Matt_Stevens

If i can resurrect this... I now have the documents back from the Nevada SS. In talking to the folks at Visarite they are telling me I do NOT need to send to DC since this is the California jurisdiction. Now I would love to avoid paying Visarite $109 for their service fee, but am I correct that since I cannot travel to Cali myself I need to use a service? 

That's not what the visarite people or Nevada SOS office told me. This is beyond confusing. Every single person I talk to tells me something different and I do not know what to do. 

I certainly cannot afford to fly to California! 

Next week and the week after I will be in the NYC. It would be very easy for me to go the Chinese consulate in NYC or drive to DC.

Thanks everyone for the help. Yesterday afternoon i mailed the marriage cert to the SOS office in nevada. I was able to get a person on the phone to help. Too about 40 minutes.  

I added rush service so that they can get it to me before the end of next week. I can then go to the DC embassy. I want to do this on my own rather than pay a company like visarite all that money to do it. 

I just hope the embassy doesn't tell me they want a newer copy. The turnaround time would be impossible to meet. We were married last Nov and I had two copies of the marriage cert made at that time.

Wow, I wish I could edit posts. I am sorry about having to post again.... More information i have found:

I spoke to the visarite.com people and they said I need my marriage cert to be sent to the Nevada Secretary of State for "authentication of marriage certificate in China" but the issue is Googling this only returns results regarding "apostille" which is not valid in China. As I type this I am trying to navigate the Secretary of State phone menus, but holy cow, it's a muddy mess. 

Added info... I see the China Portal, but I do not see how to actually post in it. 

Also, I think maybe what I need is for our marriage certificate to be authenticated. I found this page here from a Visa service...

http://www.visarite.com/authentication_marriage_certificate.htm

Maybe this is what the lady in Kunming was talking about. ??? I tried calleding the Embassy and it's been busy busy busy. I suppose I can try again tomorrow morning. 

Gang, we are getting hung up on semantics. I can only repeat what I was told while in Kunming, by someone who's English wasn't very good. Obviously things get lost in translation. What she did make clear was that I had to go to the U.S. Embassy and bring my "paperwork" with me. What paperwork? She didn't know and told me to call the Embassy. i did and unfortunately their English was terrible, lol! I couldn't make them understand. 

What do you mean by China Portal? I thought I was in the China section? 

Going to the Embassy in Beijing is something I'd like to avoid, simply because of the great expense involved. Roundtrip airfare, hotel, etc. will add up and the expense of flying to Kunming in October is enough, plus we have to fly to Shanghai for a wedding! Oh brother, we are paying a fortune in airline fees this year.

Marriage here is not valid in China until proven IN China. I will not be able to get a waiver on my visa until this is taken care of. But trying to understand how is the problem. I need clarification or answers from someone who is 100% certain of the facts. 

We need to prove out marriage in China. Otherwise it doesn't exist. But I am unsure of how to go about doing this. 

Hi all, I have searched but must be using the wrong search terms. My longtime girlfriend and I were married in Las Vegas last October. We had each been going back and forth and while visiting family in Vegas just knew and we went and did it.  

I am going to move to China in October (we will stay there for 3 years and then go to the states for her son to attend high school) and we will need to be married in China. I have a 10 year visa, but I have to leave every 90 days, a royal PITA (not to mention it's expensive). So we want to get married IN China so that I can get a different visa or resident permit. 

I can drive to the Chinese embassy in DC next week but I am not sure what i need to do or what I should ask for,. I would appreciate some advise. 

My wife is a Chinese citizen. I am a U.S. citizen, born and raised here. We will live in Kunming. 

Thank you! 

No matter what I did online the routing was different or impossible to get at a decent rate. And certainly impossible to get our seats together.

In the end a friend got me with a Chinese travel agent in Queens NY and she was able to take care of everything. And the price was terrific. So it's a done deal.

I have a friend who is coming to the USA from China. A visa is not an issue since she has a long tourist visa. The issue is she wants to buy a round trip ticket and I want to buy a one-way ticket to return to China with her (I have a visa and don't know how long I will be staying).

It seems it's impossible to make such purchase online so I will have to look into a travel agency. But there are soooo many and also so many ripoff artists.

Anyone have advice on a good reliable agency that can book out tickets and find us a good deal?

For personal reasons I wish to delete my timeline. But it seems impossible. I have tried more times than I can count but it always errors and says to contact an administrator.

I want my entire timeline gone.

What is turnaround time? My friend in China has invited me to visit for years and i just found out I have an opening in my schedule. I would need to leave around April 25 to make the trip worthwhile. Any later than that and I don't have enough time.

I am in North Carolina so that means service via the DC Embassy.

Should I use one of these agencies will I receive my passport back in time? I am looking at mychinavisa.com and visaright.com but don't know which to use.

I have not purchased my flight tickets yet as i am unsure of the process or if I should do this given the time constraints.

My fiend is working on putting together an invitation letter for me since I will stay with her and other friends and not a hotel.

Yes, well, besides her. I am looking for names known in Vietnam.

Gents and ladies, I cannot go into too much detail here, but I am in need of Vietnamese actresses who are max age 40.

25-35 is the preferred age group.

Incredible as this may seem, my wife has zero interest in Vietnamese films or celebrities. But I am in need of names of good looking Vietnamese actresses as we start scouting for potential leads on a feature.

They need to be able to speak English and Vietnamese and they can be sort of known to very well known. I just need names so I can start researching.

Well they don't seem to want to. That's the rub. Five weeks and counting and they are pushing me to purchase a single entry visa.

If there is a Vietnamese neighborhood/shopping center in NYC there is likely a travel agent that can get the visa for you without any hassles.

Anyone can get a regular single entry visa. What I want and should have no problem getting is a 5 year visa exemption. That would allow me multiple 90 day entries over five years as I am married to a Vietnamese citizen.

i got a visa letter form the internet $20, then did a walk in visa at HCM airport$10 or 15, i am there for 3 month, went to the visa local office to extend $10 for 3 months, I also had marriage papers and letter from local police

just giving you an option

chip

I'm not sure I follow. What do you mean $ internet letter? How do you get a walkin visa at the airport? I thought you couldn't even board a plane here in the U.S. bound for Saigon without the visa in the passport.

Not sure about visa exemptions now for US Citizens - I was told not to bother trying since they have been changing the rules to generate more visa income.

Told by whom?

This would not surprise me. The amount i was quoted for a single entry is far more than what you just listed. No doubt some would be skimmed off the top.

Facts: I am a U.S. Citizen married (born here) to a Vietnamese citizen who lives here with a 10 year green card.

Question: What is the correct cost for a single entry visa into Vietnam for me, obtained through either the Consulate in NYC or the embassy on D.C.?

Situation: I am running into serious trouble with the Vietnamese consulate in NYC. I gave them my passport on December 3rd applying for a Visa Exemption for my new passport. My prior exemption expired with my old U.S. passport.

They told me four weeks max and return Jan 3rd to pick up my passport. We booked our flight for January 25, just in case of delays.

Today is the 7th and when I went to the consulate I waited around for an hour and was finally told that it was not approved. Long story short, after much frustration not understanding the guy, who's English was choppy at best, a much younger man came up to explain it was not approved yet and would I like a single entry visa. Needless to say, I was stunned.

We plan on going to Vietnam twice this year and once next. I need my visa exemption, which allows multi-entry. Furthermore, I am not spending more money on top of the $50 I already spent for my visa exemption,

Two and a 1/4 years ago when I first applied I sent the passport & application to D.C. and it was returned in just two weeks. This time I applied at the consulate and boy oh boy do I think I made a mistake in doing that. Something is rotten here.

Well, the website was back up the other day so I filled out the form, printed it out and went to the consulate today. It cost me $50 cash. The price depends on how far it is for the mailing to the embassy. At least, that's what I was told.

Too all of five minutes. Easy as pie. Nice guy. Will take 30 days or less.

Well this is my luck. I went today to fill the forms out online and their website is completely down. it's been down all day long.

Oh joy.

Wow. The price has gone up. I found my old notes and I spent $25.

Yeah, that was what happened last time. I was able to get 1 year, basically. it was too early to renew my passport at the time. I have a brand new passport now though so I'm going to be good for five years.

We are going for Tet and it was $1200 a ticket via United. When we flew two years ago, it was $875 a ticket, if memory serves.