Applying for a K-1 while living in China

[engrafted]

So I prepared everything I need and I'm ready to send off the package. I started filling out the I-129F and I realized my address is in China. Two problems popped into my head:

 

1. I'm assuming I should fill it out in pinyin (using the roman alphabet) and not with the Chinese characters. So when they send the NOA to me I'm assuming they would use that address, right? I just don't trust the Chinese mail system enough to deal with something not in Chinese characters. Is there anything I can do about this? Somehow have them use Chinese characters for my address?

 

2. They only have a single box for "State or Country" (because most people probably are filling out this form while living in America.) Should I just cram my province and country together? i.e. "Shandong, China"

 

Maybe I'm worrying for no reason, but I want to get this right the first time...

[Randy W]

So I prepared everything I need and I'm ready to send off the package. I started filling out the I-129F and I realized my address is in China. Two problems popped into my head:

 

1. I'm assuming I should fill it out in pinyin (using the roman alphabet) and not with the Chinese characters. So when they send the NOA to me I'm assuming they would use that address, right? I just don't trust the Chinese mail system enough to deal with something not in Chinese characters. Is there anything I can do about this? Somehow have them use Chinese characters for my address?

 

2. They only have a single box for "State or Country" (because most people probably are filling out this form while living in America.) Should I just cram my province and country together? i.e. "Shandong, China"

 

Maybe I'm worrying for no reason, but I want to get this right the first time...

 

You could have someone in the states mail a letter to you using the pinyin address, to see if and how long it takes to get there. With the right city code, and IF there's someone at the post office who can translate to Chinese characters, it would probably get there. Remember, though, that when translating pinyin to Chinese, you'll often get a list of about 20 characters for each syllable. NOT an exact science there.

 

I tried sending a pinyin-addressed letter from here in China - the post office wouldn't accept it.

 

I would expect that Chinese characters in your home address on the petition would be ignored.

 

You really need to have an address in the US where someone can accept (and email copies to you) letters. There are services that will do this for a fee (Google mail forwarding service), if you need to do that.

[engrafted]

So I prepared everything I need and I'm ready to send off the package. I started filling out the I-129F and I realized my address is in China. Two problems popped into my head:

 

1. I'm assuming I should fill it out in pinyin (using the roman alphabet) and not with the Chinese characters. So when they send the NOA to me I'm assuming they would use that address, right? I just don't trust the Chinese mail system enough to deal with something not in Chinese characters. Is there anything I can do about this? Somehow have them use Chinese characters for my address?

 

2. They only have a single box for "State or Country" (because most people probably are filling out this form while living in America.) Should I just cram my province and country together? i.e. "Shandong, China"

 

Maybe I'm worrying for no reason, but I want to get this right the first time...

 

You could have someone in the states mail a letter to you using the pinyin address, to see if and how long it takes to get there. With the right city code, and IF there's someone at the post office who can translate to Chinese characters, it would probably get there. Remember, though, that when translating pinyin to Chinese, you'll often get a list of about 20 characters for each syllable. NOT an exact science there.

 

I tried sending a pinyin-addressed letter from here in China - the post office wouldn't accept it.

 

I would expect that Chinese characters in your home address on the petition would be ignored.

 

You really need to have an address in the US where someone can accept (and email copies to you) letters. There are services that will do this for a fee (Google mail forwarding service), if you need to do that.

 

Good point. I can have my parents forward things to me. In that case, should I just put their address where the form asks me to put my address? That's where we would live after moving to America in the beginning so it's not the only time it would be on the form.

[Randy W]

So I prepared everything I need and I'm ready to send off the package. I started filling out the I-129F and I realized my address is in China. Two problems popped into my head:

 

1. I'm assuming I should fill it out in pinyin (using the roman alphabet) and not with the Chinese characters. So when they send the NOA to me I'm assuming they would use that address, right? I just don't trust the Chinese mail system enough to deal with something not in Chinese characters. Is there anything I can do about this? Somehow have them use Chinese characters for my address?

 

2. They only have a single box for "State or Country" (because most people probably are filling out this form while living in America.) Should I just cram my province and country together? i.e. "Shandong, China"

 

Maybe I'm worrying for no reason, but I want to get this right the first time...

 

You could have someone in the states mail a letter to you using the pinyin address, to see if and how long it takes to get there. With the right city code, and IF there's someone at the post office who can translate to Chinese characters, it would probably get there. Remember, though, that when translating pinyin to Chinese, you'll often get a list of about 20 characters for each syllable. NOT an exact science there.

 

I tried sending a pinyin-addressed letter from here in China - the post office wouldn't accept it.

 

I would expect that Chinese characters in your home address on the petition would be ignored.

 

You really need to have an address in the US where someone can accept (and email copies to you) letters. There are services that will do this for a fee (Google mail forwarding service), if you need to do that.

 

Good point. I can have my parents forward things to me. In that case, should I just put their address where the form asks me to put my address? That's where we would live after moving to America in the beginning so it's not the only time it would be on the form.

 

Yes, definitely! It should even help your case to have a domicile (place to live when you go back) established.

[dan1984]

Also, you can attach addendum's for situations like this that could be potentially unclear - be it this address situation (include an addendum with the address in Chinese characters so they have that as well), explaining that your fiance doesn't have any other 'official' names, but her English name is "xxxx" and that is what I often call her, etc. Little things like this is what I plan to do.

[2mike&jin]

Pinyin is not a problem; especially if you are living in a larger city. We filed while I was living in China - and I spent the entire time here until she received her Visa. I, as it was suggested here, used my US address where I thought we would be living (I had two places) and put all of this on the addendum to the application. It all tracked, since I was studying Chinese and living in country. All addresses were in Pinyin, with the only thing on the application being in Hanzi was her name. I did have a mail forwarding service, so anything that went to the US address was forwarded to me. It took about 6-10 days to arrive and clear customs. My mail forwarding used FedEx to forward the mail - whenever there was sufficient quantities. I also had a chinese telephone number listed on all address labels so that they could call if there was an issue. Sometimes the Fedex delivery guy's would call to be sure about where we were. It all worked out great and we had no problems.

[dnoblett]

You could have someone in the states mail a letter to you using the pinyin address, to see if and how long it takes to get there. With the right city code, and IF there's someone at the post office who can translate to Chinese characters, it would probably get there. Remember, though, that when translating pinyin to Chinese, you'll often get a list of about 20 characters for each syllable. NOT an exact science there.

 

I tried sending a pinyin-addressed letter from here in China - the post office wouldn't accept it.

 

I would expect that Chinese characters in your home address on the petition would be ignored.

 

You really need to have an address in the US where someone can accept (and email copies to you) letters. There are services that will do this for a fee (Google mail forwarding service), if you need to do that.

 

Good point. I can have my parents forward things to me. In that case, should I just put their address where the form asks me to put my address? That's where we would live after moving to America in the beginning so it's not the only time it would be on the form.

 

Yes, definitely! It should even help your case to have a domicile (place to live when you go back) established.

Very good point on domicile, even though the intent of this K-1 case is due to difficulty getting a B-2 for girl friend to visit, you will still need to prove US domicile. K-1 visa requires an affidavit of support from petitioner at the time of interview, (I-134), and the I-134 requires evidence that have not given up US domicile, the consulate may also request a joint sponsor to also provide an I-134.