My Girl Is a Commie

Oh, I just read the thing about you being a lawyer and having to be careful not to establish an attorney-client relationship. I guess this means you can't answer my questions?

Well, at least i guess I can take some hope from what you have said!

IsaMousy

Hi,
By the way ... it was just on CNN:
<< Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Don Evans have resigned, the White House said.>>

Isa

J Moreno

In article <[email protected]> ,
My Girl Is a Commie <member31867@british_expats.com> wrote:

    > yes, Yes, YES!!! The "catch-22" nature of the situation is EXACTLY my
    > concern! Thank you!!

Move to Vermont (or somewhere that files in Vermont), marry her, and
then apply for a I-130 and a K3 visa.

--
J. Moreno

donahso

I don't know about other places, but at GZ, K-applicants don't do the DS-230 Part II, only Part I that comes with P-3.

If you have read through the various postings on Candle about this question, you have seen many responses ranging from never, never lie to don't tell. I'm in the never lie camp and don't recall ever hearing about anyone being denied by admitting to CCP membership. There was one fellow who posted within the last month or so that his lady's case was referred back to the US for a decision. I think it took three weeks for it to be approved and get her visa issued. Not sure if they were K-1 or married.

China is a communist country. Although is changing dramatically from its recent past, it is still has one party system. Party members do enjoy certain benefits like better schools and job opportunities. It also provides connections when you need something done. There are a lot of members who couldn't give a rat's ass about politics, only how to better their position in life.

If I were in your position, I would answer truthfully and have my fiancee prepared with an explanation at the interview. She joined purely to increase her odds of getting better employment. Between all of the paperwork and various interviews connected with this process, I would be exremely worried about providing an inconsistent answer somewhere that would come back to bite us. Funny thing about the truth, a person seems to answer the same way over time.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

My answers here are usually of a general nature. Also, I've never done a PRC K-1 so I'm not up on the particulars of PRACTICE in Ghuangzhou. But I do know the law or, how to read it.

The funny thing about being a lawyer, which lay people often fail to understand, we are trained to know the QUESTIONS and then how to find the answers. That does not mean we know the answers going in. And some questions can't be easily answered.

My late brother had a joke -- a client would ask -- are the facts on my side? Yes, they are. Is the law on my side? Absolutely. Then, how can I lose? The judge rules against you.

Your questions are good ones and I was trying to give you general guidelines on how to approach them. Two key points: "immigrant" is a defined term in the Immigration & Nationality Act and that definition departs somewhat from common sense. "Discretion" is involved in almost any application under the immigration laws and that "discretion" is delegated. Also, the very definition of "discretion" is often litigated because Article III judges generally cannot review discretionary determinations.

My Girl Is a Commie

donahso, I think you have made some very good points, and in fact, your posting yesterday caused me to read the GNI-2 and I-485, where they do indeed ask "have you ever been a member?" Given that we have to answer a "have you ever" question, instead of an "are you now" (such as is on the DS-230 part 2), it seems like there is very little benefit to quitting the party at all.

As Marnee pointed out yesterday, the following passage says that all we have to do is convince the consular officer at the interview:

I take this as an example of the Attorney General "delegating authority," as Stuart has pointed out. (which is quite handy at the moment because as far as we know, we don't have an Attorney General as I write this! ;-)


I have talked over some of the responses with my fiance, and yesterday she actually hinted around to her boss a bit, who apparently sounded like she would have a heart attack if any of her employees quit the communist party. My fiance also did an informal survey in her office and everyone that she asked is a member. I think if my fiance relates just these two facts alone to the CO, it makes a very good case for the above exception.

I also realized yesterday after writing my incredibly long post on the topic that her quitting the CP might, if anything, only weaken our case! Right now I think we can make a very strong argument that she needs to be a member for her job. The biggest thing that could undermine that argument would be if she quit her membership and DIDN'T get fired! Who knows - maybe it would take a long time for them to take action, or maybe, in light of China trying to get into the World Trade Organization, they would decide to be "liberal" and let her continue on and use her as an example of their leniency! Wouldn't that be ironic as hell!! And if she quits her job and doesn't get fired, now we are worried that it gives the CO a chance to say "well look, obviously you didn't need it for your job!!"

So: exactly along the lines of what you have suggested, we have decided to write a short 1-2 page essay explaining:

1) why she joined
2) why she thinks being a member was critical to getting her current job
3) why she thinks she would be fired if she quit
4) how her work may actually be contributing to free-market reforms in China

My fiance knows a great deal about the inner workings of the Chinese government and about their [remarkably successful] experiments in the free market, and we think if she talks about this, the CO will not only be convinced that she is not a threat, but be fascinated. As an example - Shenzhen was selected as a Special Economic Zone twenty years ago, when it was a sleepy city of 250,000. The Chinese government experimented with free-market policies there, including taxation, and it is now the 2nd-largest producer of GDP in China! And the population has grown to over 8 million. My fiance can go on at great length about the economic reforms that led to this boom in Shenzhen and other Chinese SEZs, and has even written papers on tax policy in these districts. She has also studied the relative success of privately-owned businesses in China and is currently writing papers on Western-style reforms that she believes China needs to implement in order to improve the efficiency of their stock market. Does this sound like someone who is a threat to US security!?!?! We think not!

We hope the more we make it clear that she is intimately involved in Chinese Government and that her work is related to promoting Western-style reforms to Chinese economic policy, the more obvious it will be that:

A) of course she has to be a communist to hold this job! Doh! and
B) she is a "good" communist, working to move China toward the free market

We're going to work on this explanation for the next week or so, then I am thinking of taking it to an experienced immigration attorney and having him/her review it for "gotchas" for hopefully not too much money. We don't want the lawyer to write it, we just want someone to read it and make sure we aren't saying something stupid that could potentially lead to problems we haven't anticipated. This may be the most important essay either of us writes for the rest of our lives, so we'd kind of like to get a professional read it over and give us an opinion.

How does this sound to people?

ian-mstm

I've read your comments with interest, so I have to ask - why do you think that USCIS would even care about whether or not she keeps her current job? USCIS is probably not interested in foreign relations at the level you're implying, which is more properly the venue of the Secretary of State. You seem to be desperately trying to find some way to bring her to the US and yet keep her working in China at the same time!

Ian

USA & Pakistan

Simplify, my friend, simplify.
My advice: Draw as little attention to this communist party issue as possible, giving a SHORT explanation, like:
"<name> joined the communist party in <year> to improve employment opportunities."

None of the government reform and political activist talk. Your points get lost in all of the long winded blah, blah, blah. You dont want them to think about it too much, you just want them to approve it.

Just my opinion.
Marnee

Noorah101

Excellent advice, Marnee! With the USCIS, keep it short, simple, and bluntly to the point. Never give them more information than they need. My favorite thing I ever heard on here (and one I adhered to) was some interview advice from one of the attorneys..."if they ask you - do you know what time it is? - you answer - yes."

Rene

My Girl Is a Commie

Makes sense.

Perhaps preparing a list of evidence would be useful for her preparation, so if pressed, she will have ready responses. But don't actually give the list to the CO, just answer any questions directly and with confidence.

Thanks for all the constructive suggestions/feedback, I'm feeling pretty good about this now. Collectively you've been very helpful.