DCF for my non-chinese non-resident wife OK?

[Randy W]

Roger's website http://www.visaschina.com/index.htm

 

I tried several different phone numbers and e-mail addresses to get ahold of guangzhou and the one that worked was:

 

cis-guangzhou.inquiries@dhs.gov

 

As far as i can tell DCF for my special case is still faster than stateside. Furthermore, I think the best thing to do was just to start the process as soon as possible one way or another, so I just went for DCF. It seems highly likely that my case will successfuly be forwarded to Tokyo, where my wife is, which will make everything much more convenient.

 

Please feel free to ask any more questions, and I will surely post an update after I go to lodge my I-130 in Guangzhou this Thursday.

 

 

 

 

Roger is Roger Lin of Nanning, and very well spoken of.

 

The cis-guangzhou address is for the USCIS office at the Guangzhou consulate (for submission of petitions), and NOT the Dept of State office that most of us deal with when our SO's apply for visas.

[wall66]

I went to Guangzhou on Thursday to submit my petition for my Japanese wife, who resides in Japan. I answered question #22 on the I-130 requesting that the case be forwarded to Japan.

 

I waited in line to submit my aplication for maybe 30 minutes, when it was my turn the officer saw that I wanted to forward it to Tokyo, called her supervisor, who informed us that that was completely fine, but that it would have to be forwarded to USA first for NVC, then back to China, and then to Tokyo Japan. which would take a long time, much longer than filing stateside they said.

 

So they left me with two options

 

A: File stateside

 

B: File DCF in Guangzhou, without request of forwarding to Tokyo Japan, which would mean my wife would have to travel to Guangzhou for the interview.

 

DCF in China is still faster than filing stateside so I think that is what I am going to do.

 

Please feel to ask me any questions about any details I may have left out, and feel free to comment on anything too.

[weiaijiayou]

I went to Guangzhou on Thursday to submit my petition for my Japanese wife, who resides in Japan. I answered question #22 on the I-130 requesting that the case be forwarded to Japan.

 

I waited in line to submit my aplication for maybe 30 minutes, when it was my turn the officer saw that I wanted to forward it to Tokyo, called her supervisor, who informed us that that was completely fine, but that it would have to be forwarded to USA first for NVC, then back to China, and then to Tokyo Japan. which would take a long time, much longer than filing stateside they said.

 

So they left me with two options

 

A: File stateside

 

B: File DCF in Guangzhou, without request of forwarding to Tokyo Japan, which would mean my wife would have to travel to Guangzhou for the interview.

 

DCF in China is still faster than filing stateside so I think that is what I am going to do.

 

Please feel to ask me any questions about any details I may have left out, and feel free to comment on anything too.

 

It will be interesting to see how your wife is treated at the interview since she's Japanese, but the visa officers are trained and experienced in interviewing Chinese. I think I would file stateside just to get the interview in Japan.

[ciao]

> It will be interesting to see how your wife is treated at the interview

> since she's Japanese, but the visa officers are trained and

> experienced in interviewing Chinese.

 

If the officers themselves were Chinese, then I agree that the

interview experience might be "interesting". Given that China

and Japan have some historical "differences" (to put it delicately).

 

But the officers are not Chinese (are they) ?

They are Americans, aren't they ??

 

 

> I think I would file stateside just to get the interview in Japan.

 

Well, you can *request* on your I-130 that the interview be in Tokyo.

But honoring this request is "at the discretion of" the Tokyo embassy.

I asked the Tokyo embassy if they would likely honor the request,

but I haven't received a straight answer yet. Does anybody know

if these I-130 requests (question #22) are usually honored or not ?

How does the requested embassy decide whether to accept or decline ??

 

Interestingly, a K3 visa can *only* be issued in the country of

marriage, so going the K3 route would put the issue beyond any doubt or discretion.

[wall66]

From talking to Roger, Roth law firm, and from going to Guangzhou in person and attempting to have them forward my case to Tokyo, it seems that they almost always do forward it for you.

When I in person asked Guangzhou to forward my case to Tokyo, they seemed happy to oblige and said it would be no problem at all, but they warned me it would be very slow and suggested that I use another route.

 

As far as I understand if you file in Guangzhou and ask it to be forwarded to Tokyo, Guangzhou is the one who decideds if it gets forwarded or not. (Please someone correct me if I'm wrong)

 

Also, apparently if they forward it to Tokyo, it still has to be sent to USA for NVC which takes a long time itself, the whole process of lodging in guangzhou and having it forwarded to Tokyo, seems the slowest of all possible routes.

 

> It will be interesting to see how your wife is treated at the interview

> since she's Japanese, but the visa officers are trained and

> experienced in interviewing Chinese.

 

If the officers themselves were Chinese, then I agree that the

interview experience might be "interesting". Given that China

and Japan have some historical "differences" (to put it delicately).

 

But the officers are not Chinese (are they) ?

They are Americans, aren't they ??

 

 

> I think I would file stateside just to get the interview in Japan.

 

Well, you can *request* on your I-130 that the interview be in Tokyo.

But honoring this request is "at the discretion of" the Tokyo embassy.

I asked the Tokyo embassy if they would likely honor the request,

but I haven't received a straight answer yet. Does anybody know

if these I-130 requests (question #22) are usually honored or not ?

How does the requested embassy decide whether to accept or decline ??

 

Interestingly, a K3 visa can *only* be issued in the country of

marriage, so going the K3 route would put the issue beyond any doubt or discretion.

 

[Randy W]

From talking to Roger, Roth law firm, and from going to Guangzhou in person and attempting to have them forward my case to Tokyo, it seems that they almost always do forward it for you.

When I in person asked Guangzhou to forward my case to Tokyo, they seemed happy to oblige and said it would be no problem at all, but they warned me it would be very slow and suggested that I use another route.

 

As far as I understand if you file in Guangzhou and ask it to be forwarded to Tokyo, Guangzhou is the one who decideds if it gets forwarded or not. (Please someone correct me if I'm wrong)

 

Also, apparently if they forward it to Tokyo, it still has to be sent to USA for NVC which takes a long time itself, the whole process of lodging in guangzhou and having it forwarded to Tokyo, seems the slowest of all possible routes.

 

 

 

Yes, you are correct. The NVC route is the same route a petition filed in the States would follow, so it's unlikely to get any kind of special reception (good or bad) in Tokyo.

Edited May 19, 2010 by Randy W (see edit history)

[ciao]

Sorry to report late.

All our three (my wife-Japan passport, daughter-Japan passport and I-US passport) went to Beijing consulate at Aug.10th.

As somebody said before, it was very new, clean and friendly.

There was a huge long line at the first floor,

but not at the second where we were supposed to go.

 

The officer (obviously a chinese guy) looked very carefully page by page and also the originals.

He said it was good that we made a cover letter which had list of all the documents and numbers on.

We numbered every page.

He had some understand of Japanese Koseki,

but he liked more the paper which my wife got from Japan consulate in Shanghai.

She got her birth certificate (even though she wasn't born in Japan, later immigrated to Japanese, but she still got it),

marrige, name change, and my daughter's birth certificates in Japan consulate in Shanghai.

If we had known those are the things what they were looking for,

we wouldn't have gone to Japan to get all the Koseki and

translated one by one which cost a fortune.

One thing we were missing was another copy of everything.

Because I was filing for two persons, so they needed two copies.

But luckly, my wife brought the entire copy for home use, and turned that in.

 

Interesting thing was there were four groups in the USCIS room.

Two of us were there resigning their greencards, and it costs more than applying.

 

Now, we check the real mail box to see if the envolope has arrived everyday.

It has been 35 days. I wonder if applying for two persons doubles the time.

Is there any way to find out what is the status?

 

BTW, it was very good to hire Roger Lin www.visaschina.com.

He was very nice and helpful.

 

ciao

[Randy W]

 

 

Interesting thing was there were four groups in the USCIS room.

Two of us were there resigning their greencards, and it costs more than applying.

 

 

 

 

 

Just to clarify on the green card abandonment - why were you abandoning a green card - was it your wife's so that she could immigrate to the US?

 

Is there a fee associated with the I-407? How much?

 

Thanks

 

If you intend to travel to the U.S. as a non-immigrant, you may wish to file an Abandonment of Lawful Permanent Resident Status Form I-407 to clarify your status. Former LPRs will usually be asked to execute this document and surrender their I-551 (green card) before being issued a non-immigrant visa. The I-407 can be executed on the same day as your non-immigrant visa interview before the interviewing Consular Officer.

 

I'm sure the above also applies if applying for an IR-1 visa.

 

[ciao]

Just to clarify on the green card abandonment - why were you abandoning a green card - was it your wife's so that she could immigrate to the US?

 

I meant there were two groups of people among four resigning greencards.

Just a story. Never mind.

 

Sorry for the misleading.

I am the wife writing insteading of my husband-ciao,

and English is my third language.

 

Anyway, thanks for all the help to everyone.

 

ciao's wife

[Randy W]

Just to clarify on the green card abandonment - why were you abandoning a green card - was it your wife's so that she could immigrate to the US?

 

I meant there were two groups of people among four resigning greencards.

Just a story. Never mind.

 

Sorry for the misleading.

I am the wife writing insteading of my husband-ciao,

and English is my third language.

 

Anyway, thanks for all the help to everyone.

 

ciao's wife

 

 

 

OK - you said "Two of US were there" - using the word US implies that you are one of the two.

 

But thanks, I wanted to ask because my wife has all but abandoned her green card - she has been out of the US for more than a year now. I was wondering if there was an advantage to doing that - sounds like there isn't until you need to apply for another visa.

 

Thanks again

[ciao]

> I wanted to ask because my wife has all but abandoned her green card -

> she has been out of the US for more than a year now. I was wondering

> if there was an advantage to doing that - sounds like there isn't until

> you need to apply for another visa.

 

We (our family) were not ditching our green cards. But, of the four families

present in the waiting room in Beijing that day, two of them were there for this purpose

 

The people abandoning their green cards said they were doing it for tax reasons.

They said that holding a green card implies that you have to pay US taxes,

even if you live and earn income outside the US.

 

I don't know if that's correct or not, but that was the reason they gave.

 

ciao

[dnoblett]

> I wanted to ask because my wife has all but abandoned her green card -

> she has been out of the US for more than a year now. I was wondering

> if there was an advantage to doing that - sounds like there isn't until

> you need to apply for another visa.

 

We (our family) were not ditching our green cards. But, of the four families

present in the waiting room in Beijing that day, two of them were there for this purpose

 

The people abandoning their green cards said they were doing it for tax reasons.

They said that holding a green card implies that you have to pay US taxes,

even if you live and earn income outside the US.

 

I don't know if that's correct or not, but that was the reason they gave.

 

ciao

 

No paying US tax on foreign income unless, income exceeds a set amount, I believe in the 80K range. However You are still obligated to file a tax return each year, you just don't pay any taxes.

 

I would continue filing Joint returns every year, this helps with domicile issue on a future visa interview.

[bullmastiff]

> I wanted to ask because my wife has all but abandoned her green card -

> she has been out of the US for more than a year now. I was wondering

> if there was an advantage to doing that - sounds like there isn't until

> you need to apply for another visa.

 

We (our family) were not ditching our green cards. But, of the four families

present in the waiting room in Beijing that day, two of them were there for this purpose

 

The people abandoning their green cards said they were doing it for tax reasons.

They said that holding a green card implies that you have to pay US taxes,

even if you live and earn income outside the US.

 

I don't know if that's correct or not, but that was the reason they gave.

 

ciao

 

 

Ditching the coveted greencard ? This is a very interesting matter. It's an eye opening that we may start losing our attractiveness or appeal as the land of opportunity ???

 

Yes, income abroad for US citizens & greencard holders are subjected to taxes . There is about $80 K exemption for foreign residence .Filing may get complicated if they have properties and other sources of income abroad ; especially if they are not that kosher.... you know what i mean....

 

I just wondered if there is anyone who abandons the US citizenship to take up PRC citizenship ??? It used to be those who do PRC naturalization are from poor countries in Africa , Cuba,etc.... Who knows what is now ???