Because there’s no British embassy here, they will mail your passport to HK for the renewal. They’ll also charge you for the privilege.
Thanks, but I was aware they would send it to HK. I was asking if next time around you would go through them or send it direct?
ooops! I guess send it direct, but you’ll still need to fill out the relevant form.
Lama Ding Dong wrote [quote]I have been made aware of AIT’s unofficial policy of discriminating against Taiwanese women who seek U.S. visas. It seems the women are more likely than the men to find an American fiance(e) after their arrival, and then apply to change their visa status. AIT is apparently supposed to screen out people who may do this, it makes them look bad. I wish there was some U.S. lobby group that could raise hell about this.[/quote].
The response written by tigerman is, essentially, correct. The key issue an applicant must deal with is “intent” - if the applicant can convince the interviewing officer that he/she will return to Taiwan after completion of the visit, the applicant is pretty much home free. FYI, the refusal rate at AIT for B1/B2 visas is less than 2%, an extremely low refusal rate.
With regard to the issue of keeping the American Citizen Services (ACS) window open during lunch - can’t do it. Window duties rotate among my staff and for any given transaction (passport renewal/application, notary, or whatever) the “back office” support work that takes place once we take your application takes up the time of most of my staff, who at any given time are working on several cases/issues simultaneously. If nothing else, keeping the window open would mean my cashier couldn’t take lunch (wouldn’t win any awards for keeping the window open but then saying “Oh sorry, the cashier won’t be back until 1 o’clock, so please have a seat and wait!”). I have other staff trained to perform the cashier duty, but that person has other duties ordinarily, then it becomes a case of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. All in all, we’ve decided the best way to run ACS in view of limited personnel resources is to close down for lunch.
Feiren wrote [quote] AIT falls into the woefully inadequate category. They are rude, unfriendly, and obviously think they live and work in a banana republic.[/quote]. Welllll, If you feel you’ve been treated badly , I can’t say otherwise. However, you speak of poor treatment by of American citizens by the ACS staff. If you’ve got a complaint, I suggest that you bring that to the attention of the boss (Oh wait, that would be me!). Anyway, I’ve been in the States for the past month but will say that I am at the window every day and in the office when not actually at the window and know of no poor or disrespectful treatment by the staff. I will go on to say that it is not uncommon for AmCits (American citizens) to come to ACS with problems that are beyond the scope of what we are allowed to do by U.S. and/or ROC law(s). When informed of our statutory limitations, we often get a lot of heat from the person upon finding out that we can’t (not, don’t want to, but can’t) do for them.
Once my friend was having a 4th of July party and needed US flags for decoration. So, I called AIT asking where I could get some. They offered me the US flag from their board room, but I declined. Then they put me in touch with someone in their business section who lent me about 20 US flags for the party. It left me with a good impression.
I would say they are OK for passport renewal and other US citizen services. They sure have jacked up the prices on notary services and the like. Sometimes the wait is a little long, but it is quite entertaining to watch the excuses people give to get a passport. My favorite is when they are taking an oath and it is obvious the person has no idea what the AIT rep is talking about.
Sure, I have heard they are harsh on single women getting visas, but I have also seen too many times women who get a visa, then get knocked up and conveniently have their baby in the US. I think that’s really pathetic and I applaud AIT for weeding these bozos out.
Back in the days when even UK citizens had to have US visas, it was policy to decline ALL first applications for visas. Second try always got a visa. It was like they were just testing if you really wanted to go or not.
I find it amusing that the US assumes everyone wants to immigrate there.
Warning, long boring OT story follows.
Once I was visiting a refugee camp near Loei in northeast Thailand, with about 60000 Loatian residents, most of whom were born in the camp. The US had in its magnanimous way offered free passage to 200 families, green cards, sponsorship, the whole nine yards. They had a huge row of buses lined up to take the new Americans down to another camp near Bangkok where they’d be cleaned up and ‘oriented’ before flying to the good ole’ US of A. Expecting a scene like those at the embassy gates at the fall of Saigon, they had lots of backup from UNHCR staff in case things got out of hand.
Well, it turned out that only 60 families wanted to go. They would have gotten 63, but the last three families couldn’t be persuaded to part with the cooking untensils, and the staff wouldn’t let them take with. “You’ll have a GAS COOKER in America!”, they kept saying. Thinking I was a French refugee worker (as are most whiteys wearing civilian clothes in the camp), the INS officers could not look me straight in the eye.
I always wished those drum-banging, flag-salutin’, gun-owning ultra-conservative Jesse Jackson-type prats had been there to witness that.
Hi randyt -
Some background - I took the Foreign Service Written Exam in September, and will find out in a month or so whether I move to the oral exams. I feel pretty good about the written exam. I selected the economic cone.
Does the AIT have any hiring needs this year?
Can the AIT be a junior foreign service officer’s first post of duty?
What does it take to get posted to the AIT?
Any tips for the oral interview?
Thanks!
Ho ho ho.
First rule of foreign service is no ‘going native’. No more than 4 years in any one country, better yet is no two tours on same continent. Then it’s 6 months to a year back home to make sure you are still on the program. Your ability to adapt and learn foreign languages is of interest to Uncle Sam, not your Chinese language or social skills in particular.
I don’t know if it’s the same in the US, but the British Diplomatic Service officially won’t post you to a country of which your spouse is a citizen. I was told that if I joined I couldn’t be posted to China. Not a problem anyway as I dutifully failed the entrance exam. The pay is dreadful in the British service, and you have to pay UK taxes. However, if you’re the CG in Shanghai you get to gad about in a nice black Jag with Shanghai’s first ever number plate: A0001. That surely is far more important than money.
BAH wrote:
[quote]Some background - I took the Foreign Service Written Exam in September, and will find out in a month or so whether I move to the oral exams. I feel pretty good about the written exam. I selected the economic cone.
Does the AIT have any hiring needs this year?
Can the AIT be a junior foreign service officer’s first post of duty?
What does it take to get posted to the AIT?
[/quote]
AIT can be a junior officer’s (JO) first posting. There are seven JO positions at AIT. All are typically first tour officers. When you ask about AIT hiring needs, do you mean as a local hire, or as a Foreign Service Officer (FSO)? If as a local hire, you would need to contact the Personnel Office (don’t have the number, could call AIT and ask for personnel. Better yet check the AIT web page - http://ait.org.tw/ait/tindex_e.html, then click on “Hot News”, then “job openings”. If your question is with regard to FSO positions, the assignment process is the same as for all State Department postings worldwide, you volunteer and hope the personnel goons select you for the assignment to AIT.
As for tips for the orals, what is tested has changed since I took the test. I’m pretty sure the State Department web site has in their section on recruiting a description of the oral exam process.
My biggest pet-peeve about AIT is when you call up and the message is Chinese!!! What in the hell??? Has the red, white, and blue been changed to the red, white, and the yellow??? And then when you do get through to a person, its a native Taiwaese who for some odd reason gets offended when you ask to speak to a “real” American. God-damn it, if I wanted to speak to some idiotic local I could open my friggin’ window and talk to any one of the annoying “chines” outside.
Randyt:
I don’t have a specific incident in mind. I deal with AIT once every two or three years, usually for routine matters involving passports, notarization, taxes, and the like. My impressions of the quality of your services have been built up over a period of 12 or 13 years. One issue has been the difficulty of getting access to the people who can actually answer my questions. There is also a long-standing perception among many members of the American community in Taiwan that AIT mainly serves the expatriate/business community centered in Tienmu. Then there is the Fortress America aesthetic of the current AIT offices–speaking to your officers through plexiglass windows doesn’t create a very pleasant impression.
In contrast, I once accompanied a Canadian friend to the Canadian Trade Office on Fuhsing N. Road and was amazed at the friendly, helpful response he received to a rather messy problem involving birth certficates for his children. I would also point out that I have seen and met Canadian Trade Office officials at many community events outside of Tienmu whereas I have only met AIT people in business contexts.
On a more positive note, I was very pleasantly surprised that you took the time to read and actually respond to the posts on this forum.
I have also noticed that your website is being updated a bit more frequently recently.
I had an emergency business meeting in Munich and had my travel agent here taken care of the visa. I filled out the application form myself and gave all copies of documents to the travel agent xiao jie. Later that day this xiao jie called me up saying that I was to see the consular for an interview and that the visa would be issued in one working day. Since I was leaving in 3 days, I went to the German office early in the morning and met with the consular for a brief interview. After presenting all travel documents
I understand the restraints caused by limited time and limited personnel. However, I do not understand why AIT’s ACS window could not be opened during the lunch hour and closed for an hour after the lunch hour. That would seem to serve the same purpose, as your staff would then have time for lunch, while providing access to US citizens when most of them have time (lunchtime) to visit ACS.
I have come accross 2 major issues in dealing with AIT on US industry
issues:
- They appear to keep no written records. Hence with staff turnover
each new person starts with no handover & at zero understanding. By the time they have figured out what goes on here ,its time for a transfer. - One member of AIT told me that the reason many people go into that line of work is the long holidays. By the time they have taken all local holidays , all US holidays + thier long rest & recuperation leaves they dont actually spend too much time here . This explains why when you try & get hold of someone to take personal accountability for an issue they are often unavailable & are being covered for by someone completely ignorant of the issues.
On the plus side they seem to be on the whole reasonably pleasant people although a little condescending . Thier condescention is however non descriminatory, all nationalities being looked down upon equally.
Full marks to Randyt for responding to comments on this forum – and not just with a token response but with a full, considered and helpful one. Can you imagine anyone from the British office doing likewise? It strengthens the impression that, in many respects, AIT is a cut or more above most if not all of its European counterparts in its provision of citizen services.
Excellent story, hsiadogah.
But …
Huh?
Glad you caught that one, I shouldn’t be up typing so late at night. 
Slip of the wrist, of course I meant Jesse HELMS. My bad.
Paisay paisay!
That’s exactly what I was about to post. I have discovered that any EU office will assist EU citizens. My wife (PRC citizen) was once invited as part of a group to attend a United Nations International Women’s Day event in Belgium. Her name appeared both on official UN and Belgian Foreign Ministry invitation letters. The Belgian Embassy in London didn’t issue a visa in time (they were given over a week). I spoke to someone in the Belgian Foreign Office in Belgium and he faxed official instructions to the Embassy to issue the visa, which they didn’t. I regretted not ringing Private Eye at the time, but it was too late to get my wife into Belgium. Since this, I have discovered the French or Dutch would have issued a Schengen visa the same day in London if we had both gone down personally. EU law ? Treaty Rights ? Single European Act ? Freedom of Movement ? Yeah right. Only in some bureaucrat’s dreams.
I wonder what activities our representative offices are organizing for us to get together and celebrate Christmas? I mean, that is the kind of thing we’d expect from them … isn’t it?