Tomorrow morning I have to show up at the Public Security Bureau in our district to sign my "punishment documents", as they were described over the phone to me, and pay a 10,000 RMB penalty. That's a little over $1500. My crime? Actually, it's Leah's crime, too. We overstayed our visas by a month. It's our fault, no question, and we should have been paying closer attention. We originally had visas that were good until this summer, but we more or less forgot that we surrendered them to get a different type of visa that we thought was necessary to get our temporary Chinese residence permit.
The elusive residence permit. This is the residence permit that Terry's been working on for about 8 months now. We thought we'd have it by the end of January. Actually, Terry got his on Feb. 1, but Leah and I are still waiting for ours. If the two of us had gotten our permit at the expected time, it would have replaced the visas that have expired. The reason that the residence permit has been held up is that the official copy of Terry's and my marriage certificate wasn't official enough. Terry was told at the end of January that it need to be certified by the Minnesota Secretary of State. Getting the certification would run $1200 or so, he was told, if initiated from here in China. Fortunately, Terry was headed back to Minnesota in early February and could drive over to St. Paul and get the required certification for less than $10. He did this and sent the paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago. Two days before he was due to leave Minneapolis to fly back to China, he was told that he didn't have the correct seal from the Secretary of State's office. So he made a second trip to St. Paul and that time was assured he had the real deal seal. He sent the paperwork back to Chicago. It was approved and eventually got sent back to China, at which point the expired visa problem was discovered.
That was last week. I had to go to the Public Security Bureau last Wednesday and sit on a most uncomfortable stool for 1 1/2 hours in the immigration office and answer questions posed by Constable Wei about my visa overstay. Actually there weren't all that many questions. Mostly I watched her type information from our passports on and on and on into her computer. I had a book to read in my bag and thought several times about taking it out because I was bored. Also I was feeling just a bit anxious about the consequences of my visa screw-up. It didn't help that I'd watched some of the other officers, who'd changed into what I assumed were their undercover cop street clothes, open up a cabinet and take out flashlights and handcuffs and a few other pieces of equipment that they stuffed in their shoulder bags on their way out the door. No, reading a book would most definitely not be a good idea. Much better to look properly worried and regretful about my transgression, especially since Officer Wei was rather ill-humored. She looked and moved as if she'd stayed out too late the night before.
Finally she had a document prepared. She didn't know how to translate everything into English, so sometimes she just said, "Answer 'yes' here" or "Write 'no' here." Yikes. I signed and dated many statements. And then she brought out a red inkpad and had me affix my fingerprint in dozens and dozens of places on the document, in the four corners of copies of passport and visa pages, over signatures and dates and at the beginning and ending of statements. These 50-some fingerprints didn't strike only me as being a little over the top--it even made the Chinese civilian watching nearby shake his head and smile. When I was done, the officer kept our passports and told me she'd call me within two days to let me know the outcome of my interview, which turned out to be a 10,000 RBM fine.
That seems like a steep fine, considering our situation. It's not like we're sneaking around here, doing a bunch of illicit business deals. But I've been told that everybody gets treated equally if you don't follow the visa rules. If it's true, I'm glad that there's fair and strict enforcement. The U.S. has strict visa rules, too. In fact, as I understand current U.S. law, foreigners overstaying their visa in the U.S. have to return to their home country to re-apply for a new visa. If we were in the U.S. under circumstances like ours, however, with documents showing that we're trying in earnest to follow the rules for getting the proper permit for temporarily working and living there, we would most likely not be penalized.
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