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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 2, 2024

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There are no US/China dual citizens.

I wouldn't say exactly zero.

Although she was born and raised in San Francisco, Gu competes for her mother's native China. To do so, the International Olympic Committee requires that she hold Chinese citizenship. But in spite of China's ban on dual citizenship there is no government record of her renouncing her American citizenship.

Eileen Gu pulled it off. And if I understand correctly the Chinese government determined she was a Chinese citizen in record time. Right quick to get her qualified for the Olympics. She got a fresh Chinese passport and everything.

And some writer I never heard of before says they accidentally got dual US/China citizenship and discovered that fact as an adult. https://time.com/charter/6148188/eileen-gus-identity/ Whoopsie-daisey. I bet if they didn't renounce their Chinese citizenship they could have kept it on the down low.

And some writer I never heard of before says they accidentally got dual US/China citizenship and discovered that fact as an adult. https://time.com/charter/6148188/eileen-gus-identity/ Whoopsie-daisey. I bet if they didn't renounce their Chinese citizenship they could have kept it on the down low.

What a handwavy/ignorant article. As a Chinese citizen she was not entitled to a foreigner's visa or residence permit, similar to how dual citizens must use a US passport when traveling to and from the United States.

China doesn't have internal freedom of movement. For someone with only sparse documentation, the prospect of facing Chinese bureaucracy to get documented and get a permit to work and study is probably not great. By renouncing her Chinese citizenship, she "became" an American in the eyes of the Chinese and was therefore eligible for the permits she was originally seeking.

On somewhat of a side note, but unlike the US department of state, which takes upwards of two months to issue passports, and sometimes multiple years to approve visa petitions, Chinese bureaucracy is considerably faster... I've gotten papers processed by the NYC consulate before in under a week.

Standard processing time is 6 weeks for passports, and it's pretty punctual. You can get express service if you want.

Visas are pretty messed up though, sometimes they take years and sometimes they are done in a week for no discernable reason.

Edit:

In general visas for countries that face an overstay problem are always strict. Canada and Europe have visas nearly as strict as the US visa. But for anywhere that people don't want to illegally overstay in, they can afford to hand out tourist visas to anyone with money in hand.

Yeah my visa applications for China took a few days. I got a 60 day visa in around a week and years later a 90 day visa also around one week turnaround.