Juhn-Jong Lin, a condensed-matter physicist and professor at the Institute of Physics at the National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, hasn't been to the United States for two years. And he doesn't plan to return any time soon.rnLin used to hand his passport to a travel agent in Taiwan who would apply on his behalf for a J-1 exchange visa. Without fail, he would receive a five-year visa, which made it easy for him to attend the American Physical Society's biannual conferences and to travel to and from the United States for any other work-related reason asrnoften as he liked within that period. But things became more difficult after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, and worsened again about two years ago, Lin says.rn"After 9/11,1 had to apply in person - and I always got only a one-year visa," he says. Every year he had to complete a lengthy application, prepare a detailed CV, have a new specific-sized photo taken, undergo an in-person interview 80 kilometres away in Taipei and pay an application fee of about US$150. Waiting times for visa approval stretched from a week or two before 11 September 2001rnto about two months, and recently ballooned again to four months. "No one knows why," Lin says.
展开▼
