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Q: How difficult was it for you to get your Chinese partner residency in your home country?
I'm working on Australian residency for my own partner, and the amount of hassle, detail and documentation required is unbelievable.
Questions include but not limited to "does your partner have a sibling of Arabic ancestry? If so, include their grandfather's name?"; "tell us all details, of all previous relationships" (ever); "tell us every country you've ever been to, ever"; "how did you fill your days during any periods of unemployment"; and my absolute personal favourite: "have you ever had another birth date?"
It will take us up to two years to get the first stage visa.
It got me thinking - if the hassles are so huge for my native English speaking partner, how much worse would it be with the added problems of Chinese bureaucracy, paperwork translation, mistrust of motives and the language barriers? Are other countries as, erm, enthusiastic with their red tape?
TLDR - those of you with Chinese partners living in your country, how did you get them there without going insane?
11 years 14 weeks ago in Visa & Legalities - China
married april 2009 .still working on getting her to Canada
BHGAL:
yes ... going on 4 years and a $30,000 in lawyer bills and I now hate Canada and China is my new homeland............. Oh , China we stand on guard for thee............. and even though I hate Gary Bettman and the Toronto Maple Leafs, I will stand by the Canucks................ and I will be learning all about Ping Pong soon....... to hell with the NHL
BHGAL:
my case is not your run of the mill case............. I worked for the govt for 35 years, and I am a convicted nuisance ....... I enjoyed stirring the pot in the good old days.......... they keep bringing 1978 up.
TedDBayer:
Sorry to hear that. That's the story I heard from a few people here. I'm really starting to hate living in Canada too. I can't take my pets out of the country, they all have records. My dog once belonged to a biker gang.
It's not that bad for the US. First we needed to file a petition in Beijing or Chicago, then we needed to wait three months. After that we had to go back to Beijing so she could get a physical and a couple of immunizations. Once that was taken care of we waited another month or so before going down to Guangzhou for her interview. For that you needed to give three years of tax returns, bank statements, a form called an affidavit of support that proves we wont end up on public assistance, and prove that we intended to move to the US. Unfortunately, neither my mother, who is my cosponsor, or I make enough money. We're trying to get my dad to sign on, but he's being kind of a butt (although to be fair he is balls deep in dependents). All in all, the thing can take anywhere between 8 months and a year and a half. Once we arrive, we can get here green card because we've been married for two years. Two years after that, citizenship.
cooter:
You say you don't make enough money. I'm curious what the threshold is? How much does one need to make in order to have qualifying sponsor status?
mattsm84:
I don't think you can do CR-1 online. The CR-1 is just a spouse immigration visa for people that haven't been married for two years. You still need to petition in BJ or Chicago, submit a physical, prepare an affidavit of support with tax returns, prove that you've "established a domicile" in the US, and take the interview in Guangzhou. The difference is that you have to wait to get your green card until after 2 years My immediate suspicion is that anybody that's telling you that you can do it online, or that they are capable of doing online for you is probably just trying to con you out of your money. Also, Cooter, the bar is set at something like 125% above the poverty line per family member. Since the poverty line is $18k that comes out to $22k per household member.
GuilinRaf:
You do the physical in Beijing and the interview in Guangzhou? Cant you do both in Beijing or Guangzhou?
mattsm84:
I think you've misunderstood how the Pilot program works (we're actually in it.) It means that the documents you could submit through the mail can now be submitted electronically. However, those that have do be delivered in person, like the I-130 petition, the physical exam in the hospital in BJ, and those needed for the interview at Guangzhou still have to be done in person. In my personal experience, its around 8 months. There isn't anyway that you could do it in ten days because you need to schedule an appointment with both the BJ embassy to submit your petition, and the GZ embassy to take your interview.
About the I-864a threshold
Recent updates on sponsorship include the clarification that each joint sponsor must meet the minimum 125% income requirement and that among family members on an application, the joint sponsorship may not change. Further, in the event a joint sponsor dies after the principal applicant has immigrated to the united states; there may be a substitution of joint sponsor. Note the estate of the joint sponsor remains liable for any requests for repayment of benefits that arose prior to the sponsor?s death.
mattsm84:
No, its 15k for two people, but the problem is that neither you nor your wife count towards breaking the threshold. If you only got co-sponsor, as I'm betting a lot of people do, then its a three person house hold, but only one person's matters.
mattsm84:
I know. It sucks and I hate it. But there are two reasons for this. First, the reason they make you file the I-864a is so that they know you and your wife won't end up on welfare before she becomes a US citizen. Since you two can't really count on the money you make in China for income when you live in the US it isn't of much use to the people that are trying decide whether or not to approve or reject your petition. Second, earned income is defined by the IRS as taxable income. Since we are exempt from paying US income tax for something like three years we haven't really got any income at all as far as the US government is concerned. Although, I should mention we are still expected to file a 1040. I suspect this has has to do with monetary policy. Remember that because the US government can print currency and carry debt within the dollar, taxes don't really pay for things. In other words the IRS isn't some huge money bin where funds are accrued and later dispersed through government spending. Rather, the money you pay in federal income taxes is put onto a spread sheet in some government computer and then is deleted from your account bank account. After that, it simply doesn't exist anymore. Taxes then are how the government removes liquidity--cash--from circulation. Since the money we earn isn't ever a part of the US economy, there is no point in removing it from circulation.
mattsm84:
No, then its $38,712. There is a table somewhere online. Search for the I-864P.
mattsm84:
No, you have to do the i-864a if you want to apply, no matter what. You also need a co-sponsor in the US if your applying from China. Also, if you worked at all, you need to file a 1040. You won't owe anything but you still have to claim an income.
I'm not doing it, but anyone I've talked to at home that brought over a Chinese wife said it too over 3 years. They felt the visa process was there just to make you give up. If you read the info from the Canadian site, they imply that it takes 6 to 8 months. I applied for a visitor visa for my girl friend knowing they routinely turn down single Chinese women. I thought she had a shot, I put money in her account, I make enough. I offered my house (mortgage free), provided all the documentation and my savings as collateral that she wold return in 2 months. She was denied as we couldn't prove she would return.
It pisses me off that my government acts this way. If I married her they scrutinize if they think the marriage is real (not just to get in) and if it will last. Who bothers if I marry a Canadian whether the marriage will last? Is it really our governments concern? This is our ''free'' society? I could marry but not bring my wife home? WTF
I think part of the reason they turn down single Chinese women is we would be overrun with ''working'' girls. Girls from countries like Japan and Korea, which are easier to get visas from, send hordes of them.
TedDBayer:
no problem, points don't matter, want a flash light? altho I didn't like numbers stalking me
BHGAL:
yes I want 30 of your flashlights ........ to help me see the light ............... actually I think you should wait for me to reach your exalted status and we could open a specialized corner store, next to Dalai Lama's light store ........what was I talking about ?
TedDBayer:
You need enlightenment. One flashlight 1 yuan, I give you special price on 30. I make you spirtiual advisor if you buy 60.
for us it was easy
My wife first came to Australia on a visitor visa after I had spent time in China
we applied for a potential spouse visa then after we got that visa to get her to Australia the second time we got married and applied for the partner migration visa
this was in late 2006 and I believe the paper work is more in depth so you need to pay a translator / lawyer to get it done (just what we need more Lawyers)
I also enlisted the help of our Federal MP to keep a eye on Proceedings
the key to it all is providing supporting evidence like joint bills and bank accounts and everything in between to prove you are in a Fair Dinkum relationship.
Failing that hire a boat and call the Navy when you are just off the NT coast line 
MissA:
Considered it, but I'm scared of the crocs! For us, it was dead easy to get him into the country - working holiday visa - but the permament residency visa so we don't have to leave, oh my God!
My wife (when I married her) was already in the US on a student visa. Once we were married, it took 6 weeks to get her a green card. We used an immigration attorney, which I am sure speeded along the process.
My home, in the past, was kind of like the United Nations............. I had my wife(deceased) and my son (status Indian), 2 Native Indian (status) step-sons, a Vietnamese boy, (Got his Dad a job at a Chinese restaurant after he arrived as a 'BOAT PERSON" off the coast of Vancouver Island-- (his wife was shot in the back getting on the boat). a Filippino kid that showed up out of nowhere,(1995) by boat, and is now a pretty good photographer out of that hell hole Toronto. .... rambling and out of smokes and baijui now
Going through it in Canada now. It all looks pretty daunting. Then I went to a Lawyer who charged $200 to check it over before we sent it in. He said, according to how Canada's immigration laws are written I could ignore a crapload of the questions, including my income, and it wouldn't make a difference cause basically if our relationship has been deemed legit they have to let her in. All the questions are there as a sort of honest man's deterrent.
What get's me is the redundancy of some of the questions. I answered "what is your address" three times. Like seriously? Just look at page one, you idiots!
My case was over 8 years ago now and the regulations have changed, but even then I was considered unusual in that our application for a spouse visa for the UK was approved at the first time of asking. The trick was to bring every bit of paper I'd ever recieved that could in any way add to the proof that we had been together for some time (over 500 printed emails) and that I had the ability to support her, (mortgage paperwork, payslips dating back over 10 years, council tax receipts to prove I was living alone in a 3 bedroom house).
The interview lasted about 15 minutes and 10 minutes of that was the clerk (English speaking Chinese lady), looking through the paperwork, then perhaps 2 or 3 very routine questions which iirc I answered not my wife, and that was it. We were told there and then it would be approved, and we waited (I think) about a month for the passport to be returned by post.
MissA:
Hugh, you were very lucky.
In any case, even though my partner is British, us living there together would not be a possibility. His uni debts ate up every single penny of our combined savings. As we now have limited savings, I would not be granted a visa, no matter how genuine the relationship/marriage.
I am very much involved in the immigration shit but I think my stuff is way more important than yours ........US, UK, AU and .............Canada .......... I just got a note from my very expensive lawyer she says...
Brian, I was just left a message that your decision has been sent to me. I expect it to be in the mail and will arrive in the next two days. Mona chan Sent from my iPhone
3.5 years of BS and she teases me with a note that says the decision has been made but you can't have it for a couple days
It's time to reflect on what a truly Canadian winter is all about
WINTER POEM
It's winter in Canada !
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At thirty-five below.
Oh, how I love Canada
When the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave Canada
I'm froze to the friggin' ground!
MissA:
Baijiu?
(It's really not very nice to say that one's person ability to live with their partner is more or less important than another person's. Of course, if I were stuck living in China for the duration of the decision time, then I might feel the same...)
It was a long drawn out process. When I came into the US in 1960 I picked up my green card at the boarder, it was free. After being there for five years I went to my citizenship interview. I was the only one there. I can't remember exactly how much it cost, maybe $15.
I met a Chinese girl in China who had a small daughter and she emigrated to the US. At my request What a hassle. The cost is now around $3500. Lots of double talk.I took her to her citizenship swearing in, wow at least 3000 people were there. We have now been married for ten years. Biggest problem we have is cultural. If there is no myth about a subject the Chinese will invent one. They are all hopeless hypochondriacs. Keeping this in mind I love this lady, go with the flow. Franck3
MissA, I have a sneaking suspicion that the problem may be with 'partner', rather than 'spouse'. If you're married, it may be somewhat easier to get that RP.
(I can't say for sure, as I'm not married, but I did look briefly at the legalities only a couple of months ago).
And why all the hassle? I think it's pretty obvious why... in some countries, 'visa marriages' can earn a nicely bit of moolah!
I am Canadian. My wife was refused a tourist visa to visit Canada. We applied for the tourist visa 6 months after we were married. The Canadian gov't said no but told us to apply under the family plan. we did that. took 2 years. now she has a maple card. The easy part was with the Chinese government much to my surprise.
I thought my country had rough immigration rules. I am quickly learning there are a few other countries that make it more difficult. But I think all cases are handled individually.
I'm American. 12 days not counting mail delays.
Yeah, that quick. Sorry to everyone else who had trouble. You need irrefutable evidence that your shit's real, and that you have the money to support your spouse.
Franck3:
sorry I must say that if you got what you said you got you must be a US senators son. No way could you get a visa to the US in 12 days, unless it was 30 years ago.
Hulk:
Yeah, 12 days. Not counting the mail delays that cost us a couple months time.
Nope. No political connections here. I'm not too much older than my wife, all of our documents were in order, and we had irrefutable evidence that our relationship is 100% real.
The problem is when 80 year olds try to bring home a 20 year-old Chinese girl, and wonder why it's so difficult to get them here. Your age plays a huge freaking factor in it.
Franck3:
We have many Chinese friends and all of them had the same problem, some took 2 1/2 years to get a visa and the man was three years older than his wife? My wife is not 20 she is 55. I am 80 but can still bench press 250LB and play golf three times a week and walk the course. 12 days you must be kidding.
Including the time it took us to prepare everything, like birth certificates, police clearances, translations and medicals my partner got a 2 year open partnership based work visa in about 3 months. Would have been much quicker but she had an iron deficiency which we chose to take care of rather than have any problems on the medical, also would have been faster if she didn't have to get all of the Chinese documents from her home town.
Once we applied we got a phone call about a week later asking for any more evidence we had to say she had lived in the apartments we shared, the rent contracts weren't enough, three days of running around to where we used to live to get invoiced re-printed from deliveries such as our washing machine and our refrigerator, scanned and sent to the immigration office, about a week later another phone call asking when we planned to go to NZ so she could put an enter before date on the visa, 3 days later passport and original documents returned to us visa in tact.
New Zealand really seems to be easier compared to what everybody else seems to have gone through. No need for me to provide any financial information whatsoever. Interview was done over the phone when the immigration officer called the first time looking for a little more evidence. Basically proving we are in a stable relationship and have lived together for over 12 months was all that was required, and the medical to ensure she won't be a drain on the country's health system, although with the two year visa she is entitled to health care.
We will apply for residence a little later, as long as it's within two years no need for another medical or new police certificates.
Hulk:
What? Iron deficiency? That doesn't make any sense at all. Here's an upvote anyway.
My wife has that too. She still went to America and passed the medical. You can't have CONTAGIOUS illnesses of public health significance.
Flemingo:
Yeh we know it's not a big deal, and we inquired with immigration whether it would be a problem or not, they said probably not but they would need the same doctor to do more tests to prove that it was iron deficiency and not something else, the test result was anemic, low red blood cells, most common cause is lack of iron, but can be cause by much more serious ailments.
Also at the time of the medical we still planned to apply for residency, which, fairly, has stricter standards, but the processing time is 3-6 months for that, and I ended my contract at work and decided to go home earlier, also we discovered that applying for residency once we were home is 50% cheaper even after applying for the work visa.
She took iron supplements and I cooked more red meat and greens for her, her RBC (and mood) picked up and we did that part of the medical again, doctors were really cool about it, didn't have to pay the full cost of the medical again, just the cost of the blood test.
Hulk:
It's good that you took your wife's health seriously. Either way, I wish you both well during and after the immigration process. Hope it won't take you too long.
Just come to Italy. You don't even need the passport.
Mine were pretty easy ,It only took me 2 months to get My partner residency in Australia,to be honest ,I was pretty shocked and I did not expect that I would get the visa that fast ,
The main reason why I got My visa so fast,I guess It's just because My husband and I have been living together for over 2 years and were married for 1 year before I applied for the visa.we proved all the evidences to Australian Consulate,It really helped a lot.
Plus,I have been to other countries too including Australia and I came back to China on time ,my job were nice with good income.I guess it helped too.
I witnessed two cases for Canadian Immigration, man Canadian, woman Chinese
Case 1.
Legally married 4 years, lived together more than 2 years, man in late 50's, woman late 40 's, no baggage, man has decent income in Canada, 3 years tax return, 600 e mails and chat records, 30 pages of telephone bills called from and to Canada, thousands of travels and trips pictures, woman has good job in China, woman owns home and car, marriage party and many other relative gathering pictures, man has paid off home in Canada, Woman English proficiency reasonable , engagement ring with family party pictures, and more.
Interviewed: Why you want to live in Canada if your sponsor can buy you home in China ? Why your sponsor divorced his wife 20 years ago? Why your marriage is not solemnized ? Why you did not visit your sponsors parents in other country ? and many more.
Denied with objection, that relationship is not real.
Man spent almost 1 year to prepare documents, translations, evidences, medical, fees, hassels, all in vain.
Felt cursed by Canadian red tapers. Has not right to live with his real wife in Canada ?
Case 2.
Woman Chinese age 39, man Canadian Age 56. married two month, Not any pictures of marriage or any party, no engagement, no e mails, formal chat on QQ, limited to two/three exchange of messages. Woman has daughter of 17 years, no home, no support evidence from man, English level just yes/no,
Interview : Not needed, passport sent by mail.
Result: Immigrant visa issued to woman and her daughter in less than 3 month of application.
WTF
Visas bought and sold ?
Hulk:
There are people who sell citizenships for really low prices. There are people on the inside who can make this process go swimmingly, usually only a certain number per month. They exist for the U.S., Canada, and other countries. It's fudged up.
But there's other stuff, too. Each marriage-age woman added to the Canadian roster is a potential mate for a Canadian man. The 17 year old daughter is about to come of age, and will likely marry a Canadian and produce more children. The 40 year old woman is outside of her optimal birth range.
There's also other factors such as which person you get. Some people are anti-immigration, others are pro-immigration. It can depend on who you get.
I recently applied for a tourist visa for my girlfriend and i got it now (thanks god). The embassy wanted to see my Visa because I said i will return with her to china as we both have stable jobs here. So i guess my working visa helped alot
for getting a residence i guess i make it easy:
step 1: marry in hk, china or get a marriage visa for germany (too hard lol)
step 2: make a baby
step 3: get a visit visa for 1 month while she is in the 9th month of pregnancy
step 4: give birth to the baby in your home country
step 5: epic win because they cant kick the mother of your native kid out of your country
step 6: heuehueheuie
Hulk:
9th month of pregnancy is risky. You could give birth before getting the visa. 
They can also deny pregnant women... I've heard the horror stories.
Sorry, let me rephrase. Our visa was approved within two days, not counting mail delays. Wait, WHAT?
Our situation was special. We had tons of evidence to back up our relationship, and tons of evidence to back up the crazy story with my in-laws, where they actually tried to force my wife to have an abortion over money. We had an emergency expedite request granted to us by the U.S. Embassy and quite possibly Obama. Seriously. Thanks, Obama, and I didn't even vote for you.
I didn't realize they granted it so fast. We actually didn't apply until months later because we were busy running around the country non-stop. Our documents were same-day stamped, but it took a while for them to arrive. Meanwhile, we already left the province.
Our previous landlord had to ship us the documents to us, to another province. We then had to update some information. We had to wait for slow-ass mail delays. They just needed some extra biographical information, and we sent that too. Interview was scheduled the day the embassy received the documents. We waited another 3 weeks for the documents to actually arrive (they were... inspected by a "third" party).
All in all, it took 2 and a half months because of mail delays. But it was pretty much an instant approval. Her visa was approved on the day of her interview.
We had a several-inch thick portfolio of the required documents, including our QQ chat history (we chat on QQ a lot since I always went to buy her food while she waited inside), pictures we took together, webcam pictures with my family, etc.
Get all of the required documents finished before you apply. Most people will get their visas in a month, not counting mail delays, provided the interview is a success and the relationship is obviously real.
Like I said, ours was a special case, but the rest of the people in our Visa group pretty much had 30 day approvals. The only people getting turned down were 50-60 year olds with 20 year old Chinese girls whom they were married to for 5 years.
Mine took about 3 weeks.8 years ago.UK visa,I was living in Jersey,Channel Islands.Just showed letter from employer saying,I was in full time employment.No other finance details asked for.Spouse Visa.Then renewed after 2 years,to right to stay Visa.
We're applying for Australian Temporary Resident visas now and are using a Beijing based company to hopefully expedite things.
There's a 15 year old child involved and the upfront application price for wife and step daughter was RMB 45,000.
We live in Xinjiang and must go to Beijing for medicals, so add that cost to the app...probably another 10,000 or so.
I was hoping to back the winner of the Melbourne Cup today to cover these costs but unfortunately pulled the wrong rein (for the 25th year in a row...).
Happy to see Gai win it though.
