Integrity Legal

American Citizens and United States Lawful Permanent Residents often travel outside of the USA. In situations where one is traveling abroad it may prove necessary to go to a US Embassy overseas in order to obtain services which can only be performed by a Consular Officer. In order to forestall unnecessary trips to American Posts abroad this blog routinely posts the holiday closing schedules of various US Missions in Asia. This blogger has personally experienced the frustration that can result from traveling to an American Embassy only to find it closed in observance of one of the more obscure American holidays or a holiday routinely observed by the host nation. Hopefully posting this information will keep others from making the same mistake. To quote directly from the official website of the United States Embassy in Beijing, China:

Embassy Holidays for 2011

**        January 3          Monday          New Year’s Day
*          January 17        Monday          Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday
**        February 2-6     Wed-Sun        Chinese (Lunar) New Year
*          February 21       Monday          President’s Day
**        April 5                Tuesday          Tomb Sweeping Day
**        May 1-2             Sun-Mon        International Labor Day
*          May 30               Monday          Memorial Day
**        June 6                Monday          Dragon Boat Festival
*          July 4                 Monday          Independence Day
*          September 5      Monday          Labor Day
**        September 12    Monday          Mid-Autumn Festival
**        October 1-5       Sat-Wed         Chinese National Day
*          October 10        Monday          Columbus Day
*          November 11     Friday             Veteran’s Day
*          November 24     Thursday       Thanksgiving Day
*          December 26     Monday          Christmas Day

*          Americans Holidays
**        Chinese Holidays
***      Chinese and American Holidays

Those interested in services such as the issuance of new visa pages, Consular Reports of Birth Abroad, or US Passports are well advised to contact an American Citizen Services (ACS) Section of the nearest US Mission abroad. It may also prove wise to set an appointment with ACS online as doing so often facilitates smoother processing of requests made by those appearing at the Consulate.

For those seeking the homepage of the US Embassy in Beijing please click HERE.

American Citizens and/or Lawful Permanent Residents wishing to obtain family visa benefits for a Chinese loved one are likely to process their visa application through an Immigrant Visa Unit at a US Embassy or US Consulate abroad. For purposes of visa processing, the K1 visa, although officially a non-immigrant US fiance visa, is treated in much the same way as immigrant visas such as the CR-1 visa and the IR-1 visa.

Those seeking Investment based visas such as the EB-5 visa or employment based visas such as the L-1 visa are usually required to have an immigration petition approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) before the visa application can be processed at a US Mission abroad.

Those seeking a non-immigrant B-2 visa (tourists), B-1 visa (short term business traveler), J-1 visa (exchange visitor), F-1 visa (student visa) are likely required to process their visa application through a Non-Immigrant Visa Unit of a US Mission abroad.

For related information please see: US Visa China.

Tags: American Visa China, American Visa PRC, K-1 Visa China, K1 Visa China, US Visa China, US Visa PRC
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