How did I get my 5-year US Visa 🤩

I bribed the visa officer by offering him a BJ.

...

Of course I did not.

Here is the story how I renewed my US visa and suuuuuuurpr-isingly got a 5-year visa.

As most of you already know, USCIS has been very cautious about issuing F-1 visa to Chinese (mainland) international student studying STEM. So students like me usually need to undergo the so-called administrative processing every time we apply a new visa. In the Chinese community, we have an alternative word for admin processing – "check".

So when you're "checked", what happens is basically that your visa case will be sent back to Washington DC (or wherever in the states the USCIS is at), and the officers who have the authority will do a background screening for the applicant. If you got lucky, the federal officers may be convinced that you would not pose a threat to the national security and your visa will be approved and sent back to the embassy/consulate where the case came from. So once you're being "checked", what to expect is a long and stressful wait to hear back from the embassy and what's more upsetting is, the valid duration of the visa is typically only one year in such situation.

Now for those who're concerned about my legal presence in the states, I need to clarify that the legal document that justify my stay as an F-1 visa holder is called I-20. So as long as my I-20, which is typically valid through the whole phd study, is not expired, I can stay legally in the US. But the issue about visa is, one needs a valid visa to cross the border. For example, I'd need to renew my US visa to re-enter the states after my trip to Singapore since my old visa only lasts for one year. And the process of visa renewal, for the reason I just alluded to, is often time time-consuming and stressful. That's the reason why many of my fellow Chinese international student friends, just like me, haven't been home for a long time.

However, my friends, on May 13, 2024, a can-not-be-more-normal day, in Canton US consulate, I am the chosen one! For your information, before I walked out of that granite-clad concrete building, I have never-in-a-million-year imagined that my visa application would be approved immediately. But, this Nick Frost look-alike visa interviewer I was with is obviously the nicest guy I ever met. No! He IS Jesus Christ himself!

Well, to be accurate, my interviewer is more like a skinny version of Nick Frost with fewer hairs. Let's call him Slim Frost.

Now let me quickly describe what will happen on the day of a visa appointment. So before I got to stand by the interview counter and talk to Slim Frost across a window, I've been waiting in lines and have gone through at least 12 steps. Okay that's a bit exaggerated, but my point is getting a visa done could be complicated. First off, you need to wait in a long line outside the entrance. And because most personal items including cell phone is prohibited in the consulate, you would better find a way to store your belongings. You can either put everything except necessary documents in the hotel and walk to the consulate, or go with someone. If, for any reason, neither of these works, you may also resort to the old ladies wondering around the line offering paid item-attendance service. After entering the entrance, the crowds will be divided into immigrant and non-immigrant applicants. Then someone will check your passport and appointment confirmation, follows by security check. Next you will enter the main hall where the interviews are happening. But before you join the multi-U-turn lines, you will still need to scan your passport and record your 10 fingerprints.

Now after all these tedious procedures, I was waiting in the final line to the interviewers on one side of this elongated hall. On the opposite side of the hall are the counters, where behind each window there is a visa interviewer. On the other end that is facing the entrance hanging a giant star-and-stripe flag. As a sophisticated applicant, I was not wasting the nearly-one-hour wait time idly looking around or hitting on the stranger girl standing behind me like the other dude. Instead, I was carefully observing, acquiring valuable information. What I was paying attention to was the color of the paper that the applicant just finished interview was holding. A quick fact: the notice saying the application is approved is printed in yellow, while the one saying your case need further "checking" is green. So I was think that if I got a chance to choose, I would be better off to go to the interviewer who, empirically, gives out more yellow notice. By the time I got close to the end of the line, I already pinpointed three candidates: window 14, 20, and 21.

But my observation was useless. When I got to the point where my interviewer would be assigned, I was guided by the coordinator and was led to a window at the every end. I was a bit unsettled at this point. One because this window was not among my candidates, and second, I didn't pay attention to its statistics since it's on the side. Now I was standing behind a handful of applicants that all waiting for their interview by this officer. I have no choice by praying he's not an asshole at this point. The first young lady was applying for H1B visa. Her husband was in the states. Easy pass not surprisingly. The next guy was for H1B as well. Took a bit longer but also got approved quickly. Alright, so far so good.

The last applicant before me was an old lady. Due to the physical proximity, I was able to hear their whole conversation crispy clearly. The interview was completed in Mandarin Chinese. The first thing Slim Frost asked for was her document, as usual. And then he goes:

-Slim Frost: 你去过美国吗？(Have you ever been to the US?)

-Old Lady: 去过。(Yes)

-Slim Frost: 你之前有美国绿卡，但是你后来放弃了？(I saw that you had a green card but you renunciated?)

-Old Lady: 是的。我当时是因为我爱人在这边工作，...... (Yes, some explanation about her renunciation......)

-SF: 你退休了吗？(Did you retire?)

-OL: 是的。(Yes.)

-SF: 你退休之前是做什么工作的？(What did you do before you retire?)

-OL: 妇科医生。(An obstetrician)

-SF (looks very concerned): 你有做过跟堕胎相关的手术吗？(Have you ever done any surgery related to abortion then?)

-OL: 没有。我是给孕妇开药看中医的，......(No I did not. I was a traditional Chinese physician, I was no surgeon......)

-SF (still looks concerned, adds some confusion on his face): Emmm, okay.

By the time I heard that this lady was an obstetrician, I was like, ma'am you are not getting this visa today. But she was so fortune as me. She was in the best hand. The officer interviewing was not some indifferent jerk who gave me a "green notice" only because I was a physics-major student (that was my interviewer 2 years ago). He is Slim Frost! He appeared concerned after he knew that she was an OB and even a bit confused after hearing her explanation, but he's still trying to give a fair judgement. Now the thing is, although most of the visa interviewers in China know some Mandarin, but they clearly only know a very-limited amount of sentences that are most commonly used (not too far better than David Frey honestly).

Since Slim Frost was aware that this the complicatedness of the situation had exceeded his mandarin level, he went back to the office and after a moment came back with his Chinese college. The Chinese college had some more detail interrogation of what exactly this lady was doing in obstetrics. And the lady explained in details that she was only giving vaccines and traditional Chinese medication to the pregnant. After knowing these technical details, Slim Frost looks much easier. Then he asked one more time about the reason why she renunciated her green card and said "congratulation" to her.

A miracle! A pure miracle just happened in front of me, that's what I was thinking at that time.

So then finally it's my time. I walked up to Slim Frost with smiles and greeted him enthusiastically in English. Then he asked for my passport and I-20 form. I gave him. "Have you ever been the US?", he asked. "Yes, I actually just finished my second year of phd study. I am visiting my family right now," I said. "Your major is physics?" "It's actually applied physics. And my advisor is from BME, so I am doing research in BME actually". I was trying to avoid sensitive subjects (BME is less "harmful" than physics generally in this context). "Tell me something about your research," he goes. Green flag! Something kinda counter-intuitive about visa interview is, the more questions the officer ask, the higher chance you have to get the approval because that means he's actually caring about your case and trying to make a fair judge instead of just brushing you off.

Now if this same question was asked in a job interview, I'd try my best to describe it as powerful and useful in real life as possible. But in this situation I know the value of being humble. "My lab is doing research on MRI. But we basically never do hardware-related research. It's more on algorithm side. We are devoted in developing image processing techniques that could be useful in MRI, " I said. "Okay. I saw that you used to do quantum physics?" "No sir. Quantum physics is one of the core curricula for physics student that I had to take because I was majoring in physics in undergrad but I never did research in quantum physics," again, I was trying to get rid of all the things that could be sensitive. A brief silence after this while he's tying fast on the computer. "Okay, your visa is APPROVED!" That's the last words I remembered because I blacked out at once.

No I did not.

But, I was sooooooooooooo happy and this is definitely a surprise to me. Without the "checking", not only do I avoid the uncertain wait for my new visa, but it also indicates that the new visa will be valid for 5 years. With that, I can fly back to the states earlier than planned, and get back to work and my friends as early as I need. More importantly, I can travel abroad more often in the following years, not only back home, but also to future ISMRM, Cape Town , Vancouver, Paris, ... And also the South American countries I've always wanted to visit, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Perú... In all, it feels awesome to have the freedom for traveling!

At the end, I want to thank God, and one more time Sim Frost, for your kindness and responsibility to your job! ❤️