More ? regarding China

[KenC]

Lot's of great info here guys, thanks.

How difficult is it to get a K-1 at the embassy in China?  I know the staff in Moscow were a pain in the a$$.
Ken

[Capstone]

How difficult is it to get a K-1 at the embassy in China?  I know the staff in Moscow were a pain in the a$$.

The consulate in Guangzhou is considered one of the tougher consulates to go through in order to obtain a visa. There are a lot of things with the visa process which are unique in regards to that Consulate and so doing a lot of research before filing is definitely recommended. There is a site which deals specifically with getting fiancées & spouses visas from Guangzhou and I would highly recommend to anyone thinking about bringing a fiancée or wife to the US to join it - a lot of invaluable information can be learned from it. The site is www.candleforlove.com. I used the information that I obtained from that site to prepare my petition and the documentation that my wife took to her interview - my wife was loaded for bear so to speak when she went to her interview. We were both very prepared and she ended up having only a very short 5-6 question interview.

If you think that there might be a possibility of of you filing a K-1 after this trip then I would advise that you save everything from the trip: any & all receipts, boarding passes, etc and also make sure and take a lot of good pictures with not only you and your girl but also of you with her family & friends if possible.

[KenC]

Cap,
Great site!  Thanks again.

After reading just a little, I was surprised that someone said it would take 1 to 2 years to get a K-1 visa.  How true is that?

Any wedding or engagement insight you want to share?  What do the Chinese women expect?  My thinking is that we should not marry until she is here and experiences what is in her future.
Ken

Edited to add: Any good calling cards you can recommend?

[Capstone]

After reading just a little, I was surprised that someone said it would take 1 to 2 years to get a K-1 visa.  How true is that?

Any wedding or engagement insight you want to share?  What do the Chinese women expect?  My thinking is that we should not marry until she is here and experiences what is in her future.

1-2 years for a K-1? Not very common. 8-10 months is more likely. My wife and I decided on a K-1 also and it took around 9 months total after filing which is pretty average for China. Currently the timelines for I-129F petition approvals are running 5-6 months for both the California & Vermont Service Centers according to both their own figures and by visajourney timelines.  

So figure 5-6 months for USCIS approval, another 2 weeks for your petition to work its way through NVC and get shipped off to Guangzhou. The next step is something pretty unique to Guangzhou - NVC will send your petition to the Consulate via FedEx where it has to clear Chinese customs. FedEx doesn't actually deliver the petitions straight to the Consulate though, instead they keep them in their customs warehouse and then the folks from the Consulate will pick them up themselves whenever they are ready to work on them. On average the petitions sit in the Fed Ex customs warehouse anywhere from 1-3 months before they are picked up by Consulate personnel and worked. Mine sat in limbo for almost 3 months. After the Consulate starts working on them things go very quick though with the application packets being sent out soon afterwards.

I think that the 1-2 year figure that was mentioned was what to plan on if something happens to go wrong and the visa gets denied and then extra steps are needed (overcome attempt, refiling, etc.).

Even if you decide to get married in the US I would recommend that you go ahead and have a wedding banquet in China - it is what every Chinese woman wants. Basically the Chinese wedding banquet entails all the pomp & circumstance of a US wedding reception and it is something that is separate from the actual legal marriage/ wedding. The actual marriage/wedding is the act of signing some paperwork at a government office and only includes the bride, groom and government official.

This is the route that I took - my wife and I had a wedding banquet in China (actually ended up having 3 different ones) but then actually got married in the US. It is something that is very common and does not raise suspicion as to rather or not you are actually married. Many couples in China will go get legally married and then have a wedding banquet several months later (or vice verse) so it would be nothing out of the cultural norms to do so. The advantage of having a wedding banquet in China instead of a wedding reception in the US would be the cost savings. You can have a very nice wedding banquet in China for a fraction of what you would pay for the same thing in the US. Plus as an added bonus, all of the guests that attend the banquet will give you red envelopes filled with money - because of this none of my 3 wedding banquets ended up costing me a dime. The other advantage is that all of her family & friends would be able to attend which is something very important.

[KenC]

Cap,
Would there be as much emphasis on a second marriage/wedding?  Also we are not kids.  She is 49 and I am 58.
Ken

[Capstone]

Cap,
Would there be as much emphasis on a second marriage/wedding?  Also we are not kids.  She is 49 and I am 58.

Probably not. If she has already been married once before then a big banquet may not matter as much to her but rather an intimate one with a number of family & close friends may be more in order. But I say let her have what she wants in regards to a banquet because like I said it will end up costing you nothing or very little in the end anyway.

One other thing that I forgot to mention which will probably not be applicable in your case if this would not be her first marriage. In many parts of China the custom of the groom paying a 'bride price' is still practiced. This is more common in rural areas than in urban areas but really depends on family traditions, etc. In most cases it is a token payment made to the parents of the bride in appreciation of raising a good daughter.

This wasn't something that I encountered because my wife's dad didn't think that it would be appropriate since I am not Chinese but it wasn't something that I would have totally opposed either since I am aware that it is still common practice for many people in China. Anyway - it is generally not practiced if it is the bride's second marriage other than maybe giving a small token amount in a red envelope to her parents on the day of the wedding (or banquet).  

Another thing that you may be asked to do which pretty much all soon to be married couples in China do is to have wedding photos taken. Now I am not talking an hour or so of photos but a photo session which lasts all day. In my case, our session lasted around 8 hours, 3 different locations and god knows how many wardrobe changes. It included a photographer, the photographer's assistant, a makeup artist and a hair stylist. We got a ton of photos in some very nice albums, some large framed photos and a CD with all the photos for a very very good price. Photography studios are plentiful and very reasonable in China.

[KenC]

Capstone,
What is the Chinese take on wedding/engagement rings?

Know of any good calling cards for China?
Ken

[Capstone]

Capstone,
What is the Chinese take on wedding/engagement rings?

Know of any good calling cards for China?

Wedding rings aren't something that have traditionally been given like here in the US but is something that has been catching on with the younger crowd over the past 5 years or so. You will rarely see a woman 40+ wearing a wedding ring. My wife is 33 and I would say maybe 25% of her married friends in China wear one. Engagement rings are still pretty much unheard of though - my wife just told me that she is the only one of her friends who was given one.

EDIT: can't give you any recommendations on calling cards because I never use them, sorry.

[KenC]

Now that my flight is booked, I find myself having to navigate the Shanghi airport.  Anyone with experience?  Will I have trouble finding my flight without any Chinese?

Any suggestions on an electronic translator?
Ken

[Capstone]

Now that my flight is booked, I find myself having to navigate the Shanghi airport.  Anyone with experience?  Will I have trouble finding my flight without any Chinese?

Any suggestions on an electronic translator?
Ken

The million dollar question is which Shanghai airport will you be flying out of on your flight to Chongqing? The International airport in Shanghai is Pudong (PVG) - that is definitely the airport that you will arrive at from the US. However the majority of the domestic flights in/out of Shanghai are out of the Hongqiao airport (SHA). Both airports are easy to navigate with all signs being in both Chinese & English - so no worries there. But if your Chongqing flight is out of Hongqiao then you will need to transfer airports and they are on opposite ends of town. No big deal really, I have done it twice, but you just need to make sure that you have enough time to make your connecting flight as it takes about 1 hour to transfer between airports. But there are domestic flights out of the Pudong airport (just not as many) so maybe you will not need to transfer.

I don't have an electronic translator other than an translator app for my iPod that I downloaded from the Apple store. It is pretty cool because you can write a Chinese character with your finger on the screen and it will translate it into English.

[KenC]

Thanks again, Cap.  Just checked and all my flights are at PVG.
Ken

[Capstone]

Thanks again, Cap.  Just checked and all my flights are at PVG.
Ken

No worries then. I really like how they have the immigration & customs checkpoints setup at PVG - both times that I have flown in/out of there I was able to get through the checkpoints pretty quickly as they have a lot of immigration personnel on duty and tend to process a flight in short order. Immediately after exiting immigration/customs you will find yourself in a large arrivals hall which has several money changing kiosks and ATMs, so you should have no trouble getting your hands on some RMB in between flights.

[KenC]

One more quick question (as I pack).  Are shorts acceptable attire in China?

[Capstone]

One more quick question (as I pack).  Are shorts acceptable attire in China?

Ken,
Shorts are fine to wear when you are out & about during the day - I just would not plan on wearing them to dinner, etc. I always pack & wear a couple of pairs of shorts when I visit China during the summer.


BTW - when do you leave?