Difficulty With In Person Meeting

[floopingrooping 0]

Hello all,

 

I am having a pretty unique set of circumstances that are making an in-person meeting seemingly impossible to do. My fiancé is a school teacher. This has given her strict rules that are preventing her from traveling. Essentially she would need to get approval from her superior to leave China to get to places like Dubai (as I've seen suggest on the forum.) or the US when that opens up. With the incentive structure of this superior (as she describes it) and the implications of a 2 week quarantine, she will likely be denied the permission to go anywhere. And that sort of kills 2/3 options available (She comes to me/We meet somewhere).

 

The final option which is also rough is for me to go see her, but I'm not sure I will be capable of taking a full month off and keep my job. Since I would need to quarantine for 2 weeks (if i can even find a way to travel there) it would take a minimum of 2 weeks to visit china. This leaves me with a problem as that could be risking my job to try that. I might be able to get permission to work remotely, but I need access to my company's network and the Chinese firewall will likely block that. 

 

The options seem thin here and even waiting seems a bit hopeless since who knows when these issues might relieve themselves (ie. she is able to travel without losing her job or i am able to without losing mine).

 

Any ideas to help in this situation?

[Boiler 45,525]

Assuming you have met within the last 2 years you could file a K1.

 

K1 is not ideal but the situation is what it is.

[floopingrooping 0]

Yeah, we met online at the very beginning of the covid lockdowns so we never really had any chances to meet. 

[igoyougoduke 1,656]

1 hour ago, jschreiner said:

Hello all,

 

I am having a pretty unique set of circumstances that are making an in-person meeting seemingly impossible to do. My fiancé is a school teacher. This has given her strict rules that are preventing her from traveling. Essentially she would need to get approval from her superior to leave China to get to places like Dubai (as I've seen suggest on the forum.) or the US when that opens up. With the incentive structure of this superior (as she describes it) and the implications of a 2 week quarantine, she will likely be denied the permission to go anywhere. And that sort of kills 2/3 options available (She comes to me/We meet somewhere).

 

The final option which is also rough is for me to go see her, but I'm not sure I will be capable of taking a full month off and keep my job. Since I would need to quarantine for 2 weeks (if i can even find a way to travel there) it would take a minimum of 2 weeks to visit china. This leaves me with a problem as that could be risking my job to try that. I might be able to get permission to work remotely, but I need access to my company's network and the Chinese firewall will likely block that. 

 

The options seem thin here and even waiting seems a bit hopeless since who knows when these issues might relieve themselves (ie. she is able to travel without losing her job or i am able to without losing mine).

 

Any ideas to help in this situation?

millions of people from china use VPN to access blocked sites . so what is the issue ? 

[SteveInBostonI130 3,459]

5 minutes ago, jschreiner said:

Yeah, we met online at the very beginning of the covid lockdowns so we never really had any chances to meet. 

I have never seen anyone bypass the meeting requirement.

 

One poster a few months ago, who had an extreme phobia with flying, was denied when he requested an exemption for the meeting.  I believe he ended up flying his fiance to the Caribbean and he took a cruise to go meet her.

[Adventine 3,196]

Well, she hasn't asked her superior yet if it's possible. You won't know for sure until she tries.

 

As a plan B, can either of you get more flexible jobs?

 

A a plan C, you'd be obliged to wait it out until travel restrictions loosen up.

[floopingrooping 0]

I really appreciate all the responses!

 

7 hours ago, igoyougoduke said:

millions of people from china use VPN to access blocked sites . so what is the issue ? 

That's fair. And honestly if the opportunity arises that might be something I try to do. I looked it up before i slept, it seems China is still closed to any visa except "essential" ones. So I am not allowed to visit atm anyway.

 

7 hours ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

I have never seen anyone bypass the meeting requirement.

 

One poster a few months ago, who had an extreme phobia with flying, was denied when he requested an exemption for the meeting.  I believe he ended up flying his fiance to the Caribbean and he took a cruise to go meet her.

Yeah, and there really isn't any reason I would not see the same fate. As hard as the decision is for us, technically she could quit her job and visit when allowed and that wouldn't be any sort of hardship on me (hardship being one of the exception criterion), but she is not a fan of having no income for potentially a year as we wait.

 

7 hours ago, Adventine said:

Well, she hasn't asked her superior yet if it's possible. You won't know for sure until she tries.

You are right! I was looking for any input before we pursued any particular plan. We aren't too confident in the answer however and so its likely we will need a plan B or C.

 

7 hours ago, Adventine said:

As a plan B, can either of you get more flexible jobs?

As I said above, I think its possible my job would allow me to go there, however China's visitation policy isnt laxed yet so I couldn't go even if I was able to. They only allow at easiest business visas or family visa. So me going there isn't very viable. As for her, she says the market for being a teacher where she is at is very crowded with applicants. If she quit her job, there is not a good chance of her finding something alternative. This is something to think about tho.

 

7 hours ago, Adventine said:

A a plan C, you'd be obliged to wait it out until travel restrictions loosen up.

Yeah this is probably the reality haha. I guess I was hoping for some miracle of information I didn't know to formulate a plan on. That ain't how life works though.

[Adventine 3,196]

Well, there is a possible Plan D. However, I don't know if it would work for China.

 

If you two are ready to get married, you could do a Utah zoom wedding, which might make it easier for you to meet. At least that is how people have been finding ways around the onerous travel restrictions in the Philippines. They get married online, the US citizen uses the Utah marriage certificate to apply for a Philippine visa as a spouse, they enter the Philippines and visit their partner, and then file a US spousal visa application. Search this forum for examples of couples who have successfully done this.

 

I have no idea if China would grant you a family visa based on this, but it's worth looking into.

[RamonGomez 271]

On 11/2/2021 at 10:07 PM, jschreiner said:

Hello all,

 

I am having a pretty unique set of circumstances that are making an in-person meeting seemingly impossible to do. My fiancé is a school teacher. This has given her strict rules that are preventing her from traveling. Essentially she would need to get approval from her superior to leave China to get to places like Dubai (as I've seen suggest on the forum.) or the US when that opens up. With the incentive structure of this superior (as she describes it) and the implications of a 2 week quarantine, she will likely be denied the permission to go anywhere. And that sort of kills 2/3 options available (She comes to me/We meet somewhere).

 

The final option which is also rough is for me to go see her, but I'm not sure I will be capable of taking a full month off and keep my job. Since I would need to quarantine for 2 weeks (if i can even find a way to travel there) it would take a minimum of 2 weeks to visit china. This leaves me with a problem as that could be risking my job to try that. I might be able to get permission to work remotely, but I need access to my company's network and the Chinese firewall will likely block that. 

 

The options seem thin here and even waiting seems a bit hopeless since who knows when these issues might relieve themselves (ie. she is able to travel without losing her job or i am able to without losing mine).

 

Any ideas to help in this situation?

If she has a B2 tourist visa and non-expired Chinese passport she can come to the US starting November 8 if she is vaccinated. Thailand is another great option, since it's now open for tourism and there's no quarantine, but your fiance would still be subject to a lengthy and expensive quarantine upon returning to China.

 

You can use a VPN to get around the firewall. Also, make sure you bring a burner laptop with the bare minimum on it if you need to work remotely in China. 

 

Otherwise, it is what it is. If you can't travel and she can't travel... there's not many solutions you're going to get.

 

Sorry you are going through this.

Edited November 5, 2021 by RamonGomez

[Merica-n 65]

Your girlfriend has been issued a passport right?  I only say this cause my Fiance's father doesn't have one and currently can't get one.  They aren't even issuing passports right now.

 

I'm also unable to visit my fiance.  If she leaves the country, she loses her job.  Currently, in China there are numerous stories of people that visited other cities within mainland china, and are now unable to return home for long periods of time, so it's very difficult to travel.  They basically aren't allowed to travel even within China at all right now.  It was a little bit looser a few months ago.  She was in the USA when the pandemic started, so we filed for a K1 visa within 2 years.  I wanted to get married, but we were unable to meet in person and are still unable too.

 

I think your only option is to go visit her, but it's difficult.  I applied to study Chinese at a local university and went through the whole process, and they gave me an acceptance certificate.  I went to the Chinese consulate in Chicago and their visa unit has been closed for over a year.  They just have a security guard and a drop box and a phone number that goes straight to voicemail.  I was put in a wechat group for accepted applicants and we all found out that none of us got visas except the South Korean student applicants.  The get a waiver somehow.  (Fall 2021 semester application processed from 7/2021-9/2021)

 

It's almost impossible to visit China right now.  If you get in somehow let me know how.

Edited November 11, 2021 by Merica-n

[floopingrooping 0]

I appreciate the ideas. I'll look into that Utah wedding thing. 

 

Currently we are going to just try to apply. I am going to try and show evidence of the financial burden we would undergo if she would lose her job. I am sure that wont work, but its better to try than do nothing.

 

@Merica-n yeah its rough. China has been super strict about covid. I think there was a case of covid in my girlfriend's city and they are trying to shut things down again there and have everybody tested. However, I have some hope due to economic reasons. Allowing tourist visas to happen is going to be a nice source of that, but we will see. I am not too knowledgable about china or their government myself.

Also in relation to your visa, I am reading what you said though she got accepted to come and marry and you had 90 days or whatever to do so and then things locked down and she couldn't come. Is that right? because if so, i think there was a way to get an extension for that 90 days.

 

Now one of the things we were thinking about was using a student visa. I might have to talk to a lawyer to make sure everything goes ok. We want to accomplish 2 things when she arrives. Get married (of course) and have her attend college. However, what we dont want is to get hit with a fraudulent student visa and we dont want her to come here for a year as a student and then leave and wait for a k-1 to come back and continue her study. So we aren't so sure about that idea as well.

[Adventine 3,196]

 To get a student visa, she'll have to 1) be accepted by a US school first and 2) present proof to the US embassy that she can afford international student tuition and living expenses. If she says her fiance will pay for her studies, it will just raise suspicion that she's just using the student visa to enter the States, marry and adjust status.

[Boiler 45,525]

Student visas are non immigrant.

[floopingrooping 0]

Yeah. I am aware of all that. That's why I was trying to avoid that path. And honestly I still would like to. Last thing i want to do is abuse a non-immigrant visa for immigration purposes even if we always were planning to send her to school. That's why i figured it would be a good idea to talk to a lawyer about that so (s)he can say no and i can move on from the idea lol.

[RamonGomez 271]

17 hours ago, jschreiner said:

Yeah. I am aware of all that. That's why I was trying to avoid that path. And honestly I still would like to. Last thing i want to do is abuse a non-immigrant visa for immigration purposes even if we always were planning to send her to school. That's why i figured it would be a good idea to talk to a lawyer about that so (s)he can say no and i can move on from the idea lol.

Probably the only realistic way to get into China nowadays is on a work visa. It's become harder to get them, but it's still possible if your employer manages to get you a PU letter. I belong to several China wechat groups and other forums and there's a steady trickle of people that made it in. But that's a really long and possibly very expensive process meant more for working in China for a few years. But it is a possibility.