From Green to Red

 

Congratulations EL! You are a very patient man indeed.  bfbfbfbfbfbfbfbfbfbf

Foreigner Control moved the desks for res permits, green card applications, and marriage proposals to China downstairs.  My case officer wasn't at his desk.  Turns out he got stuck for the day on the desk that hands out appointment numbers.  We went and collected him, since the request from Guangzhou was at his regular desk.

The paperwork and photos have been turned in.  My Chinese signature came out a little larger than intended on the first copy, so I had to put my English signature above it.  The second copy worked out better, with my English signature on the same line after my Chinese signature.

As we were leaving, another officer was asking him if my application had any chance of getting approved.  He pointed out that I met all the requirements, had passed all the screening in DG, and that Guangzhou only wanted more paperwork and photos.  He seemed to think my chances for approval were very good.

Now I have to wait another 6 months (possibly more).  If it's 6 months, the timing isn't bad.  I want to attend a seminar in the US in April 2020 and need a passport to travel.  Once I'm approved, I have to start the process to renounce my US citizenship before getting my Chinese ID, and that's going to leave me without a valid passport for at least a few months.

February 25, 2010.  I arrived in HK on a one-way ticket from the USA.  It was very late, so I stayed overnight in a hotel.

February 26, 2010, ten years ago today.  I crossed over to mainland China.  Not for an 8 month contract like in 2006.  Not on a tourist visa like I did on 2 trips in 2009.  This time was different.

I came to China with one intention.  I was coming to China to stay forever.  China became my home that day.

 


Since then, I got married (a beautiful daughter was included as a bonus ), got a cat (to supervise me while I work), got a Chinese green card, and rescued a kitten (who now helps my cat supervise me).  All I need now is for my citizenship application to be approved.

  Happy Anniversary 

All the best with your application EL.

Since the restaurants are closed, my lovely wife and I had a celebration dinner on the roof.  It would have been romantic, but the mosquitoes decided to crash the party.

The very large building next door shed it's fabric and  bamboo skin last week.  When the fabric as up, I couldn't see the workers as more than shadows in the mesh fabric.  But, when I was on the roof watering my garden, I was visible to them, so they had plenty of time to notice that I don't exactly look local.  With the bamboo down, the building went from "hard hat required" to "try not to step on anything dangerous.  Since then, we've gone over a few times to see what sort of apartments are in it.  This may seem off topic in a thread about getting citizenship, but there's a reason.

Most of the workers ignored us, but one approached me, showed me some text on her phone and pointed to herself.  I couldn't read it, but it looked Vietnamese.  I said "Vietnam", she nodded and smiled, then started chatting with my wife in Mandarin that was far to fast for me to process, so I wandered into the next apartment to check the layout.

My wife later filled me in on some interesting details.  It turns out that this woman was Vietnamese, as in past tense.  Her step-mother moved to China when she was young.  She moved to China to take care of her stepmother when she was 15.  When she was about to get married (I believe sometime around 2004, plus or minus a few years), she applied for Chinese citizenship under the "family reunification" rules and became a Chinese citizen.

If I recall correctly, 2004 is when some major clarifications of citizenship rules were issued, and I'm not 100% sure if she was under the prior rules or under the new rules while details were still being worked out.

So, I finally have an actual example of a foreigner who got Chinese citizenship after the ones that Chairman Mao awarded citizenship to.  There is one small oddity.  Ethnically, she's Vietnamese, but her ID card say she's Han (Type 01) instead of Foreigner who became Chinese (Type 58).  I'm guessing this was probably either a clerical error or a clerk that didn't know about Type 58s.

Even better from my point of view is that she's an ordinary person.  Not a celebrity, not an athlete, not a brain surgeon, and not a rich investor.  Instead, she's a regular person with a normal job who was qualified, followed procedure, filled out an application, and got Chinese citizenship - for something so many people still insist is impossible.

I'm waiting for the 2020 census data to be released so I can see how the number of Type 58s compares with 2010.  In the meantime, I finally have a real example of a foreigner who became Chinese instead of just a number in a table.  I find this reassuring as I continue to wait to hear back about my application.

 
Good news, indeed

Bump, mostly entirely to say Hi and best wishes

Hey,

Thanks for dropping in and saying hi.

For anyone wondering, I'm sure the viral issues haven't helped speed up application processing, so I'm still waiting.  The main consolation is that if there was any obvious reason to reject me, they'd probably have done it quickly just to reduce the number of items sitting in the waiting pile.  If things stretch our into a similar time period as my green card approval did, I guess I'm looking at the second half of 2021 or first half of 2022.  Or, just maybe, that phone call I've been waiting for will come today.  There's no way to tell.

April 2022:  I found out about something called the NIA. - The Chinese National Immigration Administration.  (en.nia.gov.cn)

They are a good resource for any and all questions regarding foreigners in China, Green Cards, etc.  I got on their live chat around the end of the month to ask about my citizenship application.  They took my info.  A few days later, a call came from the DG office.  They confirmed the application was still in Guangzhou and said to be patient.

November 2022:  I tried NIA live chat again.  This time I think I got someone still in training, so no instructions other than to call the hotline.  The call ended up with someone who took down the info and promised to call back.  The call just came.  Again, assurances that my application was being processed, but that DG had no way to tell when GZ would send it up to Beijing, reject it, or ask for more info.  Again, patience was recommended.

President Xi had to apply 10 times to be admitted to the CPC.  That took less than 2 years.  If I am rejected I will apply as many times as I have to in order to be accepted for Chinese citizenship, I will.  If it takes over 3 years each time, I'm not sure I will live long enough if it takes 10 tries. 

No matter what, I'll become a Chinese citizen or I'll die trying.   

Govt red tape 

Hang on there, EL

Patience is the name of the game in immigration. Good luck!!

I would be less worried if there was some way to login and check the status - especially if it showed "last updated" so I'd be able to tell if it's getting work done on it.