Word: visa
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...only that were true. The number and nature of countries between China and England are a bit fuzzy to Little Lin. But it's through these places that he will have to travel. The snakehead has promised Little Lin a real tourist visa to Russia, then a clandestine overland trip through Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany and onward to England. Little Lin knows he will have to hide in vans and safe houses and subsist on rice gruel. But he is optimistic. Someone from his village recently arrived safely in England after using the same snakehead he has contacted...
...odyssey begins in Fujian, where the snakehead's contacts in the local Public Security Bureau help the customer get a Chinese passport. Then it's on to Beijing to apply for a visa to Russia, which easily grants visas to Chinese. The trip to Moscow is the simple part of the journey. The snakehead then takes the person's passport. He says it's for safety - it's harder to deport someone without ID - but, clearly, holding the document gives him power over his clients. From Russia, the Fujianese cross the forested and poorly patrolled Ukrainian and Slovakian borders...
...says his journey was easy. First, he took an economy-class flight to Prague - Big Lin's sister already lived in the Czech Republic, where she ran an import-export clothing company. She pulled the right strings and procured him a business visa. Then, all Big Lin had to do was invest $10,000 in a Prague business venture. It's not clear who pocketed that money, but less than six months later, Big Lin says he received a Czech residence permit. The Czech document enabled him to get a tourist visa to England, which he overstayed. Six years...
Bush set August as a goal for getting something done--a nod perhaps to the political calendar and to the fact that in Washington, at least, his own guest-worker visa will expire soon...
Many members of the Class of 2007 effectively received deportation orders and lost their post-graduation jobs last week when it was announced that the supply of a key type of work visa had dried up in a single day—months before all but a handful of Harvard students could apply. The federal policy of cutting off educated and productive workers from overseas isn’t only unfair to those across the world who want a share in the American dream—it’s a bad policy for those of us who already live...