stevo222

Hello fellow Visa Journey China Portal members.  I have a friend who intends to marry his Chinese significant other, and they will live in the States.  She has a daughter who is 20 years old now.  Is it best for him to go through the K-1 Visa process, and try to bring her daughter over doing that process, or marry her first and then try and bring them both over to the US?  Her daughter will turn 21 next June.  Thanks for any advice.  I haven't posted in years, but am happily married for 5 years now to my wife from China!  We used Visa Journey to help us (with the advice of all the experts here!) back in 2011-2012.  Looking to you again to be able to give my friend some good advice.  Thanks!

Thanks for the replys, eveyone. Darnell, you always give great, very specific, stepwise advice, which is so great! What happend to your pic of those two super cute kids, though (can you tell it's been awhile)?

Hi. I haven't posted in quite awhile. Here is my question. My wife, who came here on a K1, and my stepson (her son) are both interested in adding more "American" or "English" types of first names. My wife is now a full year into her conditional 2 year permnent resident (green) card, and my stepson is only about 3 months into his. Anyone that has done this, can you give advice on how to do it, and what it means as far as paperwork with the USCIS? Thanks for any advice!

Darnell and A&B, I haven't posted in many months, but I referred someone that wants to do a K1 visa from China to use Visajourney to guide them, and told them that any questions they had, that you two, monitoring the China Portal, were the EXPERTS, better than any lawyers on earth, in my opinion. You two are doing such a great service, and for free for others - Kudos, kudos, and more kudos to you (and some others on this site as well!)

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Thanks Darnell. I will wait on getting the SSN, and go ahead and also file for the EAD with the I-485. What a beautiful young lady there, BTW!

Hi China Portal friends,

Ying had her AOS approved and received her two year green card in the mail in July (came while she was in China for her son's K2 interveiw -he followed 10 months later). An interesting thing is that she never had to interview for the I-485 approval - we were waiting for an interview appointment letter, but she got her approval notice "Welcome to the United States of America" letter, and her green card came about a week later. Her son, Zongyang, had his K2 interview on July 10th at the Guangzhou consulate, everything went smoothly, he was approved and received his K2 Visa within 10 days of the interview. We are all together now. Due to high prices for tickets direct from HK to Chicago, they flew through Toronto Canada, and went through the US Customs at the Toronto Airport. The Customs officials there were much nicer and easier than the one at Chicago that Ying had to deal with a year ago. Zongyang (Yangyang) started school this week. Now I need to start his AOS packet.

Question - I was going to go to the local SSA office to apply for a SSN for Yangyang. But under AOS advice for k2, VJ says SSA will ask for the employment authorization document. I'm a little confused, does this mean I should hold off on getting him a SSN until he gets that document? He is 15. Would I even apply for employment authorization along with his I-485 at that age?

Thanks so much!

Thanks for sharing, Operator, Ying feels much more comfortable now with the idea of traveling to China with her Passport and Combo card......no GC

Thanks for the replies.

Operator - just to be clear - so there was no problem for you entering and leaving China using just a China passport and a US Advance parole card (no green card)?

Darnell and A&B - thanks - yes I sent an inquiry to GUZ on the intenet saying we were about ready to do the paperwork for her son's K2, and they immediately sent us instructions, and a link to start it all up. We haven't started it yet, because we don't want them moving so fast that they schedule her son's interview in the next three or four weeks, when we can wait a little longer, and Ying still does not have her Green card. We feel like if we wait a few more weeks, maybe she will have it by the time of her son's interview. It looks like once we start it all and send the electronic forms in, GUZ will move fast.

A&B, glad to hear from you too. You have been staying on top of things with VJ (offering advice) much better than me!

Thanks again.

Steve

Hello fellow VJers. I haven't posted in awhile. I have a question about travel to China and back for Ying. On her I-485 application, she had her biometrics long ago and is still waiting for the interview. But she also months ago received her employment authorization and I-512 advance parole card "combo card". We are now ready to do all the things needed (paperwork and final interview) to get her 15 year old son a K2 visa issued based on her K1 (its still well within the year requirement - her K1 was issued last September). The question is this: Ying has heard from her Chinese friends that she should not travel back to China until she has her 2 year green card with her, becasue Chinese customs officials will give her a difficult time (either refuse her entry, or not let her leave) with only her China Passport with the K1 visa and the US I-512 Advance parole card. So she is scared about going back to China to be with her son on his interview without already having her green card. I think she is incorrect, that the I-512 travel authorization advance parole card is sufficient. Can the experts here give us some advice concerning this worry of hers? We would appreciate it very much. Thanks!

Hi VJ friends,

I haven't posted in awhile, but to update, after Ying arrived from China at POE (Chicago O'Hare Airport) on Sep 28, 2012, we have been pretty busy. We got married on Oct. 27, at a friends house. We filed all the AOS forms on Dec 21, 2012. Ying had her Biometrics done already, in January. Here is my question. We filed both the form I-765 Application for Employment Autorization and form I-131 Application for Travel Authorization with our I-485 Application for AOS, and paid the $1070. So Ying just got this credit card sized card in the mail from USCIS, with her picture, that says at the bottom, "Serves as I-512 Advance Parole". The card is good for one year. Can she use this card to travel outside the US now? She will need to go back to China while she gets her son's K2 Visa all worked out in the next few months. It looks like on the USCIS site, they say if you get this card, it serves both as employment authorization and travel authorization while you await your I-485 approval. Thanks!

Correction, we filed all the AOS forms on Nov. 21, not Dec 21. THanks

So glad to hear of you getting things sorted out and necessary docs. Darnell is the greatest aid there is......(better than 1000 lawyers - Ha!)

Congrats to you, and Hawkeyez both! My Ying is enjoying discovering all the different types of food here, and also doing some cooking of her own. It's been so great! Even better than I imagined.

A&B, nice update about your journey. Ying and I are on your same path, a few months (miles) behind, walking on the same trail. She is finally here with me now, and so excited. She is the delight of my life, and easily worth all the trouble with the government agencies. I really do agree though, that they need to get up with the times, and also have more uniformity with how their employees are trained and go about their jobs. Best wishes to you, your wife, and stepson.

Thanks so much to everyone for the well wishes. Yes, the important thing is my love is here with me now. We have had two wonderful days together!

Yes, InHistime's comments are exactly correct. Ying noticed this one Customs guy was particularly tough, not just to her, but to everyone (a little too much with the Napoleon complex?). She said people even with tourist visas were being given tough time. She noticed on the plane (a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong), many of the Chinese were nervous, even man next to her with a business visa, because in China it is apparently well know that Chicago O'Hare is like this.

And yes, I am contemplating giveing some feedback for sure. I am thinking of calling the Customs office at O'Hare and asking who is in charge that I can send a feedback letter of our experience to.

Anyway, thanks so much to everyone for the congrats, and best wishes to everyone else on their Visa Journey!

Although I was separated since 2010, and Divorce had been in process since Feb 2011, my divorce was not final until Nov 2011. I filed my initial 129F in December 2011, just two weeks after my divorce was final. At the final interview, just 9 days ago, did not cause a problem for my Fiancee.

My Ying was in the interview area when that happened also. I was downstairs, and saw a crew of four or five medical people go up the escalator, and wondered what was going on up there. Ying later told me the same story you just told,

Congratulations!

Thanks so much for all the congrats and well wishes. I wish everyone else here also a successful Visa Journey!

Thanks, and oops, a correction it's actually 257 days from NOA1, not NOA2.

VISA APPROVED!

After 257 days from NOA2 (including the 30+ maddening days lost because of "storage NOA2 facility mishap", we are approved for K1 Visa!

I wish to send so much thanks to all the helpful experts on this site, especically the China specific helpers such as Darnell, Big Dog, Ryan H, A&B, Pushbrk and others!

I will tell a little of our experience that really shows how this site is so beneficial in getting that Visa approved right now, and also more later in my review. My sweetie, Ying, is a very social and instantly likeable and approachable person. So I am not surprised that while standing in line outside the Consulate both days, we made friends with those that we talked to standing next to us in line, while she was waiting to go inside. What I can say is, of the five couples, including us, that we got to know a little during these two days, only two (us and one other) got the Visa approval. The others, while they will hopefully get their issues resoved, and get their Visas eventually, got "blue papers" because something wasn't done to satisfaction. We were the only ones of this group of five couples that used the Visa Journey website for help. One woman, who was already married, her husband did not do the I-134 form, so "blue paper." Another, while her Fiance sent her the I-134 last minute, only had it electronically on her computer, and with no supporting Docs, so "blue paper". Another, her Fiance only included a few e-mails as supporting evidence and apparently did not "front load" the initial I-129F very well, evidently, so "blue paper". Ying's interview lasted 5 to 7 minutes, the Visa Officer woman she got liked her instantly (of course!), and didn't even ask her questions to "grill her real knowledge" base of me. She complemented Ying on her english being very good, and Ying complemented the woman on her Chinese being very good, which gave the woman a big smile. They talked a little chit-chat, and when the woman got through typing whatever she had to type into the computer about our case, she turned to Ying and said "OK, congratulations, your Visa is approved, and you will get it in about two weeks". Ying, who had of course taken way too much evidence "stuff" into the interview, said, "but you don't want to see anything i have here?" (almost dissapointed), she showed my passport with the letter from me to the Visa officer folded insdide. The woman said, "Oh, so he is here, I thought so", but I don't need to see this."

This is what faithfully following the advice on Visa Journey results in!

Thanks again so much to everyone on this site for advice and support!

I will post a review shortly.

Sirlogic,

Sorry for your extended wait after you thought it was all over!

What news for you?

Thanks

Wow, guess they have gotten faster. Congrats! You will be busier sooner than you thought, which is a good thing.