jabrams72

Quick Question about L and S2 visas. My daughter is teaching English in China for a year and we're going to be visiting in December. We're traveling as well as seeing her and ideally want to get 10-year visas, so wondering if anyone knows if there's any issue with simply applying for L visas?

Thanks!

JPDM

You are going to visit and L visa is for visitors. It is pretty much your only option.

bobloblawlawblog

My wife was born in mainland China and immigrated to the US when she was 2 and became a naturalized US citizen a decade ago when she turned 20. She has not traveled back to China since being naturalized and is now applying for a visa for a trip to mainland China soon. A requirement for a former chinese citizen to apply for a visa is to provide your old chinese passport with your application so that they can verify your chinese identity and revoke your citizenship. She has the passport but the problem we have is that her name on her chinese passport is Keren Cui, and her name on all her US documents since she has immigrated to the US is Karen Tsui. The chinese embassy is telling her that they need proof of her name change from Keren Cui to Karen Tsui so that they can prove who she says she is and revoke her chinese citizenship before they can give her a travel visa, but there are no legal documents that show her name change. The US gave her documents with the corrected name from the time she immigrated when she was 2. She was issued all of her US identification and documents as Karen Tsui initially and never changed her name through the court system. What more can she do to get a visa? In lieu of being able to get a visa, if we had a qualifying itinerary would she be able to get TWOV sticker in her US passport? It lists her country of birth as China but does not contain a visa, making it apparent they have yet to revoke her citizenship.

rustykettel

Does any of the original immigration paperwork or her original Chinese passport have her name in hanzi characters that might show a continuity? It looks more like a difference in romanization than a name change. Maybe try contacting the embassy/consulate again and ask how they handle romanization differences, particularly between Wade-Giles and pinyin (what Tsui and Cui look like to me).

Not specific to a Chinese visa, but the US Passport Agency wouldn't accept my wife's name post-marriage with just a marriage license because it was non-standard. She ended up doing a legal name change process, even though her name was already legally changed (DMV, social security, etc. all accepted her name), so she would have a court document showing the old name and new name. It took about two months and ~$150 in our jurisdiction but it done and settled now and she was able to do it on her own without a lawyer's assistance.

bobloblawlawblog

On the observations page of her father's passport he has a remark that says his last name can also be spelled as Tsui. Unfortunately her's doesn't have that same observation, however we showed the Visa agent a photocopy of his passport and tried to explain it was the romanization issue you mentioned to no avail. The agent insisted that we had to bring in a document from a court ordered name change. The only reason we didn't push the issue is because my wife didn't know if one existed or not, but after calling the courts we now know that it absolutely does not.

percysmith

I don't know if one can be done after the fact in the US.

In Victoria (Australia) my mother was initially issued a emigrant visa as Woo, but her original HK docs name (BTDC and HKID) was Wu (not our real name, but close enough). We don't know which genius misspelt it. Eventually her immigration agent applied for a deed poll with Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/changes-a...name/deed-poll declaring she has changed her name from Woo to Wu, and she was naturalised as Wu.

bobloblawlawblog

She ended up going back to the embassy today with a notarized letter stating that she has never had a court order to change her name and the difference is the romanization of her last name. They didn't turn her down but said it might not be accepted and it will take additional time to review. keeping fingers crossed!

rustykettel

Good luck to her!^ I can't imagine she's the first one to encounter romanization issues but perhaps it's a case of the window clerk following the letter of their procedure prior to escalating it to a more senior person.

FlightNurse

What does your marriage certificate say her name is? Wouldn't that helpful since it's an official Document showing her name change.

percysmith

Her US passport is equally an official document stating her new name. But neither marriage cert nor passport will show former name.

HGHUA

Intresting, crossing over the border today they wanted my chinese name despite being usa born. I've crossed hundreds of times and never been asked this. Odd.

carlhaynes

Taking the kids to Shanghai right after Christmas and working on the visa paperwork now.

1) I've looked through the forum but haven't seen a list of recommended visa agents (We are in Seattle and need one for San Francisco). Does such a list exist?

2) When submitting as a family do I need to treat it as submitting three different requests (me and two kids). Is there a way to submit them together or is that up to the visa agent to indicate when they are submitted. I'm assuming each needs a copy of their plane ticket and a copy of the hotel itinerary. Do the agents charge for each visa when I am sending them all together, are there any that specialize in families or groups?

3) Anything that is often overlooked for getting the kids visas?

Thanks!

889

FreeChinaVisa.org is reliable and works well for those, like you, living in the jurisdiction of the SF consulate.

jiejie

1) Agree with above on freechinavisa.org as your best bet and most reasonably priced agent.

2) Each person needs their own visa application and yes, there is a charge for each visa. However, you may save on the shipping fee by putting them in the same envelope to the agent, who will convey them together so they are processed together. Use only a trackable service for sending to/from the agent--FedEx is probably best.

Pay particular attention to visa photo requirements--they are not the same as US passport size. The agent can give you further insight. Get everything perfect and doublecheck before you send off--you don't want to waste time having to do anything over or resend. I can't think of anything that might be specifically overlooked with the children, except that their names wouldn't usually appear on a hotel booking confirmation....but do have the confirmation clearly state "2 children" on it.

The way you assemble is: Person 1 Application with photo attached, clip plane ticket confirmation booking for that person and hotel booking confirmation form. Again for Person 2, then 3, 4. If one confirmation covers multiple people, then make separate copies for clipping to each application, even if this seems repetitive. Stack the applications and put all passports into the overall package for shipping.

If any of you was born in China or any territory thereof, or are ethnic Chinese, there normally are some extra requirements. Discuss with the visa agent as soon as possible.

carlhaynes

Thanks, appreciate the help. FreeChinaVisa.org looks good, hadn't known about them