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我是美國簽證官 每天都在聽各種中國人講各種故事

領事官員的生活都是有關故事的......。一雙父母去探望他們唯一的、從美國(專題)大學畢業的孩子;一位商人去紐約從事價值數百萬美元的商業交易;一名高中生第一次離開中國去美國上學;一位著名電影導演去訪問荷里活;一群雜技演員將在密蘇里州表演;以及一位祖母第一次去探望她的孫子。所有這些人有什麼共同點?他們可能都是一位領事官員一天裏要面試的人,甚至是一小時內。一個工作日裏,領事官員真的會聽到很多故事,結合在一起,講述了我們所處的這個國家的故事。在中國,我們聽到了這個國家多麼大、多麼多樣化的故事,以及自多年前那位祖母出生以來,這個國家有了多麼大的改變。在中國工作也讓我們現在有我們自己的故事講和給我們的子孫講。

在領事官員的生活中,每天都是不同的。一個典型的一天可能從我們與上述很多申請人面談開始。每天每個官員面談一百多位申請人,給了我們聽到很多故事的機會。不幸的是,一些我們聽到的故事不全是事實,看到申請人毀了他們獲得簽證的機會讓人難過。我們也不喜歡拒絕簽證申請,但根據我們的簽證法律,一小部分人不符合資格。幸好,大約90%的中國簽證申請被批准,所以每天我們在簽證台上聽故事的一天通常是愉快的一天,但很累!

有時候,我們很高興,因為我們真的在人們生活的故事中帶來重要影響。當我在澳大利亞工作時,我記得曾經在一個星期五的下午接到一個妻子的緊急預約,她的丈夫在美國遭遇了一場嚴重車禍。我可以批准她的簽證,但簽證要到星期六才能準備好。我同意周末來辦公室親自打印簽證並交給她,這樣她就能飛到美國去看望她住院的丈夫。她不斷感謝我們「超越職責要求」並以這種方式給予她幫助。我很高興我們給她帶來變化,雖然這個個人經歷並不愉快。我們在中國這裏做類似的工作。去年夏天,我們一群人在周末工作,為美中「戰略與經濟對話」頒發籤證。我們知道這是一個讓我們兩國談論共同關切的問題的重要論壇。儘管那時我們面對世界範圍的電腦問題,我們讓中國代表團準時到達美國。再次,我們很高興能有所作為。

在我們結束與簽證申請人的面談並在我們的辦公桌上完成餘下的工作之後,我們還有其他工作要做。有時,我們的工作可能會被認為是「高級別的」,比如為奧巴馬總統或國務卿這樣的我們的重要官員的訪問提供幫助。雖然我們為這些活動所做的工作往往並不是那麼重要。我們最喜歡做的事是公共對外發展。我們訪問學校,向學生解釋如何申請學生簽證。我們還前往不同的省份與旅行社代理以及潛在的簽證申請人談話,以解釋簽證政策的任何變化。我們真的很喜歡做這類活動,因為它讓我們更好地了解這個迷人的國家,並且讓我們有更多的故事可講!

然後,在我們的一天結束之時,我們回到我們自己的家人和朋友中。我們彼此分享我們的故事。說到底,中國人、美國人、每個人......都是有關我們經歷過的體驗以及這些有趣的體驗為我們帶來的故事。

原文:

Consular officers lives are all about stories….A father and mother visiting their only child who is graduating from university in the United States; a businessman going to New York for a business transaction valued in the millions of dollars; a high school student leaving China for the first time to attend school in the United States; a famous movie director going to Hollywood for business; a group of acrobats going to perform in Missouri; and a grandmother going to meet her grandchild for the first time. What do all of these people have in common? They are all someone a consular officer may interview in one day, even within one hour. During one working day, a consular officer truly hears multiple stories which, taken together, tell the story of the country we are serving in. In China, we hear a story of how large and diverse the country is and how much the country has changed since that grandmother was born so many years ago. Working in China also gives us our own story to tell now and to our grandchildren.

Each day in the life of a consular officer is different. A typical day may begin with us interviewing many of the applicants described above. Each officer interviews over one hundred applicants a day, given us the chance to hear many stories. Unfortunately, a few of the stories we here are aren’t the whole truth, and it is upsetting to see applicants ruin their chance to get a visa. We also do not like refusing visa applications, but a small portion of people do not qualify under our visa law. Fortunately, approximately90% of Chinese visa applications are approved, so our day hearing stories on the visa line is generally a good day, but tiring!

Sometimes, we are happy because we truly make a difference in the stories of peoples』 lives. When I worked in Australia, I remember taking an emergency appointment on a Friday afternoon for a wife whose husband was in a serious car accident in the United States. I was able to approve her visa, but it wouldn’t be ready until Saturday. I agreed to come in on the weekend and print the visa myself to give it to her so she could fly to America to see her husband in the hospital. She was forever grateful that we went「beyond the call of duty」 and helped her in this way. I was happy we made a difference to her even though the personal story was not a happy one. We do similar work here in China. A group of us worked on weekends last summer to issue visas for the Strategic and Economic dialogue. We knew this was an important forum for our two countries to talk about issues of mutual concerns, and despite the world-wide computer problems we were facing then, we were able to get the Chinese delegation to the United States on time. Again, we were happy to make a difference.

After we interview visa applications and work on the remaining cases at our desk, we have other work to do. Sometimes, our work might be considered「high-level」 such as helping with the visit of our important officials like President Obama or the Secretary of State. Usually our work for those events is not that important, though. The thing we like doing the most is public outreach. We visit schools to explain to students how to apply for a student visa. We also travel to different provinces to talk with travel agents and potential visa applicants to explain any changes in visa policy. We really like doing these kinds of events because it gives us a better understanding of this fascinating country and more stories to tell!

Then, at the end of our day, we go home to our own families and friends. We share our stories with each other. At the end of the day, Chinese, Americans, everyone… are all about our experiences we』ve lived and the stories we have as a result of those interesting experiences.

責任編輯: 陳柏聖  來源:知乎 轉載請註明作者、出處並保持完整。

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