Since there were no agencies that provided the service of obtaining this for me, I had to hoof it myself. So far, it appears all has gone well and I thought I'd start lining it all out so anyone else who has to go through this has some degree of confidence he's on the right track.
Get your passport:
you can pay an expedite fee and get it in two weeks like i did. received it in 2wks 1 day.
Get your visa:
I found a travel service who banged this out in 3 days. again, i paid the expedite fee. The lady said most americans apply for a 1 year multi entry visa and in most cases get it.
Now, begin the process of obtaining the documents for single status affidavit/certification....
Get your divorce decree/judgement or death certificate depending on your situation:
I went to the courthouse where my divorce judgement was issued and from the calendar office had a certified copy of my divorce decree/judgement in about 20 mintues.
I then hoofed it about 7 blocks to the Secretary of State regional office and had it certified on the state level. It's not appostiled since china isn't a member of something or other so it's only certified. Gets stamped and a fresh official letter stapled to it with a big gold embossed sticker. DO NOT REMOVE THE STAPLES..... EVER!
I then filled out the single status affidavit and had it notarized at the fedex/kinko's. A slight alteration to the affidavit had to be made to the sample since a requirement change was made for my particular state. I had it prefilled out on my laptop and had it with me so I was able to add the lines the notary needed and she printed out a fresh copy to notarize.
I then took the affidavit to the County Clerk/Recorders office and they certified the notary's authenticity. NOTE: The notary must be within the same county as the clerk/recorder since all they're certifying is in their own county.
I then took the affidavit to the Secretary of State regional office and had it certified in the same manner as the divorce decree.
An obvious point would be to have your certified divorce decree and affidavit both prepared before going to the Secretary of State office since it saves a second trip. My timing was off and rushed so this was my own error.
Take the certified divorce decree, state cert attached, as well as the affidavit, also state cert still attached, and make complete copies of both. EVERY PAGE and DONT REMOVE THE STAPLES.
Make a copy of your passport face page/signature page.
Find the Consulate General for your consular jurisdiction. You can either use the mail service, or walk it in. I did the walk in today, requested rush so I could pick it up the next day. I can't pick it up till monday but that's just a schedule issue, kids.
While I was at the Consulate General, I found i was missing some copies of my divorce decree and had to quickly find a copy machine. Down the hall was a full service travel agency called "Able Tours Co." I first met Grace, the manager, and she quickly got me setup and had her consultant whipping me out the copies i needed. She told me she also does the single status cert process too and I told her I'd seen her web site but it didnt list it. She informed me the site is still under contruction and it was somewhere in small print. I suggested it be in larger print. haha. So after finishing my application process and got my receipt, i went back to see if I could impose one last time for the use of their phone to call the taxi and get back to the train station. Carrie, a consultant, asked me if I was up to use public transportation, the metro (underground train), and she directed me to the station only 1 block away and for 1/15th the cost was on a train headed back to Union Station to catch my train home. So if anyone wants to send these nice ladies some business, I can only say they're super nice, very accomodating and Grace said she takes every request as a case by case basis since each usually requires a personal touch of some sort.
Here's their contact info. Theyr'e a full service shop for tours to china so im sure they can probably answer darn near any question.
ABLE TOURS & CO.
500 Shatto Place #300
Los Angeles, CA 90020
http://www.abletoursla.comGrace Tam (manager)
Carrie Chan (Travel Consultant)
(213)383-2288
Toll Free: (800)828-2188
Fax: (213)383-4768
