fen]

 

When we go apply for the Marriage license, I assume she will have to sign some papers. She has previously only ever signed things in Chinese with her chinese name. Should she design a new english signature to sign the marriage license and everything else going forward?

 

Dennis

 

 

Fen signed everything in English.

[dnoblett]

Thanks Dan for the quick and informative response as usual and thanks guys for the congrats.

 

Couple more questions that I just thought of:

 

When we go apply for the Marriage license, I assume she will have to sign some papers. She has previously only ever signed things in Chinese with her chinese name. Should she design a new english signature to sign the marriage license and everything else going forward?

 

Name change? I'm talking about first name change, not last name. Has anyone done this before? We want to officially change her first name from chinese name to her english name, but keep her last name. How should this be handled? Will it cause any conflicts in various documents going forward?

 

 

Thanks!

 

Dennis

As I always say a person's signature is their "MARK" no need to change, if she is comfortable with sighing using Chinese, then continue doing so.

 

However if designating a name change on the license and she is going to take your name, then may consider using Pinyin for first name and you name as last name. My wife did not have a "middle" name so her family name is now her middle name.

 

After marriage you applied for SSN, and adjusted status using married name.

 

My wife has an "English" first name but it is her Nick-Name, it is not used of any legal documents.

[Kyle]

Congratulations, Dennis. We wish you the best.

[a2784]

Thanks Dan for the quick and informative response as usual and thanks guys for the congrats.

 

Couple more questions that I just thought of:

 

When we go apply for the Marriage license, I assume she will have to sign some papers. She has previously only ever signed things in Chinese with her chinese name. Should she design a new english signature to sign the marriage license and everything else going forward?

 

Name change? I'm talking about first name change, not last name. Has anyone done this before? We want to officially change her first name from chinese name to her english name, but keep her last name. How should this be handled? Will it cause any conflicts in various documents going forward?

 

 

Thanks!

 

Dennis

As I always say a person's signature is their "MARK" no need to change, if she is comfortable with sighing using Chinese, then continue doing so.

 

However if designating a name change on the license and she is going to take your name, then may consider using Pinyin for first name and you name as last name. My wife did not have a "middle" name so her family name is now her middle name.

 

After marriage you applied for SSN, and adjusted status using married name.

 

My wife has an "English" first name but it is her Nick-Name, it is not used of any legal documents.

To be honest I never thought about this. I just assumed that in the USA a chinese person would sign their chinese name in pinyin. I did not think a chinese signature would be accepted. FWIW my wife signs all her Chinese credit card receipts in China in pinyin.

[Jon & Cindy]

Congrats! I think we got a little lucky how things worked out where I took enough time for GUZ, then back to her home for a fews days, then back to U.S. for a few days before I had to go back to work. I didn't want her to come here and be alone during her first days. So, if you can, show her around and make sure she's comfortable with everything. Plus get to the SSN office.

Make sure to have a lot of food stocked!!!

[dnoblett]

To be honest I never thought about this. I just assumed that in the USA a chinese person would sign their chinese name in pinyin. I did not think a chinese signature would be accepted. FWIW my wife signs all her Chinese credit card receipts in China in pinyin.

The next time you get a prescription from your doctor, see if you can read their signature.

 

Again a signature is a person's mark, it does not need to be readable, just consistent.

 

I figure a signature using Chinese Characters is a unique mark.

[Guest Pommey]

jin signed our marriage papers both in chinese and pinyin

 

 

kept her full chinese name, we saw no need to try and westenizer her name.

Edited February 23, 2010 by Pommey (see edit history)

[a2784]

jin signed our marriage papers both in chinese and pinyin

 

 

kept her full chinese name, we saw no need to try and westenizer her name.

-- My wife told me from the very first time we discussed marriage that she would not be taking my last name. I guess she did not want to be classified as some Scot/Creole/Anglo mutt ...

 

Actually I am glad for her to keep her name, it is who she is.