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本律师事务所提供美国入籍申请的服务。对此，入籍申请人必须清楚了解入籍美国与保留中国国籍各自的优势。

众所周知，中国并不承认双重国籍的公民身份（香港公民除外。）因此，当中国公民自愿获得外国国籍后，其中国国籍将被自动撤消。（详见《中华人民共和国国籍法》第三条及第九条规定。）相反，美国承认双重国籍，简单说，即美国公民并不因为拥有他国护照而被撤消其美国国籍。（详见《外交事务手册》第七章第080、082节（2005年6月6日）规定。）

那么，申请美国国籍与保留中国国籍相比较，到底有何利弊呢？一般而言，考虑到给日后在中国工作生活带来的不利影响，许多计划回中国定居的人都不打算入籍美国。另一方面，许多选择留在美国的人，考虑到他们所能获得的权利，都会入籍美国。此外，也有不少人为了将来出行其他国家方便而决定加入美国国籍，因为拥有美国护照可以获得更多更好的免签证机会。另外还有一个重要的主观因素，就是许多人出于社交，政治，爱国及文化等方面的考虑而选择一个让他们有归属感的国籍。以下是一些具体考虑因素：

作为美国公民的优势

1. 美国公民可以帮助其特定家庭成员移民到美国：包括其未满21岁的未婚子女、配偶及父母，以上均属美国公民的直系亲属，其移民申请不受排期限制。另外，公民还可以申请其兄弟姊妹，已婚子女或21岁以上的未婚子女。此外，美国公民在国外出生的子女一般可自动获得美国公民身份。相比之下，美国合法永久居民只能申请其配偶及未满21岁的未婚子女移民到美国，且该两类别的移民申请均受排期限制。（另外，美国合法永久居民在国外出生的子女，在其出生后父母一方首次返美的时候，若未满2周岁且由该父母一方陪同进入美国，则可申请获得合法永久居民身份）

2. 在国外出生的美国公民子女可获美国公民身份：普遍情况下，美国公民的子女在国外出生后便可自动成为美国公民。

3. 美国公民能对一些政府职位的选举进行投票，某些职位也只能由美国公民担任。

4. 某些政府工作只允许由美国公民从事：包括一些需要经过安全检查的职位。

5. 流动性：在一些国家，对于美国公民入境的限制比对中国公民的限制要少。

6. 美国公民不受丧失合法永久居民身份的法律约束：美国公民不能被驱逐出美国国境。相反，合法永久居民则会因定居国外而可能丧失其合法永久居民的身份。

7. 社会保障：非美国公民在美国国外停留时间超过6 个月的话，则不能获得社会保障金，除非美国与此人所停留的国家的社会保障或养老金制度有互惠政策(“一揽子协议”)。目前，中国并未与美国签订类似的协议。同时，被驱逐出境的合法永久居民也可能失去其在美国的社会保障权利。

8. 财产税法：美国某些财产税法对美国公民更为有利。

9. 美国领事服务：美国公民持美国护照进入其他国家，均能享受美国大使馆或领事馆公民服务中心所提供的服务。

10. 携带身份证的要求：在美国，美国公民无须随身携带其公民身份证明。相反，合法永久居民则需依法随身携带其绿卡。

11. 绿卡必须延期：合法永久居民必须每10年更换其绿卡；美国公民则无须更换其归化纸。

12. 政府援助：某些政府援助只给与美国公民，而合法永久居民则无权获取。

作为美国公民的弊处：

1． 陪审员义务：当收到法庭传唤时，美国公民须承担陪审员义务。

2． 纳税义务：合法永久居民及美国公民均须依法纳税(包括其在美国领土以外的收入)。

作为中国公民的优势：

1． 到中国旅行及居住：中国公民入境中国或在中国居住均不受任何签证或居留时间的限制。对于非中国公民，签证申请流程及续签手续繁复，且办理费用较高。尤其是大部分外国人都不符合申请中国永久性居民（绿卡）的资格；而对于合资格的外国人，则必须遵守“逗留期限”的规定，即须符合在国外逗留时间的限制，以免丧失永久性居民的身份。

2． 亲属担保：中国公民可以担保其外国亲属来华探访(持“L签证”)。

3． 政府工作：大部分的政府工作只能由中国公民担任。

4． 房产所有权：外国人在华购房受到更多相关法律的限制。

5． 享受中国社会福利的资格：中国公民在华工作，有权享受中国社会保障福利，包括医疗，住房，养老及失业保险等。外国人能否享有以上福利，则取决于他们的资格以及当地政府政策。

6． 小孩移民身份：若小孩的父母均是外国人，则其在中国出生的子女也是外国人。某些中国公民子女享受的社会福利对于外国人子女是不适用的。此外，外国人子女就读中国公立学校须要缴交更高额的学费。

7． 重新取得中国国籍：中国公民入籍美国（或其他国家）后将自动失去其中国国籍。若重新申请取得中国国籍，将是十分困难的甚至不可能的事。

作为中国公民的弊处：

1． 独生子女政策：《计划生育法》不适用于外国人。

其它需要考虑的因素：

1． 在申请入籍的过程中，美国公民及移民服务局能查出申请人的有关资料，可能导致申请人被驱逐出境。（例如可以查出申请人曾在以前申请绿卡的过程中所提供的虚假资料。）

请在评价栏上添加您认为需要考虑的其他因素。

如须获得更多有关入籍的要求及流程等相关信息，请浏览本所网站 www.fwhonglaw.com “公民身份”栏目。

This is a guest post by Brian Seyfried, a student at Chicago-Kent School of Law working this summer as an intern at Frederick W. Hong Law Offices.

I’m writing to share my experience being subject to the H1N1 quarantine when I flew from Chicago to Beijing last month.

When my 777 touched down at Beijing International Airport, workers dressed head-to-toe in white hazardous material suits boarded the plane. They aimed a futuristic temperature gun at each passenger’s forehead to take our temperatures, one by one. The scene could have been plagiarized from an Orson Welles novel. Three rows behind me, the workers suddenly stopped. My heart sank into my stomach and my mind began racing. Did a passenger have swine flu? Would we all be quarantined?

Then the white suits began moving forward again down the aisle. Just as I began to relax, one health worker called the others over to check a flight attendant. She registered a temperature, and the health workers immediately escorted her off the plane.

Again, I feared that I would be quarantined. Yet when I was allowed off the plane I sailed through the airport health inspection and customs with no problem.

After a pleasant weekend, on Monday I reported to the law firm for my first day of work. But at 10am the phone rang. It was an official from the neighborhood committee in charge of my apartment complex. According to the official, I needed to return to my apartment immediately and quarantine myself for seven days. I was told that if I needed any food or supplies, I could call the neighborhood committee, but under no circumstances was I permitted to continue to work or even leave the apartment. I instantly headed home. Back at the apartment, the official called again to see if I had a fever or other symptoms. When I said no, the official said she would be checking up on me twice a day for the next week.

The next day, I contacted the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to find out more information. According to the CDC, there was no record that the flight attendant (or anybody on my flight) had H1N1 so I wasn’t subject to quarantine. The CDC said I could go back to work.

Confused about the conflicting information I was being given, I scoured the internet for any Chinese government information about the quarantine rules. Finding nothing, and feeling fine, I finally decided to head out to a restaurant for a nice dinner and to go back to work the next day.

The neighborhood committee official called me at the office the next morning when they couldn’t find me at home. I told the official that according to the CDC I wasn’t under quarantine. The official then admitted that I wasn’t actually under mandatory quarantine—as she had earlier implied—but instead under “voluntary” quarantine. I appreciated her concern and hard work to prevent an epidemic but I was also frustrated that I hadn’t been told the whole truth from the start.

In the end, I realize that many others have been subjected to mandatory quarantine, so I can’t complain about my situation. This was an experience I’ll always remember. And I hope that my experience can serve as helpful guidance to others traveling to China.

In the below story, South China Morning Post covers a protest after a Nigerian immigrant jumped to his death trying to evade police in a Guangzhou immigration raid.

What’s particularly fascinating is that the Post calls this the first protest by foreigners in China.

The protesters appear to have been complaining that police heavy-handedness led to the death and more generally about frequent visa checks by police in their neighborhood in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in October.

There are some 20,000 African immigrants living in Guangzhou, the largest group of foreigners in the city. They are predominantly merchants and are a sign of rising trade between China and Africa.

China Daily also has coverage.

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Africans protest in  Guangzhou after  Nigerian  feared killed fleeing visa check
South China Morning Post

A   Nigerian  is believed to have fallen to his death in  Guangzhou yesterday trying to escape a police visa check. His apparent death triggered an unprecedented protest by up to  200 angry Africans, who surrounded a police station.

The protesters carried  Emmanul Egisimba to Kuangquan police station to demand an explanation.  Witnesses said the clothes trader suffered fatal injuries when he leapt from the second floor of a building.

At least six witnesses confirmed to the South China Morning Post that the man had died, and the Post was shown video of him falling and of the man  motionless  on the ground with blood pouring from his head. However, last night city police claimed there had not been a death.

After Mr Egisimba  was taken to a nearby hospital by members of the crowd, the protesters blocked the entrance to the police station and stopped traffic on Guangyuan Xi Road.

Most of the protesters were Nigerians.  Some 100 security guards and police - some in riot gear - guarded the police station, but there were no clashes and by about 6pm, four hours after the man’s  fall,  the crowd began leaving and the road reopened.

A Nigerian who would only give his first name, James, said six plain-clothes police officers had gone to the Tangqi Foreign Trade Clothes Plaza in central Guangzhou to check visas at 2pm.

Mr Egisimba and another Nigerian man, surnamed Ndubuisi, began to run and were chased by police. The witness said the two were cornered on the second floor, which is 18 metres above the ground. “Then they had to jump off the building to avoid being caught,” James said.

The video seen by the Post showed Mr Egisimba motionless as onlookers attempted to lift him onto a stretcher.

In a statement, police said a “foreign suspect who was doing illegal currency exchange” sustained a back injury while trying to break a window and climb out of the building and was being treated in hospital. The statement said another foreign man was severely injured falling from the building. It did not say what had caused the fall or name the men.

The  crowd was mostly Nigerian, but included men from Uganda, Cameroon, Mali and South Africa.

One protester said the crowd shouted: “We want to go back to Africa.” Witnesses said the crowd was angry about tight visa controls ahead of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, which had prevented many from gaining visa extensions.

But Mmaduabuc Hukuu David, a Nigerian who runs a photography business in the city, said visa extensions had been a long-term headache for the community.

The city is home to 20,000 Africans. The protest is believed to have been the first by foreigners anywhere on the mainland.