Trapped in China!

[PJ]

My friend, who is on work visa in the US, went back to China to visit family. Unfortunately, she was blocked for some sort of check by the American visa officer (not sure if it's a background check), which they claim will delay her for several weeks past her scheduled flight. She needs to come back soon for work, but she cannot do so until they complete the check.

Do you have any tips that may help her expedite the check?

[QF]

should have married some guy with a green card.


QF

[PJ]

should have married some guy with a green card.

Is marrying a Green Card sufficient now? I think it used to be that you have to marry a US citizen to get a green card.

[jiang bao]

I think it still has to be a US citizen.

It's curious that it's the American govt who's blocking her. I'd thought it would be the chinese govt.

[Trien Chieu]

That incident shows how powerful the US citizenship is
Too bad that so many americans don't take advantage and use it wisely.

[Trinie]

Is marrying a Green Card sufficient now? I think it used to be that you have to marry a US citizen to get a green card.

Pretending to marry someone just to get a green card was a big scam, so now the US immigration office is really strict about that. I am glad about that since a lot of people pulled that scam just to use people with US citizenship so that they can stay in the US. Nowadays, if you don't really love a person then you just cannot easily get a green card so that you can stay in the US.

[Trinie]

That incident shows how powerful the US citizenship is
Too bad that so many americans don't take advantage and use it wisely.

I have always valued my US citizenship, but sadly others view it in a different way.

[jiang bao]

The US is still the richest country in the world, but some other countries have narrowed the gap.

China started becoming prosperous soon after I left. (Dammit)

Nowadays, if you're a chinese woman living a good life, why would you wanna marry thousands of miles away? Back in the day when the US was the "golden mountain," you could understand the marriage for green card thing.

[Ren Wo Xing]

My friend, who is on work visa in the US, went back to China to visit family. Unfortunately, she was blocked for some sort of check by the American visa officer (not sure if it's a background check), which they claim will delay her for several weeks past her scheduled flight. She needs to come back soon for work, but she cannot do so until they complete the check.

Do you have any tips that may help her expedite the check?

Are there any 'issues' regarding the visa? By issues, I'm referring to any irregularities, such as a tourist visa that was converted to a work visa under less-than-orthodox methods, previous or current visa expirations, etc. etc.

[PJ]

Are there any 'issues' regarding the visa? By issues, I'm referring to any irregularities, such as a tourist visa that was converted to a work visa under less-than-orthodox methods, previous or current visa expirations, etc. etc.

Hey. How was your China trip? Are you still in Chengdu?

Not that I know of. She was a student, started working recently, should all be very orthodox. The thing is that the American officer asked to see her resume, which she said (to me later) was not in the list of required documents, so she did not have it in real-time. They then asked her to supplement it afterward. Somehow this eventually led to further investigation taking up to 3 weeks.

[atlantean0208]

China started becoming prosperous soon after I left. (Dammit)

Yeah it's true. The last time I'm at Hangzhou airport and look at all those cars park in the parking lot - LOL, it's look like cars for millionaire - big - exotic - European and lots of them. China is indeed prosperous now and they even able to help bail-out Taiwan.

The only thing that scary is the way they drive at the highway - not only driving superfast like 200 KM per hour, they also using the emergency lane the whole time whenever over taking a truck or lorry and use the horn continuously to ask cars on the front to give way.

[Trinie]

Yeah it's true. The last time I'm at Hangzhou airport and look at all those cars park in the parking lot - LOL, it's look like cars for millionaire - big - exotic - European and lots of them. China is indeed prosperous now and they even able to help bail-out Taiwan.

The only thing that scary is the way they drive at the highway - not only driving superfast like 200 KM per hour, they also using the emergency lane the whole time whenever over taking a truck or lorry and use the horn continuously to ask cars on the front to give way.

It is true that China is now indeed prosperous and has developed economically. However, they still lack human rights and don't value life as much as for example the US. I think that is one of the main reasons why some people would rather live overseas than in China. The laws in China are just too strict.

[Trien Chieu]

The only thing that scary is the way they drive at the highway - not only driving superfast like 200 KM per hour, they also using the emergency lane the whole time whenever over taking a truck or lorry and use the horn continuously to ask cars on the front to give way.

I remember that I read somewhere that the accident rate in china is like 10 or 100 times the rate of USA. I believe it was 10 times. Well, car is still relatively new to most chinese in china so no doubt that the rate of accident is high. When cars were relatively new to the US, the rate of accident in the US was very very high as well, probably just like the current situation of china now.

[Trien Chieu]

The US is still the richest country in the world, but some other countries have narrowed the gap.

China started becoming prosperous soon after I left. (Dammit)

Nowadays, if you're a chinese woman living a good life, why would you wanna marry thousands of miles away? Back in the day when the US was the "golden mountain," you could understand the marriage for green card thing.

I don't know much about china, but for Viet Nam, the vast vast majority still want to come to US/Canada/Australia/ect.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Hey. How was your China trip? Are you still in Chengdu?

Not that I know of. She was a student, started working recently, should all be very orthodox. The thing is that the American officer asked to see her resume, which she said (to me later) was not in the list of required documents, so she did not have it in real-time. They then asked her to supplement it afterward. Somehow this eventually led to further investigation taking up to 3 weeks.

I'm back in the US.

I can't think of any reason why they are requiring extra documents/investigating, save for the possibility that her initial visa was not properly processed somehow, or the student visa was not properly converted to a work visa. That's the only real basis for an investigation, as if all her papers are in order, there shouldn't be any issues. The fact that the resume was requested leads me to wonder if the issue is with the work visa. I am assuming she is on an H1B visa, the 'specialty occupation visa' for college graduates?

[pandamao]

This happened to me when I was studying in Shanghai and for some reason there was a fine print on the visa that I had to register myself within 2 weeks if I plan to stay over 6 months. All the other students didn't get this except for me which made me question why I was different. Regardless, I was detained for a month by the Chinese government until I finally gave in and wired my money through. I did fly to Guangzhou to find my relatives that had some poll which helped sped up the process immensely.

[KJ]

That incident shows how powerful the US citizenship is
Too bad that so many americans don't take advantage and use it wisely.

Use it wisely how?

[flamer]

I'm in Beijing and after my trip to the US, I think China is still pretty far behind in actual living standards for the masses compared to other developed nations. US has about 1/4 of China's population but its economy is 3 times as large. It shows how much improvement China needs. Even other smaller developed nations provide a much better standard of living. Its still a good idea to live or study overseas.

[Trinie]

I'm in Beijing and after my trip to the US, I think China is still pretty far behind in actual living standards for the masses compared to other developed nations. US has about 1/4 of China's population but its economy is 3 times as large. It shows how much improvement China needs. Even other smaller developed nations provide a much better standard of living. Its still a good idea to live or study overseas.

At my graduate school, there were a lot of students from China, Taiwan and Korea. Most of the students from Taiwan and Korea want to go back home while the ones from China actually want to stay in the US. The ones from China don't like it in the US at first and claim they miss home,family and friends. BUT, after staying in the US for awhile they want to permanently stay here by either finding ways to extend their study or finding a job here,etc... I guess even though life in China is better than it was back then, life in the US and other more developed nations is still better.

[flamer]

At my graduate school, there were a lot of students from China, Taiwan and Korea. Most of the students from Taiwan and Korea want to go back home while the ones from China actually want to stay in the US. The ones from China don't like it in the US at first and claim they miss home,family and friends. BUT, after staying in the US for awhile they want to permanently stay here by either finding ways to extend their study or finding a job here,etc... I guess even though life in China is better than it was back then, life in the US and other more developed nations is still better.

Especially when the average income in developed nations is probably as much as hard-to-get "high-paying" jobs in China, if not more. One can say the prices of goods are cheaper in China but I find its not the case anymore, especially not significantly.