美国留学签证

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A: Appointments for submittimg applications for nonimmigrant visas are issued between

7:30 and 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday at the American Embassy at 2 Xiu Shui Dong

Jie. Our offices are closed on American and Chinese holidays. There is a RMB 405 visa

processing fee payable at one of Beijing's designated CITIC Industrial Banks. This receipt

issued after payment has been made is non-refundable under any circumstances.

The following designated branch offices currently provide this service:

19 Jian Guo Men Wai Avenue (Chao Yang District)

06 Xin Yuan Nan Street(Chao Yang District)

05 Dong Da Qiao Street(Chao Yang District)

34 Bai Shi Qiao Street(Hai Dian District)

306 Fu Cheng Men Avenue(Xi Cheng District)

strive to return passports with issued visas the following business day between 3:00

and 4:00 p.m., factors beyond our control sometimes delay the return of passports

for several days. Moreover, because of the huge number of applications we receive

it is not possible to interrupt our service to the majority of applicants in order to

accommodate specially those applicants who fail to apply for a visa early enough.

A: The interviewing Consular officer must apply the provisions of the U.S.

Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in determining whether an applicant is eligible

for a U.S. visa. One of the most important points in the INA that an officer is called

upon to apply is Section 214(b). That section states: "Every alien shall be presumed

to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the

time of the application for a visa ... that he is entitled to nonimmigrant status...." This

means that our officers are required by law to view each visa applicant as an

intending immigrant until the applicant proves otherwise. Your proof may come in

many forms, but when considered together, it must be enough for the interviewing

officer to conclude that your overall circumstances, including a permanent residence

and other ties abroad, will compel you to leave the United States at the end of a

temporary stay. No single document, certificate, or guarantee letter can be regarded

as sufficient for this purpose. Because of the volume of applications received, visa

officers must decide after a brief interview whether someone is qualified to receive a

visa. Applicants should therefore be prepared to present their case clearly and

concisely, since the application must otherwise be denied.

A: No. If you have new information which was not presented to the interviewing

officer at the time of your first application or if your overall circumstances have

changed significantly since your last application and you can now better establish

convincing ties outside of the United States, you may reapply.

have additional information or supporting documentation to present which is

substantially different from your initial application you are encouraged to reapply. If

your circumstances are unchanged and you will present only evidence which has

already been reviewed recently by an officer, your chances of gaining approval on a

second or third application are much lower. In such cases, it is probably better to

wait until your personal circumstances have changed significantly before reapplying.

A: The problem is not the documents. Rather, your current overall situation (as

supported by those documents) was not adequate to overcome the presumption that

you are an intending immigrant. Remember, U.S. law says that you are an intending

immigrant until you show that your overall circumstances would be adequate to

compel you to return home after visiting the U.S.

A: The visa officers handle almost 100,000 applications every year. Based on this

experience, we are able to quickly review the application form and supporting

documents in order to narrow the range in which questions may need to be asked.

Keep in mind, most of the information we need is already supplied on the application

form itself, so there is usually no need for the officer to ask more than a few

additional questions. We often need only to verify your identity or clear up one or

two points. Also, if the interview were longer, you would end up waiting in line for a

considerably longer time. In order to be fair to all applicants and to provide everyone

an equal opportunity to establish eligibility, we must work quickly and efficiently.

A: No. Tell the truth. If your ties to China are adequate to overcome the presumption

of immigrant intent (INA section 214b), a tourist visa will be issued. Problems arise if

you mislead the interviewing officer as to your intent in visiting the United States.

Once a misrepresentation is made, we may find it difficult to believe other information

you have supplied.

A: We are required to evaluate your overall situation in reaching a decision. Your

statement that you intend to return to China is helpful, but under the requirements of

U.S. law the statement alone is not adequate to show you have strong ties outside of

the United States which would compel you to return to China. It is not that the officer

did not believe you. Rather, the officer considered your statement along with the

other evidence you brought to your interview and concluded that, on the whole, the

evidence was not compelling.

A: The approved INS I-20 is just one piece of information the interviewing officer

must consider when deciding whether a visa may be issued. Remember, under

Section 214(b) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, you still must prove that

you will leave the United States after the purpose for which you entered the United

States comes to an end. In student visa cases, the applicants may intend to stay in the

United States for many months and even years pursuing a course of study.

Consequently, we must consider your overall circumstances when deciding whether

to approve a student visa. Student visas must be denied if it appears that the

applicant's primary purpose of travel is not to obtain an education, but, rather, to

facilitate an indefinite stay in the United States. The fact that a school has admitted a

student to study and issued the student an I-20 is, therefore, only one factor we

consider.

A: The legal basis for most visa refusals is the same: section 214(b) of the INA (see

question 5). In most refusal cases, the applicant fails to show strong enough or stable

enough ties outside the U.S. to convince the officer that the applicant will depart the

United States after a temporary period. Many refused applicants believe there is a

document or a special way to answer our questions that will enable them to

successfully reapply for a visa days or weeks later. However, as the problem for

applicants refused under section 214(b) lies in their overall situation, no single answer

or document exists which would prove satisfactory in all cases. Applicants are

encouraged to reapply only when their overall circumstances have changed. For

example, an unemployed recent graduate may decide to reapply following a

sustained period of steady employment.

circumstances. "Ties" are the various aspects of your life that bind you to your place

of residence such as your possessions, employment, social and family relationships.

In cases of younger applicants who may not have had an opportunity to establish

such ties, interviewing officers may look at the applicant's specific intentions, family

relations, educational status (is the applicant in the middle of an academic program?),

grades, and long-range plans and prospects in China. As each person's situation is

different, there is no magic answer as to what constitutes sufficient ties. For example,

one person may have a thriving business in China which he or she would be unlikely

to abandon, while another may have close and convincing ties to a house and family

here, or a promising career.

A: Our experience shows that being an only son has not deterred many Chinese

travelers from remaining indefinitely in the US. While this factor may be one among

others relevant to an individual's personal circumstances, it would not usually, in itself,

be sufficient to establish eligibility.

A: A guarantee letter, like other forms of written documentation, will be considered

by the interviewing officer. However, a letter, by itself, does not establish the

applicant's ties to outside of the United States. Similarly, pledges from highly placed

persons that you will return to China do not automatically enable applicants to

overcome section 214(b). This is because U.S. law does not permit visa officers to

delegate to others their authority to evaluate the applicant's actual overall

circumstances.

to us in advance will not be helpful. The visa interview is the proper setting for us to

consider the information in your letter.

A: The risks of fraud are serious. Applicants who provide incorrect information,

conceal relevant facts, or misrepresent their cases may become permanently ineligible

to enter the United States. All approved applications are checked against computer

records to see if certain information on the application was truthfully presented. It is

common in China for an applicant to have relatives in the United States or a petition

to immigrate on file. These factors by themselves will not prevent approval of your

application. Misrepresentation of these facts, however, risks causing your application

to be refused.

A: Applicants are generally not required to take any particular tests to qualify for a

visa. However, we note that motivated and serious student visa applicants often take

such tests when seeking admission to schools in the United States. The fact that a

student has taken one or more of these tests may help show the seriousness of the

applicant's study plans.

A: No. United States law assigns the responsibility for issuance or refusal of visas to

consular officers overseas. They have the final say on all visa cases. Additionally,

United States law is designed to insulate the decisions in visa cases from outside

influences. An applicant can influence a reversal of a prior denial only through

presentation of new convincing evidence of strong ties.

A: The matter is a personal decision for you to make. However, in most cases it is

not necessary for you to hire a travel agent to assist you with your application. Travel

agents will often charge you to fill out forms which are available free in our office.

They also charge large sums on the promise of enabling the traveler to bypass the

visa interview. However, all applications submitted by travel agencies are given

careful scrutiny and, when appropriate, applicants are called in for interviews.

Further, our experience shows that many applicants are coached by intermediaries to

provide answers which are misleading. While the truthful answer would not have

harmed the application, the discovery of a misleading answer often puts the entire

application in doubt. If you have particular questions about our procedures, we

suggest you contact the Embassy's informtion unit at 6532-3431.

A: All visa applicants are entitled to courteous, efficient, and consistent treatment. If

you feel you were treated improperly during the processing of your visa application,

you should write to the Consul General and describe the circumstances. Your

concerns will be investigated and corrective action taken where justified. Our fax

number is (011) (86) (10) 6532-3178.

If you have other questions not answered here, you may contact the Embassy's

informtion unit at 6532-3431, or access the Department of State's Consular Affairs