I just had another piece published in Matador, for their “Love in the Time of Matador” series. Stuck Between Taiwan and Jun (yes, “Jun” is my husband’s real Chinese name — long story why I use “John” instead. Ask me later. 😉 ) chronicles some of the hardships we experienced as an international couple:
It was a rainy Tuesday in a Taiwanese cafe in Shanghai, and Jun and I were having fried rice with a generous side of tears. To the patrons around us, the whole scene had “breakup” written all over it. But it wasn’t that kind of breakup. Leaving melodrama aside, this was the US government breaking up our trip back to my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
To me, Jun was the guy who first kissed me to the tune of cicadas, next to Hangzhou’s West Lake. The man who loved to pick me up from the metro station late at night, and ferry me home on the back of his bicycle. But to the visa officer at the US Consulate in Shanghai, Jun was just another immigration risk from China with no apartment or car, let alone a wife or children. “You’re too young,” the officer declared in Mandarin, stamping a denial in permanent red ink into the passport.
Read the whole story at Matador. And if you love it, don’t forget to share it too. Thanks! 😉
Full ten years ago a visa officer at the US consulate in Manila denied a visa to a Filipina woman saying she was a marriage risk! In 2009 he was visiting the East-West Center in Hawaii and saw a familiar face trimming the trees on the campus of the University of Hawaii. He saw her several times..and finally decided to ask whether he knew her from somewhere..she said he looked familiar but did not know from where..a few days later she remembered..and then asked him “you were the guy who denied me the visa in Manila did n’t you because I will find an American guy to marry? Guess what, that is what I did, in Singapore.” In the end, his rejection of visa gained the US goverment $200 in non-refundable fees…but in the end did not stop her from entering the country!
Si la luna suave se desliza por cualquier corniza sin permiso alguno…
-Ricardo Arjonas
Awe well I feel this scenario is looming in my future. My Chinese man is adamant that he will be able to obtain a Canadian Visa in the next 6 months. I mean he has lived in Europe but I dont know if he has enough for these insane visa requirements!… I hate to be pessimistic but my simple google search only brought up negative results. It really sucks I have the freedom of simply paying $50 dollars to get my Chinese visa to go whenever I want but for him its a 9 page tell his entire life story document.
What a story! What international couples have to endure in order to be together… i