Coming Home

[Phil & Ningning]

Yes I wish she was coming home now, but unfortunately the p4 has not yet arrived. When the wonderful day comes, will I be able to take her on my normal route from Macao>Taipei>Losangeles? I have heard and understand that Chinese citizens are generally not welcome in Taiwan, but I am wondering if my Sweetie would be tolerated just transiting there and not leaving the terminal. The layover is only about three hours.

 

Incidently, this is a very affordable way to travel to China, entering through Macao. The border crossing is an inconvenience, but the tickets are cheap and EVA Airways takes good care of you. Check Yahoo Travel.

[lele]

Yes I wish she was coming home now, but unfortunately the p4 has not yet arrived. When the wonderful day comes, will I be able to take her on my normal route from Macao>Taipei>Losangeles? I have heard and understand that Chinese citizens are generally not welcome in Taiwan, but I am wondering if my Sweetie would be tolerated just transiting there and not leaving the terminal. The layover is only about three hours.

 

Incidently, this is a very affordable way to travel to China, entering through Macao. The border crossing is an inconvenience, but the tickets are cheap and EVA Airways takes good care of you. Check Yahoo Travel.

There *IS* a formal mechanism to apply for her to be able to go that way.

 

However, it is a nightmare.

 

It basically comes down to at least one of these:

1. She has to have at least 1,000,000$US (approximately)

2. She must be invited by a formal company using their annual alloted allowances (which were just filled a week ago for the next fiscal year)

3. She is married to a person with an id card for the island

 

I would honestly forget that option. There are many really cheap flights through beijing on air china or through shanghai or guangzhou. If you want to try something different, book a flight from Seoul and take the ferry from Shanghai or Qingdao. Your chance of getting into S. Korea is much higher.

 

Or you can try to go via Singapore. Although tough, it will still be far easier than Taiwan.

 

Oh, and Macao itself will not be easy for her to get into. Unlike Hong Kong which allows up to 7 days, Macau does not seem to grant this same allowance (or if it does, I can not find the law on it).

 

GL!

[Phil & Ningning]

WOW! A million dollars?!?!?

 

Thanks for the info. Actually she has already been to Macao several times to meet me there. She does need to get some sort of visa in order to cross the border but it does not seem to be any problem.

 

I think maybe Air China is the way to go.

[Guest blsqueaky]

Hello Phil, you might want to try and look at flychina.com. As far as being accepted, I am not sure. I know that when I fly over, many times I have been through Narita, and they seem to accept the Chinese there, and the Chinese people have no problem there, and remember how much they like each other.

[lele]

WOW! A million dollars?!?!?

 

Thanks for the info. Actually she has already been to Macao several times to meet me there. She does need to get some sort of visa in order to cross the border but it does not seem to be any problem.

 

I think maybe Air China is the way to go.

Well, if she can get to Macao, then that is great! That *also* means that she can get to Hong Kong. So I guess that you can fly from there to LA direct too! Enjoy your coming home together.

[johnxiaoying]

I got my tickets to bring my wife home through Fly China. Flying Northwest from Guangzhou to Narita to LAX to Oklahoma City. Quite a reasonable fare.

[lele]

I got my tickets to bring my wife home through Fly China. Flying Northwest from Guangzhou to Narita to LAX to Oklahoma City. Quite a reasonable fare.

You may want to *first* check with Japan if they allow that or not.

 

I am not sure about today, but the last time I looked, it required obtaining a Visa first. Fortunately these could be readily obtained in Beijing or Shanghai if you had at least 10,000 RMB in the bank for 6 months or more on a continuous basis (but you could not take it out for at least 6 months after your visa was issued).

 

Are you saying that you have already flown on the flight and hence know it is ok? If this is so, then that is great news! Can you please show where the link is allowing that?

 

I do know that there are *many* direct flights from HK/ShangHai/BeiJing to LAX and SFO and even direct flights from HK/BJ to NYC. I am not sure how these prices would compare in terms of connections, but these flights are quite affordable.

 

I *also* know from experience that flying through south Korea is possible once a visa is in hand, but Japan may be an entirely different ballpark...

[lele]

Ok, here is the law on this.

 

It *may* be possible to land in Japan if you have a CR1 or a IR1 visa, and you have documents proving that you have a job waiting for you immediately when you arrive in the US, and you have gone to a consulate to ask for a visa.

 

However, unless you have all of these combined (or a green card, but that can not be at the present time), you the USC will need to find someone in Japan to post a *large* sum of money to guarantee your wife (you can not do it yourself, that person MUST be a Japanese Citizen).

 

There is one other possible way, and that is to have the pilot of the aircraft make a personal appeal on behalf of your spouse. The law says that this is possible, but in Japan, I do not know of it ever having occurred before.

 

If possible, you may want to alter your flight schedule.

 

Sorry!

 

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http://www.cgj.org/en/d/02.html

 

 

Applicants Who Need Additional Evidence

 

Applicants for a Temporary Visitor Visa who have a national passport of the countries listed below are required to submit additional evidence made by an interested person (Guarantor) in Japan.

However, this may not apply to applicants (and their spouse and minor children) who have the nationality of the countries of list A or B below and have:

--Legal U.S. permanent residency (Green Card); or

--Legal status (U.S. visa) which allows the applicant to work in the U.S. for more than one year (excluding F and J visas) and evidence which shows the applicant has a socially and financially stable status in the U.S. (a certificate of employment, a bank statement etc.)

Also, this may not apply to students or researchers of the nationality of the list A below who can prove that they belong to an educational or academic institute in the U.S. and the purpose of visiting Japan is attending an academic meeting or conference.

 

1. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

2. People's Republic of China

3. Cambodia, Cuba, Lao, Mongolia, Viet Nam

[lele]

Lele, take a deep breath. Back away from your computer.

 

People flying through Narrita and making a connecting flight have nothing to worry about. They only need a transit visa if leaving the terminal. Please don't scare the hell out of them.

I was only reading what the consulates brightly displayed on their websites.

 

If you could kindly pass along the law or at least a link to an official government website which confirms this, I would be most happy about it!

 

Until such time however, I would strongly recommend that people *not* travel through a 3rd country airport, unless they want to take the risk of having a loved one held in jail for an immigration violation. I know that this once happened to a person who was flying through Toronto on their way to the US but did not have a Canadian visa.

 

I certainly hope that you are right though! It would be really nice if you are.

 

But my intention is not to scare people, and rather to give people fair warning, and appropriate links to consulates and the rules that they post.

 

It has already occurred that people I know have been turned away from flights departing from China to intermediate points because the Chinese Police do not see a visa for that intermediate point that the airplane is saying that they are going to. So, based on these experiences, especially in the wake of nations increasing restrictions over the past few years, I will personally remain skeptical and encourage others to look carefully into this to consider the pros and cons, especially when there are *many* direct flights from HK,BJ,SH,GZ to the US. I only want people to be careful and come home safely!

[tywy_99]

My wife had no problem flying from Beijing to Narita on the K-3. She flew NW airlines from Narita to Detroit where they gave her a big hassle at the point of entry..........the SOB's

[johnxiaoying]

What kind of hassel did they give your wife? That is some way to welcome a new immigrant to the USA. I have been wondering if I can accompany my wife through customs.

[tywy_99]

What kind of hassel did they give your wife? That is some way to welcome a new immigrant to the USA. I have been wondering if I can accompany my wife through customs.

All because the interview date on some piece of paper in her envelope from GZ did not match the date on her K-3 visa. Because of that, they held her up for six hours at the airport, making her miss her connection. They, of course, got her on the next flight out but that didn't help me any waiting for her at the airport and she wasn't on her flight.

My wife got a blue slip at her interview and didn't get her visa until 3 days later. That is the reason for the date diffferences.

These are the sort of things to be expected! Always expect the unexpected, especially in this long process.

 

I remember reading a post here one time where someone accompanied their wife thru the customs line with no problem, so you might be able to.

[se_lang]

What kind of hassel did they give your wife? That is some way to welcome a new immigrant to the USA. I have been wondering if I can accompany my wife through customs.

I came through LAX with my wife they had no problem letting me go through the line with my wife and since it was shorter I was happy, the agent was very nice asked a few question and in a matter on minutes we were on our way to a 7 hour wait in the terminal for our next flight.

[johnxiaoying]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.

[Dean Hall]

Many of the Chinese in our college town (Charlottesville) intentionally bring there parents to the States for a visit via Narita. This is because if you get the right flight, they overnight you there, giving the old people a chance to rest on what is often their first flight.

 

I've been throught Narita many times with Chinese, and there is no problem as long as it is a transit flight.

 

I accompanied my wife through immigration at LAX, my stepson through immigration at San Fran, and another CFL members wife at Chicago - all with no problem.

My flight home with my wife transited through Seoul, Korea - also no problem.

 

I have experience with Taiwan, but have never transited through there with any Chinese people.

 

Dean