China Guy - I admire you for caring so much about maintaining your daughter’s dual citizenship. I’m sure she will appreciate it when she’s old enough to.
China may be a far different place in 20 years, and negating a significant part of who she is doesn’t seem to be a proper course of action regardless.
I also admire you for the way you’ve handled some positively puzzling grilling on simply trying to make lemonade out of lemons, for the sake of your daughter.
No. The fact that you’re attacking the safe target (the US government) and not the target which would take action against you (the PRC government) over a rule of the PRC government. As I’ve explained a number of times already in this very thread, as far as the US is concerned, the child already has everything she needs to enter the US: PROOF OF US CITIZENSHIP.
Quite different. You, I, and others are all fair game in the Pit.
NO. MY MAIN BITCH IS THAT YOU ARE BITCHING ABOUT THE US GOVERNMENT BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT HAPPY WITH A PRC GOVERNMENT RULE.
{snip}
Actually, many of the people I know who have availed themselves of the INS and Consulare services have not had problems with either outfit. Some have, but all-in-all, most have not.
Mostly in Japan. I did the pre-preparation and carted the stuff to the US Embassy in Tokyo and picked the completed reports, and passports, up in a week. The average time for the walk-in service (which the military could also use if they wanted to make the trip themselves) was about 3 business days.
Well, since I did the applications for the consular reports of birth in Japan, the interesting thing is that Japan doesn’t issue birth certificates, or the equivalent, to foreigners. You see, Japan operates on what they call the Koseki Tohon (Family Register) system. The foreigners aren’t considered part of that system because they’re not in a Japanese family. The parent’s application sufficed.
I’m still betting that you walk into the room with an attitude projected and get some of that reflected back onto you. Of course that’s not right either, but you do have the option of taking it to the clerk’s superior.
You also have the option, no matter how ill-advised it is, to bitch to the appropriate office of the PRC government over their silly rule to require a visa for a child who the receiving country says doesn’t require a visa. But you’d probably get kicked out of China for that (read: permanent residence status either terminated or not renewed). That’s why I called you a coward. And I already explained that.
Do you perhaps even have a point, Lament? Or is your thinbly disquised comment above referring to me actually applying to yourself and you just can’t manage to see the point I’ve stated a number of times in this thread already?
Jesus, can’t you all just drop this pointless whining?
Monty, the reason that everyone isn’t just nodding and agreeing with you is because the U.S. does have a procedure, put into place in order to help its citizens, for dealing with the restrictions that China puts on multinational families living in China. That procedure, as we have all heard ad infinitum, is the pro-forma visa. The bureaucrats in the consular office do not wish to mess around with pro-forma visas, so they are trying to give CG the runaround. If there were no procedure offered, that would be tough noogies for CG and his daughter, and I don’t think the US would have any obligation to provide a procedure just because China’s rules impact dual citizens in a bad way. But if they do provide one, then it’s perfectly justifiable to complain that those whose job it is to help Americans abroad by providing these pro-forma visas are not doing that job.
I do think that “coward” is a very strong word to be tossing around in this circumstance. It would be futile for CG to actually try to defy the Chinese government in this. Deciding not to risk one’s home, career, and marriage in a such a gesture is not cowardly; doing so would arguably be foolhardy, not brave.
The reason I’m not answering you with long statements, Monty, is that it appears painfully obvious that you haven’t read anything that has been said in this thread so far.
I have (slightly) better things to do than repeat the facts of this situation for you, in a vain attempt to get you to see past your blind hatred of China.
I’m not familiar with the whole pro forma visa issue, but I will chime in about US consulates. My dad worked for a US-Canadian company, and whenever he did business with foreign companies or governments, he would go to the Canadian embassy/consulate. He said they were more efficient and knowledgable, and that the US had a higher percentage of political hacks.
I can’t believe I overlooked this in my previous posts, but there is zero chance he would get any grief for lodging a complaint with the Chinese foreign/internal service.
They would most likely just point out the very same things that he has in his post, that this is the US Consulates problem, they are being reluctant to grant a routine favour for a citizen.
Let’s just turn that question around. How much hope does anyone think I have of changing the US policy of discouraging dual citizenship? How much hope do I have of changing the Chinese governments law regarding the current non recognition of dual citizenship?
IMHO, I have zero chance in both cases. As a WAG, China might be the first one to change. Perhaps Monty can suggest how I realistically change the US policy. Otherwise, I will go to my congressman as a US citizen abroad that needs help, and perhaps get some help to influence ACS to help me.
For the record, I have brought this issue up with the Exit/Entry Bureau of Chinese Immigration in Shanghai. I told them I thought it was a poor law. They said not much we can do about it. I’m still enjoying my life in Shanghai and still haven’t been arrested by cattle prod wielding thugs and taken to a reeducation through labor camp (Laogai) yet.
Some of the posters on this board seem to think that the China of today is no different than during the cultural revolution or June 1989. It’s not. I can’t help but wonder if this issue was regarding Italian/US dual citizenship, if the reaction of some of these posters would be the same? I doubt it.