I got three visas last week. They are for Hongkong SAR, Taiwan (ROC), and Russia (Far East). As everybody knows, a Chinese passport is basically useless by default. People can’t even use it to enter Hongkong and Macau, which are China’s own territories. This fact was making me feel naturally inferior to my Japanese fellows.
However, things changed when I got a ten year US visa without any trouble last year. While a US visa is considered hard to achieve by ordinary Chinese citizens, my success shows that at least I am not an “ordinary” Chinese citizen. It encouraged me a lot. Still, I intend to travel abroad after I become a naturalized Japanese citizen. Before that, I still have to wait at least three years.
Recently I realized this self-limitation backfired. First my future employer told me they need me to be in charge of a finance department in one of their overseas offices, so going abroad frequently has already been inevitable. Then, many Japanese people travel abroad many times in their early life. If I don’t have those experiences, I will miss out on many topics in conversations.
On September 1st, I officially rewrote my personal rules to release myself from a self-imposed international travel ban. I immediately applied for Hongkong and Taiwan visas. The whole process was really smooth and quick despite some documents I lacked. Now, I “cleared” East Asia. I am allowed go to any country or area except North Korea.
In the future, I plan to get Canada and Europe visas. A Chinese passport may be useless, but mine is becoming quite useful.