Catch in U.S. Visa Law Splits Many Chinese Students, Spouses

On the tree-shaded street outside the U.S. Embassy here, the drama is repeated every working day.

Young Chinese men and women who have learned English, been accepted by U.S. universities, arranged financial guarantees and obtained hard-to-get Chinese passports emerge dejected and angry after stumbling at the last step of what otherwise would be a journey to America: The United States will not grant them visas because it suspects them of wanting to immigrate.

Similarly rejected are many spouses of Chinese already studying in the United States. So many spouses have been turned down for visas that they have formed an association that meets twice monthly in a park near the embassy. Late last month, about 25 members of this group took the unprecedented step of demonstrating outside the embassy to protest the rejections.

‘No Evidence’

“They say it’s because they think we won’t come back,” complained Su Ming, 36, head of the association, whose wife is studying computer science at a college in New Jersey. “But they have no evidence.”

The demonstration ended when consular officials came out to the street to accept a letter that said in part: “All of us have been living apart from our spouses for over half a year, and some even for three years. If things continue this way, conflicts, contradictions, marriage splits and divorce will be hard to avoid for most of the families. So we are confident that you will show some sympathy to us and not allow this sorrowful situation of ours to go on like this.”

The protesting spouses said that consular officials often pointed out to them that their husbands or wives could arrange to come back to China for visits, which in fact is quite possible if the students have sufficient time and money.

But the demonstrators said that faced with the demands of trying to pursue difficult course work in the United States, those studying there often are unable to make return visits to China, which can result in years of separation. They complained that it is unfair for American law to restrict so many couples to visits in only one direction.

Letter of Protest

“We cannot imagine any country in the world making a law to just allow one side of the couple to make way to see the other, and not vice versa,” they wrote in the protest letter.

Consular officials, who spoke for the embassy but requested that they not be identified by name, later explained in an interview that a 1952 immigration law requires them to reject all non-immigrant visa applications from people suspected of wanting to become immigrants.

This is true at all U.S. embassies around the world, but the greatest effect is felt in poorer countries that have a history of sending students to the United States who then try to stay on as immigrants, the officials said. They cited as examples the Philippines, Mexico and South Korea, as well as China.

Burden of Proof

Applicants in China must produce some kind of strong evidence--usually involving their employment situation or family ties--to show that they will return here. Otherwise they are presumed to want to immigrate. It is essentially the opposite of American courtroom procedure: The burden of proof is on the applicant.

“We get letters (of complaint) saying that someone is presumed guilty and has to prove innocence,” a consular official said. “In a sense, that’s exactly what the law does.”

Many students, especially government-sponsored students, who face a variety of pressures to return to China and usually must leave their families behind, show sufficient evidence of intent to return and thus are granted visas, the officials said. The number of students going to the United States to study continues to increase steadily, and the number of visas approved this year is likely to exceed last year’s figure of roughly 8,000, they added.

About Half Refused

But many others, especially privately sponsored students who have obtained financing guarantees from relatives or friends in the United States, or from American universities, are unable to provide enough evidence of intent to return to China to persuade U.S. consular officials to grant visas. Precise statistics are not available, but among the privately sponsored students “maybe 50% are refused,” said an official.

Statistics are not available on what percentage of spouses of students are denied visas, the official added.

The fact that U.S. law places the burden of proof on the applicant, rather than the government, “is very hard for Americans, particularly, to understand,” one official acknowledged.

Even within the U.S. government, another official said, “some people argue that the burden placed on consular offices (to make such decisions) is intolerable, and the burden placed on the visa applicant is unfair.”

Dreams Crushed

Chinese applicants who see their dreams crushed cannot see any logic or fairness to the American law.

“They said I’m a college student, so I may immigrate, so I can’t go into America,” an angry and disappointed young woman, who was willing to give only her surname, Wang, said on the sidewalk outside the embassy after being rejected for a student visa. “It’s nonsense.”

Some of those rejected feel that their honor has been sullied.

“They said I have intent to immigrate,” complained Zhou Jiannan, 31, who was denied a visa to visit his wife, who is studying mechanical engineering at the University of Utah. “We love our country, and they think we want to go off to the United States. This is really insulting. And they say, ‘Your wife will be able to find work after she graduates, so you won’t come back.’ This doesn’t make any sense.”

Part of the problem is that it is perfectly legal--and quite common in actual practice--for a foreign student in the United States to apply for and receive a work permit after graduation, and then eventually to apply for and receive immigrant status. But no one is eligible for a visa in the first place if this is what they intend to do.

“If the goal of the student is to get a student visa, and then a labor certificate and then an immigrant visa, and that’s their goal when they apply for a student visa, then we can’t give them a student visa,” explained one of the consular officials.

Even when an applicant successfully provides evidence of intent to return to China, the official granting the visa often does not really believe the person will return, one of the consular officials said.

Motives Questioned

“Have you ever met anyone who wouldn’t laugh at you if you suggest a student should come back from the United States?” said one of the officials. “The few who do come back are generally regarded as failures for not having managed to stay. Despite what the students say, I think there’s a general understanding that the students will go to the United States and stay there.”

Precise statistics on overseas study by Chinese students are not available, but it is generally estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 students and scholars from China have come to the United States and are still in the country. Chinese reports indicate that perhaps 5,000 to 10,000 students or scholars have returned to China after studying or working in the United States.

This represents by far the largest bloc of students ever sent to the United States by a Communist country. U.S. officials in Washington have indicated that these students have an important role in Sino-American relations, because some may serve in important positions in China for decades to come.

The large majority of the students in the United States are still pursuing courses of study or research directly connected with their fields of expertise, but many have extended their stays beyond the period they originally planned to be in the United States. This is a matter of deep concern to the Chinese government, which wants the students to return and contribute to the country’s modernization.

Some who entered the United States as students have obtained permanent resident status as immigrants. People in this category number at least several hundred but no more than a few thousand.

Outlook, an official Chinese magazine, reported this spring that since 1978, about 50,000 Chinese students had gone to study in more than 70 foreign countries, and that 20,000 of them had returned. Of about 30,000 still overseas at the time, two-thirds had been sent at the expense of various Chinese institutes or government departments, while one-third were privately financed, the report said.

The U.S. consular officials said they could not comment on whether the visa restrictions make sense or are in the interests of the United States.

“We can’t choose the laws that we wish to support,” said one.