ABSTRACT
It seemed a fitting ending, looking back, to a saga that had cost my new Chinese family and me 13 months, untold expenses, two overnight five hundred mile bus trips, one overnight five hundred mile train trip, at least one overseas trek, hundreds of pages of documentation, certifications, faxes, notarizations, affirmations, bank balances, medical exams, police records, vaccinations, proof of this, verification of that. And I am not talking about the Chinese Ministry of Education and its Five Year Evaluation. I’m referring to the documentation and process of seeking immigration visas for my Chinese wife, Tina, and step-daughter Wei Wei from the government of the United States of America, its State Department and Department of Homeland Security, so that, after two years of teaching in China, I could finally bring them back with me to my home country.
