Just finished Lydia's U.S. H1B job and green card counseling, Zhang Weiyong felt that her story was very interesting, and I hereby record it.
Lydia's family is well-off, her husband is a successful "second-generation" entrepreneur, and the family is happy and harmonious, which can be said to be a model family. In 2010, Lydia, who was more than 5 months pregnant, traveled to the United States with her husband. Lydia repeatedly stressed to me that she had no idea of having a baby in the United States at that time, and that she would return to China for a short trip. However, during her travels, she had a prenatal check-up in the United States and was diagnosed with a special condition, and the doctor advised her to stay in the United States to give birth. Considering the safety of the mother and child, her husband was very supportive, so she stayed. Under the careful care of medical staff, Lydia gave birth smoothly, and thus became associated with the United States. Tourist visas are only allowed to stay in the United States for half a year, and Lydia also misses her family and friends in China, so she didn't think too much about how to change her status in the United States, and returned to China with her baby.
In 2022, the child was in the 6th grade of a leading international school in Beijing, and a lot of things happened, which led to depression. All things considered, Lydia plans to take her baby to the United States to study, in this case, she must accompany the study, her husband still supports it, but the main energy has to run the family business, and Lydia has to find a way to solve the problem of accompanying identity.
At first, Lydia chose to accompany her students to the United States on a tourist visa. Her idea is very simple, for three to four months a semester, she will accompany her in the United States, and she will take the baby back to China during the holidays. Lydia, her husband and children have entered and exited the U.S. many times, and they have never had any problems. In August 2022, Lydia went to the United States to study with a tourist visa, and entered the country smoothly, and the child held a U.S. passport and successfully enrolled in a top public school in Los Angeles. However, at the beginning of 2023, Lydia, who returned to China for a holiday at Christmas, entered the United States with her children, but was locked in a small black room. After some cross-examination, the customs still released her, but warned her that she must leave the country within a month, and she is not allowed to enter the country on a tourist visa for half a year, because the tourist visa does not allow long-term accompaniment in the United States, and she can only stay in the United States for a maximum of 183 days a year. Lydia was horrified and had never encountered this before. Her husband hurried to the United States to accompany her. Then the husband and wife discussed, since the tourist visa is not a long-term solution for accompanying the study, let's find a way to get a long-term visa!
After returning home, Lydia's first thought was a student F1 visa, and I heard that F1 can stay in the United States for many years and can travel back and forth many times. The biggest problem is that she doesn't have the need to pursue a degree, after all, the main consideration is to accompany the student, and she is not very good at English. I entrusted the largest study abroad agent in the industry to apply to a community college, and according to the agent, the language requirements are not high, the application materials are simple, and the academic pressure is not great. Unexpectedly, Lydia's F1 visa was denied. She asked the agent why the visa was denied, but the agent replied that their main business is to help customers apply for school admission, and the visa is only incidental, and the main reason for the visa refusal is that Lydia's English is not very good, and they don't have a good solution. Lydia can only find a professional U.S. visa consulting company, but I can't imagine that it will be rejected again. Now Lydia is stunned, the U.S. visa record has always been good, and the entry and exit are smooth, why did he refuse visas one after another this time? The consulting firm didn't give her too convincing answers, but only encouraged her to sign up again, saying that many of their clients do this. Lydia can only do so, but unfortunately it is a visa refusal.
Now Lydia collapsed. Her husband could only comfort her and find resources through the circle of friends. Her husband is an EMBA from Tsinghua University, and he was introduced to Mr. Zhang Weiyong by his classmates. Due to the recommendation of Tsinghua alumni, the communication with each other was smooth, and he also trusted Mr. Zhang Weiyong. In a simple word, he understood the reason for the refusal, the F1 visa approval rate of community colleges was not high; Lydia has a master's degree and very good financial conditions, and her motivation to study at a community college in the United States is very unreasonable, so the visa officer will definitely question the real reason why she went to study in the United States. In addition, Mr. Zhang Weiyong also gave many similar cases of visa refusal, all of whom are middle-aged people with different needs, and the F1 visa of the community college was denied.
So what's the solution? ELITE J1 Visa for Visiting Students in the United States! Lydia went to the United States as a visiting scholar, and the motivation was much more reasonable than studying abroad, and there were some cases in the past, where B and F visas were refused, and then the J1 visa for visiting students was also successfully passed. Of course, because Lydia's F visa has been rejected three times, Zhang Weiyong does not dare to guarantee that the J1 visa will be passed. Lydia compared it and found that the J visa is much better than the F visa, on the one hand, the visa approval rate is higher (Lydia has no confidence to apply for the F visa again). On the other hand, visiting students does not need to be required to take courses as if they were studying abroad, and she will find it more relaxed. So Lydia and his wife entrusted Zhang Wei to use the teacher to try a J1 visa for visiting students. The school application is very simple, and it just so happens that the key partner universities of the Elite J1 visa program in the United States are California State University in Los Angeles, and I got the invitation letter for visiting scholars in one month. Fortunately, Lydia passed the first J1 visa without any problems! After many twists and turns, Lydia finally embarked on the road of visiting students in the United States in the fall of 2023.
Today, Lydia sent New Year's greetings to Mr. Zhang Weiyong, and by the way, I would like to learn about the H1B work visa and green card. In fact, she didn't have the idea of applying for a U.S. green card, because she heard that when the child became an adult, she could help her apply for a green card in the form of relatives sponsoring. But now she knows that the child has to be 21 years old to help her apply (she originally thought it was 18 years), after so many things, she wants to get a green card earlier, so as not to have more dreams at night, after all, the J1 visa can only stay for 5 years at most, and she wants to accompany her child in the United States to complete the undergraduate, which is not enough. Since Lydia's main need, it is a multiple-entry long-term visa status before a green card. Financially, she also has no strong desire to make money in the United States.
All things considered, Zhang Weiyong's teacher's suggestion is to use the J1 visa to stay at ease first, and then choose the opportunity to find a job and transfer to an H1B work visa. At present, the resources of the ELITE J1 visa program are snowballing, and many American entrepreneurs are also very interested in ELITE visiting scholars, especially Chinese entrepreneurs, after all, we are close in age and have a lot of common language, and they also want to learn about the situation in China through the ELITE visiting scholar circle, which has an interesting interactive effect. Teacher Zhang Weiyong advocated the construction of a "friendly, valuable, and respected visiting circle" and began to enter positive feedback. Zhang Wei used the teacher's idea of creating H1B opportunities to make Lydia enlightened.