Scrambling to Remain in the Country : Immigration: Thousands of local Chinese nationals are testing the limits of the law, trying to adjust their visa status by whatever means possible to remain here legally.

More than 300 Chinese nationals from the coastal province of Fujian brave two months crammed in the dank hull of a smuggling ship, so ill and desperate for drinking water that many contemplate suicide.

A smaller group slips across the hilly Baja California border before dawn with the help of seasoned Mexican coyotes , and is handed off to Chinese smugglers who arrange journeys to New York. There, the immigrants’ labor will pay off smuggling debts of up to $30,000.

These stories made headlines earlier this year as a wave of smuggled Chinese immigrants hit California shores. No smuggling ships have been detected since summer, however, and the majority of Chinese nationals now living in the San Gabriel Valley arrived by more conventional means--on airplanes with student, business or visitor’s visas in hand.

These immigrants--teachers, doctors, students and business people--are upper-class by Chinese standards, savvy enough to obtain the visas to travel here in the first place and well-off enough to afford the trip.

Like their counterparts from around the globe who arrive in the United States on non-immigrant visas but with the intention of staying, thousands of the San Gabriel Valley’s Chinese nationals are testing the limits of immigration law, scrambling to adjust their visa status by whatever means possible to remain here legally. Others came on visas that have already lapsed.

Chinese community sources--from immigrants to social workers, reporters, immigration consultants and lawyers--say the number of people trying to maintain legal status, or hoping to somehow regain it once their visas lapsed, has risen markedly.

According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, an estimated 24,200 Chinese nationals were living in California illegally as of October, 1992. Most of the boats from the Fujian province arrived after that date, and most who made it to California by boat undetected have moved on to the East Coast.

It is unclear how many Chinese nationals are living in the San Gabriel Valley illegally. One thing is clear, however: Most of those who come are students or professionals from China’s thriving cities.

The mere act of entering the country on a temporary visa with the intention of staying permanently is a breach of law, but once past the initial airport scrutiny by INS officers, most of these men and women are home free.

“Intent is a hard thing to deal with, but you train your inspectors the best you can,” said Donald Looney, deputy district director for the INS in Los Angeles. “We don’t have the resources to go do follow-up on these overstayed visas to determine intent.

“If they come as a non-immigrant visitor with the intention of looking around and finding a school, and they are able to switch their status and become a student, then that’s fine,” he added. “That’s what the law allows.”

A quick perusal of the Chinese yellow pages shows that immigration services are a booming business. More than 30 attorneys and immigration consultants, concentrated in a few San Gabriel Valley cities, advertise visa adjustments as their primary business.

Scores more--some legitimate and some who make false promises, frequently at bargain rates--are filling Chinese newspapers with their ads.

On Dec. 6, Alhambra immigration consultant Lo-Li Gregor was convicted on 43 counts in Los Angeles Municipal Court for bilking more than a dozen Chinese nationals of tens of thousands of dollars for residency documents that were fake or never materialized.

“They advertise, ‘We know ways to get a green card (for permanent residency) fast.’ A lot of people get confused by this. They come to me and ask me, ‘Why didn’t you tell me I could do that?’ ” said Larry C. Liou, an Alhambra attorney who also receives calls daily from Chinese nationals inquiring about visa adjustment. “Some are smart enough to double-check with an attorney. But for people who are desperately looking for green cards, they will probably jump in.”

*

Some of them mistakenly believed they would qualify for residency under the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992--an umbrella program geared to protect those fleeing the crackdown at Tian An Men Square in June, 1989.

Thousands of Chinese nationals living in the San Gabriel Valley began applying for legal residency under the act, which stemmed from an executive order signed by President Bush in April, 1990. Most Chinese nationals who arrived in the United States legally before that date--whether or not they are students--qualify and have until June 30 to apply.

About 11,000 people had applied under the act from the western region of the INS, which includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam, according to the service’s most recent figures. Of those, more than 8,500 have already been accepted.

But thousands more arrived after the April, 1990, cutoff date.

“I would say the majority of people here (who came from China after April, 1990) probably have a problem overstaying their visa,” said Llewellyn Chin, an immigration attorney in Downtown Los Angeles and a resident of Alhambra.

Many, in fact, made the trip with the mistaken belief that they were eligible for residency under the act--urged on by ill-informed relatives and some shady immigration consultants who then offered to sell them documents.

“We get phone calls every day. It has really gone up over the past few months. They know they’re not qualified (under the Chinese Student Protection Act) but they’re still trying to see what they can do,” said Alice Huang, a paralegal at Nationwide Law Center in Rosemead.

“There are some people who thought they would automatically qualify for the protection program as long as they set foot in the United States before July (when the INS began accepting applications under the act). But that was totally wrong.”

Those whose cases clearly fall on the wrong side of the law are increasingly turning to illegal means to obtain documents.

“If they enter on a visa, there are ways to help them adjust. But if they came illegally, it’s very hard. I’ve heard about some using third country passports. Some are probably using false documents,” Huang said.

One businesswoman said she knows several people who spent thousands of dollars to purchase documents. But the exact numbers of people using illegal documents is impossible to come by.

INS officials said they do not believe the pace of illegal immigration from China is increasing, but Looney said the agency has resources to focus only on people entering the country illegally, rather than visa overstays.

*

The number of Chinese business people granted visas by the State Department in fiscal 1993--more than 106,000--was double the 1992 figure, and community sources say some have opted to stay. Alarmed by tips that some of these business people were coming with fraudulent letters of invitation and the intention of putting down roots, the INS scrutinized the visiting groups at Los Angeles International Airport several months ago, Looney said, but found that most were coming for legitimate reasons.

“We found that most of the (business visa holders) were in fact returning, so we dropped that as an area of concern,” Looney said.

Obstacles continue to haunt many of the Chinese nationals who managed to get here. Even for those who qualified under the protection legislation, worries persist about legalizing their families, some of whom are already here working illegally.

Michael and Lisa Qu--who have asked that their last name be changed to protect their identities--live a life that seems placid on its surface. Their tidy one-bedroom apartment tucked above a Temple City garage is filled with signs of an average family’s life: a VCR, canisters of Pringles potato chips, and their 10-year-old daughter’s spread of Disney miniatures, from Mickey Mouse to Prince Charming on a white horse. But their life is full of secrets.

Michael, 40, a successful representative of a mainland China company who arrived here on a temporary business visa in 1989, defected 14 months later when his superiors ordered him to return to China.

Michael qualified in July for a green card under the Chinese Student Protection Act and has applied to legalize his family. But Lisa, an eye doctor and the daughter of a high-ranking Chinese army official, arrived a year ago on a visitor’s visa and is living the shadowy life of an illegal worker. Within six days of her arrival, she was washing dishes and waiting tables 10 hours a day in a San Gabriel restaurant for cash.

“My wife had a very bright future in China,” Michael said of Lisa, 38, who nervously fears the return of immigration officials who recently sent her and two other women fleeing out the back door of the restaurant. “She got her MD, worked in a navy hospital as an eye specialist. She never suffered. She never had to wash dishes in her life. After she came here, she could do nothing.”

Michael, who spent 17 years in the Chinese army as an entertainer and English teacher, says trying to make it on his own in the business world and watching his wife suffer has left him bitter. The life of an exile, particularly without documentation, can be excruciating, he confides, and sometimes he wishes he could return to China.

“Most of the Chinese people who come here these days, they want to stay, and they have to work in restaurants. But it’s not easy. I couldn’t stand working in a restaurant. I’m used to going to nightclubs to play, to restaurants to eat.”