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03 Jul · Tue 2007

Imagine your daughter was living overseas

and you want to visit her. You have the time and the money but you can't. Why? Because you couldn't get a visa.

This story played out in our house last week. We have a friend who lives in California and she's expecting a baby in 6 months. Her parents, who live in China and hold Chinese passports, are overjoyed and wanted to go visit her. They came to Beijing and stayed with us while they waited for an in-person appointment at the U.S. Embassy to get a visa.

At their appointment, the agent asked them how many children they had. The mom misunderstood the question and told him how many children her daughter had. The dad corrected the mom in front of the agent. And that was all it took. Their were denied the visa to the U.S.

When my husband told me this story that evening I was incredulous. "You mean she misunderstood one question and that means she can't go see her daughter?" I asked. "The agent was apparently in a bad mood," my husband said, shrugging.

This brought back memories of the summer in 1997 when Buddy and I were planning our wedding in Alabama and his mom was denied a visa. She's a Chinese passport-holder. Buddy threatened to go on a hunger strike on the steps of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Fortunately a letter to my congressman did the trick and his mom got a visa after all. Then Buddy called me and said, "My mom got her visa! She can come to the wedding! And she can come with us on that trip after the wedding too!"

"Wait, that trip after the wedding", I asked. "Do you mean the honeymoon?"

"Yeah," he said, "isn't it great?"

But that's another blog... :)

Update: For another interesting perspective on this topic see Sin-Yaw's entry.
Another update: Cool! Amiram wrote a related blog as well, check out his blog entry.

Posted by melinchina @ 10:37 AM CST [ Comments [13] ]

Trackback URL: http://blogs.sun.com/melinchina/entry/that_stinks

Comments:

This happens in India too. I get reminded of a story my Somerset Maugham short story whenever I hear such incidents. US embassies need more compassionate people to understand stuff like these.

Posted by Madhan on July 03, 2007 at 03:13 PM CST #

I totally agree with you Madhan.

What's the title of the somerset maugham story?

Posted by melanie gao on July 03, 2007 at 04:24 PM CST #

I used to apply for visa to US embassies in Beijing. I saw two students get interview in front of me, but one was denied. I didn't see any different between them, except this one is a little bitter nervous. I don't know if there is any standards for visa application. From my view, it seems it depends on the agent mood.

Posted by Forrest on July 03, 2007 at 05:44 PM CST #

I couldn't recollect the name neither could I find it from the web. The story is about a lady in a London bus carrying a pekinese dog in a cold winter day and the conductor insists that the dog shouldn't be carried even though none of the passengers (very few are in the bus) object to its presence. Finally the author tells the conductor that the rules are useless if they aren't followed with compassion and the conductor realises his mistake.

Posted by Madhan on July 04, 2007 at 05:23 PM CST #

[Trackback] Mel recently blogged something that stirred up old memories. Colored Factoids: Each year, US Government allows 65,000 H1-B visas: a necessity for any foreigner to work in the US legally. High-tech companies snatch them up so quickly like ki...

Posted by Whiteboard infinity on July 07, 2007 at 08:19 AM CST #

[Trackback] 高美龄的近作勾起回忆。我且一说，您且一听：美国政府每年发放65,000份H1-B(专业人员工作签证)签证。没有这个签证，外国人在美国境内工作就是非法的。这些签证名额一般很快就被那些高科技公司一抢而空，就像最新的哈利波特小说一样抢手。这些公司在美国找不到足够的工程专业毕业生，只能依赖国外的人才来为公司效力。此类签证的申请人都是拿着不错工资待遇的雇员，他们买房子、缴税，参加PTA(Parent-Teacher Association，家长教师联合会)，是遵纪守法的好公民。他们中...

Posted by Whiteboard Infinity on July 07, 2007 at 08:20 AM CST #

after one year at ERI, I moved to another company in 2006 and then, all of a sudden got an offer from Caltech. I decided to marry my GF to go on honey moon in Singapore and then to move to SoCal with her. In short, we had to go 8 times to the US embassy. We had to get caltech and a congressman involved in the matter. I had to put my job in the balance ("I don't go without my wife"). We had to cancel the honeymoon (the US embassy was having her passeport at the time we were supposed to leave). We also had to print 400+ pages of MSN logs to prove we had a long lasting relationship (does it sound intrusive to you?)... Bottom line: we did it. We got her visa the friday right in time. Our plane was scheduled the following monday .... Now we are enjoying the californian sun (before leaving for Harvard MS early next year). We 'll have stories for long winter nights. But I can tell you that at that time we were all but happy...

Posted by alex on July 14, 2007 at 02:15 PM CST #

That seems to happen everywhere. My husband is a Moroccan citizen and for our honeymoon, my parents bought us tickets to Amsterdam. We had tickets, a hotel, a decent income, everything required, yet he was denied without reason. So, my mother, my father, his mother, his father, my Congressman and me all bombarded the embassy with phone calls, and he was finally given the visa. Fortunately, getting a marriage visa to the States was much easier - he was accepted almost immediately. (by the way, I found your blog via Penelope Trunk!)

Posted by Jill on July 22, 2007 at 06:11 AM CST #

Alex I remember that saga too well! I thought it was outrageous.

Jill it sounds like we had very similar experiences! Except you and your husband were the only ones on the honeymoon. :) Welcome to my blog. Any friend of Penelope's is a friend of mine.

Posted by melanie gao on July 24, 2007 at 10:34 PM CST #

Your ending to the post is so funny. :-) I got interrogated when applying for a visa too. They were so suspicious of me and kids joining my hubby over here. They feel I will remain an unlawful citizen or whatever. It was an awful feeling to be standing there and be talked down, but I guess maybe we must look very confident, make direct eye contact and speak well. They have such a good way of scaring people though. My student applied and got into Stanford. She's a CHina-passport holder. One of my top students. She applied for a visa 4 times, spending lots of money and time in the process, but was still denied. She had to give up that place in Stanford, what a pity!

Posted by tjmummy on October 04, 2007 at 03:26 AM CST #

very good~that place in Stanford, what a pity!

Posted by runescape money on November 10, 2007 at 09:20 AM CST #

money and time in the process, but was still denied. She had to give up that place in Stanford, what a pity!

Posted by runescape money on November 10, 2007 at 02:56 PM CST #

nice.

Posted by runescape gold on November 29, 2007 at 04:59 PM CST #

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