Our Story

[Smaug]

Ivy just sent me an email. She finished her interview with the consulate in Guangzhou. Successfully.

So you all know how the interview went, I will just share her email to me here:

My dear,

I'm now on the metro, way to home from the US consulate office.

The whole interview lasted less than ten minutes, the official asked me how we met, if I know your divorce reason, if I joined Community Party etc. I prepared lots of stuff to prove our relationship, like our letters, photos, phone call list, chat list, email list.....but, nobody asked me to show them!

When she knows we communicate in English, she began to speak English! But, because the voice was not quite good from the other side of the window glass, sometimes I couldn't understand! That's bad.

Can you guess the result?

....

...

...


Be approved of course!

New life is waiting for us ahead.

Love,
QF

XXXOOO


PS: I asked about the visa valid time, she said June next year. That's good.

PPS:I'm wondering if you go to bed already or still up? Hope it is not difficult for you to fall asleep with the news.

Apparently there is a lot of variance in how these are processed, from some of the nightmare stories I've read here.  I wonder why it went so easily? Was the officer at ease that Ivy speaks good English? Or she saw the huge stack of documents and knew? Or she reviewed all the (lots of ) document that we prepared to apply the first time?

Ivy was anxious that they might not give her too much time to move here; she knew one person who allegedly was only given 1 month to move to the USA. Since she's in the process of selling her condo, she was worried she might not have enough time if they rushed her that much. So now, she feels comfortable. (someone has already offered to pay her asking price for her condo, she just has to get all the paperwork in order, maybe after Lunar New Year.)

Tomorrow, I will go downtown Chicago to apply to renew my Chinese visa. I hope it goes as smoothly for me as it went for her!

I'm having a celebratory glass of wine, and hoping that we've just spent our last holiday apart.

-Jeremy

Tomorrow, I took the morning off of work to

[Pineau]

Awesome,
congratulations starting to get exciting.

Double check the expiration date on her VISA when you get it.  With a variance of 1 to 6 months you may want  take a look and be at ease.

I am jealous. Seems that everything is going well for your process, For us it was a two your up hill battle the whole time.  I hope you luck holds.

Merry Christmas dude !

[maxx]

Congratulations Jeremy and Ivy. That is nice to hear.

To answer  your question. It is usually comes down to.Did you hire a good immagration attorney ? Or did you use Robert S Services? Are you a Vet ? Are you a government employee ? If you can answer yes to any of my questions. It usually go's pretty smoothly. If there wasn't any missing paperwork. Or you didn't bring undo attention to yourself or your lady. By calling the consulate every other day.Asking about your lady's visa application. Then it should be ok. Your lady being able to speak English helped allot. Her going to the interview. With her head up. And her hands full of paperwork also helped.

Most of the time if you have the things I posted. The interview is just a formality. To make sure they didn't miss anything. And to show you your tax dollars at work

Some of the things that can put the visa application on hold.Or a complete denial. Is bothering the Consulate. Calling your congressmen. Missing paperwork, Somebody doing the application without the help of a immigration attourney. Or using Robert S services .The woman going to the interview empty handed. Or dressed trashy. The man making only one trip to China. Without supporting paperwork. That says that they had other trips together. The lady not having her mans passport. Or copies of the visa pages. And a copy of the personal information page. Can put a hold on the visa.Not having her medical check done. Or missing fees. Can also hold the visa up.

Good luck and best wishes

Maxx

[Smaug]

Thanks for the nice wishes, Pineau and Maxx. We're both very happy now, and these last few months of waiting will be TOUGH, but we count our blessings here.

Thanks for all the good advice here, everyone. Her interview went so smoothly and easily, it made me feel like I worried too much. But I see how some cases don't go well.

I think the part about the immigration attorney was key. I probably would have married her to make the immigration go easier, which my attorney said can be a mistake, since then we have to prove that we didn't marry just for immigration purposes.

I married my ex, then immigrated her in. We were interviewed at least twice, together, and she was fingerprinted about a dozen times. It makes me wonder if that was harder than it needed to be because of that choice...

[Willy The Londoner]

Well I must add my congratulations. From this case it seems that it may be better in the USA authorities eyes to not marry before you apply!!! Can that be right?

And Maxx I thing that you meant this and not as it came out with the wrongly placed full stop.

'Some of the things that can put the visa application on hold.Or a complete denial. Is bothering the Consulate. Calling your congressmen. Missing paperwork, Somebody doing the application without the help of a immigration attorney, or using Robert S services '

Willy

[maxx]

Willy yes I did come to a full stop.The way you wrote it is what I ment.I went to grammer school in London. Sometimes Limey English doesn't translate well .Just messing with you Willy.I did not go to grammer school in London.

[David E]

And Maxx I thing that you meant this and not as it came out with the wrongly placed full stop.

'Some of the things that can put the visa application on hold.Or a complete denial. Is bothering the Consulate. Calling your congressmen. Missing paperwork, Somebody doing the application without the help of a immigration attorney, or using Robert S services '

Willy

I dont want to get all pedantic over English Grammar and punctuation.............but lets get a bit pedantic here....

I believe this is the correct version of Maxx's statement

'Some of the things that can put the visa application on hold, or a complete denial are: bothering the Consulate, calling your Congressmen, missing paperwork, doing the application without the help of an Immigration Attorney, or without using Robert S' services. '

JUst my 2 centrs worth 

[Arnold]

.... thanks David for the English translation of Maxx' post. I had no glue what he said?

My Congrat's to you Smaug&Ivy, best wishes for a new Year/Life together!

[Willy The Londoner]

.... thanks David for the English translation of Maxx' post. I had no glue what he said?

I am with you Arnold but Maxx's words STUCK in my mind!!!!! Ha ha   

Willy

PS is an Australian two cents worth more than a US two cents.  I know that a new GB penny is in theory worth more than an old penny when in fact you could buy much more with the old penny!

[Smaug]

Well I must add my congratulations.

Thanks. 

From this case it seems that it may be better in the USA authorities eyes to not marry before you apply!!! Can that be right?

I'm about 90% certain of that.

One thing I didn't mention, I'm almost afraid to mention... But I didn't meet her on a dating website or a Chinese dating website. I think that probably raises the eyebrows of the consulate people.

***

For now, immigration is still a long way off, as she hasn't sold her condo yet.

In two weeks, I will be on a plane to China. She got us sleeper seats on a train to her hometown. She recruited the help of four other people to do so. Apparently, it can be a really dicey business to get train tickets. Air tickets are very expensive, so she didn't even consider that. Her son will go there next week, with her cousin, ahead of us.

[Willy The Londoner]

In two weeks, I will be on a plane to China. She got us sleeper seats on a train to her hometown. She recruited the help of four other people to do so. Apparently, it can be a really dicey business to get train tickets. Air tickets are very expensive, so she didn't even consider that. Her son will go there next week, with her cousin, ahead of us.

  A sleeper train!  You are in for a very different journey.   More commonly called a soft seat here as there is very little chance of sleeping!

  If you have never traveled that way before then it is a slow train.  Each carriage in the sleeper section has a dozen or more compartments open at one end so people can walk through. Each 'compartment' has  three beds above one another on each side. The bottom ones usually fills up with all sorts of people  sitting down playing cards, eating talking (loudly of course).  The middle one is better but when people stand in the centre section they are looking straight at the middle bunks . Of course all the smoke from dozens of smokers go up to the top bunks together with the smell from dozens of pot noodles that can be bought on board plus it can be quite a climb to get up to the top bunk.

There is a continual throng of people walking through the train trying to sell everything you could imagine anyone may need or not need on a journey.  The carriage conductor is continually coming through the carriage to check on tickets and removing anyone that does not have a ticket for that carriage. This often results in a noisy confrontation.

The on board toilets will be in an unusealable state in less than 30 minutes after departure so before you board try to eat and drink as little as possible. This is because many will have been queuing for several  hours just to get into the railway stations then waiting hours more once inside.

Of course on the approach to Chinese New Year then every carriage will be packed not only with people but with just about anything that will fit through the train entry door. This is the time when they take home all manner of presents to the family.  So getting down to the train will be a scramble in the first place.

When you finish the journey it will be interesting to hear your story.

Having made that journey I can certainly see why the high speed trains are a much better proposition.

Willy

[maxx]

I kind of like the sleeper trains. I get to do my favorite thing people watch. I have never had a trouble sleeping. Or anybody bothering me. It doe's get a little tough to do it with kids. But otherwise it has always been ok.The kids want to run up and down the carriage isles. Or go exploreing.

[Pineau]

I have done the sleeper car about three different times. A couple of  times I booked the entire compartment so I would not have to deal with a bunch of strangers.  Then offer one of the bunks to some husky looking old woman standing in the isle (make sure she is alone) . She will protect your stuff when you must go to the rest room. Another advantage is that you have room for your stuff. If you are sharing the compartment with others then all the storage space will be taken by the time you get there. I remember the one time I booked just a single bunk on a train to Dalian. I slept with my 5 pieces of luggage in the bunk with me and never went to the toilets for fear that my stuff would be gone when I got back. 

There is no chance of booking an entire compartment at new years now. You need to book it well in advance. But still try. If you cant get the entire compartment then try for all the bunks on one side.  I booked a trip at that time from Beijing to Shenyang and ended up standing with my baggage for 5 hours. I have had a lot of miserable trips in China but now they are just funny memories.

[fivetrout]

I got the dinning car on one train because there were no seats available. The dining car had no seats either, just a few tables. You can sit on your luggage but make sure you won't break anything inside.

[Smaug]

We just had a nice little fight.

I'll stick my neck out here, and risk Willy's wrath.

I'm a very open person. Some would say "too open." I share my days with Ivy, down to the detail. She likes it. Yet, I always have to pry the same information out of her. We both like it, because it makes us feel close, despite the distance.

Once or twice, I asked her about it.

"You like it when I share my life with you, right?" > "Right."

"So why don't you share yours with me, unless I ask?" > "I don't know. It seems nothing interesting happened."

Then I told her about The Golden Rule. She agreed.

Fast forward several months. No change. I decided I would not just tell her about my day any more, unless she asked. Saturday, I asked her about her day, as usual. She told me. Then silence. She felt uncomfortable, but didn't tell me so, and didn't know why.

Then, yesterday, she realized why, and asked me about my weekend. I was happy for that, as it showed she cares. I told her I didn't tell her originally, because she didn't ask, and I was waiting for her reaction.

Wooo, she hit the roof. Said I don't trust her and I'm doing tricky things. Now, she won't know if something is really wrong, or if I'm just being tricky. She asked why I didn't just tell her. I reminded her that we did talk about it, at least twice before, with no change.

She said I should love her without trying to change her, and that if I don't like something, I should just tell her, rather than do tricky things. She asked whether I want to have a soul mate that I don't trust. Wow.

I told her I was not trying to trick her, just learn about her in a different way.

Finally two days later, we made up. (just minutes ago)

I asked her please don't blow up little silly things into huge issues. We have to let go of those little things if we're to succeed, long-term. She said she didn't consider it little, but OK, she will try.

I agreed to try not to experiment on her.

Then, her boss swooped by and picked her up for lunch. Apparently, she cannot say no. I  can't understand that.