Mailing documents to China

[JSWashburn 0]

Is it a problem to mail documents to China? I thought I remember reading some place that you *had* to declare any documents, and that it can take several months to arrive Is this true?

How did the rest of you send your I-134 document and supportive evidence to your fiance(e) in China?

[Darnell 8,478]

I suggest DHL. Many ppl use USPS Global Priority, as can track the package via the EMS web portal once it's inside China.

Others use USPS Global Express.

IMO, 'documents' designation does not delay anything to yer lass.

US Consulate/Guangzhou, OTOH, has some onus to 'hold' consular documents in a bonded warehouse in China for 'some time', supposedly some agreement with the Chinese Government about holding up Consular Documents. I think it's hogwash, but it is what it is.

You aren't sending documents to US Consulate/Guangzhou, yer sending it to HER - so that same onus doesn't exist.

ONE FINAL THING.

PRINT her address on the box, in chinese characters, as well. IF she has any commercial address at a business, suggest you use that address, instead of a residential address.

Edited June 2, 2010 by Darnell

[GabiandVi 34]

I would suggest DHL. Or UPS, but not USPS unless you can print the address in Chinese or you have a foreign entity to send it to.

I lived in China for a decade and received a lot of mail and packages. When the packages came through a commercial mail service, they were quite reliable and relatively speedy. When someone sent me something through the US mail, unless it was addressed to my school, it didn't make it to me. My school paid someone at the local post office to go through the box of mail not addressed in characters and look for the school name. That was all they recognized written in the alphabet. If everything else was exactly correct but the school name was not prominently displayed in the address, the letter was left in the box and probably died there.

You do have to declare everything you send, but with DHL or FED EX or UPS you only have to declare "documents." Also with these services, you can track the package.

Your wife will probably have to present some sort of ID and she might even be charged a customs fee. That was hit or miss for me.

If these are originals, definitely go with a service that allows you to track.

The only thing that didn't make it over those years were things like magazines. I can tell you that packages from Amazon (US, Australia, UK) were regular and all the teachers were aware when one was delivered because we always checked to see if they were for us. I miss those days when such a simple thing was such a thrill.

[pushbrk 12,892]

I would suggest DHL. Or UPS, but not USPS unless you can print the address in Chinese or you have a foreign entity to send it to.

I lived in China for a decade and received a lot of mail and packages. When the packages came through a commercial mail service, they were quite reliable and relatively speedy. When someone sent me something through the US mail, unless it was addressed to my school, it didn't make it to me. My school paid someone at the local post office to go through the box of mail not addressed in characters and look for the school name. That was all they recognized written in the alphabet. If everything else was exactly correct but the school name was not prominently displayed in the address, the letter was left in the box and probably died there.

You do have to declare everything you send, but with DHL or FED EX or UPS you only have to declare "documents." Also with these services, you can track the package.

Your wife will probably have to present some sort of ID and she might even be charged a customs fee. That was hit or miss for me.

If these are originals, definitely go with a service that allows you to track.

The only thing that didn't make it over those years were things like magazines. I can tell you that packages from Amazon (US, Australia, UK) were regular and all the teachers were aware when one was delivered because we always checked to see if they were for us. I miss those days when such a simple thing was such a thrill.

I always use the post office and either global priority or express, depending on how fast I need the documents to arrive. Make sure both the name and phone number appear in the address as well as "China" in English. I've never mailed anything to China without being absolutely certain of the address in Chinese, copied and pasted onto a label or hand written by a native Chinese person. If you only have the address in Pinyin, I would use DHL instead.

[dan_ling 6]

I used USPS and printed the name and address in both English and Chinese and have never had a problem, it took about 8 days for delivery to Guilin.