The current visa fee is 136 USD cash (yeah, you read it right, it is different from $131 posted on gov website) Cases: H1-B (me and 6 Indian guys and a korean lady): all passed
F-1: 1 EE/CS and 1 非敏感專(zhuān)業(yè) passed another EE post-doc got checked (since his last check is 4+ years ago) VO (black MM) is nice, but mexico guards outside are mean, especially those old guys.(閻王好見(jiàn),小鬼難纏). 在交DS156/157時(shí),會(huì)問(wèn)你有沒(méi)有隨身攜帶任何prohibited items(窗口上方有圖)。如果有,趕快把東西送到外邊的存包處,此處還可以resume, and this is your last chance. 一旦到里面的安檢再發(fā)現(xiàn)有禁帶物品,你是可以出來(lái)把東西放到存包處,但這次警衛(wèi)們會(huì)把你帶到隊(duì)尾重新來(lái)過(guò),不過(guò)是勞模的隊(duì)尾!至少50+人在你前面,而且隊(duì)伍移動(dòng)得很慢。本人親身經(jīng)歷(flash keychain)當(dāng)然經(jīng)數(shù)次據(jù)理力爭(zhēng)后又前插了不少,不過(guò)還是多等了半小時(shí)。有一個(gè)警衛(wèi)老頭告訴我這叫unishment.WTF. 所以,建議在存包的時(shí)候把所有不相關(guān)的隨身帶的小玩意(另一個(gè)阿三因?yàn)楣镜碾娮娱T(mén)卡受到了同樣的Punishment)都寄存起來(lái)($3 USD),錢(qián)包除外。
There can be errors on visa print, which takes you about another hour. But everything will be fine as long as you are approved. Just be patient and wait. Special case processing is not that slow, but their computer was down last afternoon and didn't got fixed until 4pm :(A lot more options that Jack-in-the-box for breakfast.。
TJ 比CJ繁華多了,banamex對(duì)面的mall還不錯(cuò),值得一逛。在里面一家叫Penny ????的店還玩到了久違的街機(jī)(1美刀5幣),老版的SF2,經(jīng)典。想吃中餐的可以到Food Court,里面有Panda Expresso,$4.5USD.
在Specialcase building 里換I94時(shí)要交$6,收信用卡。
過(guò)關(guān)時(shí)邊檢大廳還目睹了一個(gè)小插曲。給旁邊的一隊(duì)檢查的Officer突然不知去向,整個(gè)隊(duì)伍Stuck在那里。過(guò)了5分鐘,一個(gè)站在前面的墨裔公民(I guess)問(wèn)本隊(duì)的Officer他可不可以插過(guò)來(lái)。"No way, just wait in your line" 然后蠢蠢欲動(dòng)的redneck們就開(kāi)始ranting,B-word 和 F-word都上了,文氣一點(diǎn)就吵吵著要見(jiàn)Supervisor。本隊(duì)Officer根本不為所動(dòng),手里的活不停,嘴上也不吃虧。其他人都面無(wú)表情地看著 他們內(nèi)訌,包括那一隊(duì)里的勞模們。直到我走出大廳,那一隊(duì)仍然Stuck在那里;而在我通過(guò)bag scanner時(shí),看到3個(gè)officer在那里談笑風(fēng)生,根本不care那邊的chaos。教訓(xùn)是決不要和任何系統(tǒng)里的人發(fā)生任何言語(yǔ)或肢體的沖突,that just makes things worse. 第三國(guó)簽證絕對(duì)是有風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的,從某種意義上講,從你出美國(guó)邊境開(kāi)始,你的命運(yùn)就掌握在那一小撮人手里,所以不要給他們提供拒絕你的借口。Complain也應(yīng)該是“有理有力有節(jié)”。
關(guān)于Check,我的感覺(jué)是非敏感專(zhuān)業(yè)不用擔(dān)心。敏感專(zhuān)業(yè)四年是一個(gè)期限:如果四年內(nèi)被check過(guò),同時(shí)又沒(méi)有換專(zhuān)業(yè)(上學(xué)或工作),應(yīng)該也不用擔(dān)心。(當(dāng)然,凡事沒(méi)有百分之百,特別是考慮到簽證官這種充滿想象力的職業(yè)。) 對(duì)于F-1好像查的比H1-B嚴(yán),which makes sense.畢竟,H1-B已經(jīng)得到了移民局的Approval,同時(shí)允許移民傾向。另外F-1是一年多次,比H1的3個(gè)月兩次松多了,之前查的緊一點(diǎn)也算是Trade-off了。(Just kidding, this is acutally much more based on the agreement between US and China) 即使被Check了,一般軟磨硬泡也能混過(guò)去(F1好一些?)。蓋了Cancel章的會(huì)更難一些。聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)用駕照闖關(guān)成功的,但不建議這么干。即使成功了,在拿GC/公民之前就是一個(gè)flaw in yo
ur record;而一旦失敗了,就是Fraud。
最后,祝版上的各位順利拿到簽證。后附Noted border Map,老兵們可以略過(guò)。
Reference
1. http://www.immihelp.com/visas/visastampingcanadamexico/tijuana.html (前人推薦過(guò),再次嚴(yán)重推薦)
2. TJ visa on Google maps(credit to Liming Z):
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=102843122931822103737.00043b7bfb6af8b6ba6eb
來(lái)源:未名空間(www.mitbbs.cn)