Bring Chinese girlfriend to the UK for a visit. 50,000 RMB you say???

My wife has an appointment for an interview at the Shanghai U.S. Consulate this Friday morning. I will report the outcome. We are hoping for a B2.

Thanks Randyjac.  I hope it goes well.

The U.S. consulate finally granted my wife a B2 visa yesterday. The process did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. Her first visit last Friday (5/20) resulted in a request for more documentation, namely my passport hardcopy. Only after presenting this, with next year's RP contained therein, did she receive the visa. I am especially grateful to my school for rushing through the RP procedures so that my passport might reflect my intention to continue to teach in China in the future.

Glad to hear that it worked.

How long is that B2 good for?

Congrats 

My wife's visa is one-year multiple entry.

And, one more question that may not get answered until you hit the border.  How long for an entry?

I love how the consulate site says this is non-specific.  I'd hate to go to the US with a return ticket 2 weeks later and be told at the border that my darling wife can only stay for 12 days.

I know this is an old thread, but just out of interest, did you have any luck with this?

I was thinking about inviting my GF to the UK in 2008...but the paperwork, the lack of clear information from the UK embassy and visa issuing authorities made me change my mind. It seemed like a lot of trouble, with no sure fire way of knowing if the visa would be granted or not. We were in Hainan, and that meant flying to GZ to put the application in (more cost). Just seemed more trouble than it was worth.

Thankfully, the relationship didnt last anyway!

Im in a fortunate position now...being a man of limited means, even thinking about inviting another GF to visit England / get married etc is pretty much impossible (no romance without finance) so I dont forsee this headache looming again for me! Interested to know if the experience is as difficult as it seemed to be when I looked into it tho!

I know this is an old thread, but just out of interest, did you have any luck with this?

We are hoping to submit our application in a few months.  I will update this thread then to let people know how it went...

Sean 

Ill keep my fingers crossed. I think if you or your GF are 'monied' its probably OK.

For those of you who haven't had the joy yet...

First, you have to have a 2"x2" pic taken with a white background.  Why this requires a unique size and background from all other forms of US ID photos is one of those bureaucratic mysteries best left unexplored.

Then you get to fill out a huge online form that times out every 10 seconds.  Make sure you give a quick and easy answer to the security question - you get to re-type it every time the form kicks you out.

The questions are borderline funny.  I'm not sure how many people who have committed genocide would admit to it when filling out a form.  Then again, US rules make it easier to throw a foreigner out of the country for lying about genocide on a visa application than for actually committing genocide.  Even a Lunatic would never set things up that way - it's not crazy, it's just stupid.

To make the appointment, you need to pay not only the fee at a branch of Citic Bank, but for a special phone card.  Yes, there is a per-minute fee to call and make the appointment.  At least they claim to not charge you when you are on hold.  It took 11 minutes for my wife to complete the process.  The card was good for 12.  If she had spent just a little more time, we'd have had to go back to the bank to buy another card.

"Average" appointment time at the GZ Consulate is 25 days.  Our appointment was more like 35 days.

Now to gather the documentation.  They don't give specifics, just general ideas.  I'm thinking the originals and copies of:

Marriage certificates.
Her ID.
My Passport (including 2 most recent res permits).
Invitation letter from my parents (they are paying for the plane tickets - I've got it in writing! )
Her hukou.
Her bank records.
Her apartment deeds.
Various things associated with our perfect daughter who won't be going on this trip.
Her employment contract with that evil US company she works for.
A letter from me saying that I wouldn't even date a green card girl, much less marry one.

Any other suggestions?

All of that and the guy only looked at our marriage certificates, her passport, her employment contract, and the letter from my parents.  She's been approved and now we're waiting for the passport to come back to see how long the visa is good for.

Congratulations! Hopefully it will be one year.

Assuming it's 6 months or 1 year, what sort of durations of stay are granted?  Currently, we're plotting 2 weeks, but could consider going for 3.  If we come in with a return ticket 3 weeks out, it would truly suck if she were only allowed to stay in for 2 weeks.

One could ask why the USA doesn't have fixed standard durations of stay like China, HK, Macao, etc, but that would make too much sense.

New question - Does a Chinese citizen need some sort of visa or other paperwork to change planes at the Narita Airport in Japan?

I tried asking using the contact form at the Narita Airport Authority's website.  They replied:

Thank you for your visiting our web-site "Narita Airport".
Regarding your inquiry, we are sorry to say that we can't
provide you with any information.

And then suggested I call the Tokyo Immigration Bureau.  I guess the Immigration Bureau doesn't have an email address.

I may just select a different route since I can't seem to find a definitive answer.