Wednesday, September 6, 2023

My Germany-Chen Story

 Two decades ago, my German wife worked in a company that made techical items (I won't say what).  To work on them, you needed training and a certificate.....so the company offered training sessions (typically a week).

So you'd call from China.....arrange a 'letter' that would be your visa-entry point (this was in the late 1990s).....as you flew from China into Frankfurt.  You'd typically arrive on Sunday, and the first bit of training would be on Monday morning.

One Monday morning.....German cops show up at the company, and want to talk to the training technician.

There's this problem with Mr. Chen who arrived over the weekend.   From what the cops figured out....hours after Chen's arrival....there must be a dozen Mr. Chens who went through the border-control line.....all producing some passport and this letter from the company that they were there for a training episode.  

Cops kinda expected to meet the dozen Mr. Chens that morning. None were there.

They just quietly filtered into Germany, and disappeared.

That was the last time that any China training was offered via the company.  

No one said much, but I would imagine for several years....this had been going on and that the border-patrol folks finally got smart about looking at the visa business. 

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