

Article 12209 of soc.culture.china:
Path: bsu-cs!iuvax!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watmath!watdragon!violet!rzhu
>From: [email-masked] (Rupert Zhu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Subject: Passport Problem: Case Discussions  (Q-10)
Keywords: Family members' passport problems, F-2, Parents and Fiance/e
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Date: 26 Feb 89 23:23:22 GMT
Sender: [email-masked]
Lines: 193

=============== Information from Xiaoping Yuan's Friend ==================

The messages delivered here are for your information, correction, supplement
and comment.  Read all posting on the series to get entire information.

For the LISTING OF COMPLETE COLLECTION of the series, see <<Passport Problem,
Q & A: A Few Words From The Author (G-3)>> posted on 26th of January 1989.

I am neither an US INS officer nor a PRC officer, following case discussions
are based on the information I have.
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Case 1:
~~~~~~

Hi. I have just read your series from SCC about passport problem. I came to
the States last year. Though I am a F-1 holder, others would like to say
the lucky one, I never feel any F-1 visa advantage.  On the contrary, I
got a problem.  My wife is in China and applied for a F-2 visa last month to 
come here join me.  But the US consul didn't give her a F-2 visa.  As I am on 
an assistantship here, there was no problem on financial support.  The only 
problem was that the US consular suspected if we will come back to China. 

Could you give me some idea on this issue? Your attention will be deeply
appreciated. (I really don't know what they mean by human right and humanism).

Another question is: as you noted on SCC that there will be an US consulate
in Wuhan (see G-5), my home town, I wonder when it will open. Do you know the
exact date?  

Discussion on Case 1:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) US consul always suspects the F-2 applicant because most of them really
   won't go back, it's a fact.
2) Your wife has to do her best to convince US consul that she and you will go
   back.  Or, you may ask your school help you switch to J-1 status so she may 
   get the J-2 visa easier.  I heard such a case recently.
3) The UN human rights document doesn't say "anyone has right to enter any
   country", it only says one has the right to leave any country.  So, this
   matter has not so much to do with UN human rights.  Every country puts its
   own interests above most international issues.
   BTW, since 1987, many PRC F-1ers/J-1ers are issued multi-entry visa (at
   least twice-entry, check your visa stamp to see whether there is "good for
   two" or "for multi-entry") which makes them more convenient go back to visit
   their families, this might be another reason why US consulates in PRC 
   tighten the issuance of F-2.
4) Last year, US allowed PRC to open a new consulate in Los Angelos, in exchange
   PRC offered Wuhan as the place for US sixth consulate in PRC.  According to
   news media, US has no intention to really open it within this year.

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Case 2:
~~~~~~
	I am a reader of SCC and ENCS. I have a question about passport.
My wife has a F-2 visa.  If she loses her passport (a light brown passport),
then can she apply for a new one at a Chinese Consulate right now? I guess she
can get one very quickly.  But there will not be any record about visa status
on the new passport.  How can she have F-2 visa stamp on the passport again?
Could you please tell me?  Thank you very much. 

Discussion on Case 2:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) PRC consulate will issue a new one to your wife in a week or so if the 
   passport is registered with them, otherwise it takes eight weeks to check
   with domestic issuance unit.

2) There are several records about the visa, 
   i)   when you entered US, you are issued an I-94, the info on I-94 is stored 
        in INS's computer.
   ii)  Your school has record, they issued the original form I-20 to your wife
        so she got the F-2 visa.
   iii) US consulate in PRC, where your wife got the F-2 visa, holds complete
        copy of yours and your wife's file!!!  They will keep the file and INS 
        will certainly check those files when you apply for US green card.  I
        have a true story to tell later in this posting.

4) Your foreign student advisor should be able to ask INS re-issue an I-94
   with F-2 status on it to your wife.  But not the F-2 visa stamp which
   can be only issued outside US by US consul, however, it doesn't matter 
   because you don't ask to change anything.  If the lost visa stamp is not a
   multi-entry one, it expires when the bearer enters US and the period of stay
   is specified on form I-94.  So, the visa stamp is almost useless as long as
   the bearer is stayed in US, the I-94 is real important document.
   Usually, your school even has the copy of your wife's passport and visa 
   stamp, which will make things a lot of easier.

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Case 3:
~~~~~~
      I intend to have my fiancee coming here to visit me.  But I don't
know whether I can do this.  Is it possible for a fiance(e) to visit
his(her) fiancee(fiance) for a short time (I mean just visiting like the way
wives or whatever do)?  How do they apply for passport and visa?  If I want 
to invite my parents to visit US, what's the situation?

Discussion on Case 3:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This issue is among the ones which attract much concern in overseas Chinese 
students.  Lots of Chinese students in US have this kind of question.
The discussion here should be a part of the proposed subtopic "How to apply
for various PRC passport".

As per the Executive Details drawn up jointly by the Ministry of Public
Security and the State Commission of Education,  following persons are
eligible for applying for passport for the purpose of visiting students
abroad:

1.  If the student is fully-self-supported, his spouse, child(ren), parents
    even brothers/sisters are eligible.  They just need the letter of
    introduction issued by their own unit to apply for passport.

2.  If the student is of any kind of unit-dispatched, only his spouse and
    child(ren) are eligible.  They need to present the letters issued by
    the units of both parties of the couple to the passport issuance bureau.

3.  The visiting or exchange scholar (non-degree-oriented) is not eligible
    for inviting his/her family member to go out.  This is not always followed,
    we will mention an exception in later posting Q-*.

When one applies for passport, some document is required to show the student
is in the proper category, such as the copy of passport, visa, the letter
from PRC embassy/consulate abroad and from Association of Chinese Student, etc.

Also the student's original unit may prove whether the student is self-supported
or not.

There are exceptions.  In my school, many Chinese J-1 students who are
definitely in the unit-dispatched category (if one is in US, it's easy to
check one's category by seeing passport and visa), have their parents here.
They just go through the hole of relevant PRC Code (certainly, the officer
in charge usually is considerate of them sometimes).  Their parents apply for
passport in the name of going abroad for tourism, then, they follow another
procedure, i.e., relatives or close friends abroad provide financial support
document and formal invitation letter plus the proof of their relationship
which may get from public notary.  When they apply for entry visa to US,
because the student is J-1, US consul usually doesn't give them hard time and 
issue B-2 visa (tourist visa, up to one year, extendible, see G-6) on their
parents' passport and J-2 visa on their child(ren)'s passport.

I have never seen any PRC rule saying fiancee is eligible as family member in 
this issue.  Anyway, they may follow the same procedure as above "parents of
students" do, or, they may find some kind of language school or so and try to
apply for passport and visa in the name of attending such a school (college).
Many SCC netters, especially those who live in or near some metropolises in US,
know a lot about this kind of school and the students in those schools.

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A True Story:
~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the summer of 1987, a Chinese student went to US consulate in Shanghai to
apply for F-1 student visa for the first time.  He got assistantship from an
US school.  Also, at that time, his brother was applying for US green card and
his case was under final processing.

To avoid being suspected with immigration intention, he didn't mention the fact
that his brother is in US and was applying for green card in the visa 
application form.  The US consul asked him, "do you have any family member in
US?", he answered "no".  The consul showed him his brother's photo, "do you
know this man?", ..., needless to say, you know the result.

The student was told that his brother's file was being processed in the US
consulate for final check-up on the request of US INS in that days. 
Unfortunately, the US consul interviewing him was also in charge of his 
brother's case, he found the student's name in his brother's file that day.  
He told the student, "if we don't find today, we will find it someday in the 
future".  He didn't get visa until today, he was put on the "blacklist" who 
cheated US government and were not allowed to be issued entry visa.

Fortunately, the student's behavior didn't affect his brother's case and his
brother got green card because that matter has nothing to do with him.  This
is American way, if in PRC's way ...

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Coming-up Information:      Passport Problem
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Case Discussion :        Q-11, Switch to US from Europe;  Change visiting 
                               scholar to student

                         Q-12, Settle I-94 before visiting home;  Renew light
                               brown passport

======================== THE END OF Q-10 =================================