More visa woes
We just heard from our friend Helen that she was this morning denied a tourist visa to the US for the second time. Frankly, I find this difficult to believe. She has just purchased a house in Shanghai, something which should go a long way toward proving that she is going to return to China after a short visit in America. She is going to be accompanied by her boyfriend Brad during the entire trip. When will they introduce sanity to the visa-issuing process? It makes me realize how incredibly lucky Xianyi and I were to have ever received a tourist visa. I feel like we must have been guided through the gates by an angel or something. Buddha sneaked us past the guards.
Actually, the person in question already had one strike against her with her first refusal. When someone previously refused a non-immigrant visa reapplies, consular officals take a much closer look at the applicant.
Probably the major reason she was refused a visa was because she admitted that she would be accompanied by her boyfriend. This, in and of itself, indicates a very strong tendency to immigrate which precludes consulate staff from issuing any forn of non-immigrant visa.
Home ownershp, in and of itself, is never an indication that one is predisposed to return to China. Consular officials look at a variety of indicators such as employment, age, previous successful travel to countries with strict visa requirements, and other financial resources apart from real estate. Quite frankly, buying a home is no big deal. School teachers whose average family income is below 6,000 RMB per year manage to purchase homes and they would certainly not be considered financially stable enough to be granted a visa under normal circumstances.
Unfortunately in the case at hand, consular officials made the right decision.
Comment by Bill — February 14, 2007 @ 9:26 am
Once again, shows how incredibly lucky Xianyi and I were to have ever received a tourist visa. I wrote a letter to the interviewing officer professing my love for Xianyi, and our intention to marry “eventually”, but also swore that we were not going to try to immigrate illegally and that I would offer my own citizenship as collateral, such was my dedication to bring her back to China on time. My personal theory is that we simply lucked out – the guy who interviewed her was having a great day or something, and he just felt right about it, so he said ‘What the hell’…
Comment by Rindy — February 15, 2007 @ 4:49 pm